Fatima.Mernessi_The-Forgotten-Queens-of-Islam-EN

130 The Arab Queens
on an international scale. Following in the footsteps of the Fatimids,
'Ali al-Sulayhi, the husband of Asma and father-in-law of 'Arwa,
took power and created a dynasty that reigned in Yemen for a
century (429/1037 to 532/1138). From his masters in Cairo he
received precise instructions, according to the quasi-militaristic code
of the Isma'ilis, on how to manage his political career. He was
closely instructed on how much secrecy and how much openness to
adopt, the number of persons to confide in at each stage, and the
precise moment to assert his authority as a military force. 39
For 15 years 'Ali al-Sulayhi was seen as an extremely cultivated
man whose occupation was to escort groups of pilgrims making the
annual pilgrimage from Yemen to Mecca. 40 Rare were those who
knew that he was actually the heir to the Shi'ite da'wa for Yemen,
following a deathbed vow to his shaykh and teacher, da'i Ibn
'Abdallah al-Rawahi, one of the 'propagators of the Fatimid
cause'. 41 'Abdallah al-Rawahi had received his da'wa from his
shaykh, Yusif Ibn Ahmad al-Ashh, who had received his from
Harun Ibn Rahim, who had received his from Ja'far, the son and
heir of Ibn Hawshab. 42 Etymologically da'a means 'to invoke, to
call upon, to ask for help', often addressed to the divine. The appeal
to the divine is so strong that the word du'a means just simply
'worship'. 43 But there is also the idea of persuading, of stirring up,
especially in the sense of a call to heresy (dhalala). And a da'i,
concludes Ibn Manzur, is 'a man who calls upon others to follow him
in bid'a (innovation) or din (religion), from which comes another
connotation of "espousing something that is not true".' 44
In any case, for the Isma'ili branch of Shi'ism, the da'i is one of
the ranks in their secret heirarchy, which had seven ranks, according
to Ibn al-Nadim (nine, according to others). Ibn al-Nadim, who
seems to be one of the authorities on the subject of Isma'ili literature,
devoted a chapter to it in his invaluable Fihris, an encyclopedic
collection of all the important books written by the Muslims up
until his time (the fourth century of the Hejira). According to him,
their propagandizing was carried out via seven balagh, messages,
each contained in a kitab, an instruction manual which was given
to the initiate as he progressed. The first kitab was for the 'amma
(common people), Ibn al-Nadim tells us; the second was for the
next level reached; and the third was only given to those who had
been in the sect for a year. The fourth balagh was for those who
had been in the sect for two years; the fifth for those who had spent
three years; the sixth for those who had been a member for four
years. Finally, a member received the seventh balagh, which con-