Abd al-Salam Shah

ʿAbd al-Salām Shāh (Arabic: عبد السلام شاه; died 1493/4) was the 33rd imam of the Qasim-Shahi branch of the Nizari Isma'ili community.

Life

Originally named Mahmud, he reportedly received the honorific name 'Abd al-Salam' (lit. 'Servant of Peace') from his father, al-Mustansir Billah II, on account of the wisdom he displayed.^[1] An epistle of a contemporary poet mentions that he was also known as 'Salam Allah'.^[1]

He succeeded his father upon the latter's death c. 1480, at Anjudan. According to oral Nizari tradition, he died in 1493/4 and was succeeded by his son, Gharib Mirza.^[2] Like his father, he tried to persuade the Nizari communities of the rival Muhammad-Shahi branch in Badakhshan and Afghanistan to recognize his leadership.^[3]

Works

A number of writings are attributed to him:

• Most famously, an oft-repeated ode addressed to the 'seekers of [spiritual] union', i.e. those seeking after the divine gnosis of God. According to Abd al-Salam Shah, this is achievable only through complete submission to the will and guidance of the Imam, who alone is privy to the hidden, esoteric truths of the Quran.^[4]
• Panj Sukhan kih Hadrat-i Shah Islam farmuda and ('Five Discourses Uttered by Shah Islam'), a brief essay on the moral and ritual obligations of the faithful.^[5]
• Farman-i Shah Abd al-Salam ('Decree of the Imam Abd al-Salam'), written in 1490 and addressed, according to Vladimir Ivanov, to the Muhammad-Shahi followers in Badakhshan and Kabul.^[6] According to Shafique Virani, this is the "only known Qasimshahi source explicitly testifying to a rivalry between the two lines" of Nizari imams, but its current whereabouts are unknown.^[6]
• Bandi az Shah Abd al-Salam Shah Mustansir bi'llah ('A Poem of Shah Abd al-Salam [ibn] Shah Mustansitr bi'llah'), which may be the same as the ode to the 'seekers of union'.^[6]

References

Sources

• Daftary, Farhad (2007). The Ismāʿı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-61636-2.
• Virani, Shafique N. (2007). The Ismailis in the Middle Ages. A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531173-0.