Unlike most Muslims, the Ismailis are not shy of expressing their theology and worship of God in song-form, with musical instruments and voice. This is not the Qur'anic recitation you'll hear from the muezzin. This is a body of 13-15th century Psalm-like compositions, differing from the works of David, Asaph and others in that the score, the melody, the music has survived through the years.
Ginan Central, a definitive collection of the Ismailic devotional literature, describes Ginans as follows:
The word ginan is a derivative of the Sanskrit term jnan which means knowledge or gnosis. In the context of the Ismaili community, the term is used for the community’s collection of oral tradition of devotional hymns. Ginans were originally composed and recited by the early preachers of the Ismaili faith to spread their message to the people of the Indian subcontinent. There are about one thousand individual hymns within the ginanic collection that vary considerably in length, language, and composition.
Originally oral, they began to be collected and recorded in the 16th century in various languages, then published from the mid 19th century in Gujarati.
Although Farhad Daftary claims the Ginans are “often anachronistic and legendary in nature, and as such are not reliable as historical sources"[^1], they do prove to be a ready source for Ismaili theology.
Blending
Interestingly, it is the evangelistic motive behind the Ginans that led to a decidedly distinctive interpretation of Ismailism in India.
In the absence of the hidden Imams, the Pirs (as the missionaries to the Indian sub-continent came to be known) spoke on behalf of the Imam, giving them the platform to contextualise their message as they saw fit.
Such was the effort to present their message on a level readily understandable by, and acceptable to, their Hindu audience that many of the Ginans have a noticeably syncretistic flavor.
As Daftary writes, “the creative application of taqiyya through a complex process of indigenization, adhesion and syncretism” means that Ismailism in India “differs significantly” from Nizari traditions elsewhere.[^2]
Two of the more obvious examples are reincarnation and the citation of Lord Vishnu:
"Follow the Farmaans [dictates of the Imam] so that you may overcome (the bondages of) the (repeated) cycles of rebirths." Satpanth Sutnun Mukh Che, 13
Know that the Creator, Ruler and the Destroyer(of evil) in the present age as Lord Vishnu the Imam. Allah ek Kassam Sabukaa, 16
[^1] Farhad Daftary, The Ismailis - Their History and Doctrines (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 385 [^2] Farhad Daftary, The Ismailis - Their History and Doctrines (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 450
Originally published October 2015