Nor are we going to discuss the differences between their sub-sects...

Nor are we going to discuss the differences between their sub-sects, the sons of Isma‘il who revolted in north Africa, one of the most glorious political revolutions in the Islamic history that founded the Fatimid caliphate which com- peted and in various aspects even superseded the ‘Abbasids in Baghdad especially after setting anchor of caliphate in Egypt. Nay, it was quite often even superior to that of the ‘Abbasid caliphate.

We do not wish to discuss here about their imams who are in hiding or living openly, or about the truth of their claim of descent from Isma‘il, or whoever they mention in his family tree. All these are beyond the scope of our present discussion. What we intend to discuss here is only Isma‘il himself in con- text of one question: Was Isma‘il an imam designated to that position by his father, al-Imam as-Sadiq (‘a.s.)? What are the positive and negative arguments surrounding this issue?

We only intend to present various views on this issue and analyze them. Isma‘ili Sources: It is necessary to point out that we face great difficulty when we refer to the Isma‘iliyyah sources because the Isma‘ilis are known to be very secretive, extremely ambiguous; and to work in secrecy of the extreme kind, they even resort to various disguises many times contradictory ones and they acknowledge this fact and consider it to be one of the main characteristics of their madhhab and their imams.

They were known for this in their political and religious activities long before the establishment of the Fatimid caliphate and also in the role they played after its fall in Egypt. This secrecy even includes their literature and intellectual legacy. Until very recently, no outsider had access to their religious literature and tradition except for small number of unreliable tracts written about them by non-Shi‘ah opponents.

And what we possess of their literature does not represent even minutely the literature and sources that we hear are preserved in extreme secrecy with their imams and leaders one cannot see them or read them even if he is very closely related to them in family ties and religious affiliation. Yet I do not know how much truth there is in this claim.

We also hear that the Isma‘ilis, or at least some of them, privately disbelieve in what they openly declare or what is publicly attributed to them or what others or themselves publish about their faith. This is also an issue, which I can neither confirm nor deny[^2].