Da'a'im al-Islam

Who Was Qadi al-Nu’man?

Full name: Abu Hanifah al-Nu’man ibn Muhammad ibn Mansur ibn Ahmad ibn Hayyun al-Tamimi
Born: Approximately 290 AH (903 CE), in Qayrawan, present-day Tunisia
Died: 974 CE (363 AH) in Cairo, Egypt
Title: Qadi al-Quda (Chief Judge of the Fatimid Caliphate)
Served under: Four Fatimid Imams — al-Mahdi, al-Qa’im, al-Mansur, and al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah

Qadi al-Nu’man is the single most prolific and influential legal scholar of Ismaili Islam. He joined the Fatimid Dawat early in his career, rising under Imam al-Mahdi to become the court’s primary legal authority. He authored approximately 44 known works covering law, theology, history, Quranic exegesis, and esoteric philosophy.

His relationship with the Imam was that of a scholar under direct supervision: Qadi al-Nu’man submitted his legal opinions and writings to the Imam for review and correction. This direct Imam-scholar relationship is what gives the Da’a’im its authority in the tradition — it is not a scholar’s independent ijtihad (interpretive opinion) but a text produced under the Imam’s living supervision and correction.

The Work: Da’a’im al-Islam

Completed: Under Imam al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah (AS) in Egypt
Structure: Two volumes
Status: The foundational legal text of the Ismaili-Tayyibi and Bohra tradition

Volume One: The Zahir

Volume One covers the zahir of Islamic practice — the outward legal rulings that govern the life of the community. It is organized around the seven pillars (da’a’im, singular da’ima — a pillar, foundation, support) of the Islamic community:

Al-Walayah — devotion and obedience to the Imam; the foundational ‘da’ima’ that makes all others meaningful
Al-Taharah — ritual purity; the conditions and methods of purification for prayer
Al-Salah — the five daily prayers and Friday prayer
Al-Zakat — the obligatory almsgiving and khums
Al-Sawm — fasting, including Ramadan and other fasts
Al-Hajj — the pilgrimage and Umrah
Al-Jihad — the legal dimensions of the struggle for truth

This is the volume that is practically consulted for daily legal questions — the answers to how Bohra Muslims should pray, fast, purify themselves, give charity, and conduct business.

Volume Two: The Batin

Volume Two covers the inner meanings of the zahir — the esoteric dimensions of Islamic law and worship. Here Qadi al-Nu’man applies ta’wil systematically to the ritual structures of Volume One, showing how each legal obligation has a corresponding spiritual reality.

The two volumes together embody the Dawat’s fundamental principle: zahir and batin are inseparable. The zahir without the batin is an empty shell; the batin without the zahir is a claim without substance.

The Da’a’im’s Place in Islamic Jurisprudence

The four major Sunni schools of Islamic law (madhahib) — Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali — are based on the independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) of their founding imams from the 8th and 9th centuries CE, operating after the death of the Prophet (SAW) without direct access to a living Imam.

The Ismaili-Tayyibi fiqh, by contrast, is grounded in the principle that the Imam’s ‘ilm is authoritative for every era — and that during the Imam’s presence (zuhur), the Imam’s direct instruction takes precedence over any jurist’s independent opinion. Qadi al-Nu’man’s Da’a’im is not the work of a mujtahid (independent jurist) but of a scholar working under an Imam’s supervision.

This is a fundamentally different approach to legal authority:

Sunni fiqh: Scholars derive law from Quran, Sunnah, ijma’ (consensus), and qiyas (analogy); no living authority above the scholars
Ismaili fiqh: Law flows from the Quran and Sunnah as interpreted by the Imam; scholarly opinion is subordinate to the Imam’s ‘ilm

After Imam al-Tayyib’s satr (525 AH) and through the Da’i al-Mutlaq’s authority, the Da’a’im al-Islam serves as the primary legal reference for the Bohra community — its rulings applied and updated in practice by the Dawat’s judicial infrastructure. See also: Satr Al Imam, Dai Al Mutlaq Institution

Key Legal Positions of the Da’a’im

Several of the Da’a’im’s positions distinguish Ismaili-Tayyibi fiqh from both Sunni and Twelver Shia practice:

On Walayah as the first pillar: While the four Sunni madhahib begin their legal codes with purification (taharah) and prayer (salah), the Da’a’im begins with walayah — the relationship to the Imam. This reflects the Dawat’s core theological conviction: all religious practice is meaningless without the orientation of the soul toward the Imam’s guidance.

On Prayer (Salah): The Ismaili prayer has specific distinctive forms — hand position, certain dhikr phrases, the qunoot du’a structure, and the combining of prayers (Zuhr+Asr, Maghrib+Isha in some traditions). These rulings derive from the Imam’s direct instruction as recorded in the Da’a’im.

On Dietary Laws: The Da’a’im codifies the Ismaili dietary rulings including the halal status of prawns (permitted, unlike some Shia schools) and the strict requirement of individually pronounced Bismillah at slaughter. See also: Halal Dietary Laws

On Marriage and Family: Detailed rulings on nikah, mahr, divorce, and inheritance that in many aspects parallel Sunni positions (drawing on the same Prophetic sources) but with Ismaili jurisprudential framing. See also: Bohra Nikah

On Khums: The systematic integration of khums (one-fifth of annual surplus) as a religious obligation alongside zakat, directed toward the Imam/Da’i and the Dawat’s institutions. See also: Zakat And Khums

The Da’a’im and the Majalis al-Hikmah

The Fatimid intellectual culture produced not just the Da’a’im (zahir legal code) but also the Majalis al-Hikmah (wisdom sessions) — the esoteric learning assemblies led by al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din al-Shirazi and others. The two complement each other: the Da’a’im teaches what to do, the Majalis teach why it is so at the deepest level. See also: Majalis Al Hikmah

Together, the legal and philosophical traditions of the Fatimid Dawat represent the most intellectually sophisticated Islamic civilization of the medieval world — a civilization where the Chief Judge was also a theological philosopher, where law was not separated from cosmology, and where the ruler was simultaneously the Caliph, Imam, and ultimate legal authority.

Legacy in the Bohra Community

In the Bohra tradition today, the Da’a’im al-Islam is:

The primary reference text for the Dawat’s legal system (shari’ah)
Cited in the Aamil’s (local religious authority’s) rulings on disputed matters
Taught in the curricula of Al-Jamea-tus-Saifiyah and other Dawat educational institutions
The basis for the community’s distinctive practices in prayer, purity, marriage, and commerce

The current 53rd Da’i al-Mutlaq, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin (TUS), continues the tradition of the Da’i’s authority to interpret and apply the Da’a’im’s rulings for the needs of the contemporary community — updating application where technology or circumstance has changed, while preserving the foundational principles.

Ta’wil of the Da’a’im

The zahir of the Da’a’im is the legal code — the rulings that govern community life, resolving disputes and maintaining the zahir structures that protect the Dawat’s integrity.

The batin of the Da’a’im is the architecture of the soul’s journey. Every legal pillar (da’ima) is a support for the soul’s ascent: walayah orients the heart toward its guide; taharah purifies the vessel; salah creates the connection; zakat releases attachment; sawm develops inner mastery; hajj completes the journey; jihad sustains the resolve. The seven da’a’im are not rules imposed from outside but the structural supports that prevent the soul’s house from collapsing into itself.

Qadi al-Nu’man was not a legal administrator who happened to write jurisprudence. He was an architect of the soul’s path — building, under the Imam’s supervision, the most complete description of how a human being can live in a way that brings them from the world of matter to the presence of the divine.

Da'a'im al-Islam — The Pillars of Islam