The duty of being charitable in knowledge: the zakat according to al-Sijistānī

The paper will focus attention on the zakat (almsgiving) as described in the Kitab al-iftikhar by the 10th century's Ismaili da'i Abu Ya‘qub al-Sijistani the pioneer of the philosophical Ismailism, who interpreted the almsgiving according to the Ismaili tradition of the ta'wil. The analysis of some excerpts of the chapter al-Sijistani devoted to the “understanding of the zakat” aims to illustrate how the pious act of charity must be understood as the bestowing of knowledge to those who do not posses it.