sentences:  This was of momentous importance since, given the pivotal role of the imam in the Isma'ili faith, the issue of succession was not merely a matter of political intrigue, but also intensely religious.In the words of the historian Samuel Miklos Stern, "on it depended the continuity of institutional religion as well as the personal salvation of the believer".To the Isma'ili faithful, writes Stern, it was "not so much the person of the claimant that weighed with his followers; they were not moved by any superior merits of Nizar as a ruler [...] it was the divine right personified in the legitimate heir that counted".