Dawn on the Nile

The Second Flowering of Muslim Intellectual Life

This is Part 2 of a three-part series. Go here for Part 1, and here for Part 3.

Background — Sunni and Shia

The split into Sunni and Shia occurred over the issue of a successor to the Prophet Muhammad. The group that went on to become the majority believed that the selection of this successor had been left to the community, with the final decision made through a process of consensus.

A minority group in turn and with time came to believe that by both words and deeds, the Holy Prophet had nominated his son-in-law Ali (who later became the Fourth Caliph, and is considered to be the last of the four Rightfully Guided Caliphs by the majority) as his successor.

The differences between these two groups were fluid at this early stage, and closely linked to political developments whose details we do not need to get into, but each group coalesced within a century, with the minority ultimately becoming the Shia, while the majority came to be known as the Sunnis.

In time, even among the Shia, differences occurred over the line of successors (known as Imams) to the Holy Prophet, and the difference that we are most concerned about here occurred after the death in AD 765 of Jaffer as-Sadiq, revered by the Shia as the sixth Imam.

One group came to regard his son Musa as the next and seventh Imam, and ultimately came to believe that the twelfth in this line of Imams, also named Mohammed, had been withdrawn from the worldly plane, and will one day return as the Messiah, bringing peace and harmony to the world.

This group is therefore known as the Twelver Shia, and members of this group comprise by far the vast majority of the Shia today, to the point where the term Shia has become virtually synonymous with Twelver Shia.

Ismailis

However, there was another group of the Shia that believed that the seventh Imam should have been another son of Jaffer as-Sadiq, who was called Ismail, hence the term Shia Ismailis, or simply Ismailis, when referring to this splinter group.

The Ismailis disappear from history for over one hundred years after this split, but obviously their doctrine was developing during this period, because by the time that they become prominent again, their faith had evolved into a mixture of Islamic and Platonic beliefs (remember that this was also the period when Islamic philosophers were being exposed to ancient Greek texts).

Plato’s concept of an ideal polity had been one that was led by a Philosopher-King, with only a small minority of capable and qualified people being given access to true esoteric knowledge, while the majority of people were restricted to knowledge of a more basic and exoteric nature.

Under Ismailism, the Philosopher-King was replaced by an Ismaili Imam or his representative, with the Ismailis forming the minority which had access to the esoteric secrets of the universe, and the extent of access depending on the “grade” of the Ismaili.

Both the realm of faith as well as the natural world were regarded as symbols that were expressing hidden truths, or true Forms in Platonic philosophy, and it was the role of the Ismaili Imam to understand and impart this esoteric knowledge to these select few.

The exoteric knowledge, on the other hand, was now de facto the Sunni faith, which was considered suitable for the general population. Thus, the ideal state, from the Ismaili viewpoint, was one led by an Ismaili Imam, supported by a minority Ismaili privileged class, all ruling over a majority Sunni population.

The Fatimids

In 899, the Ismailis, under their eleventh Imam, Ubaydullah al-Mahdi Billah, burst to the surface in modern day Algeria, and started gaining political control, styling themselves as Fatimids, because they claimed descent from Fatima, a daughter of the Holy Prophet.

Spreading eastwards, they finally gained control of Egypt in 969, and established their capital in Cairo. At its peak, the Fatimid Empire included most of North Africa, as well as modern day Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. In addition, the Ismailis maintained an extensive trading network, including places as far away as China.

As the Fatimids considered themselves to be members of the selected and restricted few, they had no theological axe to grind, and their empire was therefore tolerant not only of other Muslim sects, but even non-Muslims. Shorn of all theological impediments to the seeking of knowledge, they created a renaissance of science and learning on the Nile.

Two of their most notable achievements in this regard were the founding of Al Azhar University, soon after the conquest of Egypt, and the establishment of the Dar al-Ilm (House of Knowledge) in 1005.

Al Azhar

Though Al Azhar University has today become renowned as the center of Sunni Muslim theology, it owes its origin to the Fatimid Ismailis, who not only built it, but also generously endowed it, so that it could function independently as a center of higher learning.

The courses at Al Azhar included lectures by other Muslim schools of thought including Sunni ones, as well as secular subjects such as law and science, which were open to all.

In the House of Knowledge, very similar in concept to the House of Wisdom founded by Mamun in Baghdad two hundred years earlier (covered previously in Part 1), a number of subjects were taught, including not only the traditional ones such as the Quran and traditions of the Holy Prophet, but also logic, grammar, philology, astronomy, and mathematics.

It had an extensive library which in time grew to several hundred thousand volumes, and both the library as well as the courses were accessible to anyone regardless of their religious background. However, in keeping with the spirit of the Ismaili ethos, the teaching sessions for the Ismaili initiates were held separately, sometimes in the ruler’s palace.

Downfall

In time, the Fatimids became subject to the same internal dissensions that plagued every other kingdom, whether Islamic or otherwise.

In 1169, a Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Salahuddin Yusuf al-Ayyubi, better known in the West as Saladin, was appointed as the vizier (chief minister) to the last Fatimid ruler, al-Adid.

Upon al-Adid’s death in 1171, Salahuddin overthrew the Fatimids, and ordered that the Friday prayer sermon now pay homage to the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad, rather than to a Fatimid Caliph, formally returning Egypt back to the Sunni Muslim fold.

With this waning of Ismaili power, Al Azhar slowly shifted from being a center of general learning to a center of religious orthodoxy.