The Ismailis

[mickey117]

The Ismailis sect is one of the 18 recognized sect of Lebanon.

I know very little about this sect and there presence in Lebanon and would like to learn about them.

Where are they present?
How much are they?
What are their political preferences?
Who is their leader?
Can they run for the minorities seat?
Did they ever have a role in any of the Lebanese events?

If someone could please enlighten us on the issue, I would really be glad if someone could answer all these questions...

[Chaos]

I know a lot on their history and beleives, but nothing on their politics.

[dodzi]

If I am not mistaken, there were 18 recognized religious communities in Lebanon. The Ismailis are no longer recognized, taking the number of recognized religious communities down to 17...

[tarick jdideh]

اصبحو من الشيعة الموجدون في لبنان
شيعة إسماعيلية - ويكيبيديا، الموسوعة الØ*رة

[Chaos]

Originally Posted by tarick jdideh

اصبحو من الشيعة الموجدون في لبنان
شيعة إسماعيلية - ويكيبيديا، الموسوعة الØ*رة

Why the Ismaelis became part of Shias and not the Alawieh also?

[elhorr]

قائدهم ..امامهم هو الآغا خان
يؤمنون بامام ظاهر و آخر خفي
يؤمنون بسبع اءمة
اعتقد كذلك ان دورة الزمن تقوم على سبع ائمة ...اي كل دورة زمنية فيها سبع ائمة
انقسم عنهم الدروز

[elhorr]

Originally Posted by chaos

why the ismaelis became part of shias and not the alawieh also?

الاسماعيليون هم من الشيعة لكن ليس الاثني عشرية او ما يعرف بالمذهب الجعفري
اما العلويين فهم من الشيعة الاثني عشرية يتبعون المذهب الجعفري يوجد لديهم خصوصية الاختلاف عن بقية الاثني عشرية في احد سفراء الامام المهدي على ما اعتقد
اما سوى ذلك فهم شيعة اثني عشرية
و ما يقال عم انهم يعبدون او يؤلهون عليا او يفضلونه على الرسول كل ذلك ليس سوى ترهات و افتراءات لا اساس لها

[December Rain]

OK this is a broad topic bass i'll try to give a short overview .....

the big majority of the shiaa's a re called twelver shiaas ... meaning that they believe in 12 Imams starting from Imam Ali bin abi Talib (the Prophet's cousin) all the way till Muhammad ibn al-Hassan a.k.a al imam al mahdi who is currently "mughayyab" a messianic figure who will return with Christ......

now the Ismailites are frequently called the "Seveners" because they believe in seven imams.... they believe in the same first 6 imams as the "twelvers" from imam ali bin abi talib up till imam Jaafar bin muhammad ..... now here they split.....
the imams usually appoint the one that comes afterwards so the ismailites believe that jaafar the 6th imam appointed "Ismail" to be the seventh (hence their name) whereas the twelvers believe that he appointed Musa his younger brother.....

the Ismailites have a set of beliefs of their own which are sometimes very different from the twelvers but i don't think going into these is required in this thread....

And as someone said before, they are not recognized as a sect in lebanon..... at least not now.....from what i know i think they're few in number in lebanon....

they do exist in much bigger numbers in other countries though .... from what i remember i think they are present in acceptable numbers in india and pakistan or afghanistan .... they also exist in syria but i can't remember where exactly ....but they were granted a land there by Abdul Hamid the second the ottoman sultan .....

[December Rain]

Originally Posted by elhorr

قائدهم ..امامهم هو الآغا خان
يؤمنون بامام ظاهر و آخر خفي
يؤمنون بسبع اءمة
اعتقد كذلك ان دورة الزمن تقوم على سبع ائمة ...اي كل دورة زمنية فيها سبع ائمة
انقسم عنهم الدروز

This is true...... concerning the druze :

with time the ismailites underwent divison just like most religions in the world....
I'm sure many of u will remember the history class from school ....if so remember the chapter about "fatimides" or "al fatimiyyin".....
one of the fatimide caliphs, is called "al Hakem bi Amr allah".... this guy in an ismailite one of their imams now after his death a group of Ismailis believed that he didn't actually die and claimed that one day he will reappear to bring back Divine justice
This group of ismalites is the "Druze" we all know they are present in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine..... but the majority of Ismailites followed the son of "Al Hakem bi amr allah" and his descendants....

[TripolySunni]

Although historically Every time an Imam died the Main body of the Shiites Split to several groups but only one team got Famous because of political reasons at one point and these are the Twelvers, As for the Alwaites and Ismailis and others even Though they all hate eachother's guts but I imagine if there were Ismailis in Lebanon they would be Pro-Opposition because in the end they are simply Shiites.