A critical study of the correction of and research about a historiographical text (An account by Vladimir Ivanov and Suhail Zakkār of the treatise Estetār al-Imam)

The studies related to Isma’ili’s history, especially in identifying, correcting, translating, and introducing manuscripts, are among the endeavors the unique example of which can be observed in Vladimir Ivanov’s works. In his studies, Ivanov managed to publish a comprehensive catalogue of the authentic texts about various Isma’ili sects and set to edit, translate, and investigate some of them.This article attempts to critically analyze one of the works corrected by this Russian Orientalist in 1936. Suhail Zakkār also produced in 2007 a second version of the treatise based on a different manuscript. The treatise is entitled Estetār al-Imam wa tafarroq ol-do’āt fi al-jazāyer le-talabehi (The hiding of the Imam and the dispatching of proselytizers to various assigned lands in search of him).On the basis of the third existing manuscript of this Isma’ili treatise, the present study addresses Vladimir Ivanov’s editorial research about it.