The aim of this contribution is to shed light on an underexplored relationship in historiography: the connection between the work of Russian orientalists and the study of Islamic Sicily during the Fatimid caliphate and the Kalbid emirate (910 - 1053). This research builds on the preliminary discovery, acquisition, and edition of Ismāʿīlī texts, which had long been jealously guarded by the religious communities themselves and scattered throughout the territories of Central Asia. Initial contact with Ismaili communities was established through the efforts of a generation of orientalists, including Aleksey A. Bobrinskoy (1861-1938), Ivan I. Zarubin (1887-1964), and Aleksandr A. Semenov (1873-1958). In the early 20th century, these scholars conducted expeditions to Nizārī Ismāʿīlī communities in regions such as Badakhshan (northeastern Afghanistan) and southwestern Tajikistan. Their efforts led to the creation of an initial collection of Ismaili manuscripts housed at the Asiatic Museum in St. Petersburg (now part of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences). Building on their foundational work, Vladimir Ivanow (d. 1970) was commissioned in 1931 by Mohamed Shah Aga Khan III (d. 1957) to study the history and doctrines of the Ismailis. The work of these scholars has significantly enriched our understanding of Ismaili doctrine and illuminated aspects of the Fatimid caliphate's history. As a result, it has also become possible to gain deeper insights into the political and religious history of Sicily in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. This is particularly valuable since Michele Amari (d. 1889), in his Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia and Biblioteca arabo-sicula, could not rely on Ismaili sources.