The Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion is pleased to announce the recipient for the CCSR’s 2026 doctoral research and travel award :
Seddigheh Kardan, Ph.D Student, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, member of CCSR
Shahrastānī and the Ismāʿīlī Daʿwah: Investigating Shahrastānī’s Influence By and On the Missionaries (dāʿīs) and Thoughts of the Fāṭimid and Nizārī Periods
My research focuses on the esoteric thoughts of the 12th-century Muslim luminary, Abū al-Fatḥ Tāj al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm Shahrastānī. While Shahrastānī is canonically recognized as a major Ashʿarī Sunnī theologian, the discovery and analysis of his esoteric works, such as the Quranic commentary Mafātīḥ al-asrār wa maṣābīḥ al-abrār and his Persian sermon Majlis-i maktūb-i munʿaqid dar Khwārazm, have ignited a profound scholarly debate regarding his real sectarian identity. This scholarship argues that Shahrastānī’s esoteric thought represents a complex and unique intellectual tradition. I contend that while his work was profoundly shaped by Fāṭimid Ismaili thought, he simultaneously introduced novel theological models – most notably through the al-Khiḍr narrative – and navigated a paradigm shift within Ismaili intellectual traditions during the early Nizārī period. One of the central problems I intend to address is the critical lacuna regarding the transmission and enduring influence of these esoteric works, which, unlike his exoteric writings, faced significant challenges in their posthumous reception.
