Nāṣir-i Khusraw was a Persian scholar, poet, traveler and missionary for the Ismāʿīlī Shīʿī movement who is widely credited with the establishment of the Ismāʿīlī community in Badakhshan. Nāṣir was born in 1004 in the town of Qubādiyān in the southwest of present-day Tajikistan. He served in the Seljuq administration in the town of Marw until 1045, when at the age of 40 he experienced a spiritual crisis that drove him to abandon his position and to set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca. At some point in the course of his travels, or possibly even before departing, Nāṣir became introduced to the teachings of Ismāʿīlī Shīʿism and decided, after completing the pilgrimage, to travel to the capital of the Ismāʿīlī Fatimid Empire in Cairo to continue his studies. After several years of residence and study in Cairo, Nāṣir was commissioned as a dāʿī or ‘summoner’ for the Ismāʿīlī movement by the Imam of his time, Mustanṣir biʾllāh (d. 1094). By his account, Nāṣir was assigned by the Imam to the position of the ḥujjat or chief dāʿī of the Khurāsān region. He left Cairo and traveled to the city of Balkh, where he arrived by 1052 and began his missionizing work.