Guardians of Esoteric Knowledge: Exploring the Agents of Ta’wil in Ismaili Thought - Part 2 (13 Min. Read)
A discussion on the taʼwil and taʼlim of the Qurʼan and how esoteric knowledge reaches the believers.
“And whoever obeys Allah, and the Messenger
will be in the company of those
on whom Allah has bestowed favors:
the prophets (nabiyyin), the truthful (siddiqin),
the martyrs/witnesses (shuhadaʼ),
and the righteous (salihin) —
what honorable company!”
— Holy Qurʼan 4:69
In “Guardians of Esoteric Knowledge — Part 1”, we explored how Qurʼan 4:69 illuminates the chain of those entrusted with the taʼlim (authoritative instruction) and taʼwil (esoteric interpretation) of Allah’s final message. Here, in Part 2, we turn to the question that naturally follows: how does this living transmission reach the Ismaili Jamat today?
As shown previously, the groups named in 4:69 appear in sequence — each reflecting a distinct role in the world of religion, ordered by proximity to the natiq or speaker-prophet. Sayyidna Nasir-i Khusraw explains that the natiq holds three ranks which are then inherited by those who follow him, with the sole exception of risalah, or prophethood itself.
“...the ṇāṫiq has three ranks, risālat (Prophethood), waṣāyat (legateeship) and imamate, while the asās has two, one being waṣāyat, (i.e. asāsiyyat [asās-ship]) and the other being imamate....”
— Sayyidnā Nāṣir-i Khusraw, Wajh-i Dīn, translated by Faquir Muhammad Hunzai as The Face of Religion, Discourse 11, forthcoming.
However, in discussing the taʼwil of the Islamic rite of ablutions or wuduʼ, Sayyidna Nasir reveals that the natiq in fact holds four ranks:
“…the nāṭiq…has four ranks: nubuwwat, waṣāyat, imamate and bābiyyat.”
“The face…signifies the nāṭiq…just as people are recognised by their face, religion is recognised by the nāṭiq…who is the face of the religion.”
“The face encompasses the four senses: sight, hearing, smell and taste. This means that God, may He be exalted, gave the nāṫiq four great ranks [nāṫiq, asās, Imam, and ḥujjat].”
— Sayyidnā Nāṣir-i Khusraw, Wajh-i Dīn (The Face of Religion), Discourse 15.
Nabuwwah and risalah are two terms for the same prophetic function, and Dr. Faquir Muhammad Hunzai clarifies that babiyyah (gateway-ship) refers to the role of the hujjah—an exalted rank, the literal meaning of which is “proof,” “argument,” or “evidence.”
The following Qurʼanic verses illustrate how the natiq historically embodied the role of hujjah within his mission:
“His people argued (wahajjahu) with him. He said: Do you dispute (atuhajjunni) with me concerning Allah when He has guided me? I fear not at all that which you set up beside Him unless my Lord wills it. My Lord includes all things in His knowledge. Will you not then remember? How should I fear that which you set up beside Him, when you fear not to set up beside Allah that for which He has revealed unto you no warrant? Which of the two factions has more right to safety? (Answer me that) if you have knowledge. Those who believe and obscure not their belief by wrongdoing, theirs is safety; and they are rightly guided. That is Our argument (hujjatuna). We gave it to Abraham against his folk. We raise to degrees of wisdom whom We will. Lo! your Lord is Wise, Aware.”
— Holy Qurʼan 6:80-83
These verses demonstrate how Hazrat Ibrahim⁽ᶜ⁾ embodied the role of hujjah, delivering divinely inspired arguments to those who disputed the faith. In the same way, the natiq exercises all functions of religious leadership, which are later distributed among the figures who follow him in the world of religion (‘alam-i din).
The number of ranks attributed to the natiq varies depending on the taʼwil being illustrated — three ranks when commenting on the three letters of ilah in the shahada (testimony of faith), four ranks when commenting on the four ritual requirements of ablution. What remains constant is the principle that every rank in the world of religion encompasses the powers of all ranks below it.
