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surviving the mongols The Institute of Ismaili Studies Ismaili Heritage Series, 8 General Editor: Farhad Daftary Previously published titles: 1. Paul E. Walker, Abï Ya™qïb al-Sijiståní: Intellectual Missionary (1996) 2. Heinz Halm, The Fatimids and their Traditions of Learning (1997) 3. Paul E. Walker, Óamíd al-Dín al-Kirmåní: Ismaili Thought in the Age of al-Óåkim (1999) 4. Alice C. Hunsberger, Nasir Khusraw, The Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher (2000) 5. Farouk Mitha, Al-Ghazålí and the Ismailis: A Debate on Reason and Authority in Medieval Islam (2001) 6. Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Lit- erature of South Asia (2002) 7. Paul E. Walker, Exploring an Islamic Empire: Fatimid History and its Sources (2002) Surviving the Mongols Nizårí Quhiståní and the Continuity of Ismaili Tradition in Persia Nadia Eboo Jamal I.B.Tauris Publishers london • new york in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies london Published in 2002 by I.B.Tauris Dr Charles Melville, whose comments on the first draft of this book were in- valuable; Mrs Zinat Safarha, a pure Sufi who shared her wisdom with me tirelessly; Dr Arzina Lalani, for her constant support, encouragement and advice; Dr Jalal Badakhchani, who not only assisted me in acquiring manuscripts for this work but has also helped me in numerous other ways; Dr Leonard Lewisohn for sharing his insightful comments, poetic skills and sense of hu- mour; Dr Farhad Daftary, for believing in me and my work, and contributing a Foreword to this book; Kutub Kassam, who has painstakingly walked the journey with me; as well as all the other supporters I have encountered at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. I would also like to recognise my wonderful friends who tire- lessly supported me through good and bad times, and in particular my husband, a gem, and my amazing children, Nijhad and Shazia, who have watched me burn the midnight oil on many occasions without complaint. Finally, it should be noted that the transliteration system adopted in this book is that of the new edition of The Encyclopae- dia of Islam, with the usual modifications. Arabic and Persian terms common in English, such as Ismaili and Sufi, have not been trans- literated. The following abbreviations have been used for sources: EI2 Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed. JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JBBRAS Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society NS New Series NEJ It is well that you should follow the Imamate, For the Light of God is within his pure heart. Through that Light you will be freed from darkness. Follow that Light and may peace be with you! Nizårí Quhiståní, Dastïr-nåma 1 Chapter 1 Introduction I say, therefore, that this thing involves the description of the greatest catastrophe and the most dire calamity (of the like of which days and nights are innocent) which befell all men gener- ally, and the Muslims in particular; so that, should one say that the world, since God Almighty created Adam until now, hath not been afflicted with the like thereof, he would but speak the truth. For indeed history does not contain anything which approaches or comes near to it … Nay, it is unlikely that mankind will see the like of this calamity until the world comes to an end and per- ishes, except for the final outbreak of Gog and Magog. 1 These foreboding remarks of the Arab historian Ibn al-Athír (d. 630/1233) vividly capture his impressions of one of the most cata- strophic events to befall the Muslim world, constituted by the series of Mongol incursions which swept across a large part of Central Asia and the Middle East during the 7th/13th century. Ibn al- Athír’s words acquire particular poignancy when it is realised that he died in 630/1233, many years before the full onslaught of the Mongols actually materialised upon the largely Persian-speaking region from the Oxus to the Euphrates rivers, 2 culminating in the sack of Baghdad and destruction of the Abbasid caliphate in 656/1258. For the peoples of this region especially, the period of Mongol incursions was one of enormous human suffering and far-reaching social changes. The devastation of many towns and cities, the slaughter, enslavement and displacement of millions of 2 Surviving the Mongols people, and the subsequent death of countless others from war, famine or disease resulted in a marked decrease of population in the region. Economically, there was a rapid decline in agriculture as large areas of previously cultivated land reverted to nomadic pastoralism. Politically and religiously, by destroying the central caliphal state based in Baghdad and introducing their own laws and standards of politics, the Mongols challenged the established norms and practices of Muslim societies – thus disrupting the emer- gence of new patterns of thought and social organisation in the Muslim world at a time when