On Understanding of Tawhid in Isma‘ilism

Abstract

The article raises the question of understanding the principle of tawhid in the Isma‘ili philosophical discourse. Isma‘ili philosophers defended the absolute transcendence of God and His indescribability. The article describes the understanding of the one and only God in Isma‘ilism, analyzes the problem of the relationship between the One and the multiple within the paradigmatic pairs of Arab-Muslim philosophy ‒ “explicit‒hidden” and “basic‒branch”. It is impossible to call God the Original, otherwise it will be necessary to recognize that He is dependent and conditioned by His consequence, and this detracts from Him. God, according to the ideas of Ismailism, has only one “true” attribute — huwiyya, which forms the required nominal multiplicity and “transition” from the transcendent God to the cognizable plural world. It is the huwiyya of God that gives the impetus for the appearance of the First Cause — the command of God “Be!”, which is also its own consequence. Combining cause and eff ect, the command of God has absolute completeness. The reader is also off ered for the fi rst time in Russian a commented translation of an excerpt from the treatise of the Ismaili philosopher of the 11th century Nasir Khusraw “Six chapters” (Shish fasl) — Chapter “On the knowledge of tawhid”.