List of Ismaili titles

List of titles used by the followers of Ismailism, a branch of Shia Islam.

The titles are of Persian and Arabic origin.

Nizari Ismaili titles

The hierarchy (hudūd) of the organization of the Nizari Ismailis of the Alamut period was as follows:

  • Imām (امام), the descendants of Nizar
  • Dā'ī ad-Du'āt (داعی الدعات literally "Da'i of the Da'is"), "Chief Da'i"
  • Dā'ī kabīr (داعی کبیر) – "Superior Da'i", "Great Da'i"
  • Dā'ī (داعی, literally "missionary") – "Ordinary Da'i", "Da'i"
  • Rafīq (رفیق, literally "companion, assistance, fellow-traveler"), plural rafīqān (رفیقان)
  • Lāṣiq (لاصق, literally "adherent"). Lasiqs had to swear a special oath of obedience to the Imam.
  • Fidā'ī (فدائی, literally "self-sacrificer")

Imam and da'is were the elites, while the majority of the sect consisted of the last three grades who were peasants and artisans.[1]

Other titles include:

The titles Bābā (بابا; Persian equivalent of the Arabic Shaykh, "Old Man") and Sayyidinā (Sayyidnā) (سیدنا; literally "Our Lord" or "Our Master") was used by the Nizaris to refer to Hassan-i Sabbah.[2]

  • Kiyā (کیا) – a ruler[3] or commander. Notably held by Buzurg-Ummid.
  • Muhtasham[4] (محتشم) – a governor of Quhistan.[5]
  • Mahdī - the rightly guided one
  • Qāim - the one who rises
  • Nāṭiq (ناطق) - the messenger-prophet
  • Waṣī (وصي) - the prophet's "legatee"
  • Bāb - literally gate
  • Hujjah - literally proof
  • Dā'ī al-Balagh - regional missionary
  • Dā'ī al-Mutlaq - absolute missionary
  • Mādhun - assistant
  • Mukāsir - debater
  • Shaykh - elder in Arabic
  • Pīr - senior elder in Persian
  • Mukhi - headman
  • Kāmādia - treasurer
  • Vāras/Vizier - minister
  • Aāmilsaheb - agent
  • Shāhzāda - prince
  • Allāma - scholar
  • Mu'allim - teacher
  • Mullāh - lesser elder in Persian
  • President - national leadership title
  • Amīr - commander
  • Amīr al-mu'minīn - commander of the faithful
  • Begum - noble lady
  • Māta Salāmat - Mother of Peace
  • Sayyid - descendant
  • Hakīm - doctor
  • Khwājah - master
  • Mawlānā - our master
  • Murshid - guide-master
  • Wali - guardian
  • Qādī - judge
  • Murīd - follower
  • Mustajib - respondent
  • Hājī - pilgrim
  • Khalif - deputy
  • Sitt - noble lady

Other titles

References
  1. Petrushevsky, I. P. Islam in Iran. SUNY Press. p. 253. ISBN 9781438416045.
  2. Farhad Daftary, “ḤASAN ṢABBĀḤ,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, XII/1, pp. 34-37, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hasan-sabbah (accessed on 30 December 2012).
  3. Joveynī, ʻAlā al-Dīn ʻAṭā Malek (1958). The history of the World-Conqueror. Harvard University Press. p. 640.
  4. Also mistakenly transliterated as muhtashim.
  5. Landolt, Herman; Kassam, Kutub; Sheikh, S. (2008). An Anthology of Ismaili Literature: A Shi'i Vision of Islam. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-84511-794-8.
  6. Daftary, Farhad (2007). The Ismāʻı̄lı̄s: their history and doctrines (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-35561-5.
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