Cyclical Time

[volgadon]

http://iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=109987

There is of course Henri Corbin's book, though not without its flaws. http://iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=109987

The first link is to a short article by the preeminent scholar of Ismailism, Farhad Daftary. Cyclical time, in this case, is that each period of history follows a set, sacred pattern, but with gradually increasing revelation of truths. I'm not positing direct influence, there are dozens of likelier Christian sources for ours, but it makes for an interesting comparison of LDS thought in regards to prophetic dispensations.

By the early 280s AH/890s CE, the Ismailis had already developed a cyclical interpretation of time and the sacred history of mankind, which they applied to the Judaeo-Christian revelations as well as a variety of pre-Islamic religions such as Zoroastrianism, Mazdakism and Manichaeism. They conceived of time as a progression of cycles or eras, dawrs(Arabic plural, adwar),with a beginning and an end. On the basis of their eclectic temporal view, reflecting Greek, Judaeo-Christian and Gnostic influences as well as Shi‘i eschatological ideas, the Ismailis elaborated a view of sacred history in terms of eras of different prophets recognised in the Qur’an. The prophetic interpretation of the religious history of mankind was moreover combined with the Ismaili doctrine of the imamate, which had been inherited from the earlier Imami Shi‘is.

According to their cyclical view, the Ismailis believed from early on that the sacred history of mankind proceeded through seven prophetic eras of various durations, each one inaugurated by a speaker-prophet or enunciator (natiq)of a divinely revealed message which in its exoteric (zahir)aspect contained a religious law (shari‘a). The natiqsof the first six eras of human history were Adam, Noah (Nuh), Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses (Musa), Jesus (‘Isa) and Muhammad, respectively. These natiqshad enunciated the outer (zahir)aspects of each revelation with its rituals, commandments and prohibitions, without explaining details of its inner (batin)meaning. For that purpose, each natiq was succeeded by a legatee (wasi),also called the ‘silent one’ (samit)and later the ‘foundation’ (asas),who revealed to the elite the esoteric truths (haqa’iq)contained in the inner (batin)dimension of that era’s message. The first six wasisof sacred history were Seth (Shith), Shem (Sam), Ishmael (Isma‘il), Aaron (Harun), Simon Peter (Sham‘un al-Safa’) and Imam ‘Ali b. Abi Talib. In every era (dawr),each wasi was, in turn, succeeded by seven imams, also called atimma’ (singular, mutimm, completer), who guarded the true meaning of the divine scriptures and laws in both their zahir and batin aspects. The seventh imam (or mutimm)of every dawr would rise in rank to become the natiq of the following era, abrogating the shari‘a of the previous era and proclaiming a new one. This pattern would change only in the seventh, final dawr of hierohistory.[4]

[mfbukowski]

I had an Ismaili buddy a while back and we discussed this stuff at length.

The parallels are profound and stunning. One of the reasons I have studied Zoroastrianism is also to find these parallels.

In my mind, there can be no question that there was historically, a common ancestor for all these beliefs. That is the only possible explanation. And then we have the Zoroastrian (arguably) magi showing up to worship the savior.

That was no accident.

[volgadon]

I had an Ismaili buddy a while back and we discussed this stuff at length.

Cool. I don't know any Ismailis proper, but I had lived for years not far from a Druze village, and served in the army with many. There is also a Nusayri-Alawi village. Both these groups are Ismaili offshoots, cyclical time playing a large role in their theology.

I think this quote from the article goes along well with your comment.

It was in the light of such doctrines, rooted in a syncretic and ecumenical worldview, that the Ismailis began to develop their system of thought, a system that appealed not only to Muslims belonging to different communities of interpretation and social strata but also to adherents of a diversity of non-Islamic religious traditions. Of all the Muslim communities, only the Ismailis accommodated in so comprehensive and overt a fashion, in their cyclical scheme of sacred history, the Judaeo-Christian traditions as well as a variety of other pre-Islamic Iranian religions, which were at the time still enjoying some prominence in Persia and Central Asia.