INTRODUCTION TO THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF ISMAILIS

"Disagreement over succession" has been the deciding factor in divergence among Shiites, and led to the formation of Ismaili sect. Although this sect has played an influential role in the muslim socio-political life, little work has been done to analyze it from a political perspective. This article suggests that the concept of "Imam" is the nodal point of the Ismaili political discourse, and all the other concepts and subsidiary signifiers bear an "intentional" relation to it and gain importance due to it. Depending on the time necessities and the expediency of the dominant political discourse, the Ismaili Imam was either absent or present. On no conditions, however, should his decrees which give meaning to Ismaili cosmos be disregarded. Adopting a phenomenological approach, this article aims to give a general view of the Ismaili political thought and explore its relationship with the constituent concept of Imam.