Seeing the Proof the Question of Contacting the Hidden Imam in Early Twelver Shīʿī Islam

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Seeing the Proof The Question of Contacting the Hidden Imam in Early Twelver Shīʿī Islam

Omid Ghaemmaghami

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto

Abstract Seeing the Proof: The Question of Contacting the Hidden Imam in Early Twelver Shīʿī Islam

Omid Ghaemmaghami Doctor of Philosophy

2013 Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto

The history of what has come to be known as Twelver Shīʿī Islam since the late 3rd/9th century is a history of attempts to deal with the abrupt loss of the Imam. According to the Imāmī/Twelver Shīʿa, the final Imam, known most famously as the Qāʾim and Mahdī, did not die like the Prophet Muḥammad and the previous eleven Imams but rather concealed himself (commonly referred to as the Imam’s ghayba or occultation) and continues to be physically alive on earth while waiting for the appointed time of his (re)appearance. A letter said to have been dictated by the Imam in the year 329/941 on the eve of what has come to be known as the period of the Greater Occultation declared anyone who claims to see him before his return a “lying impostor.” Based on a critical study of this letter and the earliest extant Shīʿī sources concerning the occultation and in particular the question of seeing and contacting the Hidden Imam, this dissertation will show that in the early years of the Greater Occultation, Shīʿī authorities maintained that seeing the Imam was no longer possible. This position, however, proved untenable to maintain before historical exigencies and the incessant longing for direct contact with the Imam. Almost a century after the start of the Greater Occultation, prominent scholars began to concede the possibility that some Shīʿa can see the Hidden Imam, thus foreshadowing a radical shift. A century later, accounts began to appear detailing encounters between the Imam and the most privileged of his votaries in a wakeful state. In the earliest accounts, the Imam is most often presented as a healer and miracle-worker. It is much later, after the Imam’s final letter had been negotiated, that the stories of encounters with him began to grow in number and become more embellished. While the Imam continues working miracles, in some of these later accounts, he also answers vexing legal or theological questions to prominent Shīʿī ulama, in essence providing the same direct knowledge to his de facto surrogates that is believed to have been suspended when the Greater Occultation began.

For Mámán Ján, Bábá Ján, Elham and Mina - with Love

iii

ای �غ �� ﻖ ز �وا� بﯿﺎ�ﻮز ﮐﺎن �ﻮ�� ﻪ را ﺟﺎن �ﺪ و آواز نﯿﺎ

ﻃ� ا� ﻦ �� ﯿﺎن � �ﺶ � ﯽ��ﺮان�ﺪ ﮐﺎ�ا � ��ﺮ �ﺪ �� ﺮی ﺑﺎز نﯿﺎ�

�ﻌﺪی

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

Henry David Thoreau

On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur

L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Contents

Acknowledgments vii

A Note on Transliteration and Style ix

General Introduction 1

Chapter 1: The Unknown, the Unseen, and the Unrecognized 34 1.1. The hadith compilations of al-Barqī and al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī 1.2. The exegetical corpus: The tafāsīr of al-ʿAskarī, al-Sayyārī, al-Fūrat, al-Qummī, al-ʿAyyāshī 1.3. Excursus: al-Baṭāʾinī and the Wāqifiyya 1.4. The hadith compilation of al-Kulaynī 1.5. The Hidden Imam: not seen and not recognized 1.5.1. The Hidden Imam: not seen and not recognized - on pilgrimage 1.6. The Hidden Imam: seen but not recognized

Chapter 2: Hidden from All and yet Seen by Some? The Case of 3 Shīʿī Hadiths 78 2.1. Hadith 1: “the 30 are never lonely” 2.2. Hadith 2: “no one will know his location except the elite of his mawālī” 2.3. Hadith 3: “except the mawlā who is in charge of his affairs” 2.4. al-Mawlā / al-Mawālī 2.5. Conclusion

Chapter 3: “A Lying Impostor” 130 3.1. The Kitāb al-ghayba of the Scribe 3.2. The veracious teacher 3.3. The final missive of the Hidden Imam 3.3.1. The final representative of the Hidden Imam 3.4. “A lying impostor” 3.5. The instructive teacher 3.6. The banner of guidance and his students 3.6.1. Al-Karājukī

3.6.2. Al-Ḥalabī 3.6.3. Al-Ṭūsī 3.7. Conclusion

Chapter 4: From the Youth and the Stone to the Opening of the Floodgates 201 4.1. The mysterious youth 4.2. The miracle worker 4.3. The oceans of light and the opening of the floodgates 4.4. Conclusion 4.5. Addendum

General Conclusion 256

Appendix: A descriptive catalogue of key collections of stories of encounters with the Hidden Imam 264

