Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
📜 Shi'a branch 🕌 A Shi'a Muslim
Ismaili

Ismaili

1 9.5
Relating to a branch of Shia Islam that studies hidden spiritual meaning
  • adjective
: ismailí
  • In addition, a set of "apex" and "central" institutions exist to address the noncommunal aspects of Ismaili social life.
  • Ismaili Muslims
  • Ismaili community

What does it mean to become an Imam in the Ismaili tradition?

Examples

  • What does it mean to become an Imam in the Ismaili tradition?

    Harvard University

  • Such migrations occurred during the ujamaa period in Tanzania, when socialist policies were implemented that directly affected the Ismaili community.

    Academic text (1998)

  • These institutions are established where there is (or was) a large Ismaili presence, and their jurisdiction often extends beyond the countries where they are located.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The communal and noncommunal institutions serve a dual purpose for the Ismaili community in Tanzania.

    Academic text (1998)

  • While their legal citizenship could change with their place of residence, their transnational communal citizenship was (and remains) a constant for all community members who actively identified themselves with the Ismaili faith.

    Academic text (1998)

  • In addition, institutions affiliated with the Aga Khan Development Network (particularly health care facilities and schools) serve as the nexus for this relationship because they are designed to address simultaneously the needs of the Ismaili community and the society in which they live.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Just as the modern state protects and regulates religious expression, administers justice, and collects and redistributes resources that affect the financial solvency and social welfare of the national community, these Ismaili institutions accomplish similar goals at the transnational communal level.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The East African Muslims were mostly Ismaili Shias, an extremely sophisticated and organized group (Bhachu 1985, 26), very different from the peasant Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi Muslims.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Although the Ismaili constitution is a communal document written exclusively for Ismailis, it serves as a guideline for balancing the responsibilities of national legal citizenship with a parallel form of communal citizenship that is designed to affect virtually every religious and secular facet of Ismaili life.

    Academic text (1998)

  • What does it mean to become an Imam in the Ismaili tradition?

Surface Forms

Ismaili positive

Etymology

Ismaili comes from the name Ismail (the Arabic form of Ishmael) and literally means 'related to Ismail' or 'of Ismail'. So Ismaili describes beliefs, people, or places connected to that branch of Shi'a Islam.