Ahmad b. Ibrahim al-Naysaburi (996-1021) lived at the pinnacle of Fatimid rule in Egypt. One of the most distinguished scholars of his time, several important works are accredited to him. However, it is his major treatise - the Kitab Ithbat al-imama - which is of seminal importance in the philosophical development of medieval Muslim thought. It is in this work - which is here presented in a completely fresh edition and a new translation - that al-Naysaburi daringly uses rational tools to explain and expound his theology, rather than base his assertions exclusively on the authority of the...
Ahmad b. Ibrahim al-Naysaburi (996-1021) lived at the pinnacle of Fatimid rule in Egypt. One of the most distinguished scholars of his time, several i...
This is an annotated English translation of Qadi al-Nu'man's Iftitahal-de' wa. This book is the most important primary source for the emergence of the Fatimid state in the early years of the tenth century. Its author, Qadi al-Nu'man, was an official historian of the Fatimids and an eminent exponent of Ismaili jurisprudence--as well being perhaps the most distinguished and creative of all the Fatimid thinkers. The Iftitah is al-Nu'man's major historical work, and records in detail the background to the establishment of the Fatimid state, first in Yemen and then in north...
This is an annotated English translation of Qadi al-Nu'man's Iftitahal-de' wa. This book is the most important primary source for the e...
The caliph Al-Mu'izz li Din Allah, founder of Cairo, transformed the emergent Fatimid state from a regional power of limited influence to an impressive Mediterranean empire whose authority extended from the shores of the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. Al-Mu'izz (r. 953-75), the dynamic fourth Fatimid caliph, was a ruler whose vision and energy defined the high water mark of Fatimid ambition. Among his crowning achievements was the conquest of Egypt, a cherished goal of the Fatimids, which they governed for over two centuries. The writings of the erudite 13th/14th century Sunni Mamluk...
The caliph Al-Mu'izz li Din Allah, founder of Cairo, transformed the emergent Fatimid state from a regional power of limited influence to an impres...
The Fatimid empire was a highly sophisticated and cosmopolitan regime that flourished from the beginning of the 10th to the end of the 12th century. Under the enlightened rule of the Fatimid Caliphs, Cairo was founded as the nucleus of an imperium that extended from Arabia in the east to present-day Morocco in the west. Dynamic rulers like the the fourth caliph al-Mu'izz (who conquered Egypt and founded his new capital there) were remarkable not only for their extensive conquests but also for combining secular with religious legitimacy. As living imams of the Ismaili branch of Shi'ism,...
The Fatimid empire was a highly sophisticated and cosmopolitan regime that flourished from the beginning of the 10th to the end of the 12th century...
One of the most prominent Muslim scholars and scientists of the medieval era, the Persian polymath Nasir al-Din Tusi (1201-1274) joined the Shi'a Nizari Ismaili community at a young age, as the armies of Genghis Khan poured across his homeland. In the course of a long and eminent career, first under the patronage of the Ismailis at the fortress of Alamut, and later with the conquering Mongols, he produced over 150 works on diverse subjects from theology and philosophy to mathematics and astronomy. His principal works on Ismaili doctrine, the Rawda-yi taslim (The Paradise of...
One of the most prominent Muslim scholars and scientists of the medieval era, the Persian polymath Nasir al-Din Tusi (1201-1274) joined the Shi'a N...
