Spiritual Resurrection in Shi'i Islam

The latest volume in the Ismaili Texts and Translations Series of the Institute of Ismaili Studies is a significant contribution because it presents a pivotal text of the Nizari tradition that had a lasting impact not just among Persophone communities but also in South Asia. To put it in the context of the series, only 2 of the 22 titles published so far are arguably on the Nizari tradition. It is one of the few texts that survive from the Alamut period (before the Mongol destruction) and for many years was incorrectly attributed to Hasan-i Sabbah. The key doctrine in the text is the Nizari understanding of qiyamat, and it acts as an introduction to the editor’s edition and translation of the Diwan-i qa’imiyyat by the same author that is in press (the text itself was published in Tehran in 2011). The text itself was originally edited by Wladimir Ivanow and studied by Marshall Hodgson and Henry Corbin. They correctly connected it to Nasir alDin al-Tusi and his Rawda-yi taslim (also recently edited by Badakhchani) and recognised a key expression of the Nizari doctrine of resurrection – and given the importance of the work of Jambet on that, it is fitting that he contributes the foreword. The text itself is rather brief:...