ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books History of Shi'ism: From the Advent of Islam up to the End of Minor Occultation Lesson 23: Factors behind the Rifts within Shi‘ism The blessed names of the twelve Imams ( ‘a ) have been recorded in the Prophetic traditions and Shi‘ah had learned of their names before personally seeing them. As Jabir ibn ‘Abd Allah, a devoted companion of the Prophet (S) narrates: When the verse, “O you who have faith!

Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those vested with authority among you,” [^1] was revealed, I asked: “O Messenger of Allah! We know Allah and His Apostle and we do obey them, but who are ‘those vested with authority’ { uli’l-amr } obedience to whom has been mentioned by God alongside the obedience to Himself and obedience to you?” He said: “‘Those vested with authority’ are my successors and the leaders after me.

The first of whom is ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib; after him, Hasan and then Husayn; after him, ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn; and after him is Muhammad ibn ‘Ali who is known in the Torah { tawrat } as “Baqir” {he who cleaves something asunder} and you shall see him. Once you meet him, extend my salutations to him.

After him is as-Sadiq, Ja‘far ibn Muhammad, and then Musa ibn Ja‘far followed by ‘Ali ibn Musa; after him is Muhammad ibn ‘Ali; after him is ‘Ali ibn Muhammad and then Hasan ibn ‘Ali, and after him is his son who shall have the same name and epithet as mine. It is he who shall conquer the east and west of the world.

He shall be hidden from the visible ones—a long occultation on account of which the people will doubt his Imamate except those whose hearts shall be endowed with untainted faith by God…[^2] The same Jabir used to sit at the Masjid an-Nabi and say: “O Baqir al-‘Ilm {he who cleaves knowledge asunder}! Where are you?” People who heard him would say: “Jabir, you are talking nonsense.” He would reply, “I am not talking nonsense.

Rather, the Holy Prophet (S) has informed me that “You shall meet a man from my descendants whose name and physical appearance is like that of mine who will cleave knowledge asunder.”[^3] The infallible Imams ( ‘a ) also used to prove their rightfulness by showing manifest miracles and wonders. In spite of this, a series of reasons and factors caused some Shi‘ah to commit error concerning the matter (of Imamate) and a number of them deviated from the straight path.