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Infighting for the Imamate Maisonneuve & Larose A Major Schism in the Early Ismāʿīlī Movement Author(s): Farhad Daftary Source: Studia Islamica, No. 77 (1993), pp. 123-139 Published by: Maisonneuve & Larose Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1595792 Accessed: 21/05/2009 00:23 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mal. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Maisonneuve & Larose is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Studia Islamica. http://www.jstor.org A MAJOR SCHISM IN THE EARLY ISMA'ILI MOVEMENT The Isma'ili movement was rent by a major schism in the year 286/899, shortly after 'Ubayd Allah ('Abd Allah) al-Mahdi, the future Fatimid caliph, had succeeded to the central leadership of the Isma'ills. As a result of this schism, brought to the attention of modern scholars by the recent progress in Isma'ili studies, early Isma'ilism was split into two rival factions, which later became generally designated as Fatimid Isma'ilism and Qarmatism. This article aims to investigate the circumstances and issues surroun- ding this schism, which centred around the variations in the doctrine of the imamate upheld by the early Ismat'lis. The origins of Isma'llism as a separate branch of Imami Shl'ism may be traced to the dispute over the succession to Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 148/765). Often living clandestinely, and conducting their da'wa or missionary activities secretly, in order to escape persecution at the hands of their numerous enemies, the Isma'ilis have nevertheless had a very eventful history, extending over some twelve centuries and through many Muslim lands from North Africa to Central Asia and the Indian sub-continent. The Isma'i- lis twice succeeded in establishing important states of their own, the Fatimid caliphate (297-567/909-1171) and the Nizari state of Persia and Syria (483-654/1090-1256), in addition to winning many Muslim dynasties and individual rulers to their side. Isma'ilism has also undergone several major and minor schisms. The schism of the year 286/899 was the first major one in the Isma'ili move- ment, and it had important consequences for the history of Isma'i- lism. Early Isma'ilism, extending from the middle of the 2nd/8th cen- tury to the foundation of the Isma'ili Fatimid state in North 124 FARHAD DAFTARY Africa in 297/909, is the most obscure major phase in the entire history of Isma'Tlism. Many aspects of the early stages of the Isma'ili movement will doubtless continue to be shrouded in uncertainty due to a lack of reliable sources. However, as a result of the modern progress in Isma'ill studies, which started in the 1930's, scholars now possess a much better understanding of the fundamental events and trends in the history of the early Isma'ilis, who contributed significantly to the subsequent religio-political success of their movement. (1) The Isma'ill historiography which may be utilized for studying the schism of 286/899, is rather meagre. Being preoccupied with their survival and anti-'Abbasid campaign, the pre-Fatimid Isma'Tlis themselves produced only a few anonymous tracts, which are rather poor in historical information. But these works, now recovered and attributed variously to the famous early Isma'ili da' in Yaman, Ibn Hawshab, better known as Mansur al-Yaman (d. 302/914), or to his son Ja'far, do contain important details on the doctrines preached by the early Isma'ili da'wa or mis- sion. (2) Similarly, the numerous extant Isma'ili treatises produ- ced in Fatimid times, rarely contain historical references to the pre-Fatimid period of the movement. A few of these Fatimid Isma'ili works are, however, relevant to our investigation, espe- cially a letter of the first Fatimid caliph 'Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi addressed to the Isma'ili community in Yaman. This letter, writ- ten sometime between 297/910 and 322/934 and preserved by Ja'far b. Mansur al-Yaman in his Kitdb al-fard'id wa hudud al-dmn, is the most important Isma'ili document dealing with the schism of 286/899. (3) It is also worth noting that only one general history of Isma'ilism seems to have been written by an Isma'ili author