Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

II. Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia / Ближний Восток, Кавказ и Центральная Азия 98 Proceedings of the International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa.Vol. I. 2020 In addressing the medieval polemical accounts, Ivanow addressed one of the most difficult questions in Ismaili history, i.e. the real role of ʿAbdAllāh b. Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ. 1 In his Ismaili Traditions Concerning the Rise of the Fatimids (1942) and in Ibn al-Qaddah: The Alleged Founder of Ismailism , published in 1946 (1 st  ed.) and 1957 (2 nd ed.), Ivanow demonstrated that the innumerable versions of the story of Ibn al-Qaddāḥ represent nothing more than an absurd fabricated account which has been polished and developed over the course of history. Through these works and a series of other publications Ivanow managed to reveal the fabricated lies that had underpinned the Black Legends’ narratives for over a thousand years. A further boost to the field of Ismaili studies came about in the second half of the 1940s, when Ivanow proposed the establishment of the Ismaili Society of Bombay 2 which replaced the Islamic Research Association 3 on 16 February 1946. The aim of this new institution was to promote independent critical study of all matters con- nected with Ismailism. 4 The founding of the Ismaili Society marked the beginning of an institutionally organized approach to Ismaili studies, with regular research programmes and budgets. The Society transformed the field of Ismaili studies from the work of a group of individuals, led by Ivanow, to the level of an academic insti- tution — something that was very important for Ivanow, who could now advance and shape the evolution of Ismaili studies in a proper academic manner and style. Ivanow was a prolific writer. He published a total of 153 titles during his life- time. 5 In 1969, a year before he died in 1970, he published an article under the title of ‘Hakim Nizari Kohistani’ in Africa Ismaili , vol. 2, no. 7, p. 6–8. 6 He wrote his autobiography in 1968, under the title of Piat’desiat let na Vostoke (Fifty Years in 1 There are many controversial stories about the real personality of ʿAbdAllāh b. Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ. Farhad Daftary and Rahim Gholami state that in the Imāmī sources he is known as a companion of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, and a renowned transmitter of ḥ adīth s from him. However, in anti-Ismaili polemics, he is referred to as the founder of the Ismaili movement and the progenitor of the Faṭimid imams-caliphs (Daftary F. and Gholami R. ʿAbd Allāh b. Maymūn al-Qaddāh // Madelung W., Daftary F. (eds.). Encyclopaedia Islamica. 2008. URL: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875– 9831_isla_SIM_0036 (accessed 14.11.2019). Also, see IvanowW. The Alleged Founder of Ismailism. Bombay, 1946; and its revised edition, Ivanow W. Ibn Al-Qaddah: The Alleged Founder of Ismailism. Bombay, 1957. 2 For a list of publications of the Ismaili Society of Bombay, see Daftary F. Fifty Years in the East. P. 211–213. 3 For a list of publications of the Islamic ResearchAssociation, see Daftary F. FiftyYears in the East. P. 185–210. 4 Ismaili Society of Bombay. Notice // Ivanow W. Brief Survey of the Evolution of Ismailism. Leiden, 1952; IvanowW. The Ismaili Society of Bombay: The TenthAnniversary (16–2–1946 — 16–2–1956). Bombay, 1956. P. 1. 5 For a complete bibliography of Ivanow’s works, see Daftary F. Fifty Years in the East. P. 185–206. 6 Daftary F. Fifty Years in the East. P. 205.