Pearls of Persia

Chapter 1 of this illuminating study, Pearls of Persia epitomizes the life and mind of Abu Mu[in Hamid al-Din Nasir b. Khusraw. Inspired one night by a vision, Nasir renounces “his self-harming ways” (p. 5) and sets out on a journey and arrives in Cairo, where, in this splendid city, there is water, pure like “the spring of kawthar”. (p. 6) He meets Ridwan from whom he learns that neither the philosophers nor the theologians knew the truth about this universe, the truth which is revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Unfortunately, the adversaries of the Isma[ili da[wah harass him, forcing him to leave Balkh and in 1052 he settles in the state of Yumgan, ruled by an Isma[ili prince. In Nasir’s teachings, ignorance is a “veil” which is removed once the soul is enlightened and refined with the knowledge offered by the Prophet, who was enlightened by the angel Gabriel. The Imams in turn were blessed by the Prophet. Basirah, or insight, comes from obedience, or ita[ah. Faquir Muhammad Hunzai notes that, on submission, the soul progresses from the mineral to the vegetative, from the vegetative to the animal, and from the animal soul to the rational. Similarly, the soul on submission to the Prophet progresses in stages: the mustajibs can cultivate spirituality to become the natiq and then asas before being blessed as the Imams of their times. The ascension continues to the rank of hujjat before experiencing “the fullness of the Holy Spirit” (p. 19) of the Prophet.