Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

II. Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia / Ближний Восток, Кавказ и Центральная Азия 92 Proceedings of the International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa.Vol. I. 2020 scholars in the development and revival of their community identity, through the editing and publishing of early Ismaili texts. Ivanow and the Rise of Modern Ismaili Studies and Historiography Ivanow’s acquaintance with some members of the Ismaili communities in Persia sparked his initial ambition to explore Ismaili history and doctrines from within. In 1912, while he was working in Birjand branch of the Loan Discount Bank of Persia, he met some Ismailis. This acquaintance came to him as a historical shock. He could not believe that the Ismaili communities were still extant, particularly in Persia, where the Mongol’s wholesale massacre in 1256 and the brutality of subsequent rulers were believed to have wiped the Ismailis from the face of the earth. He wrote that: I came in touch with the Ismailis for the first time in Persia, in February 1912. Already in Mashhad I had often heard about these localities being populated by the followers of a ‘strange sect’. My inquiries could not elicit any reliable informa- tion. Some people told me that the ‘strange sect’were the Ismailis, but I disbelieved it, having been brought upon the idea, universally accepted by Oriental scholars in Europe, that all traces of the Ismailis in Persia were swept away by the brutal Mongols. And here, taking the opportunity of a conversation with the landlord on the spot, I tried to ascertain the truth. To my surprise, he confirmed what I had heard before stating that the people really were Ismailis, and that the locality was not the only seat of the followers of the community but there were other places too in Persia in which they were found. My young enthusiasmwas somuch aroused that I at oncemade determined attempts to ascertain the doctrine of the community, inquired about their religious books, etc. My learned friends in Europe plainly disbelieved me when I wrote about the community to them. It appeared to them quite unbelievable that the most brutal persecution, wholesale slaughter, age-long hostility, and suppression were unable to annihilate the community which even at its highest formed but a small minority in the country. Only later on, however, when my contact with them grewmore intimate, I was able to see the reasons for such surprising vitality. It was their quite extraor- dinary devotion and faithfulness to the tradition of their ancestors, the ungrudging patience with which they suffered all the calamities and misfortunes, cherishing no illusions whatsoever as to what they could expect in life and in the contact with their majority fellow countrymen. They with amazing care and devotion kept through ages burning that Light, mentioned in the Koran which God always protects against all attempts of His enemies to extinguish it. I rarely saw anything so extraordinary and impressive as this ancient tradition being devoutly preserved in the poor muddy huts of mountain hamlets or poor villages in the desert. 1 1 Ivanow W. My First Meeting with the Ismailis in Persia // Ilm . 1977. Vol. 3. P. 16–17.