Table of Contents

Preface Note on transliteration, dates and abbreviations 1. Introduction: Progress in the Study of Shi?i Islam Diversity in Early Islam Medieval Sunni Perceptions Medieval European Perceptions Orientalist Perspectives Modern Scholarship on Shi?i Islam 2. The Origins and Early History of Shi?i Islam Origins of Shi?ism The Early Shi?a The Kaysaniyya The Ghulat The Early Imamiyya The Imami Shi?i Doctrine of the Imamate 3. The Ithna?asharis or Twelvers The Later Twelver Imams and the Hidden Mahdi From the Occultation of the Twelfth Imam to the Mongol Invasions From Nasir al-Din al-Tusi to the Advent of the Safawids From the Safawids to Early Modern Times From around 1215/1800 to the Present 4. The Ismailis The Early Ismailis The Fatimid Phase in Ismaili History The Tayyibi Ismailis: The Yamani and Indian Phases The Nizari Ismailis: The Alamut Phase Later Developments in Nizari Ismaili History The Anjudan revival The modern period 5. The Zaydis The Early Zaydis The Zaydis of the Caspian Region in Persia The Zaydis of Yaman 6. The Nusayris or ?Alawis Nusayri Studies History of the Nusayris The Nusayri-?Alawi Doctrines Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

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Shi'i Muslims have played a crucial role, proportionally greater than their relative size, in furthering the civilizational achievements of Islam. Indeed, the Shi'i scholars and literati of various branches that have made seminal contributions to Islamic thought and culture.

About the Author

Farhad Daftary is the Co-Director of The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, and Head of the Institute's Department of Academic Research and Publications. Since the mid-1960s, when he was completing his doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley, he has cultivated his interest in Shi'i studies, with special reference to its Ismaili tradition, on which he is an authority. As well as serving on various editorial boards, Dr Daftary is a consulting editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica, co-editor (with W. Madelung) of Encyclopaedia Islamica, and the general editor of the 'Ismaili Heritage Series' and the 'Ismaili Texts and Translations Series'. He is the author and editor of numerous publications, including The Ismaili's (1990; 2nd ed., 2007), The Assassin Legends (1994), A Short History of the Ismailis (1998), Intellectual Traditions in Islam (2000), Ismaili Literature (2004), A Modern History of the Ismailis (2011), as well as many articles and encyclopaedia entries. Dr Daftary's books have been translated into Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Gujarati and various European languages.

Reviews

This present work ... fills a real gap in that it is the most comprehensive so far. ... Daftary is to be congratulated on this erudite and highly readable volume.
*The Muslim World Book Review*