Western Europe was making a his- torically decisive transition from feudalism to the construction of a new social, economic and political order. The Mongol conquest of Persia was destructive to all its inhab- itants, especially those communities who happened to offer any resistance to the conquerors. For the Nizårí Ismailis of Persia in particular, it was the single-most disastrous event in their history. It caused, within a short span of five or six years, a total upheaval of this Shi™i community which, in the previous century, had suc- ceeded in carving out its own autonomous territorial state of fortresses and citadels in parts of Persia and Syria. The capture and dismantling of many of these strongholds by the Mongols put a permanent end to the political aspirations and prominence of the Ismailis in the region. According to the sources which have come down to us, a large proportion of the Ismaili population was exterminated by the invaders, the Ismaili Imam of the time was taken into custody and later murdered, and the community ceased to exercise any influence, or even make its physical pres- ence known publicly, for several centuries to come. In view of these cataclysmic events, it is not surprising that the Persian Ismailis were unable to maintain any historical record of their own from the era of Mongol domination (654–754/1256– 1353). Much of the Ismaili literature of the Alamït period was destroyed with the collapse of their state and very little was writ- ten or preserved by the community in the following two centuries. Hence, what we know about the Ismailis is largely derived from non-Ismaili historians and chroniclers of the time, who were for the most part hostile to the Ismailis and whose accounts were Introduction 3 written after the fall of the central Ismaili fortress of Alamït in 654/1256. 3 The most famous of these historians, ™Alå¢ al-Dín ™A†å Målik b. Mu˙ammad Juwayní (d. 682/1283), was in fact present in the entourage of the Mongol ruler Hülegü at the capture of Alamït. In his Ta¢ríkh-i jahån gushåy, 4 he describes how he in- spected the contents of its famed library, took a few texts and astronomical instruments which interested him, and consigned the rest to the flames. Another major source is Rashíd al-Dín Fa{l Allåh (d. 718/ 1318), who served as a physician, historian and chief minister to the Mongol ruler Ghåzån. He included a lengthy account of the Ismailis in his universal history, Jåmi™ al-tawåríkh. 5 Rashíd al-Dín appears to have had more information available to him than what we find in the extant text of Juwayní and he preserves many de- tails not previously recorded, possibly because he may have had independent access to other Ismaili sources. He also attempts to put forward a summary of the Ismaili doctrines of the time. Un- like Juwayní whose narrative is distorted by his antipathy towards the Ismailis, Rashíd al-Dín’s account is somewhat more impartial; he is often reluctant to pass judgement and occasionally corrects Juwayní where necessary. In 1964, a third source came to light from a contemporary and collaborator of Rashíd al-Dín called Jamål al-Dín Abu’l-Qåsim ™Abd Allåh b. ™Alí Kåshåní (al-Kåshåní) entitled Zubdat al-tawåríkh. 6 He was a relatively unknown chronicler, also in the employment of the Mongols, who collaborated with Rashíd al-Dín in the compi- lation of the Jåmi™ al-tawåríkh. There is much in common between Kåshåní’s account of the Ismailis and that of Rashíd al-Dín, indi- cating that both writers relied on the same sources, but Kåshåní also provides certain details not reported by the latter. Another account of the Ismailis is provided by the historian Shihåb al-Dín ™Abd Allåh b. Fa{l Allåh of Shíråz, also known as Wa˚˚åf or Wa˚˚åf- i Ha{rat, in his well-known history, Tajziyat al-am˚år wa tajziyat al-a™˚år (also called Ta¢ríkh-i Wa˚˚åf). 7 Perhaps the most comprehensive chronicler of the time to give attention to the Ismailis was Ibn al-Athír (d. 630/1233) cited at the beginning of this chapter. In his work al-Kåmil fi’l-ta¢ríkh, 8 this 4 Surviving the Mongols Arab historian records much information about the Persian and Syrian Ismailis which is not found in other sources. He also re- ports many ‘newsworthy’ incidents involving skirmishes, massacres and other military engagements between the Mongols and the Ismailis; but he gives only sketchy information about these events, not going into the details of the circumstances surrounding them. Furthermore, his chronicle ends in the year 628/1230–31, two years before his death, so that he was unable to report the fall of Alamït or the subsequent capture of Baghdad by the Mongols. It is impossible to verify the accounts of these non-Ismaili his- torians and chroniclers against works by Ismaili authors since the bulk of their literature perished during the invasions. The few books that did survive were not easily accessible, being preserved until recently in private collections. In any case, since these are largely doctrinal in content