Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far ibn Ibrahim ibn Abi Salama ibn al-Walid al-Abshami al-Qurashi (Arabic:علي بن محمد بن الوليد القرشي;c. 1128 – 21 December 1215) was the 5thTayyibi Isma'iliDa'i al-Mutlaq inYemen from 1209 to his death in 1215. Descended from a noble lineage of theQuraysh, he was a noted scholar and Tayyibi theologian, and an author of several influential works on Tayyibi doctrine. Before becoming himselfDa'i al-Mutlaq, he served as senior deputy to the third and fourth holders of the office. His rise to the office inaugurated a period of two and a half centuries where it would be almost monopolized by members of his own family.
He was stationed inSana'a, where he took over the missionary efforts of Muhammad ibn Tahir, but frequently visited the Tayyibi headquarters atHaraz, and Hatim entrusted to Ali the education of his son,Ali ibn Hatim. It was on Ali's suggestion that Hatim selected his son as his designated successor.[1][5] When Hatim died in 1199, his son Ali succeeded him, until his death in 1209.[5] During the reign of Ali ibn Hatim, the Tayyibis were expelled from Haraz and found refuge in Sana'a.[5]
Although his immediate successor,Ali ibn Hanzala, was from theBanu Hamdan, in 1230 Ali's sonal-Husayn became the eighthDa'i al-Mutlaq, and with a single interruption, the office would remain in the hands of the Banu al-Walid family continuously until 1539.[3] Like most of his predecessors and successors, Ali enjoyed good relations with theHamdanid dynasty ruling Dhu Marmar, as well as theAyyubid rulers of Sana'a.[1][3]
His grave is in Al-Aghmur, a sub-district located in Manakhah District, Sana'a Governorate,Yemen. His grave was not known for 600 years, until it was discovered in March 2019. The official announcement was made on 25 March 2019 byMufaddal Saifuddin, theDa'i al-Mutlaq of theDawoodi Bohra.[citation needed]
Extremely well-educated, he was held in high regard by both contemporaries and later Tayyibi scholars: Hatim ibn Ibrahim reportedly stated that in Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Walid were to be found all the qualifications required of ada'i by the 10th-century Isma'ili missionaryAhmad ibn Ibrahim al-Nisaburi.[1] He was a "prolific author",[1] writing a series of important works on Tayyibi doctrine (haqa'iq).[3] Due to the high regard in which they were held by the Tayyibis, most have survived to the present day. Eight have been published in modern times, while the manuscripts of another eight have not yet been published.[1][7]
The works are:
Kitāb al-dhakhīra fī l-ḥaqīqa, in 33 chapters, dealing withtawḥīd,cosmology andeschatology, the hierarchy of thedaʿwa, the imams and prophets, and a discussion on rewards and punishments for the faithful and their opponents. A modern edition was published by Muhammad Hasan al-A'zami, Beirut 1971.[1][7]
Risālat jalāʾ al-ʿuqūl wa-zubdat al-maḥṣūl, also dealing withtawḥīd, cosmological and eschatological issues; edited by Adil al-Awwa inMuntakhabāt Ismāʿīliyya, Damascus 1958, pp. 80–153.[1][8]
Risālat al-īḍāḥ wa-l-tabyīn, a short treatise on Tayyibi doctrines on theCreation, Isma'ili hierarchy, eschatology, and on the last Tayyibi imam, at-Tayyib Abu'l-Qasim. It was edited byRudolf Strothmann and published in hisGnosis-Texte der Ismailiten. Arabische Handschrift Ambrosiana H 75, Göttingen 1943, pp. 138–158.[1][9]
Risālat tuḥfat al-murtād wa-ghuṣṣat al-aḍdād, arefutation of the rivalHafizi Isma'ili claims on the imamate, edited by Rudolf Strothmann inGnosis-Texte der Ismailiten. Arabische Handschrift Ambrosiana H 75, Göttingen 1943, pp. 159–170.[1][9]
Risāla [fī maʿnā] al-ism al-aʿẓam, edited by Rudolf Strothmann and published in hisGnosis-Texte der Ismailiten. Arabische Handschrift Ambrosiana H 75, Göttingen 1943, pp. 171–177. The authorship of this treatise was unknown to Strothmann, and was identified as Ali ibn Muhammad by Ismail Poonawala.[1][9]
Tāj al-ʿaqāʾid wa-maʿdin al-fawāʾid, edited by Arif Tamir, Beirut, 1st edition 1967 and 2nd edition 1982. A summarized translation was published byWladimir Ivanow,A Creed of the Fatimids, Bombay, Qayyima Press, 1936.[1][9]
Dāmigh al-bāṭil wa-ḥatf al-munāḍil, a two-volume refutation ofal-Ghazali's anti-Isma'ili workKitab al-Mustazhiri, edited by Mustafa Ghalib, Beirut 1982.[1][8]
Al-Risāla al-mufīda fī sharḥ mulghaz al-qaṣīda, a commentary onAvicenna'sQaṣīdat al-nafs ("qasidas on the soul"), edited by al-Habib al-Faqi, inḤawliyyāt al-Jāmiʿa al-Tūnusiyya, Vol. 17 (1979), pp. 117–182.[1][9]
Dīwān Sayyidnā ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Walīd, a collection (diwan) of over 100 poems, includingeulogies of his teachers, as well as dealing with doctrinal matters and contemporary historical events. Excerpts have been published by Rudolf Strothmann in "Kleinere Ismailitische Schriften",Islamic Research Association Miscellany, Vol. 1 (1948), pp. 145–146 & 153–163, and in Rabab Hamiduddin's PhD thesisThe Qasidah of the Tayyibi Da'wah and the Diwan of Syedna Ali B. Muhammad Al-Walid at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), 2001.[1][8]
Mukhtaṣar al-uṣūl, a refutation of the doctrines of theSunnis,Mu'tazilis,Zaydis, and the philosophers "who deny God all attributes", still unpublished.[1]
Risālat al-bayān wa-mudḥiḍat al-buhtān, a refutation of Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Ahwari, a rival of Hatim ibn Ibrahim for the position ofDā'ī al-Mutlaq. Unpublished manuscript.[1]
