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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

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Posted at Apr 08/2009 12:46PM:
Ismailism was a movement within Shi’a Islam arising from issues of succession. Ismaili doctrine held that the Ismail, the son of Jafar al-Sadiq (died 765) was the rightful successor of the imamate, although he died before his father. Ismailis believed that Ismail, or his son Muhammad, was the last true imam, and that there could be no visible imam until he reemerged as the mahdi (Kennedy, pg 285). From the tenth to twelfth century, Ismailism was the largest branch of Shi’a thought and was the doctrine supported by the caliphate and elite in Fatimid Egypt. It was the dominant practice in Cairo, although most of the citizens of the Fatimid empire remained Sunni. While there were some tensions over differences in religious practice, the Fatimid dynasty experienced little religious conflict. The Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, founded in 975, was the center for Ismaili thought and learning.

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Posted at Apr 10/2009 01:33PM:
ian: More broadly it demonstrates the growing sectarianism in Islam and some aspects of new missionizing that took place in once peripheral regions of the Muslim world (e.g. Berber North Africa).