Transmission of Knowledge and Book Preservation in the Ṭayyibī Ismāʿīlī Tradition

Abstract

The transmission and preservation of knowledge in Ṭayyibī Ismāʿīlism are constrained by the restrictions imposed by the state of satr (concealment) of the imam. During this period, until the return of the concealed imam, it is the duty of daʿwa officials to preserve the esoteric knowledge known as the bāṭin. As a result, only initiated believers are granted access to religious literature, and then, only to what is appropriate for the degree of knowledge they have reached. The preservation and dissemination of the religious heritage of the Ṭayyibī Ismāʿīlis is therefore intertwined with and determined by access to the literature as granted to students of the faith, depending on the student’s level of religious education.