Nizari Quhistani

Nizari Quhistani’s work was quoted by many later Ismaili authors, such as the Persian Khwāja Muḥammad Riḍā b. Sulṭān Ḥusayn, also known as Khayrkhvah-i Harati.

For a time, he served as one of the only Ismaili officials at the court of Malik Shams-uddin Muhammad Kurt I (d. 1285 CE) better known as Shams al-Din Kart in Herat.

In this role, Nizari toured Khurasan, Rayy, Sistan and Quhistan, eventually meeting the successor of the Imam Rukn al-Din Khwurshah, whom he identified as the Shah Shams.

A second theory for Nizari's nom de plume is that he was of a slim (nizār) build, though this has been dismissed by the prominent scholar of Persian history E. G. Browne.

The biographer Amin Ahmad Razi remarked in 1594 CE that Nizari's place in history was unaffected by his religious affiliation to the Ismaili faith.

In this poetic travelogue Nizari describes his journey undertaken in 1280 CE and encounters with individuals who, according to Nadia E. Jamal, may have been prominent Ismaili figures of Armenia, Arran, Azerbaijan and Georgia.