Education

PhD, Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Los Angeles (1968)
MA with distinction, Arabic Language and Literatures, Cairo University (1964)
MA, Arabic, Bombay University (1959)
BA, Arabic, Bombay University (1957)

Publications

Books

Additional Books

  • Turks in the Indian Subcontinent, Central and West Asia: TheTurkish Presence in the Islamic World, edited by Ismail K. Poonawala. New Delhi: Oxford University Press of India, 2016 (to be released at the end of his year).
  • The Pillars of Islam (Daʿāʾim al-Islām): vol. II: Laws Pertaining to Human Intercourse, by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān. Translated by A. A. A. Fyzee. Completey revised and annotated by Ismail Kurbanhusein Poonawala. New Delhi: Oxford University Press of India, 2004.
  • The Pillars of Islam (Daʿāʾim al-Islām): vol. I: Acts of Devotion and Religious Observances, by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān. Translated by A. A. A. Fyzee. Completey revised and annotated by Ismail Kurbanhusein Poonawala. New Delhi: Oxford University Press of India, 2002.
  • Kitāb al-Iftikhār by Abū Yaʿqūb al-Sijistānī. Critical edition with notes and English introduction. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 2000.
  • Al-Sulṭan al-Khaṭṭāb : Ḥayātuhu wa-shiʿruhu [Al-Sulṭān al-Khaṭṭāb: His Life and Poetry]. Second revised and expanded edition with English introduction. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1999.
  • The History of al-Ṭabarī, vol. IX: The Last Years of the Prophet, the Formation of the State. Translation with annotations. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1990.
  • Biobibliography of Ismāʿīlī Literature. Malibu, Calif.: UCLA, von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies/Undena Publications, 1977.
  • Al-Urjūza al-Mukhtāra by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān: Critical edition with notes and introduction. Montreal/Beirut: Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University/al-Maktab al-Tijārī, 1970.
  • Al-Sulṭan al-Khaṭṭāb : Ḥayātuhu wa-shiʿruhu. Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif, 1967.

