• DESCRIPTION

I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies.

The Kitab al-Kashf is one of the earliest Ismaili texts to have reached the present day. Transmitted by the Tayyibi Ismaili tradition, it is composed of six treatises, most of which, as this open access study and first English translation argues, go back to the early years of the Fatimid rule.

The importance of this work is predicated upon the unique insight it offers on the early stages of the elaboration of Ismaili doctrine. A number of parallels with Twelver Shi’i, as well as ghulat and Nusayri sources, are highlighted throughout this study, which, by contrast, allow for the identification of specifically Ismaili themes and doctrines, before and after the rise to power of the Fatimids. The Kashf is thus an essential witness to the way early Ismailism, while drawing from a pool of themes common to several Shi’i trends, nevertheless formed its own distinctive identity.

Since it was edited by Rudolf Strothmann for the first time in 1952, the Kashf has attracted the attention of several generations of scholars, but did not benefit from a full annotated translation and extensive study highlighting its structure and aims until now.

Fares GILLON is an assistant professor at Aix-Marseille University.  He also teaches at the « D.U Islamologie » coordinated by the Institut Français d’islamologie (IFI)

• TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction
Historical and intellectual context
Transmission: manuscripts, editions, and reception
The problematic authorship of the Kitab al-Kashf: some remarks on the corpus attributed to Ja’far b. Mansur al-Yaman
The six treatises of the Kitab al-Kashf and their contents
Between chaos and order: the art of compilation and structure in the Kitab al-Kashf
Notes on the translations and commentaries
2. Treatise I
Translation
Commentary
The divine trust (amana), walaya and the covenant
The da’wa, an esoteric family
God’s ‘order’ (amr) and its continuity
The continuity of antagonism: the enemies of the Imam
Al-musukhiyya: from literal to metaphoric metamorphosis
The Mahdi and his return
Conclusion
3. Treatise II
Translation
Commentary
Divine transcendence
The throne, the footstool and the problem of anthropomorphism
The alphabetic cosmogony
Conclusion
4. Treatise III
Translation
Commentary
Identifying the ‘Sage’ (al-?akim) and dating Treatise III
The da’wa: an organization and its enemies
The Orphan: evolution of a concept, from ghuluww to Fatimid Ismailism
Salman, a Shi’i figure in support of the Fatimid reform
The ‘Bearer of the Sword’ and the raj’a
Conclusion
5. Treatise IV
Translation
Commentary
Several hadith fragments
A hadith on language
Conclusion
6. Treatise V
Translation
Commentary
The Imam and his proof, the ‘Ayn and the Fa’
The rejection of antinomianism
Organizing the da’wa: instruction to the missionaries and refutation of the false Mahdi
Conclusion
7. Treatise VI
Translation
Commentary
God’s choice challenged by human caprice
‘Ali and Aaron as books of God
Proofs and summoners
Conclusion
Bibliography