Nāsir-i Khusraw and the Moral-Ethical Ideals of the Ismā‘īlīs of Badakhshan

The celebrated Persian Muslim poet, philosopher and traveler, Nāsir-i Khusraw (d. ca. 1088) is generally believed to have been responsible for preaching Shī‘ī Ismā‘īlī Islam in the remote mountainous valleys of Badakhshan in Central Asia. He is highly revered as a holy man in the region where his shrine is presently located. The Ismā‘īlīs of Badakhshan refer to their religious tradition as da‘wat-i Nāsir-i Khusraw (literally ‘Nāsir-i Khusraw’s mission/summoning’) regarding him as its founding father. The figure of Nāsir-i Khusraw, who is affectionately known locally as Pīr Shāh Nāsir, is surrounded by innumerable legends and hagiographical anecdotes in Badakhshan. As the most important saint-exemplar and patriarch, his figure has played a major role in defining the ethical and moral ideals and values of Badakhshani Ismā‘īlīs. He is depicted as the embodiment of ethical teachings, an advocate for the socially and economically marginalized, a martyr of faith, a perfect model of ethical conduct and so on. This paper examines samples of written and oral Badakhshani hagiographical materials about Nāsir-i Khusraw and uses them as sources that reflect the moral and ethical principles, values and ideals of the Ismā‘īlīs of Badakhshan. By examining the topoi and structure of the stories about Nāsir-i Khusraw, the founding father of the Ismā‘īlī tradition of Badakhshan, I aim to show that for the Ismā‘īlīs of Badakhshan morality lies at the heart of faith. By attributing teachings to and relating didactic stories about the deeply revered figure of Nāsir-i Khusraw, the Badakhshani hagiographers stress the imporance of morality for attaining salvation.