Returning to 4:69, we must now turn our attention to a fifth group, whose mention is somewhat concealed. They do not appear among the named groups but are found in the verse’s opening words: waman yutiʼil-laha wal-rasula — “and whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger.” This obedient group, too, will be in the company of the four, placing them on the sirat al-mustaqim.
To identify them, we follow the same rational rule of proximity that has guided us throughout: the closest to the natiq is his asas, the closest to the asas is the Imam, and the closest to the Imam is the hujjah. The identity of this fifth group is therefore determined by asking: who follows most closely behind the hujjah?
“O Prophet! We have sent you as a witness, and a deliverer of good news, and a warner, and a caller (dā‘i) to Allah by His command, and a beacon of light.”
— Holy Qurʼan 33:45-46
“Understand that for each Imam there are twelve visible diurnal ḥujjas and twelve concealed and hidden nocturnal ḥujjas...they are the veil of the Imam and are his mouthpieces and gateways, his deputies, and the messengers from him to the dā‘īs, who in turn convey the message to the believers.”
— Dā‘ī Abū ‘Abdallāh al-Shī‘ī, quoted in Sayyidnā Ibn al-Haytham, Kitāb al-Munāẓarāt (The Book of Discussions), translated by Wilfred Madelung and Paul E. Walker as The Advent of the Fatimids: A Contemporary Shi’i Witness, 97.
“After them there are five ranks that should be recognised. These correspond to the five senses in the physical creation (hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch). Similarly in spiritual creation are discernment, division, tanzīl (revelation), ta‘līf (compilation) and taʼwil, and combinations thereof. Corresponding to these five in the world of religion are the nāṫiq, the asās, the Imam, the ḥujjat and the dā‘ī.”
— Sayyidnā Nāṣir-i Khusraw, Wajh-i Dīn (The Face of Religion), Discourse 33.
The most logical candidate for this fifth group is the daʿi. As the verse from Surah Al-Ahzab confirms, the Prophet Muhammad⁽ˢ⁾ himself fulfilled this function in his own time.
Who Were the Da‘is?
“Those who served the Imam historically, were given the title of “dai”. You are all dais today — all of you. So you are all representing the Imam in your lives, in your work, in your practice. And I give you special blessings for success.…
Those of you who are interested in history, read up upon the dais of our history! There is much to learn — the way the Jamat practiced centuries ago. There is much to learn. It is a source of knowledge, it is a source of understanding of our tradition. So if you have the time and you are interested, read up on the history of the dais of our Jamat around the world. And I think you will find inspiration, you will find ideas that are worth keeping alive today. So this historic continuity is a part of our faith, to which I attach the greatest importance.”
— Mawlana Shah Karim Al-Husayni⁽ᶜ⁾, Baytu’l-Khayal Mulaqat, Lisbon, Portugal, July 7, 2018.
During his Diamond Jubilee, Imam Shah Karim al-Husayni⁽ᶜ⁾ initiated something whose full significance many in the Jamat have yet to contemplate — he conferred the title of da‘i upon every member of the community. In doing so, the Imam directed those who are ready to reflect on what this title truly means and what it demands. It is in that spirit that this section explores the role, purpose, and responsibilities of the Ismaili da‘i as preserved in our traditional sources.
Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq⁽ᶜ⁾ has said:
“‘Be for us silent dā‘īs’, and they asked, ‘How can we make the appeal, O son of the Messenger of God, if we are silent?’ He replied, ‘Act in accord with what we commanded you to do with respect to obeying God and forbid what we forbade you to do.’”
— Sayyidnā Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-Naysābūrī, al-Risāla al-mūjaza al-kāfiya fī ādāb al-duʿāt, translated by Verena Klemm and Paul E. Walker with Susanne Karam as A Code of Conduct: A Treatise on the Etiquette of the Fatimid Ismaili Mission, 41).
