Abstract:

In the 4th/10th-5th/11th centuries, the writing of texts criticizing the Ismāʿīlīs gained momentum due to the strengthening of the Fāṭimids and the development of Ismāʿīlī daʿwa activities. In addition to independent refutations against the Ismāʿīlīs, the opposition to Ismāʿīlīsm also found a wide place in the literature of maqālāt, kalām, and fiqh. The work of Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār (d. 415/1025) entitled Tathbītu dalāʾil al-nubuwwa is one of the early examples of this. In this article, Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār’s view of the Fāṭimids will be analyzed within the framework of this work. Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār’s endeavour to link the Fāṭimid Ismāʿīlis and the Qarmaṭians directly in terms of theological and political aspects has been decisive in our preference. Although there were transitions from time to time, these groups diverged in theological and political terms and continued their existence as two competing Ismāʿīlī movements. In anti-Ismāʿīlī texts, it is noteworthy that these two groups are presented as related and the extreme views of some of the Qarmaṭians are attributed to all Ismāʿīlīs. As a matter of fact, beyond associating the two groups, Qāḍī was one of the first to attribute certain ibāḥā-type practices, which were rarely on the agenda for some extreme Qarmaṭī groups, to the Fāṭimids, who were sensitive about taking sharīʿa as a basis as well as bāṭinī knowledge. Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār’s inclusion of various claims about the lineage of the first Fāṭimid Caliph, ʿUbayd al-ʿAbd Allah al-Mahdī (d. 322/934), is one of the distinguishing aspects of the work. These issues will be evaluated in our study by taking into account the general structure and conditions of the period as a requirement of the principle of text and context analysis.

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