Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

"Syed Ahmad Islam Shah was also known as Islam Shah. He is also called Salam Shah and Shri Islam Shah. Imam Islam Shah assumed the Imamate in 771/1370 in Azerbaijan, ruled by Sultan Uways (757-776/1356-1374), the Jalayirid ruler. It seems that during the early 25 years of his Imamate in Azerbaijan, he visited Daylam several times in disguise.

Summing up the sparsely recorded fragments of the ginans, it appears that Imam Islam Shah was a man of middle height, radiant face having piercing eyes. He was a gifted man of sweet disposition and engaging manner. His mole on right cheek was an eye-catching mark. He was a generous and passed sometimes a few months in the woods on hunting excursion.

The Mongol power ended with the death of Abu Sa'id, the last Ilkhanid ruler on November 30, 1335, and some months later, Taymur was born in Samarkand on April 8, 1336. He consolidated his powers as an amir in Samarkand at the age of 30 years and conquered few regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan and India. He had a vein of cruelty in his character, and so were his soldiers. From 735/1335 when Abu Sa'id died to the year 782/1380, Iran was left to its own device in 45 years, and was divided into four to five petty rules. Taymur spurred his horses towards Iran in 783/1381 and executed several terrible expeditions. He invaded Azerbaijan in 787/1385 when Imam Islam Shah was probably in Daylam. Taymur crushed the Muzaffarid of Ispahan and cost the lives of about 70,000 of its inhabitants, whose heads were piled in pyramids.

The Ismailis had hardly set up their livings that the Taymurid danger began to loom large on the Iranian horizon. He attacked Mazandaran, Sistan and Fars in 794/1392 and conducted bloody massacres of the local Ismailis. In 795/1393, Taymur swept the thick population of the Ismailis in Amul, the principal town of Tabaristan, lying along the south coast of the Caspian Sea; and also Astrabad, the city of Jurjan province to the north frontier of Mazandaran. During his campaign in Iran in Rajab, 795/May, 1393 while going to Hamadan from Ispahan, Taymur spent few days in Anjudan inhabited by the poor Ismailis. His soldiers wildly butchered many Ismailis and pillaged their properties. According to Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi (d. 858/1454) in Zafar-nama (1:577), "The Ismailis of Anjudan attempted to seek protection in their underground tunnels but they mostly lost their lives when they were flooded out by the Taymur's soldiers." Taymur returned to Samarkand in 798/1396 and died in 807/1405. His empire divided into petty rules, but Turkey, Iraq and India restored their rules he devastated. Iran and Afghanistan however were dominated by the Taymurids, but their internecine strife had badly hit the Iranian economy.

In India, the Tughlaqs gained their power after Taymur's death, which ultimately had fallen to the hand of the Syeds (816-855/1414-1451) and the Lodhis (855-933/1451-1526). The Ottoman empire became powerful once again after Taymur's death and spread their influence in Islamic countries. The Mamluks of Egypt and Syria were dragged into their internal disputes. When Taymur invaded Turkey and Syria, the rule of Mamluks was confined only to Cairo. After Taymur, the Turkish ruler occupied Egypt.

After a long series of bloody expeditions in Iran, Taymur had gone to Samarkand on July 18, 1396 and Iran once again breathed peacefully. Imam Islam Shah, in the meantime, also began to trek from Azerbaijan to Kahek in Iran. Pir Hasan Kabiruddin (d. 853/1449) writes in his ginan that: "It was Vikram Samavat 1452, the 17th of Ashad (or July 2, 1396) when Imam Islam Shah arrived in Kahek." It is related that Imam Islam Shah had made long journey in Iran to examine the region most suitable, and finally selected Kahek and Shahr-i Babak for his residence.

The Iranian Ismailis lived peacefully in Fars, Khorasan, Kahek, Anjudan, and Rudhbar etc. Meanwhile, Muhammad Shah, the son of Momin Shah bin Imam Shamsuddin Muhammad is reported to have appeared in Daylam, but his contact with the Imam is historically shrouded in clouds. He is however said to have joined Kiya Malik, the Hazaraspid ruler for taking the possession of Ashkawar. Muhammad Shah mustered the local Ismailis and formed his force, and subdued Syed Mahdi Kiya with the help of Kiya Malik. Syed Mahdi Kiya was arrested and sent to Tabriz in the court of sultan Uways (757-776/1356-1374), the Jalayirid ruler of Azerbaijan, Iraq and Kurdistan. Kiya Malik reinstated his rule in Ashkawar, and granted the hold of Alamut and its locality to Muhammad Shah in 776/1374. It is known that Syed Mahdi Kiya succeeded to release from imprisonment in 778/1376 with the influence of Tajuddin Amuli, the Zaidi Syed of Timjan, who had been made the governor of Ranikuh by his brother, Syed Ali. Soon afterwards, Syed Ali took field against Ashkawar and defeated Kiya Malik, who fled to Alamut in the hope of being assisted once again by Muhammad Shah, but failed, therefore, he took refuge with Taymur. Meanwhile, the forces of Syed Ali had laid siege to Alamut while pursuing Kiya Malik, and took possession of Alamut. Muhammad Shah had been given self-conduct, and was sent to Taymur, who is reported to have sent him in Sultaniyya, where he died in 807/1404. His descendants escaped from the prison and started their living in Sultaniyya.

