Ginans

States People Centers Other Ginans (Urdu: گنان, Gujarati: ગિનાન; derived from Sanskrit: ज्ञान jñana, meaning "knowledge") are devotional hymns or poems recited by Shia Ismaili Muslims.

Literally meaning gnosis, ginans are the devotional literature of the Nizari Ismailis of South Asia, spanning topics of divine love, cosmology, rituals, eschatology, ethical behavior and meditation.

Like Ginans, Qaseedas are recited in Arabic, Persian or Tajik by Ismailis in Central Asia, Iran and Syria.

The Ginans are a unique as literature because while they were meant to spread the Ismaili doctrine and basic theological principles to South Asians, they incorporated local elements of the region which inadvertently included what we now label as Hindu references.

Perhaps the clearest connection to Ginans and what we now conceive of as Hindu tradition is the theme of Kalki which is the tenth incarnation of Vishnu (Dasa Avatara).

In Ginan literature, the first Shia Imam, Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, is likened to this tenth incarnation which is re-labeled as Nakalanki.

It is because of these pluralistic elements in the Ginans that Khojas identified neither as Hindus nor as Muslims which lead to complications as the modern conception of religion created rigid boundaries of these religious identities.

Ismailis view Ginans as a means through which to understand the message of the Qur’an and get closer to the essence of the Divine Light.

According to Wladimir Ivanow, a prominent Russian scholar on Ismailism, Ginans hold a profound significance for Ismailis, representing the Haqiqah or the ultimate truth.

[5] Some Ginans are also written in the style of the Virahini; that is in the perspective of a woman who is waiting with desire to be meet and be united with her beloved who is a metaphor for God.

The Ismaili imam (proclaimed to be living in the west) is represented as the long-awaited tenth incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.

A third discourse discernible in the ginans is that of the sants, “a group of lower-caste poet-saints who were part of a powerful anti-ritual and anti-caste movement” influential in India.

Ginans utilize much of the “idiom of sant poetry”, and demonstrate a similar concern with “challenging the efficacy of ritualism and rote learning as paths to salvation”.

Thus, a rich selection of Ginans is recited during funeral rites, offering comfort and spiritual guidance to the bereaved.