Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

"The Hindi word bhagat is a corrupt form of bakt means a devotee. According to hadith al-kudsi, God said, "The most blessed of my friends is a man of faith who has few possessions and delights in the prayer, who performs well the service of his Lord, and obeys Him in secret. He is unnoticed among men: they do not point to him with their fingers.

(14/15th Century) Son of Pir HK. Buried in Akbarabad.

The word bid'a is derived from bada'a, means to invent something new, the like of which has not existed. In technical sense, it means newness or invention in reference to the religion. It refers to an innovation, which cannot be vindicated by authoritative precedent, or pernicious innovation (hawa wa-bid'ah), which is far removed from normal and established practice. It signifies a new or original action that has no precedent, one by which a degree of excellence or perfection in the performed of the action is demonstrated.

The invocation bi-smillahi l-rahmani l-rahim (In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate) occurs 114 times in the Koran at the head of every sura except ninth, which is entitled Surat al-Tauba or Surat al-Bara'a, and also once in 27:30 as the opening of Solomon's letter to the queen of Sheba.

The word aswad derived from swd means black, occurring seven times in the Koran (2:187, 3:106, 35:27). In the sense of an original black colour, the word aswad occurs only twice: "When you can tell a white thread from a black on in the light of the approaching dawn" (2:187) and "black mountains" (35:27). The word muswadd (dark-faced) is used in 16:58 and its parallel (43:17) to suggest the darkening of the face in the light of bad news as reflection of grief.

(Sanskrit). God, equivalent of Allah, The Creator. Came from the Light of the Imam [See Khat Nirinjan]. Revealed the 4 Vedas as Gur Brahma. Image and Hujjat of the Imam. PIR*

Lack of material does not enable to give a detailed account of the Ismaili influence after the death of Shah Tahir Hussain Dakkani on 956/1549 in Ahmadnagar, India. We do not have explicit details, whether his descendants continued the Ismaili mission in the cloak of Shi'ism or not. There are however certain strong indications that a lady ruler, named Chand Bibi was secretly an Ismaili, but her faith is shrouded in her political activities. She was born in 957/1550 and died in 1006/1599, which implies that she was the contemporary of both Hyder bin Shah Tahir (d.

Charity, in the sense of giving away one's wealth, is of two kinds: voluntary and obligatory. Voluntary charity is mentioned in the Koran as itfaq (spending benevolently), ihsan (the doing of good) and sadaqa (derived from sidq, meaning truth, and comes to signify a charitable deed). The very words used to denote charitable deeds are an indication of the broadness of its conception.

The word chhanta is an Indian word, means an act of sprinkling (the water). Its synonymous in Arabic is rashash means to sprinkle, and rashash'tun (pl. rashashat) means an act of sprinkle (of water). Its proper word in Persian is pashidan. It is a sin that defiles man and renders him impure. The chhanta is a symbolic rite in Ismaili tariqah to dissipate the sins or forgiveness.

Children ought to be regarded as a blessing from God and their birth should be celebrated with zest and exchange of greetings. If one has no issues, he must pray for the grant of pious children just as Zachariah prayed for a noble offspring: "God!

The word chiragh is derived from the Syriac shrag or shragh, meaning lamp, and Chiragh-i Rawshan means shining or luminous lamp, which is one of the oldest surviving Ismaili traditions in Central Asia. It is an assembly (majalis) of the believers, where a lamp is illumined, which is its hallmark, and the Koranic verses are chanted for the eternal peace of the departed soul, or for the prosperity of one who is alive.