#   Ḥasan-i Ṣabbāḥ and the Emergence of Nizari Ismailism  

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **April 1, 2025** 

 05:00PM - 06:30PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **HDS Swartz Hall, Room 125**  



 

 



 

   ![hassan sabbah](/sites/g/files/omnuum3186/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/2025-03/Project%20Flyers%201.png?itok=th4wY2D8) 

 

This presentation will examine the emergence of the Nizari Ismailism. This multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual global community of about five million is currently undergoing a transition in leadership after the death of their Harvard educated 49th imam, Karim al-Hussaini Aga Khan IV (r. 1957-2025) last month and the succession of his son Rahim al-Hussaini Aga Khan V.

On 17 Ramadan 559/15 August 1164, the fourth ruler of the polity declared the *Qiyāmat-i buzurg* (the Great Resurrection). The Nizari imamate became manifest with him and in the teachings of the *Qiyāma*, the *sharīʿa* was transcended and paradise attained. The true believers (*ahl-i wāḥdat*, people of unity) were to see themselves in presence of God. The doctrinal shifts initiated at this time transformed Nizari society and would continue to influence Islamicate conceptions of socio-political rule, soteriology and eschatology for centuries. The Nizari polity was decapitated by the Mongols in 1256 and their libraries destroyed. Three chronicles written over the next 70 years preserve fragments of Nizari *daʿwa* literature. In continuities of Sunni historiography and refutation of the Shiʿa and specifically the Ismailis, this writing construed the Nizaris as antinomian and heretical.

This lecture will examine the scholarship on Nizari Ismailism over the past century and the impacts of sources used in these studies. We will explore new approaches to distill historical and doctrinal information from antagonistic sources, including Nizari-Saljuq and Nizari-Mongol conflicts and relations. We will also sample re-readings of the biography of Ḥasan-i Ṣabbāḥ and chart developments of doctrinal thought after the emergence of Nizari Ismailism.

**Title**: Ḥasan-i Ṣabbāḥ and the Emergence of Nizari Ismailism

**Speaker**: Dr. Shiraz Hajiani (Alwaleed Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, 2022-24)

**Moderator**: Dr. Mohammad Sagha (Lecturer in the Modern Middle East, Harvard University)

**Time**: Tuesday, April 1, 5 PM

**Location**: HDS Swartz Hall, Room 125

**This is an in person event with a hybrid option. Registration is required:**

  
\*\*[**REGISTER HERE**](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchYzlfYtJ2TZPh7B__2Mn2dqKqAVqwC5pBNYyYTHdM41OD3A/viewform?usp=dialog)\*\*



 

 



 

 

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