they provide little historical informa- tion. The extreme scarcity of Persian Ismaili sources is a problem not confined to the period of Mongol rule; it extends, in fact, over four centuries until the rise of the Íafawids in the 10th/16th century. The decline in literary activity among the Ismailis may indeed reflect their disintegration as an organised community, but it is also likely to have been a result of the traditional Ismaili practice of taqiyya, ‘protection’ or precautionary dissimulation of belief, by which means individuals tried to conceal their religious identity in order to escape political and religious persecution. In the absence of Ismaili sources, a number of orientalist schol- ars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, relying largely on the histories and chronicles mentioned above, came to the con- clusion that the Persian Ismailis had been totally exterminated by the Mongols. This was the view, for instance, of the distinguished French scholar Silvestre de Sacy (1758–1838), who was one of the earliest Europeans to study the Ismailis and also offer a satis- factory theory of the etymology of the term ‘assassin’. 9 The same theory was advocated by the Austrian diplomat and historian Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1774–1856), the first Western author to devote an entire book to the Ismailis. But unlike de Sacy’s sober and discriminating scholarship, von Hammer’s work Introduction 5 is marred by his uncritical acceptance of the anti-Ismaili preju- dices of the sources he consulted. 10 Among other scholars, however, it became increasingly clear that the old received image of a decimated Ismaili community was indefensible. Wladimir Ivanow (1886–1970), one of the pio- neers of modern Ismaili studies, was the first to recognise that even though the political power of the Ismailis came to an end and the community was considerably diminished, a small minor- ity did survive the massacres, as did also the Ismaili line of Imams. 11 His view was supported by Marshall G.S. Hodgson (1922–1968), the author of the most comprehensive study of the Ismailis of the Alamït period to date, 12 and confirmed more recently by Farhad Daftary who writes: The Nizårís of Persia, contrary to the declarations of Juwayní and later historians, did in fact survive the destruction of their state and strongholds at the hands of the Mongols. Despite the Mon- gol massacres, the Persian Nizårí community was not totally extirpated . and significant numbers survived the debacle in both Rïdbår and Quhistån. 13 In spite of these corrections, the post-Alamït period of Ismaili history remains extremely obscure and problematic, and there are many questions which remain unanswered. If, as seems to be the case, a large proportion of the Persian Ismailis were killed or displaced during the Mongol incursions of 651–654/1253–1256, what evidence is there of their continuity as an organised com- munity in the second half of the 7th/13th century? What happened to the Ismaili da™wa, the central religious and cultural organisation of the community? Did it collapse and disintegrate following the Mongol conquest or survive in a much diminished form? How did the Ismailis maintain their religious ethos and identity over long periods during which they were obliged to con- ceal their beliefs and practices? Where did the Ismaili Imams reside after the fall of Alamït and how did they relate with their follow- ers? What was the connection between the Ismailis and the Sufi fraternities which began to exercise increasing influence in the religious life of Persians during this period? 6 Surviving the Mongols One of the few Ismaili authors who survived the Mongol con- quest and whose works are accessible to us is the poet Sa™d al-Dín b. Shams al-Dín b. Mu˙ammad, more commonly known as Nizårí Quhiståní. Nizårí was born in 645/1247 in Bírjand, a small town located south of Mashhad in the highlands of Quhistån in south- eastern Khuråsån, alongside the present border of Iran with Afghanistan. His poetical writings and links with Ismailism were discussed at length by medieval Persian authors, 14 and they have also attracted the attention of recent scholars in Iran, Russia and the West. 15 Both W. Ivanow and Jan Rypka regarded Nizårí as a much talented and underestimated poet, whose works deserve more examination. 16 The most comprehensive account of Nizårí Quhiståní is that by the Central Asian scholar Baiburdi, whose works have been an invaluable source of information for this study. 17 Nizårí was about ten years old when the Mongols overwhelmed the Ismaili fortresses in Quhistån and massacred large numbers of Ismailis in the region, before proceeding to subjugate the rest of Persia under their rule. Hence, the major portion of Nizårí’s life was spent in a political and social milieu dominated by the ìl- Khånid dynasty. After acquiring his education and developing the skills of a poet, he pursued administrative and poetic careers in the service