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Ismailism under the Influence of Ibn ʿArabī: Some Metaphysical Views of Āqā Khān Maḥallātī (d. 1881)
Abstract
This paper examines the influence of the mystical philosopher of Andalusia, Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) on the Ismaili thought by focusing on an autobiographical treatise in Persian written by Shāh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Ḥusaynī, known as Āqā Khān I (1804-1881), a military commander and a Qajar governor, a Niʿmatullāhī Sufi, and the 46th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. Āqā Khān’s autobiography, Tārīkh-i ʿIbratʾafzā, often has been used by scholars of Ismaili Studies as a source for studying his political career in the nineteenth century Iran and India. In this paper, however, I bring to discussion some unnoticed theological, philosophical, and cosmological themes, concepts, and ideas scattered throughout Tārīkh-i ʿIbratʾafzā. Within the text, there are at least one unmentioned direct quotation form Ibn ʿArabī’s monumental work Futūḥāt Makkiya in translation. After careful analyze of these passages, I argue that Āqā Khān’s view on a number of issues, including believing in the idea of Waḥdat-i wujūd, depicting the Prophet as the perfect man, explaining the relationship between God and the world in terms of light, darkness, and barzakh, as well as his position on God’s essence and attributes, and the question of seeing God has been to some extent influenced by Ibn ʿArabī and his school of thought. I eventually conclude that the trajectory of Ibn ʿArabī’s influence on this later phase of Ismailism, which is also visible on the following Ismaili Imams, must be traced back through the teachings of the Shiite Niʿmatullāhī Sufi order to whom Āqā Khān also belonged. In other words, this paper argues that by being affiliated with the Niʿmatullāhī order and being exposed to their monistic view borrowed from the school of Ibn ʿArabī, Āqā Khān I paves the way for incorporating more monistic ideas and concepts to the structure of Ismaili thought.
Discipline
Religious Studies/Theology
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries