Ebadatain (Inward-Outward Worships) Strategy and Strengthening the Religious Power of Egyptian Fatimids

In a religious crisis trapping the Fatimid caliphate, the project of worships (inward and outward forms of worship) was a strategy for dissolving the intellectual and cultural problems of the Fatimid caliph, Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (411-386 BC). The emergence of Ismaili extremists, the creation of chasm between court missionaries, and the rise of intellectual crisis in the Ismaili community were insoluble except through strengthening the intellectual foundations of the Fatimid Imams and missionaries. Hamid al din-Kirmani, the theoretician of Fatimid court, through proposing the idea of inward and outward worships succeeded in solidifying the Ismaili community intellectually and reviving the peace, religious authority, and legitimacy of Imam-caliph. This article, through adopting a descriptive-analytic method, aims at understanding the conceptual meaning of the term “worships” and exploring the process of application of this theory for solving the crisis and increasing the power of the Fatimid Imam. The findings of the study indicate the alignment of inward and outward worships and their interdependence. The initial religious ideology of Ismaili is not compatible with leaving out outward observance, and it never approves of seceding of the Fatimid Imam from imamate state and claiming godhood.