Customer Reviews

The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, a Search for Salvation

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The historical-era that the author encompasses is of fundamental importance to the Islamic world and its implications on various Muslim communities in the present. The Ismaili's in the Middle Ages, is a detailed yet interesting account of how the various Ismaili communities managed to construct an identity via various tactics so as to respond to the challenges of the various religious and socio-political scopic-regimes within their lands.

The detective-like narrative style of the book makes it interesting and unique from the usual story book or academic treatise, because Shafique Virani starts off the book with a basic historical primer on various Muslims sects and the location of Shia-Ismailism within the particular context. Building upon this basic knowledge, the author references translations of various Saraiki, Gujarati, Russian, Arabic, Persian and other linguistic works along with informative critical analyses so as to cement the patches in the obscure history of the Ismaili's during this era. An era of uncertainty, when the Ismaili communities in the aftermath of the destruction caused by Genghis Khan and his hordes attempted to gather themselves together and successfully thrive through the continuum of time.

The book should not be taken as a mere historical-narrative of the invasion of the Mongols, rather it is an analysis of the various methods and strategies that the Ismaili's used to safe-guard their communities and religious-belief from other external threats during this time-period. It is almost like a success-story of a persecuted community almost bought to the brink of extinction due to the barbaric Mongol onslaught.

I think, the book is bound to provoke an emotionally tear-jerking response along with its factually authentic account of the community and how it re-structured and preserved its vibrant historical traditions and the core-belief in the "Imam of the Time" so as to emerge from the ashes almost like what Virani describes as a "Phoenix."

It should also be emphasized that Ismaili's in the Middle Ages is a not to be
taken lightly due to its engaging narrative as a mystery-book, rather it is a solid scholarly work that extracts information from solid and credible primary and secondary sources accompanied with detailed bibliographic referencing so as to allow the scholar or the curious average reader an opportunity to trail outside the covers of the book, and trace the origin of Shafique Virani's train of thought and interpretation of historical facts and arguments.

In culmination, I would say that this book is a must-read by any serious scholar of history, religion or even the general-reader who wants a good leisure read.