The "Esoteric" Doctrine

We have more than once already had occasion to refer to the good work which is being done by Prof. Ivanow for the Islamic Research Association, Bombay, in editing and coordinating authoritative, or so reputed, documents of the Ismailis. The Association's latest publication - Kalam-i-Pir (The Siant's Discourse) edited as regards the Persian and translated into English by Prof. Ivanow - is documentarily important only on account of the veneration in which it is held by the Ismailis of Central Asia, who ascribe its authorship to Nasir-i-Khusrau, a well-known saint and theologian of the Fatimid period. Dr. Ivanow has shown conclusively that the treatise cannot possibly be the work of the great Nasir in spite of its concluding with these words:

"This is the end of the book called Seven Chapters by the king of wise men and chief of seekers after truth.....Sultan Shah Nasir-i-Khusrau."

He has shown also that the ostensibly autobiographical story of the conversion of that famous saint to the Batini or esoteric doctrine as the result of an alleged interview with Hasan b.As-Sabbah which forms the first chapter, is quite apocryphal, the whole treatise, including this narrative, being from internal evidence the work of a lesser person at a later period. He adds: "With all this there is no reason to treat the Kalami Pir as a "fake". The work obviously was composed by a devoted and highly inspired Isamili, whose thorough knowledge of his religion is beyond doubt. What ever was the real reason or purpose of the introduction of the portions connected with Nasiri Khusrau's authorship, they do not detract from its importance and value as a genuine document concerning the evolution of Ismailism."

The Persian treatise is extremely curious in its mixture of eternal verities with sectarian ideas and catch words which have the effect of limiting the application of the verities in a rather bewildering way. It is largely concerned with the Nizari controversy - which arose after the time of Nasir-i- Khusrau. Indeed it carries to the utmost the Nizari exaltation - one might almost say, deification - of the imam for the time being. Occasionally one lights upon a childish argument as, for instance when, desiring to refute a serious school of theology, the unknown author quotes (p.54 of the translation) : "In the Fusuli Mubarak......it is mentioned that once a Daylamite had a dispute with a representative of this particular school at Isfahan. His opponent said; "God has no hands, no eyes, etc - he mentioned every part of the human body. The Daylamite replied; "O thou tail-less! The thing that thou describest is a melon or a water melon."

The Persian text is here well edited and clearly printed. The introduction and notes supply all necessary information, and the English translation, though not literal, adequately conveys the meaning of the original. Occasionally we note small inaccuracies which seem to us to give a meaning slightly differing from the Persian author's. For example, on p.9 of the text: which Prof. Ivanow has translated (p2 of the translation):   "Every one of the faithful, following the principle - It (the soul) shall have what it has earned, and shall owe what has been earned from it' - will become the salve of what is true (mustahaqq)'"

Mustahaqq does not mean what is true, but what is merited or deserved. The translation ought to be "will become the slave of his deserts" - as the quotation from the Quran, besides, suggests.

The omission of the word "as" after the verbs "consider" and "regard" in certain contexts, though freely practised in India, is a mistake in English. The omission of a preposition here and there we should attribute to a printer's error in a work which showed less evidence of a careful proof-reading.

A very interesting appendix, full indexes (including an index of the Hadith and of the Batini technical terms which are mention in the text) add greatly to the value of a very interesting work.

M.P.