I think some of the points in the above post are not accurate.agakhani wrote:It seems to me, this topic getting in confusion aproach . below are some clerification from me:-
1, Pir and Imam are two different authorities.
2, Both should be from AHLE-BAIT family.
3, Both should be present on earth all the time.
4, Pirs always appointed by Imam of the time.
5, There were some pirs in past who were not granted "PIRATAN" from
Imam of their time but their Ginans are still spoken in Jamat Khanas.
These type pirs usally call SYED.
6, During the time of Imam Mustansiribillah and after Pir Tajdin a book
name "PANDIYATE JAWAMARDI" written by Imam Mustansiribillah was
Ismaili pir.
7, PIR is persian word and it means, old respectable/reputable person.
8. There is no 'Pir' word in Arabic language, because there is no " P" letter
in Arabic alphabet. You can use Al-Mustwad instead of Pir.
9, In Khoja tradition they believe that pir is apeareance from Lord
Brahma, and Imam's apeareace is from Lord Vishnu. There are too
many Ginans on this topic in Gujarati, Khojki and other Indo languages
for above reference.
10,Pir Sabzali and Mukhi Ismail Gangji received pir title after their death.
but they both were not form AHLE-Bait family, they received Pir title
because of their excellent Khidmat of Jamat and Imam.
11, There are big differences between QASIDA and GINANS.Ginans cover
almost all the fields and are loded with RUHANIAYAT, Qasida is Praise
of Allah.
12, There is a book in gujarati language which is now available ''PIR
PADHARYA AAPNE DWAR" written by wellknown missionary ALIBHAI
NANJI. In this book you can find history of our 50 pirs, list of the
ginans written by each pirs, their year of birth death. MOZIZA e.t.c. I
would recommend every one who know Gujarati, must have this book
in their library.
It is indeed, Pir and Imam are 2 different concepts and the fundamental and central principle in Ismaili Tariqah is the continuous presence of the Imam of the time.
In Arabic the word Pir is not used, however, the reason is not because of the non-existence of the letter "P"! Actually in Arabic the letter "B" is used for both "B" and "P" so the non-existence of "P" is not a problem. The actual reason is because there were no people called Pirs in Arabic Ismaili tradition however there were Dais, Hujjas, Imam Mustawdah, etc.
Imam Mustawdah means a person who is not Imam of the time but a person who may be known to some people as the Imam so that to protect the real Imam at times when the security of the Imam was not guaranteed.
There were some Dais who played significant roles in Ismaili history and they are called in Arabic with titles such as Dais or Hujjas. For example, Qadi Numan, Kermani, Sijistani, Ibn Hawshab, Abu Abdullah Al-Shi'i, Hassan Sabbah, Rashid din Sinan, Nassir Khusro, Al-Haj Khudr, etc. They have done distinguished work in our history but they have not been known as Pirs in Arabic heritage.
Most of those Dais played roles similar to the Pirs of the Indian subcontinent. For example Ibn Hawshab converted large population in Yemen to the Ismaili faith, Abu Abdullah al-Shi'i did similar in North Africa, and Nassir Khusro in Central Asia, etc. Also most of them left works in Ismaili faith either in the form of Qasida or text books or both.
I notice from the list of 50 Pirs mentioned in a previous post that there were only 6 Pirs before Pir Satgur Noor which would means that a Pir was not present at all times, contrary to the Imam of the time who is ever present.
Also it is important to mention that the difference between Ginan and Qasida is not as you mentioned for Qasidas cover many topics and not only praise of Allah. The Qasidas focus on the love and praise of the Imam of the time as well as spirituality and some Arabic and Farsi Qasidas have been written by Imams or Imam's brother, etc. To my best knowledge Hazar Imam has not distinguished between Qasidas and Ginans.
Thank you.