FOOT NOTES : CHAPTER 5

1 T. al-Ghayba, 230-1, 233, 236; Kamal, 432.
2 T. al-Ghayba, 235; Kamal, 510.
3 T. al-Fihrist, 50-1; T. Tahdhib al-Ahkam, Iv, 134; t. al-Ghayba, 100-1. Most of the narrations attributed to Ibn Hilal come on the authority of Sa'd al-Ash'ari al-Qummi, which reveals that Ibn Hilal had a high position among the Imamites before he was excommunicated by the safirs (Ikhitiyar, 18, 141, 503, 603). For the narration concerning the twelfth Imam being al-Qa'im related on the authority of Ibn Hila, see Kamal, 252-3, 350, 649; al-Kafi, I, 342; N. al-Ghayba, 175, 100-1, 149, 283.
4 Ikhtiyar, 535.
5 al-Sadr, op. cit., I, 501.
6 al-Najshi, 65.
7 al-Saduq, Mashyakhat al-Faqih, IV, 128. Al-Nash literally means to declare war on someone, or to show open hostility to someone. In the shi'ite works the term al-nasb has been used to define a doctrine of a group of people called al-Nawasib (pl. of nasib). The Nawasib were mainly distinguished by their hostility towards the People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt). Al Kulayni considers Ahmad, the son of the 'Abasid vizier 'Ubayd Allah b. Khaqan, as one of them, and adds that al-Qa'im would order them to pay the jizya (al-Kafi, I, 503, 508, VIII, 227, 101, 160-1). The Khawarij were amongst the Nawasib and al-Tusi considered them as infidels (kuffar) and forbade the Shi'ites from having any social relations with them. Furthermore, he permitted the Imamites to confiscate their money; al-Tusi, Tahdhib al-Ahkam, IV, 22; al-Istibsar, III, 183-4.
8 T. al-Fihrist, 50-1; al-Tabarsi, al-Ihtijaj, II, 289.
9 T. al-Ghayba, 260.
10 Kamal, 489; al-Sadr, op. cit., I, 500.
11 Ikhtiyar, 536-7.
12 Ibid., 537.
13 According to the Imamites, Islam is based on five pillars: prayer, zakat, fasting, pilgrimage, and the wilaya, that is, the recognition of the Imam, to which they gave priority over the pillars. Therefore if a person spends all his life performing the other four Islamic pillars but does not recognize the Imam, his worship is invalid. For a full account of this point, see al-Kafi, I, 181-4, 374-5, II, 18-19.
14 T. al-Ghayba, 260.
15 Al-Dihqan is 'Urwa b. Yahya al-Nakhkhas al-Baghdadi; he is said to have been the wakil and treasurer of the eleventh Imam, al-'Askari. But he was deposed and cursed because he seized the money of the organization and burnt the documents of the Imam, which were kept in the treasury; Ikhtiyar, 573, 579.
16 Ikhtiyar, 536-7.
17 T. al-Ghayba, 260.
18 al-Najashi, 254-5; Ikhtiyar, 564, 566.
19 al-Barqi, al-Rijal, 57, 61.
20 Al-Kashshi mentions a document attributed to al-'Askari containing instructions to his agents in Iraq and Khurasan, in which he ordered Ishaq al-Nisaburi to contact al-bilali in Baghdad; Ikhtiyar, 579.
21 al-Kafi, , 328; Kamal, 499.
22 T. al-Ghayda, 260.
23 T. al-Ghayda, 261.
24 Ibid, 261.
25 Ikhtiyar, 517-21, 528-9.
26 T. al-Ghayba, 259, Javad Ali and Rajkowshi think that Ibn Nusayr was an eminent citizen of Basra. Moreover the latter thinks that he was of Persian origin. However, both base their accounts on al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (al-Khatib, III, 163-4) and al-Kashshi, whereas the latter refers to two people bearing the same name. The first one was his teacher in Basra and the second was the above extremist. Al-Kashshi attributed the latter lineage to the Arab tribe Fahr and criticized him bitterly; Ikhtiyar, 5, 278, 503, 520.
27 Ikhtiyar, 520-1.
28 T. al-Ghayba, 259.
29 N. Furat, 78, Al-Sabi reports that Banu Furat used to inhabit a village called Babili Sasfrin in the district of upper Nahrawan, and that there were more than 300 people in this village (Hilal b. Muhsin al-Sabi, al-Wizara (Cairo, 1958), 11-12). They named themselves after their great-grandfather, Furat b. Ahnaf al-'Abdi, who had lived and died in Kufa around 120/737 and was a close associate of al-Sajjad and al-Baqir (al-Barqi, al-Rijal, 8-9, 16). Another member of this family was 'Umar b. Furat, who was executed on the orders of Ibrahim b. al-Mahdi in 203/808, as a punishment inflicted on him for his propaganda in favour of the vizier Ibn Sahl. See for details, D. Sourdel, "Ibn al-Furat", E.I.2----; Rajkowshi, op. cit., 769-70.
30 al-Khatib, III, 163-4; al-Sabi, op. cit., 30-31.
31 Rajkowski, op. cit., 772-3, quoted from al-Khasibi, Diwan, f, 49b, 4, 5a.
32 al-Khatib, VI, 380; Salih Ahmad al-'Ali, "al-Mada'in fi al-Masadir al-'Arabiyya", Sumar, XIII (1967), 50.
33 Javad Ali, op. cit., in Der Islam, XXV (1939), 206.
34 T. al-Ghayba, 233-4.
35 al-Kafi, I, 329, 331.
36 Kamal, 435.
37 Ibid., 440.
38 Ibid., 442.
39 al-Kafi, I, 330.
40 Abu al-Fida, op. cit., II, 69; al-Kamil, VIII, 80; T. al-Ghayba, 192.
41 Ikhtiyar, 532.
42 al-Tabarsi, al-Ihtijaj, II, 297-301.
43 T. al-Ghayba, 240.
44 Concerning the activities of al-Qattan, see al-Kafi, 520; T. al-Ghayba 190-1; Bihar, LI, 302, 217; Kamal, 409-1; al-Irshad, 398-9. For Hajiz's relations with the safir, see Bihar, LI, 294, and for Ahmad b. Ishaq's contacts with the safir and other agents, see Dala'il, 272; Ikhtiyar, 556-7.
45 Kamal, 442.
46 Ikhtiyar, 535.
47 al-Irshad, 399.
48 Dala'il, 272. According to al-Saduq, Ahmad b. Ishaq died in Hilwan before 260/874, but this cannot be accepted because there are several indications that he outlived al-'Askari (d. 260/874). Moreover al-Saduq relates his report on the authority of Muhammad b. Bahr, who was well-known for fabricating narrations; Kamal, 454, 466-7; al-Najashi, 298.
49 Kamal, 488.
50 al-Kafi, I, 525.
51 T. al-Ghayba, 191-2.
52 T. al-Ghayba, 242.
53 Ibid., 240-1.
54 According to Ibn Rustam, after the death of al-'Askari in 260/874, al-Baqtani claimed that he was the agent of the twelfth Imam (Bihar, LI, 300). But later he appears to have abandoned his claim and served both the second and third safirs (T. al-Ghayba, 242), Al-Wajna' was amongst those who had seen the Imam (Kamal, 443). He was resident is Baghdad during the time of the second safir (al-Kafi, I, 521). However it appears that he had some relations with the political bases of the Imamites in Mosul in 307/919; T. al-Ghayba, 205.
55 T. al-Ghayba, 198. 56 T. al-Ghayba, 193, 195.
57 al-Najashi, 198; Buzurg, Nawabigh al-Ruwat, 186.
58 N. al-Ghayba. 179; Mian II, 69-70, 399; Buzurg, Nawabigh al-Ruwat, 53-55, 161-3; al-Najashi, 132-3.
59 al-Khirsan, sharh Mashyakhat Tahdhib al-Ahkam (Najaf, 1963), 13-16.
60 t. al-Ghayba, 235.
61 Kamal, 485.
62 Kamal, 504.
63 T. al-Ghayba, 205-6.
64 al-Irbili, Kashf al-Ghumma. IV, 409; Bihar, LI, 56-7; al-Irbili does not mention the year in which Ibn Hamdan controlled Qumm; however, Ibn al-Athir reports that he was installed in this post in 296/908. Consequently the contact between the second safir and Ibn Hamdan must have occurred after that date; al-Kamil, VIII, 14, 32.
65 Kamal, 493, 495.
66 Ibid, 488, 486; Bihar, LI, 294, 325.
67 T. al-Ghayba, 202.
68 Ibid., 192-3.
69 Al-'Abbasiyya was a fief in Baghdad granted to al-'Abbas, the brother of the caliph al-Mansur, According to al-Khatib al-Baghdadi there were two fiefs of the same name, one on the eastern side of Baghdad and the other on the western side. Because the house of Abu Ja'far was on the western side, the meeting may have occurred there; al-Khatib, I, 79, 95.
