Kiya Buzurg-Ummid Explained

Religion:Nizari Ismaili
Kiya Buzurg-Ummid
Dāʿī
Birth Date:Unknown
Death Date:9 February 1138
Ethnicity:Dailamite
Region:Iran
Predecessor:Hassan-i Sabbah
Successor:Muhammad ibn Buzurg-Ummid
Maddhab:Nizari Ismaili Shi'ism
Main Interests:Islamic theology, Islamic jurisprudence
Notable Ideas:Evolution, Oneness of God
Influences:Hassan-i Sabbah
Influenced:Muhammad ibn Kiya Buzurg Ummid
Children:Muhammad ibn Kiya Buzurg Ummid
Kiya Ali[1]

Kiyā Buzurg-Ummīd[2] (Persian: کیا بزرگ امید; died 1138) was a dāʿī and the second ruler (da'i) of the Nizari Isma'ili State, ruling Alamut Castle from 1124 to 1138 CE (or 518—532 AH). He was of Daylami origin from the region of Rudbar.

Career

Prior to ruling the Nizari Isma'ilis, Buzurg Ummid captured Lambsar Castle for the Assassins and ruled it as commander for over twenty years.

As the ruler of Alamut

On 25 Rabīʿ II 518 (11 June 1124), a day before death of Ḥassan-i Ṣabbaḥ, Ḥassan appointed him his successor. He generally followed the policies of Ḥassan-i Ṣabbaḥ and enforced the Sharia strictly. In his early reign the Isma'ili hold was expanded in particular in Eshkevar and Taleghan.[3]

As opposed to Hassan Sabbah, who is depicted as a revolutionary leader, the Ismaili sources depict Buzurg-Ummid as an administrator and a chivalrous lord (e.g. the story of him protecting his old enemy, emir Yaran-Qush Bazdar of Qazvin and his followers, who had fled to Alamut).[4]

Another change in the Nizari government during his rule was the decrease in the number of assassinations; the list include the Abbasid caliph Al-Mustarshid, a prefect of Isfahan, a governor of Maragha, a prefect of Tabriz, and a mufti of Qazvin.

Kiya Buzurg Ummid died on 9 February 1138 and was succeeded by his son, Muhammad Buzurg Ummid, who was nominated as heir three days earlier.

Works

The text of a bedtime prayer, titled "Prayer in Bedtime" (Persian: دعا در هنگام خواب du'ā dar hingām-i khwāb) in Persian attributed to Kiya Buzurg Ummid, is preserved in a manuscript of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Daftary . Farhad . The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines . 1992 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-42974-0 . 383 . en.
  2. Transliteration based on Classical Persian, as the subject of the article lived in the 1100's. In modern Iranian Persian, this would be transliterated as some variation of Kiyâ Bozorg-Omid.
  3. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bozorg-omid-kia-the-second-ismaili-ruler-of-alamut BOZORG-OMĪD, KĪĀ
  4. Book: Lewis . Bernard . The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam . 2011 . Orion . 978-0-297-86333-5 . en.
  5. Web site: نسخ خطی عربی اسماعيلی و غيره: فهرستی توصيفی از نسخ خطی مؤسسه‌ی مطالعات اسماعيلی . 2013-07-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130613124705/http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=100776 . 2013-06-13 . dead .