Ismaili Ta'wil of al-Kamal — Perfection and Completion in Ismaili Thought: How the Quran's References to Completion (5:3, 'Today I Have Completed Your Religion') Are Read as the Imam's Continuing Function, and How the Believer's Spiritual Perfection Is Achieved Through Walayah

In Ismaili ta'wil, al-Kamal (الكَمَال — Perfection, Completion, the state of being complete; *kamal* from *k-m-l*: to be complete, to be perfect; used in Islamic thought in both a cosmological sense [the perfection of the cosmos] and a moral-spiritual sense [the perfection of the human soul]; the Quranic key verse: 5:3 'Today I have completed your religion for you [akmaltu lakum dinakum] and perfected [atmamtu] My favor upon you and chosen for you Islam as a religion'; classical Sunni tafsir: 5:3 was revealed on the day of the Final Sermon; the 'completion' means the completion of Quranic revelation; after the Prophet's death, nothing remains to be added to the religion; in Ismaili ta'wil: 5:3 read differently; 'Today' [al-yawm] is not a historical moment [the Final Sermon] but the present-tense eternal now of the Imam's living presence; the din [religion] is not complete in the sense of closed — it is completed in the present through the Imam's ta'wil in each age; 'Today I have completed your religion' = each age's Imam actualizes the completeness of the religion for that age; the Imam as kamal: in Ismaili cosmology, the Imam embodies the fullest actualization of human potential — the closest any human being can come to the Aql al-Kulli's perfection; the Imam does not aspire toward kamal [like the ordinary believer] — the Imam IS the kamal-reference for the believer; the believer's path to kamal: [1] bay'ah [allegiance to the Imam] — entering the relationship; [2] ta'lim [instruction] — receiving the Imam's ta'wil; [3] tawajjuh [orientation] — aligning one's inner being toward the Imam's direction; [4] wilayah [closeness] — the progressive drawing-near as the soul receives more ta'wil; [5] kamal — the state of the soul that has fully internalized the Imam's ta'wil; contrast with Sufi kamal: Sufi tradition locates kamal in the saint's [wali's] direct spiritual realization; Ismaili ta'wil locates kamal in the believer's completeness-through-the-Imam; the believer is not aiming at individual spiritual achievement but at faithful reception of what the Imam transmits; Quranic verses on kamal: 12:6 'And your Lord will complete His favor [yutimmu ni'matahu] upon you'; 48:2 'That God may forgive you what came before and what comes after, and complete His favor upon you [wa yutimma ni'matahu 'alayk]' — both read in ta'wil as the Imam's ongoing completion of divine favor for the believer) is the Ismaili map of spiritual completion.