The da‘i’s first and foremost duty is complete obedience to the Imam of the Time. As Sayyidna Naysaburi illustrates through the concept of the “silent da‘i,” this obedience need not be expressed in words — it must be made visible in action, such that an observer finds in that person’s conduct a living example of the tariqah’s wisdom and ethics.
Anyone who seeks to answer the Imam’s call to be a da‘i should begin here: know the religious duties and ethical obligations of the tariqah, fulfill them to the highest degree, and abstain entirely from what the Imam has forbidden.
“In the case of the ‘daa-ee’ [da‘i] his first and foremost duty is to live in strict adherence to the principles laid down by his faith. He should be pious to the extreme....”
— Sayyidnā Qāḍī al-Nu‘mān, Kitāb al-himma fī ādāb atbā‘ al-a’imma, translated by Jawad Muscati and A. Moulvi as Code of Conduct for the Followers of Imam, 134-135.
Inseparable from this obedience is full faith in the Imam of the Time — finding no fault in him and refraining from prying into his personal affairs. This presupposes that one has become genuinely and intellectually convinced that the Ismaili Imam is the divinely designated guide not only of the Ismaili community, but of all humanity.
“To obey the commands and prohibitions of the Prophet in toto is enjoined on us by God. It is an act of devotion to Him. God has linked our devotion to Him with our devotion to the Imams. Lip-profession of devotion in words ceases to be a devotion unless it is prompted by conviction and is followed by practice.
To criticise the Prophet or to pry into his affairs or to show disapproval of his actions in words or in thoughts is abominable. It is strictly prohibited by God who through His holy Book has enjoined on us all to submit ourselves to his [i.e. the Prophet’s] will. Our faith is incomplete without our submission to his will. The holy Imams occupy a similar position. They are the representatives of the Prophet on earth and our devotion to them is devotion to the Prophet.
It logically follows that it is our bounded duty to obey the commands of every Imam of the time and submit to his will. To criticise him or to pry into his affairs is as abominable as to criticise the Prophet or to pry into his affairs.”
— Sayyidnā Qāḍī al-Nu‘mān, Code of Conduct for the Followers of Imam, 127-128.
Beyond obedience and faith, the da‘i carries a second, equally central responsibility: to be a bearer of true knowledge, capable of illuminating the souls of the believers.
“Our lord the Commander of the Faithful [Imam ‘Ali])…said: ‘Dā‘īs in religion distinguish between doubt and certainty.’ Distinguishing between doubt and certainty is to separate truth from falsehood. It is possible that he intended it to be between the literal exterior and the inner meaning. Someone who does not know the true and certain, how can he distinguish doubt from certainty, and the truth from falsehood?
The dā‘ī must know the difference between truth and falsehood, so that he can distinguish one from the other, lest he judge the false to be true, and the true to be false.”
— Sayyidnā al-Naysābūrī, A Code of Conduct, 40.
“The Ismaili da‘wa was, self-consciously, the instrument through which true religion — valid law and doctrine, proper belief and action, correct science and knowledge of the universe, rightful loyalty to God and His agent for human affairs, appropriate appreciation for the difference between appearance and reality, between the purely physical and the truly spiritual — was made known to mankind in general and to believers in particular.”
— Paul E. Walker, Early Philosophical Shiism: The Ismaili Neoplatonism of Abū Ya‘qūb al-Sijistānī, 6.
The da‘is are the foremost teachers of the Ismaili community. They are expected to become competent in addressing the full range of religious questions a believer may encounter: the practice of faith, the recognition of the Imam, the divine laws of creation, the nature of angels and jinn, and the purpose, origin, and final end of humankind.
Historically, the da‘is developed this competence within the formal Ismaili da‘wa, where they were trained as deputies under the hujjah of their region, learning to articulate and transmit the teachings of the Ismaili tariqah with clarity and authority.
“The da‘wa....was organized in ‘islands’ (jazāʼir, singular jazīra) under control of a higher ranking dā‘ī who bore the title of ḥujja (argument, proof or guarantor).”
“Subordinate to the ḥujja were numerous regional and local dā‘īs....”
