I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies The Ismaili missionary and poet, Nasir-i Khusraw (d. after 1070), wrote Khwan al-ikhwan (The Banquet of the Brethren) when he was living in his remote mountain refuge of Yumgan in Badakhshan. A work of philosophical theology, it consists of a sequence of dynamic arguments for divine unicity (tawhid), the authority of the Prophet Muhammad, his legatee, 'Ali b. Abi Talib, and his descendants, the imams from the line of Isma'il b. Ja'far al-Sadiq. This new edition is based on two extant manuscripts of Khwan al-ikhwan making it a more comprehensive resource. Written in Persian, Khwan al-ikhwan includes a precis of ideas found in a work by an earlier missionary, Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani (d. ca. 971), the Kitab al-Yanabi', which Nasir-i Khusraw recast and then extended in 100 chapters. The current publication consists of a new Persian critical edition of the text, with an introduction that discusses Khwan al-ikhwan in the context of both Nasir-i Khusraw's other works and al-Sijistani's Kitab al-Yanabi, in addition to notes throughout. The book is an important example of Ismaili theology and a reflection of the learning of the age including the conception of a geo-centric cosmos, Aristotelian physics, and Neoplatonic philosophy, which greatly influenced the Ismaili missionaries (or da'is) of the Iranian lands. The editorial apparatus in this edition brings Khwan al-ikhwan to an even wider readership advancing the field of Ismaili Studies.

I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies The Ismaili missionary and poet, Nasir-i Khusraw (d. after 1070), wrote Khwan al-ikhwan (The Banquet of the Brethren) when he was living in his remote mountain refuge of Yumgan in Badakhshan. A work of philosophical theology, it consists of a sequence of dynamic arguments for divine unicity (tawhid), the authority of the Prophet Muhammad, his legatee, 'Ali b. Abi Talib, and his descendants, the imams from the line of Isma'il b. Ja'far al-Sadiq. This new edition is based on two extant manuscripts of Khwan al-ikhwan making it a more comprehensive resource. Written in Persian, Khwan al-ikhwan includes a precis of ideas found in a work by an earlier missionary, Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani (d. ca. 971), the Kitab al-Yanabi', which Nasir-i Khusraw recast and then extended in 100 chapters. The current publication consists of a new Persian critical edition of the text, with an introduction that discusses Khwan al-ikhwan in the context of both Nasir-i Khusraw's other works and al-Sijistani's Kitab al-Yanabi, in addition to notes throughout. The book is an important example of Ismaili theology and a reflection of the learning of the age including the conception of a geo-centric cosmos, Aristotelian physics, and Neoplatonic philosophy, which greatly influenced the Ismaili missionaries (or da'is) of the Iranian lands. The editorial apparatus in this edition brings Khwan al-ikhwan to an even wider readership advancing the field of Ismaili Studies.

I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies The Ismaili missionary and poet, Nasir-i Khusraw (d. after 1070), wrote Khwan al-ikhwan (The Banquet of the Brethren) when he was living in his remote mountain refuge of Yumgan in Badakhshan. A work of philosophical theology, it consists of a sequence of dynamic arguments for divine unicity (tawhid), the authority of the Prophet Muhammad, his legatee, 'Ali b. Abi Talib, and his descendants, the imams from the line of Isma'il b. Ja'far al-Sadiq. This new edition is based on two extant manuscripts of Khwan al-ikhwan making it a more comprehensive resource. Written in Persian, Khwan al-ikhwan includes a precis of ideas found in a work by an earlier missionary, Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani (d. ca. 971), the Kitab al-Yanabi', which Nasir-i Khusraw recast and then extended in 100 chapters. The current publication consists of a new Persian critical edition of the text, with an introduction that discusses Khwan al-ikhwan in the context of both Nasir-i Khusraw's other works and al-Sijistani's Kitab al-Yanabi, in addition to notes throughout. The book is an important example of Ismaili theology and a reflection of the learning of the age including the conception of a geo-centric cosmos, Aristotelian physics, and Neoplatonic philosophy, which greatly influenced the Ismaili missionaries (or da'is) of the Iranian lands. The editorial apparatus in this edition brings Khwan al-ikhwan to an even wider readership advancing the field of Ismaili Studies.

