Life and Lectures
of Al Muayyad fid-din al Shirazi
Majalis-ul Muayyadiya - by Al Muayyad fid-din Shirazi
Edited by Jawad Muscati and A. M. Moulvi. Karachi:
Ismailia Assoc. Pakistan, 1950. 183 pp.
Contents Lectures 1
through 20 of the Majlis - (Lectures Coming soon!)
Introduction
Ismailism has been distinguished
from all other sects of Islam by being a permanent Missionary sect. This
sect has developed and spread all over the world through the efforts of
a band of Missionaries, who preached and propagated the truth of this sect
peacefully and won innumerable converts in all places of the world.
"To assign a special post for the Chief Missionary was a peculiarity of the Fatimide Reign", says Al-Maqrizi, a great historian. He is absolutely right. The Ummeyads, the Abbasides and other religio-political parties had, like the Fatimides, their own respective Missionaries and propagandists to enlist supporters and sympathizers. But all of them after having achieved their political object abrogated the Missionary system, which they took as a means to an end.
But the Fatimides on the other hand looked upon the Missionary system as a sacred institution and a pious duty, which they prosecuted faithfully and actively. They sought power in order that they might be able to realize this ideal safely and smoothly. Their reign, therefore, was marked with great Missionary activities and intellectual agitation.
Circumstances changed and the wheel of fortune turned against the temporal power of the Fatimides, who were deprived of their possessions and government; but the Missionary activities remained unaffected by this adverse change. On the contrary, with lapse of time it acquired more strength and greater force. Thus from its very inception - ever since the death of Imam Ja'far As-Sadiq - up today, Ismailism has been a Missionary sect and the spread of this faith over so vast a portion of the globe is due mostly to the unremitting labours of the Ismaili Missionaries.
Attempts were made by several writers and chronologists to draw a picture of the spiritual, intellectual, literary and political life in Egypt during the Fatimide reign. But their success was not much. Because the sources which most of the writers and historians approach for information do not possess genuine and accurate reports about the Fatimides. The biggest sources the people rely upon in getting information about Ismailis are those of Al-Maqrizi, An-Nwairi, Al-Qalqashandi and others from the ancient authors, who were either opponents of the Fatimides and therefore misrepresented the facts or credulous people who took everything for granted.
But the original and valuable works that had been composed in the Fatimide period were mostly destroyed by the fanatic people who wrested power from the Fatimides in the year 567 A.H. and whatever little that survived the malicious act, remained in the possession of Bohra community, an Ismaili sub-sect, who keep these manuscript very carefully and give them sacramental character.
These manuscripts contain most genuine information about the Fatimides from every respect, particularly about the Missionary institution.
The Ismailis have constituted their Missionary system on the principles of Qur'anic teaching. In the Holy Qur'an, the Prophets have been called by God as ‘Da'ees' and their function as ‘Da'waat'. The word Da'ee and Da'waat mean a Missionary and Missionary work respectively. God says in the Holy Qur’ an "O Prophet we have sent you as a witness, a giver of good tidings, a Warner and as a Da’ ee to the religion of God". On another occasion He says, "Invite to the way of God". Such verses are many in the Qur'an which indicate that all the Prophets were but Da'ees.
In short, Missionary work has been one of the fundamental principles of the Ismailia sect, and it is hitherto prosecuted regularly and systematically in Ismailia community. By going through the following pages that have been devoted to the biography of the Grand Missionary, the reader will be able to have larger views of the Missionaries and their function.
- Jawad Muscati
BISMILLAHIR-RAMANIR-RAHIM. In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful.
Contents Lectures 1
through 20 of the Majlis - (Lectures Coming soon!)
Another
article on Al Muayyad by Mohamed Adra
Poetry
by Al Muayyad
Al
Muayyad's protege Nasir Khusraw
Poetry
by Nasir Khusraw
Ismaili
Heroes
History
of the Imams
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