Ibn Husam Khusfi: The Season of Orisons

Ismaili traditions of devotional poetry continued to flourish after the Mongol conquests, although much of it has been little known until recently. The period of the Imam Mustansir bi’llah II of Anjudan (d. 885/1480) and his successors saw a flowering of Ismaili devotional poetry. The poet Muhammad b. Husam b. Shams al-Din Muhammad Khusfi (d. in either 875/1470 or 893/1488) is associated with the village of Khusf in Khurasan. He became well known for a genre of praise poetry dedicated to the Prophet and Imam Ali, and his poems are found in both Ismaili and non-Ismaili collections. “The Season of Orisons” is a piece that urges devotion to the Imam of the Time.

Virani, Shafique N. “Ibn Ḥusām Khusfī: The Season of Orisons.” In An Anthology of Ismaili Literature: A Shi’i Vision of Islam. Edited by Hermann Landolt, Samira Sheikh and Kutub Kassam, 291. London:I.B.Tauris in association with Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2008.