Key Figures in the History of Islam. 197Ibn Sina, Abu Ali (980-1037): known in the West as Avicenna, he rep-
resents the apogee of Falsafah, which he linked to religious and mys-
tical experience.
Ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1 328): a reformer who tried to counter the influ-
ence of Sufism and to return to the fundamental principles of the
Quran and the sunnah. He died in prison in Damascus.
Ibn al-Zubayr, Abdallah (d. 692): one of the chief opponents of the
Umayyads during the second fitnah.
Iqbal, Muhammad (1876-1938): Indian poet and philosopher who em-
phasized the rationality of Islam to prove that it was quite compati-
ble with Western modernity.
Ismail: the prophet who is known as Ishmael in the Bible, the eldest son
of Abraham, who was cast out into the wilderness at God's command
with his mother, Hagar, but saved by God. Muslim tradition has it
that Hagar and Ismail lived in Mecca, that Abraham came to visit
them there and that Abraham and Ismail rebuilt the Kabah (which
had been originally constructed by Adam, the first prophet and fa-
ther of mankind).
Ismail ibn Jafar: he was appointed the Seventh Imam of the Shiah by
his father Jafar as-Sadiq (q.v.). Some Shiis (known as Ismailis or Sev-
eners) believe that he was the last of the direct descendants of Ali
ibn Abi Talib (q.v.) to succeed to the imamate, and do not recognize
the imamate of Musa al-Kazim, the younger son of Jafar as-Sadiq,
who is revered by Twelver Shiis as the Seventh Imam.
Ismail Pasha: he became the governor of Egypt (1863-79) and was
given the title Khedive (great prince). His ambitious modernizing
programme bankrupted the country and led ultimately to the British
occupation of Egypt.
Ismail, Shah (1487-1524): the first Safavid shah of Iran, who imposed
Twelver Shiism on the country.
Jafar as-Sadiq (d. 765): the Sixth Shii Imam, who developed the doc-
trine of the imamate and urged his followers to withdraw from pol-
itics and concentrate on the mystical contemplation of the Quran.
Jamal al-Din, "al-Afghani" (1839-97): an Iranian reformer who urged
Muslims of all persuasions to band together and modernize Islam to
avoid the political and cultural hegemony of Europe.
Jinnah, Muhammad Ali (1876-1948): the leader of the Muslim League
in India at the time of the partition of the country, who is therefore
hailed as the architect of Pakistan.