of medieval times, namely, a seven-volume work by Idris 'Imad al- (1) See F. Daftary, The Ismd'Tlis: Their History and Doctrines, Cambridge, 1990, pp. 17-29, 91ff. (2) See Ismail K. Poonawala, Biobibliography of Ismd'TlTLiterature, Malibu, Cali- fornia, 1977, pp. 34, 73, 74; see also H. Halm, "Die Sirat Ibn Hausab: Die ismaili- tische da'wa im Jemen und die Fatimiden", Die Welt des Orients, 12 (1981), pp. 107- 135. (3) The text of this letter, edited with a partial English translation by Husayn F. al-Hamdani appears in his On the Genealogy of Fatimid Caliphs, Cairo, 1958. An exact translation of this letter, based on further manuscripts, together with a detai- led analysis and an interesting hypothesis, may be found in A. Hamdani and F. de Blois, "A Re-Examination of al-Mahdi's letter to the Yemenites on the Genealogy of the Fatimid Caliphs", JRAS (1983), pp. 173-207. A MAJOR SCHISM IN THE EARLY ISMA ILI MOVEMENT 125 Din b. al-Hasan (d. 872/1468), the nineteenth Tayyibi dd'i mutlaq in Yaman. In the fourth volume of his history, the dda' Idris summarizes the official view of the Fatimid da wa on early Isma'i- lism without referring to the schism in question. (4) It is, therefore, not surprising that non-Isma'ili sources have remained rather indispensable for studying the history and doc- trines of the early Ismatilis. Amongst these, heresiographies pro- vide an important category, especially the works of the Imami scholars al-Nawbakhti and al-Qummi who wrote shortly before 286/899 and represent the earliest Shl'i sources dealing with the opening phase of Isma'ilism. The writings of the polemists pro- vide another important category of non-Isma'ili sources on early Isma'ilism. Though aiming to discredit the Isma'ilis through their defamations and travestied accounts, the polemists were generally better informed than al-Tabari and other early Sunni historians concerning the doctrines which they purported to refute; perhaps because at least some of the polemists had access to contemporary Isma'ili sources. In particular, the polemical wri- tings of Ibn Rizam and Akhf Muhsin, which have not survived directly, contain valuable details on the schism of 286/899. The anti-Isma'ili treatise of Abi 'Abd Allah Muhammad b. Rizam, who flourished in Baghdad during the earlier decades of the 4th/10th century, is preserved fragmentarily by Ibn al-Nadim and other later sources. But it was utilized extensively by the Sharif Abu'l-Husayn Muhammad b. 'All, better known by his nickname of Akhfi Muhsin, an 'Alid resident of Damascus who produced an anti-Isma'ili polemical treatise of his own around 370/980. Subs- tantial portions of Akhu Muhsin's lost treatise, which evidently contained separate historical and doctrinal parts, have been preser- ved mainly in the writings of three Egyptian historians, namely, al-Nuwayri, Ibn al-Dawadari, and al-Maqrizi. In modern times, a small group of specialists have produced important studies on the early Isma'ilis, utilizing the above mentioned categories of pri- mary sources. After the pioneering contributions of Wladimir Iva- now (1886-1970), our knowledge of early Isma'ilism and the schism in question has been particularly enhanced by the original studies of Samuel M. Stern (1920-1969) and Wilferd Madelung.(5) (4) Idris 'Imad al-Din, 'Uyun al-akhbdr wa funun al-dlhdr, vol. 4, ed. M. Ghalib, Beirut, 1973. (5) S. M. Stern's "Isma'lis and Qarmatians", in L'Elaboration de l'Islam, Paris, 1961, pp. 99-108, and other relevant articles are collected in his Studies in Early 126 FARHAD DAFTARY Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq had originally designated his eldest son Isma'il as his successor to the imamate, by the rule of the nass. But according to the majority of the sources, Isma'il pre- deceased his father; and subsequently, al-Sadiq does not seem to have openly designated another of his sons. As a result, on al- Sadiq's death in Medina in Shawwal 148 A.H., three of his sur- viving sons, 'Abd Allah, Musa, and Muhammad, simultaneously claimed his succession. At any rate, the Imami ShF'i following of Imam al-Sadiq, centred in Kufa, now split into six groups, two of which constituted the earliest Isma'Tlis.
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