70 Kamal, 498.
71 T. al-Ghayba, 192.
72 Kamal, 499.
73 Al-'Abbas b. Ma'ruf was a companion to the tenth Imam, al-Hadi. He devoted his time during the short occultation to relating Imamite narrations; therefore, perhaps, Abu Ja'far originally ordered al-Aswad to hand the money over to Ibn Ma'ruf because al-Aswad, at that time, was not aware of the necessity of the underground organization. For a full account of the career of Ibn Ma'ruf as a narrator of Imamite narrations which criticise those Shi'ites who considered Ibn al-Hanafiyya or the seventh Imam Musa l-Kazim, as the hidden Imam, see Ikhtiyar, 315, 461; al-Najashi, 215-6, 151; al-Tusi, Tahdhib al-Ahkam, IV, 122, 137, V, 292, VI, 122, 194
74 Kamal, 502.
75 T. al-Ghayba, 241.
76 Tabari, III, 1857, 2024, 2109; for a full account of the Zanj revolt see the two important articles by Naji, "Tarikh al-Tabari Masdaran 'an Thawrat al-Zanj", al-Mawrid, VII, No. 2 (1978), 37-92; and "al-Tanzim al-'Askari li-jaysh Sahib al-Zanj", al-Mu'arikh al-'Arabi, VII (1978), 116-157; Faysal al-Samir, Thawrat al-Zanj (Basra, 1952).
77 al-Irbili, Kashf al-Ghaumma, IV, 428; Bihar, L, 293.
78 Tabari, III, 2099.
79 Al-Tusi reports that the tomb of al-Husayn collapsed in 273/886 probably due to an act of sabotage, especially if one bears in mind the fact that an attack upon the grave of 'Ali was foiled about the same time; al-Tusi, Tahdhib al-Ahkam, VI, 111-12.
80 For the distinction between the Mubarakyya and the Qaramita, see Q. Maqalat, 80-6; N. Firaq, 67-74; al-Fusul al-Mukhtara, 247-8.
81 T. al-Ghayba, 39, 130. The Isma'ili writer Ibn Hawshab narrates in al-Kashf several Quur'anic verses about the Last Day, which for him means the rise of al-Qa'im al-Mahdi (al-Kashf, 5-6, 10, 11, 14, 24; Abu Ya'qab al-Sijistani, Kashf al-Mahjub (Teheran, 1949, 81-3). Moreover, Ibn Hawshab mentions a narration attributed to al-Sadiq, stating that al-Qa'im will rise in Mecca. Thus he agrees with the Imamite reports regarding this point; al-Kashf, 32-5.
82 Ibn hawshab, Asrar al-Nutaqa', 51-3, 90-2. For the details of the Isma'ili use of these traditions in their activiti es with the tribe of Kitama in 280/893, see al-Kamil, VIII, 24-5, 26.
83 Ibn Hawshab, al-Kashf, 62; al-Kamil, VIII, 22-3; Ivanow supports this point in suggesting that "the terrible slaughter of the pilgrims in the Ka'ba itself, and the seizure of the sacred relics were not acts of wanton cruelty, it were connected with some expectations of a religious character, such as the return of Muhammad b. Isma'il in full glory, etc., which most probably was expected to be due about that time." Ivanow, "Ismailis and Qarmatians", Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, XVI (1940), 82; also see W. Madelung, "Karmati", E.I.2.
84 N. Firaq, 76; al-Tabari confirms this number; Tabari, II, 2218.
85 Q. Maqalat, 86.
86 Tabari, III, 2124.
87 al-Kamil, VII, 340-1, VIII, 21-2. There is evidence which encourages the present writer to link the activities of the Qaramita with those of the Isma'ilis. Ibn Hawqal mentions that after the establishment of the Qaramita state in Bahrain they used to send the khums to the sahib al-Zaman, that is the Isma'ili leader in Egypt; Ibn Hawqal, op. cit., 21-3.
88 Tabari, III, 2218; Ibn Hawqal, op. cit., 29.
89 Tabari, III, 1757. Shaban put forward the theory that the Isma'ili movement in Iraq and Bahrain was called the Qaramita after a specific race called al-Qaramatiyyun. They came originally from Libya and they could hardly speak Arabic. They took part in the Zanj revolt and joined the Isma'ili movement when the revolt collapsed. (Shaban, op. cit, 130).
90 Tabari, III, 2202.
91 Maqalat, 85.
92 Kamal, 483, 485.
93 al-Kamil, VIII, 311, 376.
94 Tabari, III, 2127-8; al-Kamil, VII, 311.
95 al-Ash'ari, Maqalat al-Islamiyin, 58; Ibn Shadhan, al-Idah. 475.
96 Later in 300/912 Muhsin was arrested in the suburb of Damascus. Is head was sent to Baghdad, where it was impaled on a bridge in the eastern side of the city, an area which was inhabited by a large Shi'ite population; Maqatil, 449; al-Kubaysi, op. cit., 446.
97 'Ali b. 'Isa, who was known for his anti-'Alid attitude, was called a Qarmati by his personal enemies; as a result he was dismissed from office ('Arib, op. cit., 59). Al-Qasim al-Khaqani was discharged in the same manner. Later al-Hallaj was arrested on the accusation that he was a Qarmatian missionary; Nujum, III, 182; Ibn Taymiyya, Jami' al-Rasa'il, I, 188.
