Nashid al-Imamah – Anthem of the Ismaili Imamat on Solo Setar

The Nashid al-Imamah, the anthem of the Ismaili Imamat, played on the setar by Daryoush Mohammad Poor. Filmed by Rehana Virani at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, on 21 September 2026. The anthem was set to music in the time of Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III. Its lyric is in Urdu and names the Imam and his descent, the five of the household of the Prophet, and the continuity of the light of the Imamat. Here it is played without the words, in the Persian mode of Mahur. A listener who knows the anthem hears the words anyway; a listener who does not hears a Persian mode and no Urdu at all. The instrument has an Ismaili story of its own. Its fourth string carries the name of Mushtaq Ali Shah, a Nimatullahi dervish whom the forty-fourth Ismaili Imam, Abu’l-Hasan Ali, protected in Kirman. In May 1792, in the week the Imam was away from the city, a cleric turned the Friday congregation into a mob that stoned Mushtaq to death. The Imam died later that year and was buried in Mushtaq’s tomb. Essay, ‘The Frets Are Movable’, on Twin Wisdoms: https://twinwisdoms.org/a-thumb-on-th... Morgh-e Sahar on the same instrument:    • Morgh-e Sahar (مرغ سحر) – Bird of Dawn on ...   Setar: Daryoush Mohammad Poor Filming and photography: Rehana Virani Institute of Ismaili Studies, Aga Khan Centre, London #NashidAlImamah #Ismaili #Setar