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I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies.
The Ismaili dai (missionary) and poet Nasir-i Khusraw (d. after 1070) wrote Khwan al-ikhwan (The Banquet of the Brethren) when he was living in his remote mountain refuge of Yumgan in Badakhshan. This work includes a precis of ideas found in the Kitab al-Yanabi (al-?ikma) (The Wellsprings of Wisdom), written by the earlier dai Abu Ya'qub al- Sijistani (d. ca. 971). Nasir-i Khusraw recast these ideas in Persian and then expanded them into 100 chapters (or 'courses' of a banquet). The text presents a sequence of dynamic arguments for divine unicity (taw?id), while also asserting the authority of the Prophet Muhammad, his legatee and son-in-law ?Ali b. Abi ?alib, and the subsequent Imams from the line of the Prophet's descendant Ismail b. Ja'far al-Sadiq.
Khwan al-ikhwan stands as a significant work in Ismaili theology and philosophy, exemplifying the central role of ta'wil (esoteric interpretation). It also reflects the learning of the age, including the conception of a geocentric cosmos, Aristotelian physics, and Neoplatonic philosophy, all of which profoundly influenced the Ismaili da'is in Iran.
This first English translation of Khwan al-ikhwan, derived from the Persian critical edition presented in Part 1, is accompanied by detailed annotation and an introduction which situates this important work in the context of Nasir-i Khusraw's other works and Aby Ya'qub al-Sijistani's Kitab al-Yanabi?.
Published | 19 Feb 2026 |
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Format | Hardback |
Edition | 2nd |
Extent | 496 |
ISBN | 9780755654772 |
Imprint | I.B. Tauris |
Illustrations | 1 bw illus |
Dimensions | 216 x 138 mm |
Series | Ismaili Texts and Translations |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |