Few biographical details are available on Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Quhistani, a prominent聽Nizari Ismaili聽author and missionary (da鈥榠), who flourished in the second half of the 9th AH / 15th CE century and died not too long after 904 AH/1498 CE.
He was born in the district of Mu鈥檓inabad, to the east of聽BirjandA city in Quhistan, in southern Khurasan in Iran., in Quhistan, the medieval name of the south-eastern region of聽KhurasanThe northeastern region of early Islamic Persia, immediately south of Transoxania and west of Badakhshan. More. He evidently spent his entire life in that part of Persia.
As mentioned in his sole surviving work, 贬补蹿迟听产补产, or Seven Chapters (pp. 24, 63), a treatise written at the beginning of the 10th AH / 16th CE century and preserved by the聽Nizaris聽of Central Asia, Abu Ishaq was a contemporary of the thirty-fourth Qasimshahi Nizari聽imamIn general usage, a leader of prayers or religious leader. The Shi’i restrict the term to their spiritual leaders descended from 士Al墨 b. Ab墨 峁乴ib and the Prophet’s daughter, Fatima., Mustansir bi鈥檒lah also known as Gharib Mirza (d. 904/1498), whose mausoleum is still preserved in the village of Anjudan in central Persia.
As explained in the first autobiographical chapter of his聽贬补蹿迟听产补产聽(pp. 4-9), Abu Ishaq was born into a non-Ismaili (probably Ithna鈥榓shari) family and converted to Nizari Ismailism in his youth by a local聽da鈥榠. Subsequently, he was appointed to a post in the聽da鈥榳a聽or missionary organisation of the Quhistani聽Nizaris聽by the region鈥檚 chief聽da鈥榠, a certain Khwaja Qasim.
Author
Dr Farhad Daftary
Co-Director and Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications
An authority in Shi’i studies, with special reference to its Ismaili tradition, Dr. Daftary has published and lectured widely in these fields of Islamic studies. In 2011 a Festschrift entitled聽Fortresses of the Intellect聽was produced to honour Dr. Daftary by a number of his colleagues and peers.