In 813/1410, Syed Radi Kiya (798-829/1395-1426), the son of Syed Ali, and a powerful ruler of Lahijan, had expelled the Hazaraspid and Kushayji amirs from Daylam. He also stroke a severe blow to the local Ismailis during his operations, and killed a few of the descendants of Imam Alauddin Muhammad.

Kamaluddin Abdur Razzak (1413-1482), the son of Jalaluddin Ishaq Samarkandi had visited Kirman on May 21, 1441. He compiled Matla'us Sa'dain wa Majmu'ul Bahrain in 874/1470, but makes no mention of the Ismailis. Imam Islam Shah lived in Kahek in obscure, and did not attract the historians to make his mention. Syed Imam Shah (d. 926/1520), who had been in Kahek in the province of Kirman in 854/1450 writes in Motto Das Avatar (verse no. 10:141) that, "Imam Islam Shah resides in Kahek, but the ruler and people do not know him." Nuruddin bin Lutafullah (d. 834/1430) compiled Tarikh-i Hafiz Abru in 829/1425, however gave but a trivial account of the Ismailis during the time of Imam Islam Shah.

The Syrian Ismailis lived in peace during the period under review in Hims, Aleppo, Hammah, Masiyaf, Kadmus etc., and had generated a close contact with Imam Islam Shah through the local da'is. Muhammad bin Sa'd bin Daud (790-859/1378-1455), surnamed ar-Rafnah was a gifted da'i in Syria. He is reported to have visited Kahek few months before the death of Imam Islam Shah in 827/1423. He also attended the ascension ceremony of Imam Muhammad bin Islam Shah. He was a prolific writer and wrote Rasail al-Shifa, refuting the claims of the Momin-shahis. He also wrote Khams Rasail Ismailiyya. Nuruddin Ahmad (d. 849/1445) was another da'i of high fame in Syria, who had travelled widely in Syria, Iraq and Arabia. His Fusul wa-Akhbar deals the history of the Ismailis in Syria. Abul Ma'ali Hatim bin Imran, eminently known as Ibn Zahra also flourished in the period under review, who compiled al-Ahkam wa'l Fatarat and al-Mabda wa'l Ma'ad.

The Ismailis of upper Oxus seems to have unknown about the reduction of Alamut until the time of Imam Islam Shah due to residing at farthest region. Their communication with the Iranian Ismaili Imams collapsed for over 150 years during the operations of Halagu and Taymur. Shagnan, the district of upper Oxus was the chief Ismaili centre in Central Asia, where Syed Malang Shah was followed by Syed Khamush Shah Shirazi. Sir Thomas Douglas Forsyth (1827-1886) in Report on a Mission to Yarkand, Calcutta, 1875 puts his date at 665/1266. Syed Khamush Shah lived longer, and converted the Mongol tribes in upper Oxus. His tomb is at Kal'ai Barpanj. His descendants ruled Shagnan as hereditary Mirs during the time of Imam Islam Shah, who penetrated the Ismaili mission for the first time in China, including Yarkand and Pamir.

Imam Islam granted the title of Bawa to Syed Hashim and deputed him in Punjab as his vakil. He started his mission at his base in Multan, where he assumed the title of Harichandra.

With the indescribable efforts of Pir Sadruddin and Pir Hasan Kabiruddin, a large proselytism had been resulted in Sind, Punjab, Kutchh, Kathiawar and Gujrat by leaps and bounds. Syed Imam Shah admits in his Janatpuri (verse, 89) that, "Ismailism promulgated rapidly in India during the time of Imam Islam Shah."

Imam Islam Shah mostly lived in Kahek, and sometimes in Shahr-i Babak. It is also said that the Ismailis in these villages had built few dens in the upper hills to seek protection during emergency. The period of Imam Islam Shah however passed in peace, and he died in 827/1423. He consigned the office of Imamate to his elder son, Muhammad.