The Ismāʿīlī Hierarchy - Ḥudūd al-Dīn - in the Context of Central Asia

This paper endeavours to delve into how, despite the efforts made by Russian and Soviet scholars, before and during the Soviet era, many aspects of Ismailism are yet to be adequately studied within the context of Central Asia. One such aspect is the role of the religious leaders, specifically, the hierarchy of the religious authorities — the ḥudūd al-dīn — within the Ismaili ṭarīqa. The Ismaili hierarchy served as a tool in maintaining and providing advice on religious matters for the murīds (followers) and on socio-political issues within the Ismaili community. However, due to the risk of being persecuted, the Ismaili religious leaders and religious authorities lived out of sight, compelled to hide their identity, and revealing their status to only a few representatives. By examining the scholarly findings of Wladimir Ivanow, Henry Corbin, Andrei Bertel’s and Farhad Daftary, and with the help of important Ismaili manuscripts discovered in the Badakhshan region of Tajikistan during the Soviet era, this study will investigate how, particularly in Central Asia, the ḥudūd al-dīn were structured and how their role and function served the Ismaili community which lived amid the hostile milieu of the Sunni majority.