Ismaili Neoplatonism: IIS Chapter by Dr. Khalil Andani (Open Access)
How Ismailis adopted Neoplatonic philosophy and its continuation in contemporary Ismaili thought
The Institute of Ismaili Studies has published a new Open Access book titled Fatimid Cosmopolitanism.
The first chapter of this new IIS book is “Ismaili Neoplatonism: The Cosmopolitan Legacy of the Fatimid Ismaili Daʿwa” by Dr. Khalil Andani.
Dr. Andani’s chapter is available to read or download at this link.
Summary of Khalil Andani’s Chapter:
Ismaili Neoplatonism emerged as Ismaili thinkers creatively drew on the Arabic translation of Plotinus/Proclus to articulate their theology.
Andani challenges the modern scholarly narrative that Neoplatonism was a mere “marketing strategy” aimed to convert Persian elites; instead, Neoplatonism provides “the strongest metaphysical basis” for Ismaili claims in a universalist cosmopolitan manner and endured well beyond the Fatimid period.
The Ismaili Neoplatonic schema—God as absolutely transcendent (“dual negation”), God’s eternal creative act, the Universal Intellect as first creation, and the Universal Soul emanating from it—underpins theology; Corbin called it “the most daring metaphysical thought in Islam.”
Imam al-Muʿizz had never condemned Ismaili Neoplatonism; in fact, Fatimid-era texts endorsed core Neoplatonic theses.
Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman’s, the Imam’s bab (gate), explained ideas like the Universal Intellect and Soul while Imam al-Muʿizz’s taught that “the Sacred Mosque is the [Universal] Soul and the Farthest Mosque… the [Universal] Intellect,” contradicting claims of official opposition.
The Neoplatonic framework underpinned Ismaili doctrines of tawḥīd and divine guidance. The “Rule of One” explained how an utterly transcendent God creates only one direct effect—the Universal Intellect—through which the divine names and guidance flow to Prophets and Imams.
In the post-Fatimid period, Neoplatonism remained central to Ismaili thought. Al-Shahrastānī and Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī drew on the Neoplatonic hierarchy of God’s Command, Intellect, and Soul to explain cosmology, prophethood, and Imamat. Even in post-Alamut texts, such as The Epistle of the Right Path, the later Imams taught that “the first cause is the Command and the first effect is the Universal Intellect.”
Neoplatonism has endured in Ismaili teaching in the modern period. Pir Shihāb al-Dīn Shah affirmed God’s transcendence and the Imams as manifestations of God’s first-created Light. Aga Khan III wrote of the “Universal Soul” in his Memoirs while Aga Khan IV spoke extensively of “the Light of Imamat” in his firmans and invoked the “Universal Intellect” (‘Aql-i Kull) as a Neoplatonic intermediary.
Some contemporary Ismaili waezin (Hunzai, Merchant) and philosophers (Lakhani, Andani) likewise employ Neoplatonism to address theology, evolution, and modern philosophy of religion.
Apart from the Imamat itself, Ismaili Neoplatonism is one of the most enduring legacies of the Fatimid caliphate and classical Islam. As Henry Corbin once instructed: ‘Its voice, at once original and traditional, should be heard again today—a task of which it seems that the young Ismailis are aware.’
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