Introduction And Methodology Of The Book Daʿāim Al-Islām By Qāḍi Noʿmān

The book of Daʿāim Al-Islām is one of the most important legal compositions of Qāḍi Noʿmān Maġribi, who was one of the shiʿite jurists of the 3-4 A.H. and considered as the constitution of ismaʿilite government. The jurists of Imāmiye have always paid attention to this book in all historical periods (either they confirmed or refused it), as far as some prominent persons of the Imāmiye have narrated from him. This book is maybe not the only comprehensive book of ismaʿilite jurisprudence but the most important legal sourcebook, which has been referred to (by Ismaʿilis). In this work, Qāḍi Noʿmān has used some sources, which do not exist today. The methodology of Daʿāim Al-Islām is therefore necessary for the study of the Ismaʿilism, which contains 3443 narrations (ḥadiṯs) from the prophet to Imām Sādiq without any information about the chain of transmissions. After the death of Qāḍi Noʿmān, we can’t find any important change in the jurisprudence of Ismaʿilism, and this book has remained as a unique source. Later in India, some jurists wrote some commentaries for this work.