Esoteric Meaning of ʿId al-Fitr in Ismaili Thought

Qadi al-Nu‘man, Nasir-i Khusraw and Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah explain the Ta’wil of ‘Id al-Fitr

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‘Id al-Fitr and its Ismaili Ta’wil

The Ismaili Daʿi and Hujjah of the Imam, Hakim Nasir-i Khusraw, writes in his great work on Ismaili ta’wil (esoteric exegesis and revelatory hermeneutics), Wajh-i Din (The Face of Religion), that exoterically, ʿĪd al-Fiṭr is the day when the fast breakers are liberated from the fast and can obtain food and drink and attain physical strength. Similarly, he explains, the human soul also requires its own type of food, which is knowledge and the spiritual and intellectual nourishment it brings.