The Muslim Speaks reimagines Islam as a strategy for investigating the modern condition. Rather than imagining it as an issue external to a discrete West, Khurram Hussain constructs Islam as internal to the elaboration and expansion of the West. In doing so he reveals three discursive traps – that of ‘freedom’, ‘reason’ and ‘culture’ – that inhibit the availability of Islam as a feasible, critical interlocutor in Western deliberations about moral, intellectual and political concerns. Through close examination of this inhibition, Hussain posits that while Islamophobia is clearly a moral wrong, ‘depoliticization’ more accurately describes the problems associated with the lived experience of Muslims in the West and elsewhere. Weaving together his conclusions in the hope of a common world, Khurram Hussain boldy and quite radically deems that what Islam needs is not depoliticization, but infact repoliticization.

Medieval Islamic philosophers were occupied with questions of cosmology, predestination and salvation and human responsibility for actions. For Ismailis, the related notions of religious leadership, namely the imamate, and the eschatological role of the prophets and imams were equally central. These were also a matter of doctrinal controversy within the so-called Iranian school of Ismaili philosophical theology. Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani (d. after 411/1020) was one of the most important theologians in the Fatimid period, who rose to prominence during the reign of the imam-caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (r. 386/996–411/1021). He is renowned for blending the Neoplatonic philosophical heritage with Ismaili religious tradition. This book provides an analysis of al-Kirmani’s thought and sheds new light on the many layers of allusion which characterise his writings. Through a translation and analytical commentary of the eighth chapter of al-Kirmani’s Kitab al-Riyad (Book of Meadows), which is devoted to the subject of divine preordination and human redemption, Maria De Cillis shows readers first-hand his theologically distinctive interpretation of qada’ and qadar (divine decree and destiny). Here, al-Kirmani attempts to harmonise the views of earlier renowned Ismaili missionaries, Abu Hatim Ahmad b. Hamdan al-Razi (d. 322/934), Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Nasafi (d. 331/942) and Abu Ya'qub Ishaq b. Ahmad al-Sijistani (d. c. 361/971). De Cillis skilfully guides the reader through al-Kirmani’s metaphysical and esoteric correspondences, offering new insights into Shi’i/Ismaili philosophical thought which will be of great interest to those in the field of Shi’i studies and, more broadly, to scholars of medieval philosophy.

I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies The exceptional intellectual richness of seventeenth-century Safavid Iran is epitomised by the philosophical school of Isfahan, and in particular by its ostensible founder, Mir Damad (d. 1631), and his great student Mulla Sadra (aka Sadr al-Din Shirazi, d. 1636). Equally important to the school is the apophatic wisdom of Rajab 'Ali Tabrizi that followed later (d. 1669/70). However, despite these philosophers' renown, the identification of the 'philosophical school of Isfahan' was only proposed in 1956, by the celebrated French Iranologist Henry Corbin, who noted the unifying Islamic Neoplatonist character of some 20 thinkers and spiritual figures; this grouping has subsequently remained unchallenged for some fifty years. In this highly original work, Janis Esots investigates the legitimacy of the term 'school', delving into the complex philosophies of these three major Shi'i figures and drawing comparisons between them. The author makes the case that Mulla Sadra's thought is independent and actually incompatible with the thoughts of Mir Damad and Rajab Ali Tabrizi. This not only presents a new way of thinking about how we understand the 'school of Isfahan', it also identifies Mir Damad and Rajab Ali Tabrizi as pioneers in their own right.

I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies While mosques are the central house of worship for a majority of Muslims around the world, many of Islam's communities have developed their own distinctive religious spaces. These complementary spaces serve the different cultures, geographies and interpretations of Islam that continue to enrich the Muslim tradition. In this book, Rizwan Mawani encounters diverse communities and their sites of worship, from the mosque and husayniya to the khanaqah and jamatkhana. Readers are introduced to a variety of Muslim spaces, modest and elaborate – their distinct structures and the rituals practised within them, as well as the purposes they serve as community centres and markers of identity. Beyond the Mosque reveals architectural responses to evolving community needs and local environments, from Senegal and China to Iran and India. This illuminating survey celebrates the significant pluralism that characterises the living Muslim tradition today.