Farmans by our Imams

[sandyp]

MHI has always said know your history.

I have always enjoyed history and like to read the saying of the Prophet and Imam Ali, not just for wisdom, but because it gives insight as to what life was like during that time.

We have Farmans of our present Imam and we sometimes hear Farmans of Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah.

Why don't we ever hear Farmans (or hadis) of any of our other 47 Imams or why can't we seem to find them at literature counters in our Jamat Khanas?

[agakhani]

Some Farman Mubarak of our 46th and 47th Imams are still available from one source, I do not how much it is authentic or I do not know whetehr he obtained the permission to print these farmans from Tariqua Board or not? but it is available.
About the farman of other Imams, we Ismailies never ever tried to collect these in past, we never kept our history, we never write our history and save it and that is the big mistake from our part so the farmans of our other Imams are not available now a days.
Be honest with you I do not know why the farman of Imam Ali shah our 47th Imam are not read in Jamat Khana even though it is still available.

[sandyp]

YAM agakhani

Thank you for the information. It's a real shame that we didn't record our history and I don't really understand why we didn't as all societies that I can think of have done so, including the Jews who have been so persecuted for thousands of years.

Do you think the Tariqua Board would let me read the Farmans of the 46 & 47th Imams if I approached them or have you tried this before and been denied?

[kmaherali]

Why don't we ever hear Farmans (or hadis) of any of our other 47 Imams or why can't we seem to find them at literature counters in our Jamat Khanas?

In our Tariqah, it is the role of the Pir to issue guidance in the form of Farmans or Ginans. In the past the office of the Pir was held by another person from the Ahl al-Bayt appointed by the Imam. Hence we have Ginans from the past that have come down to us. This tradition is very much alive today.

At present the Imam holds the office of the Pir as well and hence he issues Farmans.

[sandyp]

@kmaherali That's interesting, I did not know that....not to doubt you, but are you sure on that?

If this is correct, then let me phrase my question in another way. We have the Hadis and sayings of Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali and it's not just one or two saying, but it's volumes of material.

We don't have this for our Imams and if it is available, it's not accessible to us very easily. I've never seen anything in Khana for this.

[kmaherali]

@kmaherali That's interesting, I did not know that....not to doubt you, but are you sure on that?

If this is correct, then let me phrase my question in another way. We have the Hadis and sayings of Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali and it's not just one or two saying, but it's volumes of material.

We don't have this for our Imams and if it is available, it's not accessible to us very easily. I've never seen anything in Khana for this.

Not all Imams were involved in the dissemination of knowledge within the broader societies in which they lived. Hence you will not find hadiths from all Imams. There are exceptions of course. The Prophet, Hazarat Ali, Imam al-Baqir and Jaffer as-Saddiq for example were involved and hence you will find hadiths from them.

Otherwise within Ismaili tradition, only the Pirs and Dais were responsible for guidance. The Imams had other functions.