98 al-Sabi, al-Wuzara', 292-3; Tabari, III, 2123.
99 al-Kamil, VII, 333.
100 Tabari, III, 2123, 'Ubayd Allah b. Sulayman was a close associate o al-Muwaffaq in Samarra in 264/878, but four years later he was imprisoned. When al-Mu'tadid became the heir-apparent to al-Mu'tamid, 'Ubayd Allah was promoted to the office of the wizara, whereupon he used his office to pursue his rivals such as Banu Furat. At the same time the managed to uncover the activities of the agents of the second safir. He died in 288/900; al-Kafi, I, 525; al-Kamil, VII, 219, 227, 309; al-Fakhri, 302.
101 Tabari, III, 2148; al-Muntazam, V, 150.
102 Al-Isfahani mentions that two 'Alids, Muhammad b. 'Ali b. Ibrahim and 'Ali b. Muhammad b. 'Ali, were tortured along with the Qarmati Sahib al-Kahi, whose hands and legs were cut off, yet they did not support the Qaramita nor did they have any relations with them (Maqatil, 446). Al-Tabari states twice that the 'Abbasid troops arrested a group of Qaramita in 286/899 and investigated tem. They disclosed the name of their leader, Abu Hashim b. Sadaqa al-Katib, who was arrested and put in jail (Tabari, III, 2179). Al-Mu'tadid's investigation of the Qaramita leader, Abu al-Fawaris, shows that he differentiated between the doctrine of the Qaramita and the Imamites: al-Kamil, VII, 354.
103 al-Kafi, I, 525.
104 al-Kafi, I, 525.
105 al-Kafi, I, 525; al-Irshad, 402; T. al-Ghayba, 183-4. This order is believed to have come from the Imam himself.
106 al-Rawandi, al-Khara'ij wa-l-Jara'ih (Bombay, 1301), 67. Al-Tusi mentions the names of two of the three soldiers: Ahmad b. 'Abd Allah and Rashiq, the servant of al-Mu'tadid. It appears that al-Tusi's report is sound, because al-Tabari confirms that Rashiq was the personal soldier (Ghulam, khadim) of al-Mu'tadid and took part in fighting against the Zanj revolution; Tabari, III, 1953, 2003, 2007, 2017-9, 2082-3; T. al-Ghayba, 160-1.
107 T. al-Ghayba, 163-5.
108 Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Muntazam, VI, 46.
109 Kamal, 92-3, quoted from Kitab al-Tanbih by Abu Sahl al-Nawbakhti.
110 T. al-Ghayba, 166, 195-6.
111 Ibid., 165.
112 Kamal, 440.
113 The Prophet's companion 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr b. al-'As used to narrate a Prophetic tradition predicting the rise of al-Qahtani, whose rising is only a sign for the rise of al-Qa'im al-Mahdi. However, Mu'awiya prohibited this companion from narration the traditions, because he thought that he spread of such traditions would encourage the people to overthrow him; B, Sahih, 384.
114 al-Kafi, VIII, 209, 264, 265, 274, 310, 331; from 273/886 onward 'Ali b. al-Husayn al-Taymali used to narrate other signs of al-Qa'im's uprising (N. al-Ghayba, 131, 164; Kamal, 649-656; al-Hadrami, Asl Ja'far b. Shurayh al-Hadrami, f. 37a, 39a, 48a.
115 Tabari, III, 2225.
116 Al-Nu'mani devotes a section of his work al-Ghayba to the refutation of the claims of the Isma'ilis (N. al-Ghayba, 53-7 176-80); al-Kulayni reports a narration on the authority of al-Sadiq, forbidding his follower 'Umar b. Hanzala from taking pat in any 'Alid revolution before the outery in the sky; al-Kaf, VIII, 310. See also Ikhtiyar, 262-3.
117 Bihar, LI, 161.
118 for a full account of the increase of the role of the Imamite Fuqaha', see Chapter VII.
119 Kamal, 484.
120 Al-Tusi gives two dates for the death of Abu Ja'far, the first of which, 304/916, is on the authority of the grandson of Abu Ja'far, Hibat Allah. the second report attributed to Abu Ghalib al-Zurai, the agent of Ibn Ruh in Kufa puts the date at 305/917. Because the latter had close relations with abu Ja'far and was his contemporary, it seems that his report is more likely to the accurate; T. al-Ghayba, 238-9; al-Kamil, VIII, 80; Abu al-Fida, al-Mukhtasar, 11, 69.
121 T. al-Ghayba, 238-9. On the eastern side of Baghdad there is a tomb situated in a mosque called al-Khullani. The people believe that it is the grave of Abu Ja'far. Since al-Tusi mentions that his grave is on the western side it is possible that his corpse was transported to the new grave, but the is no available source to support such a claim.