|
|
Books > Language & Literature > Language & linguistics > Translation & interpretation
I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
The two sermons edited and translated here for the first time are
primary material from the years before the establishment of the
Fatimid caliphate in 297/909. The authors have been identified as
Abu āAbd Allah al-Shi'i and Abuāl-āAbbas Muhammad, two
brothers who were central to the success of the Ismaili da'wa in
North Africa. Da'wa, a term used to describe how Muslims teach
others about the beliefs and practices of their Islamic faith,
therefore provide a unique view of the nature and development of
Islam throughout history. In this case, the primary texts shed
light on the development of Islam among the Berbers of the Maghreb.
The first text by Abu āAbd Allah al-Shi'i shows how the arguments
for belief in the 'imamate' of the family of the Prophet, that is,
the Shi'a belief that all imams should be spiritual descendants of
the Prophet Muhammad and his household, were developed and
presented to bring new adherents to the cause. The Book of the Keys
to Grace by his elder brother Abuāl-āAbbas, too, concerns not
only the centrality of the imam in the faith but also sheds light
on the hierarchy of the daāwa in this early period and its
organisational sophistication. Both texts also reveal the
contemporary theology propagated by the Ismaili daāwa, including
for instance, the powerful analogy of Moses/Aaron and
Muhammad/āAli, the awareness of a variety of religious traditions
and the use of detailed Qurāanic quotations and a wide range of
hadith. As such they constitute primary source material of interest
not only for Ismaili history but for this early period of Islam in
general.
|
|