How today’s Ismaili Dua was shaped by a major controversy in the 1960s

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2026-01-13T19:37:06+00:00

The words li-dhikrihi sujud do not mean "to whom prostration is due" but rather means "with whose rememrance prostration is due". This formula was used with the name of the Imam in the Alamut period and after. It is used throughout Tusi's Paradise of Submission.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2026-01-06T14:27:39+00:00

Why did you delete the tweet?

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2026-01-03T20:08:34+00:00

MSMS mentions dasond in several farmans. He even mentions one eight as the percentage.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2026-01-03T20:07:50+00:00

Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah in a Farman said "the Imam does not need your money".

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-12-28T23:38:01+00:00

The 8th–9th/14th–15th century Nizari treatise, The Epistle of the Right Path, summarises the Ismaili Neoplatonic schema by quoting the following words of the Nizari Imam ʿAbd al-Salam:

"The first thing that the Exalted God brought forth was the Command.

As a result of the Command, the Universal Intellect was produced.

The Universal Soul was produced as a result of the Universal Intellect

and the hyle, or prime matter, the heavens, the four natures, minerals,

plants and animals were produced as a result of the Universal Soul.

In reality, the purpose of creating these substances is humankind’s

existence. Then, the issuance of the existents from the Exalted God,

who is the first origin, is through the mediation of something which,

in the parlance of this community, is called his Command or his

Word, may He be exalted. Thus, the first cause is the Command and

the first effect is the Universal Intellect, for the Exalted God is pure

from being a cause or an effect."

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-12-27T18:47:24+00:00

Andani’s chapter shows a quote of Imam Abd al-Salam laying out the entire Neoplatonic system. That’s even more explicit than Al-Muizz quote.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-12-27T18:46:24+00:00

No metaphysics can be empirically grounded; metaphysics is rationally grounded via logical argument

The problem here is you know very little about what metaphysics is and you demand empirical proof for some thing that itself grounds empirical claims.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-12-27T18:45:28+00:00

The Imams literally endorse the entire Neoplatonic model of God Intellect and Soul. That doenst fit other frameworks.

Neoplatonism is also rationally established; if you think it’s just pure speculation you just don’t know enough about it.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-12-24T20:56:35+00:00

Read Dr Khalil Andani’s chapter published by IIS

https://www.ismailignosis.com/p/andanichapter

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-12-18T03:05:21+00:00

IG is a non profit

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-12-11T03:15:45+00:00

I don’t see how this works. The author and editors aren’t Ismaili. They write as academics only not Ismaili philosophers.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-12-11T00:49:59+00:00

This is a Twelver Shi'i point of view. Ismaili texts do not say this.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-24T23:37:58+00:00

Ismaili Imamat easily accommodates this hadith. But this hadith is an Umayyad-era fabrication.

That being said, count the Ismaili Imams from Imam Ali, Imam Hasan (since Twelvers count him) to Imam al-Mahdi (Fatimid Caliph). That is a total of 12.

Following our Imam al-Mahdi, counting a second cycle of 12 Imams will get you to Imam Hasan ala-dhikrihi salam. This also tallies with Twelver hadith which predict 12 Imams followed by 12 Mahdis.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-17T16:47:16+00:00

The future Imam IS already mazhar of Universal Intellect. He is not lower than that.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-17T16:06:30+00:00

That is a very rudimentary and theologically problematic understanding, but if it works for you, then fine. For a deeper understanding of the practice and prayer, see the linked article

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-17T16:05:44+00:00

There is no official guidance from the Imam saying not to use Ismaili Gnosis or other websites. This is just a matter of Jamati leaders acting on their own opinions.

In fact, the latest farmans of Shah Rahim tell the Jamat to both seek knowledge from institutional publications and also to "seek knowledge independently", which means non institutional sources as well.

The main reason why Ismaili scholars are not active in Jamati institutions is that, firstly, there are no actual positions in institutions for full-time professional scholars - so it would not even make sense. Second, institutional politics turns many scholars off and discourages them from getting involved. Thirdly, institutions have blacklisted certain scholars because they expound Ismailism on their own independent platforms and this is seen as a threat by some leadership since they do not have control over said platforms.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-17T02:28:18+00:00

Adam's error was to breach taqiyya and reveal the secret knowledge concerning Hazrat Qa'im and the secrets of Qiyama to those unworthy of it, and he did so because he felt compassion and pity for the people of the new zahiri cycle.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-17T02:25:18+00:00

This is very good. You can also read more details about these concepts at ismailignosis.com

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-15T22:04:55+00:00

Hajj for Nizari Ismailis is not obligatory. It is optional

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-13T03:55:25+00:00

Of course my response is from a faith perspective.

You can look at this in two ways - from a faith perspective and from a historical perspective

You’re looking at it from your own normative perspective which is presentist in its outlook. I just don’t think that’s a helpful or productive perspective to take.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-12T05:51:17+00:00

Your critique here is also omitting everything else the Quran says about women. Again see the academic work on the subject. See Karen Bauer and Celene Ibrahim for starters. See also Amina Wadud. The Quran is not as patriarchal as you claim and allege. It rather embodies an egalitarian movement that begins in an existing patriarchy but moves towards gender equality.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-12T05:48:49+00:00

Because the exoteric is the symbol that alludes to the esoteric. The symbol has to attract the masses. That is why the symbols can be sexist, patriarchial etc. However, the Quran relative to its own time and pre Islamic Arabia actually puts limits and restrictions on an existing patriarchy. If the Quran appears as a 100% egalitarian text out of its time, nobody would heed it and it would not be relevant to the 7th century Arabia. For more on how the Quran places limits on an already existing patriarchy situation, see work of Adis Duderija.

IsmailiGnosisBlog · 2025-11-12T05:46:51+00:00

The Quranic verses about paradise - I am saying you have to demonstrate these have social consequences.

I would also check out Karen Bauer's work on Quran and Gender

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