It is on their authority that al-Kulayni and al-Saduq give...

It is on their authority that al-Kulayni and al-Saduq give important information concerning the com­munication methods employed in the underground activities of the Imamites. In his work on the subject of al - Ghayba called al ­Mashyakha , al-Hasan b. Mahbub al-Sarrad (d. 224/838) records several anedoctes which are often attributed to the Imams. This work has been lost but several quotations from it are included in the available Imamite sources. Al-Fadl b. Shadhan al-Nisaburi (d.

260/873) was a well­known Imamite scholar and secured the trust and the praise of the eleventh Imam. He also compiled a book called al - Ghayba [^7], but most of its material seems to have been quoted from the work of al-Hasan b. Mahbub[^8]. Since al-Fadl died two months before the death of the eleventh Imam in 260/874, the importance of his work lies in the traditions he recorded indicating that the Twelfth Imam would be al-Qa’im.

Many later writers like al-Tusi in his own work entitled al - Ghayba , relied on al-Fadl's work. Baha al-Din al-Nili (d. 790/1388) also compiled a work entitled al - Ghayba by summarising al-Fadl's work[^9]. Despite the fact that the actual work of al-Fadl is lost, the works Kifayat al - Muhtadi fi Ma’rifat al - Mahdi by Mirlawhi (d. 12th/18th century) and Kashf al - Astir by Mirza Husayn al-Nuri (d. 1320/1902) seems to be copies of his work[^10].

Therefore it is not unreasonable to make use of these later sources for our present purposes. B. Books on the Question of the Ghayba written between the years 260-329/8'74-941 During the years of the short occultation (260-329/874-941) many books reflecting different views were composed on the question of al ­Ghayba. These were mainly collections of anecdotes based on works written before 260/874.

Their authors were either jurists or propagandists and they participated in the activities of the underground organization of the Imamites led by the Twelfth Imam himself. Thus they recorded important information, which cannot be found in books on history compiled during the same period. In 262/876, Ibrahim b. Ishaq al-Nahawandi (d. 286/899) claimed to be the representative of the Twelfth Imam in Baghdad[^11].

He composed a book about the Ghayba reflecting the view of the extremists (al - Ghulat). Later al-Nu’mani (d. 360/970) used al­ Nahawandi's information extensively in composing his well-known book al - Ghayba. [^12] ‘Abd Allah b. Ja’far al-Himyari (d.