From forgery accusation to the author’s own handwritten work:A scrutiny of three hypotheses as to the text and handwritten version of theDastoor al-Monajjemin

The Dastoor al-Monajjemin is one of the Nizari Ismā’ili works that, based on certain intratextual clues, was written around 500 / 1106. In the final section of the book, there is a biographical account of the Prophet and the Imams of various Shi’i sects, particularly, the Ismā’ili leaders and, above all, Nizār. This has given the book a special standing in Ismā’ili studies. Of the Dastoor al-Monajjemin only one manuscript has been identified, preserved in the Bibliotheque nationale de France, with its facsimile having recently been published. In his notes about the Dastoor al-Monajjemin, Mohammad Qazvini has proposed three hypotheses; they are as follows: forgery by the author of an account attributing therein a hadith to Imam Reza in favour of the Ismā'ili denomination; adaptation from the book by Ata Malek Juvaini in writing his Tārikh-e Jahāngushāi (The History of the World Conqueror); copying the manuscript in question by the author himself at the Alamut Fortress. The present article examines these three hypotheses concerning the text and manuscript of the Dastoor al-Monajjemin and attempts to determine their accuracy or inaccuracy with reference to evidences and clues.