Articles, Updates and News on, for and from the Ismaili jamaat
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Khoja
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.
500 years of doubt and concealment were brought to an end in the mid-18th century as the 43rd Imam of the Ismaili faith came out of hiding in south eastern Iran.
But it's with the 46th Imam, Hasan 'Ali Shah, that Ismaili history took a turn.
Alamut had fallen, the Imam had been slain by his Mongol captors and the Ismaili empire lay in tatters. Ismailis were massacred and dispersed across the region.
The history of the next 500 years is obscure, as Ismaili scholars themselves admit. For the first 200 years the Imams were unknown and even now our Ismaili friend can only claim to know their names.
