To be honest I haven’t ever heard this(?) you should know that Ismailis are Muslim. Specifically a sect of the Shia branch. Ismailis hold the fundamental beliefs of Islam. The difference lies with the belief of the imam of the time. From my experience, the imam is a difficult concept to understand for people who aren’t ismaili. Some research questions that may help you find what you’re looking for is look up what separated Sunni and Shia and then what separated the three main branches of the Shia sect. This should help you understand the background of why the imam is the imam for Ismailis. Be careful what you find on the internet as there is a lot of false information. I would say Reddit for me is where I feel the least understood. The best way to learn about the religion is the.Ismaili website.

I also want to add in that I’m not an expert but I try my best to research and learn. The guidance I have received is that researching the faith is a good thing and one should always ask questions.