What has prompted us...

What has prompted us, partially, to put this limitation in our discussion is that the respected translator[^1] has apparently faced some ambiguity or has not been able to fully comprehend all aspects of the issue wherever ash-Shaykhu 'l-Mufid (r.a.), has talked, in his theological/polemical style, about these three sects, especially the Isma‘iliyyah. The translator, for example, makes the comment that: "al-Mufid takes great trouble to demonstrate that Ja‘far did not nominate Isma‘il . .

." (Intro. p.xxxi, [London's edition]) We have already mentioned the justification of al-Mufid in the method that he has adopted in writing al-Irshad, but here we wish to elaborate, particularly, on the issue of Isma‘il's imamate in order to dispel any wrong impression from the reader's mind when he reads the translator's introduction, especially the readers whose only exposure to this issue would be whatever is in this book and its introduction.

Moreover, the sects that affiliate them- selves to Shi‘ism and those that have been mentioned in this book have almost all become extinct except the Zaydiyyah – who, as mentioned earlier, are to be discussed at a different level – and the Isma‘iliyyah, which is still alive, with its numer- ous sub-sects, who, willingly or unwillingly, engage in religious and theological confrontation from time to time.

The Isma‘iliyyah Although the Isma‘iliyyah has several sub-sects each calling itself a particular name or being given one, but all of them are in agreement on the issue of the imamate of Isma‘il ibn al-Imam Ja‘far as-Sadiq, peace be upon him, (no matter whether the imamate was actually bestowed upon him or that it was a nomin- ation which necessitated the transfer of imamate to his children) in particular, and on the issue of rejecting the imamate of al-Imam Musa al-Kazim (‘a.s.), as will be explained later on.

It is on this point that the Isma‘iliyyah differ from the Ithna-‘ashriyyah who believe in the imamate of Isma‘il's brother al-Imam Musa al-Kazim and his five descendants (peace be upon them all). We do not intend to discuss here the doctrine, the jurisprudence, the literature or the various extinct and existing sub-sects of the Isma‘iliyyah.