— Heinz Halm, The Fatimids and their Traditions of Learning, 57-58.
Through their direct spiritual connection to the Imam, the hujjahs were able to train the da‘is in a body of knowledge whose authority was guaranteed at its source. The written works of these hujjahs—Sayyidna Nasir-i Khusraw, Sayyidna Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, Sayyidna Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani, Sayyidna al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din al-Shirazi, Sayyidna Ja‘far b. Mansur al-Yaman, Qadi al-Nu‘man, and others — have survived to this day and remain an indispensable resource for any who seek to fulfill Mawlana Shah Karim⁽ᶜ⁾’s call to be the Imam’s da‘is.
“As for showing thankfulness to the Knower (who guided you), that is through obedience to him. As for thankfulness for the knowledge (he gave you), that is through putting it into action and calling (others) to it. And as for thankfulness for the (right religious) practice (he taught you), that is through steadfastness in (continuing) it and in calling (people) to it.”
— Sayyidnā Ja‘far b. Manṣūr al-Yaman, Kitāb al-‘Ālim wa’l-Ghulām, translated by James W. Morris as The Master and the Disciple: An Early Spiritual Dialogue, 63-64.
In these three forms of thankfulness, we find a precise map of everything explored in this section. Obedience to the Knower corresponds to the complete submission and faith in the Imam described by Sayyidna Qadi al-Nu‘man. Putting knowledge into action corresponds to the silent da‘i of Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq⁽ᶜ⁾—the one whose deeds speak before his words. And calling others to knowledge corresponds to the da‘i’s responsibility to illuminate and transmit what he has received.
The following passage from the same text makes the weight of this final obligation unmistakably clear.
“Then, when his guidance had been completed and he had reached the goal of his aspiration, he (the Knower) was duty-bound to show thanks to his Maker and to exert himself for his Lord (84:6). For he used to hear his own (spiritual) father (walid) repeat a proverb which for him was like his soul in relation to his body: ‘The most excellent of good deeds is giving life to the dead’ (5:30). So he thought to himself:
‘I too used to be dead, and he gave me life; I was ignorant, and he gave me knowledge. I am not the first person to be ignorant, so that I attained knowledge before everyone else; nor am I the last one to be ignorant, so that the process of (spiritual) teaching will come to an end. Therefore, it is only right for me, because of my gratitude for this blessing, to pass on this (divine) trust (4:58; 33:72, etc.) to those who come after me, just as those who preceded me have handed it down to me. For the beginning of this affair is from God, and it only reached me through its many intermediaries (asbāb), the first passing it on to the second, the second to the third, (and so on) until it descended from the heavenly host (37:8; 38:69) to the creatures of this lowly world.
After that, did it tear asunder the veil (between God and humanity), and did the ‘gateways’ (abwāb) pass it onward until it reached me, (only) so that I could be its goal and ultimate end? Not at all! For those who have transmitted it and handed on the trust in this way (before me) are more deserving of precedence and (spiritual) gains: what they have earned does not belong to me, so that I could rely on it. No, I am part of what they have earned through their actions (of teaching me). Nor does their precedence relieve me from having to act: so now I need to seek knowledge through (continuing right) action, just as (at first) I needed to seek knowledge.’
— Sayyidnā Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman, The Master and the Disciple, 64-65.
The passage above reminds us that this knowledge did not originate with us — it has descended through countless intermediaries before reaching our hands, and it was never meant to stop here. Imam Shah Karim⁽ᶜ⁾ has reaffirmed the role of the da‘i for our time, and the works of the great hujjahs remain accessible.
Yet the historical da‘is did not rely on texts alone — they were formed within a living chain of transmission, under the guidance of those whose souls had been directly illuminated by the Imam. Whether such guidance still exists today, and where it might be found, are questions no serious seeker can avoid.
These are the questions Part 3 will confront.
Ya ‘Ali Madad,
Navid Amiri
April 11th, 2026
Contact: n11amiri@gmail.com
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