Selected Articles in Refereed Journals and Chapters in Books

  • “Notes on Kitāb al-Zīna of Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī (d. 322/934),” Chroniques du Manuscrit au Yémen (in press to be published in May 2016).
  • Critical edition with English translation of the 41st epistle Fiʾl-ḥudūd waʾl-rusūm (On Definitions and Descriptions), from the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, Oxford University Press, (in press, to be published at the end of 2016).
  • “Anonymous Works and Their Ascription to Famous Authors: Are They Cases of Mistaken identity or an Outright Forgery?” in Arabica, vol. 62 (2015), pp. 404-10.
  • “Wealth and Poverty in the Qur’an and Traditions of the Prophet, and How Those Concepts are Reflected in the Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’,” Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies, vol. 8 (2015), pp. 263-87.
  • Critical edition of the 34th Epistle Inna al-ʿālama insānun kabīrun (On the Universe as a Macroanthropos) with introduction and (English tr. by David Simonowitz) from the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, Oxford University Press, 2015.
  • “Ismāʿīlī Manuscripts from Yemen,” Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, vol. 5 (2014), pp. 220-45.
  • “A forgotten copy of Abū Muḥammad al-Yamanī’s Mukhtaṣar fī ‘aqā’id al-thalāth wa-sab‘īn firqa ascribed to the Imam al-Ghazālī: A case of mistaken identity or of an outright forgery?” Chroniques du Manuscrit au Yémen, vol.  19 (2014), pp. 1-16.
  • “Humanism in Ismāʿīlī Thought: The Case of the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (The Epistles of the Sincere Brethren and Faithful Friends)” in Universality in Islamic Thought, ed. M. Morony, London, I. B. Tauris, 2014, pp. 65-144.
  • “Bird’s Eye-view of Dawudi Bohra’s History and Their Doctrines,” a court brief prepared for the Bombay High Court hearing of June 16, 2014, concerning the succession dispute among the Bohra community, pp. 1-16.
  • “A Manifesto on behalf of the Bohra Community Signed by two Internationally Recognized Bohra Scholars,” coauthored with Prof. Abbas Hamdani; it was first released to the press in Bombay, on Jan. 28, 2014, concerning the dispute of succession in the Shii Ismaili community; then published with Gujarati translation in The Bohra Chronicle, issue of March 2014, pp. 1, 4, 9-10.
  • “The Evolution of al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān’s Theory of Ismāʿīlī Jurisprudence Based on the Chronology of his Works on Jurisprudence,” in The Study of Shiʿi Islam, ed. F. Daftary & G. Miskinzoda. London: I.B.Tauris, 2013, pp. 295-349.
  • “Al-Sijistānī and His Kitāb al-Maqālīd al-Malakūtiyya,” in Ishraq (Islamic Philosophy Yearbook), vol. 4 (2013), pp. 161-84.
  • “A Tribute to Three Bohra Scholars of the 20th Century,” in The Bohra Chronicle, Bombay, issue of May, 2012, p. 13.
  • “An Early Doctrinal Controversy in the Iranian School of Ismāʿīlī Thought and Its Implications,” Journal of the Persianate Studies, vol. 5 (2012), pp. 17-34.
  • “Al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān and His Refutation of Ibn Qutayba,” in Fortresses of the Intellect: Ismaili and other Islamic Studies in Honour of F. Daftary, ed. Omar Ali-de-Unzaga, London: I. B. Tauris, 2011, pp. 275-307.
  • “Ismaʿili Shiʿa,” in Oxford Bibliography Online (OBO: Islamic Studies), entry ID:9780 1953 9015 50121, Version Date: 2011-01-10.
  • “Sources for al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān’s Works and Their Authenticity,” in Ismaili and Fatimid Studies in Honor of Paul Walker, ed. B. Craig, Chicago: Middle East Documentation Center, 2010, pp. 87-99.
  • “Preface,” to Jamal Ali’s Language and Heresy in Ismaili Thought: The Kitab al-Zina of Abu Hatim al-Razi, Gorgias Press, 2008. Pp. ix-xiv.
  • Brief note endorsing Hussam Timani’s Modern Intellectual Readings of the Kharijites, New York: Peter Lang, 2008.
  • “Islamic Messianism: Some thoughts on the origins of Mahdism and its sociopolitical function,” in Proceedings of an International Conference on the Doctrine of Mahdism, Tehran, Aug. 14-15, 2008.
  • “Why We Need an Arabic Critical Edition with an Annotated English Translation of the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ?” in The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ and their Rasāʾil, ed. N. El-Bizri, London: Oxford University Press in association with the Institute of Ismailin Studies, 2008, pp. 34-58.
  • “The Beginning of the Ismāʿīlī Daʿwa and the Establishment of the Fāṭimid Dynasty as Commemorated by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān,” in Culture and Memory in Medieval Islam: Essays in Honour of W. Madelung, eds. F. Daftary & J. Meri, London: I. B. Tauris, 2003, pp. 338-63.
  • “Imām’s authority during the pre-ghayba period: Theoretical and practical considerations,” in Shiʿite Heritage: Essays on Classical and Modern Traditions, ed. L. Clarke, Bingham: Global Publications, 2000, pp. 11-32.
  • “Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī and the Proto-Druze,” Journal of Druze Studies, vol. 1 (2000), pp. 71-94.
  • “Al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān and Ismaʿili jurisprudence,” in Medieval Ismaʿili History and Thought, ed. F. Daftary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 117-43.
  • “Al-Sulṭān al-Khaṭṭāb’s treatise on the iʿjāz al-Qurʾān,” [critical edition of the Arabic text with notes and comments], Arabica, vol. 41 (1994), pp. 84-126.
  • “Muḥammad ʿIzzat Darwaza’s principles of modern exegesis: A contribution toward Qurʾānic hermeneutics,” in Approached to the Qurʾān, eds. G. Hawting and Shereef. London: Routledge, 1993, pp. 225-46.
  • “Translatability of the Qurʾān: Theological and Literary Considerations,” in Translations of Scripture: Proceedings of a Conference at Annenberg Research Institute, May 15-16, 1989, in Jewish Quarterly Review Supplement, 1990, pp. 160-92.
  • “A Muslim Response to Chaim Seidler-Feller: The Land of Israel,” in Three FaithsOne God: A Jewish, Christian, Muslim Encounter, eds. John Hick & E. Meltzer, New York, 1989, pp. 172-80.
  • “An Ismāʿīlī Treatise on the Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān,” The Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 108 (1988), pp. 379-85.
  • “Ismāʿīlī taʿwīl of the Qurʾān,” in Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qurʾān, ed. A. Rippin, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988, pp. 199-222; also serialized in The Bohra Chronicle, Bombay, Nov.-Dec. 1985.
  • “The Bohra Reform Movement,” in Proceedings of the 31st International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa, held in Tokyo-Kyoto, Aug. 31-Sept. 7, 1983. ??? Tokyo, 1984, p. 298.
  • “In Memorium, Asaf Ali Asghar Fyzee 1899-1981,” The International Journal for Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 14 (1982), p. 418.
  • “The Ismāʿīlīs,” serialized in The Bohra Chronicle, Bombay, Nov. 1982-Jan. 1983, ???
  • “The Qurʾān in the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ,” in International Congress for the Study of the Qurʾān, Canberra, Australia, 1980, pp. 51-67; also serialized in The Bohra Chronicle, Bombay, Sept.-Oct., 1983 and entitled “The Prophet, Prophethood, and the Qurʾān in the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ.
  • “Ismāʿīlī sources for the history of South-West Arabia,” in Studies in the History of Arabia, vol. I, Sources for the History of Arabia, ed. Abd al-Rahman al-Ansary, et al, Riyadh: Riyadh University Press, 1979, pp. 151-59.
  • “An Ismāʿīlī refutation of al-Ghazālī,” in Proceedings of the 30th International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa, held in Mexico City, Mexico, 1976. Mexico, 1982, Middle East, vol. I, pp. 131-34.
  • “Al-Sijistānī and his Kitāb al-Maqālīd,” in Essays on Islamic Civilization Presented to Niyazi Berkes, ed. D. P. Little, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976, pp. 274-83.
  • “A reconsideration of al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān’s madhhab,” The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, vol. 37 (1974), pp. 572-79.
  • “Al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān’s works and the sources,” The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, vol. 36 (1973), pp. 109-15.
  • “The evolution of al-Jabartī’s historical thinking as reflected in the Muzhir and the ʿĀjāʾib,” Arabica, vol. 15 (1968), pp. 270-88.
  • Al-Waḥda bayn Miṣr waʾl-Yaman fiʾl-ʿahd al-Fāṭimī [The union between Egypt and Yemen during the Fāṭimid rule], Ṣawt al-Sharq, Cairo, 28-29 Sept. 1964.