Ali ibn Hanzala ibn Abi Salim al-Mahfuzi al-Wadi'i al-Hamdani (Arabic:علي بن حنظلة بن أبي سالم المحفوظي الوادعي الهمداني,romanized: ʿAlī ibn Ḥanẓala ibn Abī Sālim al-Maḥfūẓī al-Wādiʿī al-Hamdānī) was the sixthTayyibi Isma'iliDa'i al-Mutlaq inYemen, from 1215 to his death in 1229.[1][2]
Like most of his predecessors and successors, Ali enjoyed good relations with theHamdanid dynasty ruling Sanaa and theirAyyubid overlords, which allowed him to reside both in Sanaa and in the Hatimid Hamdanid stronghold ofDhu Marmar.[1][2] He also sent junior missionaries to assist the growing Isma'ili community in westernIndia.[1][2] At the same time, he confronted the attempts of the rivalHafizi Isma'ilida'wa, and theZaydiimams, to expand their influence in his territories.[2]
His ownma'dhuns were both relatives of his predecessor, Ali ibn Muhammad:Ahmad ibn Mubarak, Ali's nephew, and Ali's sonal-Husayn. Both would succeed him asDa'i al-Mutlaq after his death on 8 February 1229.[1][2]
Ali ibn Hanzala was very well educated, with a particular interest inastrology and natural sciences.[2] He wrote two theological works on Tayyibi esoteric doctrine (ḥaqāʾiq):[2][4]
theSimṭ al-ḥaqaʾiq ("Banquet of reality"), a work on Tayyibi concepts ontawḥīd,cosmology andeschatology, written as a poem of 663 verses. It has been edited and published in Damascus in 1953 by Abbas al-Azzawi at theInstitut Français de Damas.
theRisālat ḍiyāʾ al-ʿulūm wa-miṣbāʿ al-ʿulūm ("Treatise on the radiance of reason and the light of knowledge"), divided into four chapters, it also deals with matters oftawḥīd, cosmology and eschatology, as well as other theological questions.
