Ismaili Ta'wil of al-Fawz — Triumph and Salvation: How 3:185 ('Every Soul Will Taste Death, and You Will Only Be Given Your Reward in Full on the Day of Resurrection — Whoever Is Removed From the Fire and Entered Into Paradise Has Indeed Attained Triumph [Fawz]') and 9:72 ('The Greatest Triumph') Are Read in Ismaili Ta'wil as the Walayah-Life That Already Constitutes the Highest Triumph in This World, Not Only After Death

In Ismaili ta'wil, al-Fawz (الفَوز — Triumph, Success, Salvation; from *f-w-z*: to escape danger, to obtain the desired, to succeed; faza/yafuzu = to triumph, to attain; al-fawz = the triumph, the attainment; al-fawzan = the double triumph; the eschatological fawz in the Quran: the Quran uses fawz most frequently in an eschatological context — the triumph of those who enter Paradise: [1] 3:185 'kullu nafsin dha'iqatu al-mawt wa-innama tuwaffawna ujurakum yawma al-qiyama fa-man zuhziha 'ani al-nar wa-udkhila al-janna fa-qad faz' [every soul shall taste death, and your rewards will be given in full on the Day of Resurrection; whoever is removed from the Fire and entered into the Garden has indeed triumphed]; [2] 9:72 'wa-ridwan min allahi akbar dhalika huwa al-fawz al-'azim' [and God's good pleasure is greater — that is the greatest triumph]; good pleasure [rida'] of God is described as the greatest triumph — above even Paradise itself; [3] 44:57 'fadlan min rabbika dhalika huwa al-fawz al-'azim' [as a bounty from your Lord — that is the greatest triumph]; [4] 57:12 'dhalika huwa al-fawz al-'azim' [that is the greatest triumph — used of believers whose light runs before them on the Day of Resurrection]; the classical theological interpretation: fawz is primarily eschatological in classical Islamic theology — the achievement that matters most happens after death; present life is the test; the result [fawz or khasara] is determined at the Last Day; the Sufi interpretation: the mystic's fawz is accessible in this life through the experience of direct closeness to God — *fana'* [annihilation] in God is a form of fawz already in the present; al-Hallaj's claim to experience fawz in this life [before death] was part of what made him controversial; Ismaili ta'wil of al-fawz: [1] the batin fawz in this world: in Ismaili ta'wil, fawz has a batin dimension that is realized in the present, not only after death; the mu'min who has genuine bay'ah and receives the Imam's ta'wil is already living in batin-fawz: she has been 'removed from the fire' [the zahiri existence without batin-nourishment] and 'entered into the garden' [the batin-life of walayah-connection] in this world; [2] 3:185 ta'wil: 'removed from the fire and entered into the garden' = removed from the zahiri existence that is dead without walayah and entered into the walayah-life of batin-connection; this is not a future eschatological event [though it has that dimension too] but a present spiritual reality; [3] 9:72 'God's good pleasure is greater — that is the greatest triumph': in Ismaili ta'wil, God's rida' [good pleasure] is experienced through the Imam's rida' [approval]; the Imam's approval of the mu'min's walayah and ta'wil-understanding is the batin of God's rida'; the fawz al-'azim [greatest triumph] is the Imam's rida' — greater than any external attainment; [4] the connection to walayah as fawz: in Ismaili ta'wil, walayah itself is fawz; the person who has achieved bay'ah and genuine walayah-connection to the Imam has achieved the most important form of triumph available in this world; all other triumphs [political, economic, social] are zahiri and temporary; the fawz of walayah is batin and permanent; [5] fawz vs khasara [loss]: the Quran frequently pairs fawz with khasara [loss]; 3:185's context is precisely this: some attain fawz, others khasara; in Ismaili ta'wil, the structure of this pairing is: walayah = fawz; rejection of walayah = khasara; this is the most fundamental distinction in Ismaili understanding of spiritual outcomes) is Ismaili ta'wil's account of spiritual achievement.