ABŪ NAṢR AL-ESMĀʿĪLĪ, an alleged teacher of Abū Ḥāmed Ḡazālī (450-505/1058-1111); it is not possible to identify him. A well-known Abū Naṣr Aḥmad b. Emām Abū Bakr Aḥmad al-Esmāʿīlī taught in Gorgān but died in 405/1014-15 (Sobkī, Ṭabaqāt1 III, p. 37; Ebn ʿAsāker, Tabyīn kaḏeb al-moftarī, Damascus, 1347/1928-29, p. 231). A suggested identification is Emām Abu’l-Qāsem Esmāʿīl b. Masʿada b. Esmāʿīl b. Emām Abū Bakr Esmāʿīlī, who died in Gorgān in 477/1084-85 (Sobkī, Ṭabaqāt1 III, pp. 129-30).
Bibliography: Given in the text.
(W. M. Watt)
Originally Published: December 15, 1983
Last Updated: July 21, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 4, p. 350
W. M. Watt, “ABŪ NAṢR AL-ESMĀʿĪLĪ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/4, p. 350; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abu-nasr-al-esmaili-an-alleged-teacher-of-abu-hamed-gazali-q (accessed on 31 January 2014).