Bibliography 281

Acknowledgements

With great humility, I offer my deepest respect, profound gratitude and endless appreciation to Professor Todd Lawson: teacher, Doktorvater, mawlā, pīr, friend. I have incurred an irredeemable debt for having had Professor Lawson as a graduate advisor and dissertation supervisor. At every stage, he selflessly and gallantly went far above and beyond the call of duty in carrying the heavy burden of having me as his student. His nonpareil erudition and deep insights into every aspect of early Islamic thought and history in general and Shīʿī messianism in particular are reflected in every syllable of every word of this dissertation. It was Professor Lawson who advised me to focus my study of the Hidden Imam on the classical period and his intuition about inter-Shīʿī developments in the first century of the Greater Occultation forms the kernel of my thesis. He painstakingly read numerous drafts of this work in their various stages of completion and saved me from falling into many a chasm. Each and every conversation I have had the privilege of having had with him has served to educate, invigorate, inspirit and inspire me. What I will miss more than anything else from my years as a graduate student is having an excuse to knock on his office door (and later his virtual door on Skype) and pose question after question about the semantic field of walāya, the poetry of Blake, and everything in between.

My dearest friend, Dr. Mina Yazdani, has been an irreplaceable source of support throughout my graduate career. At each impasse, she was an ocean of encouragement and a mountain of strength and has taught me more than she will ever know about life, spirit, and friendship. Ever ready to place her important work aside at a moment’s notice to listen to my ramblings, her encyclopedic knowledge is comparable only to the generosity with which she shares it. I am deeply grateful to her for having read drafts of my chapters, pointing out errors and omissions. The many meals we shared together, the many hours of laughter and few moments of tears form many of the fondest memories of my time as a graduate student.

It is a privilege to record my thanks to the other intellectual giants who served as members of my dissertation committee: Professor Sebastian Günther (Göttingen University), Professor Walid Saleh (University of Toronto), and Professor Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi (University of Toronto). Each shared unique insights into aspects of this work from their respective fields of expertise. I also wish to express my appreciation to Professor Shafique Virani (University of Toronto) who graciously accepted to serve as the internal reader and offered many useful comments, and to Professor Shahzad Bashir (Stanford University) for vii

serving as my external examiner. The constructive questions and suggestions in his astute assessment were extremely valuable and will play a seminal role in preparing this dissertation for publication.

I owe a great debt of gratitude as well to the graduate staff at the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto, especially to the indefatigable Ms. Anna Sousa whose radiant countenance was a welcomed source of cheer each time I set foot in the department. She was an invaluable source of assistance throughout my graduate studies and without her aid, the defense of this dissertation would never have so seamlessly come to pass.

The faith of my beloved parents, Behrooz and Roohangiz Ghaemmaghami, and my dear sister Elham, in me never once wavered. Their innumerable sacrifices enabled me to devote time, space and attention to my work. This dissertation would have never seen the light of day without their belief in me, which has always far exceeded my own belief in myself.

It is with pleasure that I also record my thanks to the following teachers, friends and colleagues, each of whom has played a part in the gestation of this dissertation: Nasrin Askari, Navid Azizi, Shahla Bolbolan, Susan Collins, my dear friend Issam Eido, Ahmet Karamustafa, Mithaq Kazimi, Fatemeh Keshavarz, Ammar Khashan, Stephen Lambden, Barbara Lawson, Edmund Lee, Franklin Lewis, Mike Matta, John Medina, Arta Momtazi, Guy Mount, Brent Poirier, Nancy Rank-Medina, Moojan Momen, Shane O’Bryan, Stephen Phelps, my dear brother-in-law Paulo Ribeiro de Lemos, Mohammed Rustom, Navid Serrano, Neda Shahidyazdani, Nadim Sobhani, Sina Taheri, Ahmad Taha, Mahdi Tourage, Erik Unterschuetz, Jamel Velji, and Nabil Wilf. Samandary Hindawi offered me a place to live when I moved to Cairo, kindly permitted me to use the quiet confines of his apartment in al-Manyal where this thesis was completed, and has been like a brother from a different mother.

Needless to say, everything of value in the pages that follow should be credited first and foremost to Professor Lawson and to the names that follow; all errors and shortcomings are mine alone. This thesis is dedicated to my heroes, the youth of Iran who are deprived of the right to education, and to my beloved teacher Jihmye Collins who winged his way to the placeless Friend as I neared its completion. “And they swim in the sea of the spirit, and soar in the holy air of light. viii

A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND STYLE

The transliteration of Arabic and Persian words, names, and titles follows the official “IJMES (International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies) Transliteration Chart” with some minor modifications. For consistency, a distinction has not been made in transliterating consonants found in both Persian and Arabic, except in that ‘v’ is used for the Persian consonant vāv instead of ‘w.’ Any transliteration found in quoted passages has been left intact. Words of Persian or Arabic origin found in common English lexicons (e.g., hadith, ulama, Islam) have not been transliterated. Whenever two dates are provided and separated by a (/), they denote AH (Anno Hegirae) and AD (Anno Domini), unless otherwise abbreviated by AS (Anno Shamsi). Documentation follows an abbreviated form of the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, with minor adaptions. Encyclopedia entries cited in the notes appear in the following format: Author, “Name of entry,” Name of encyclopedia, volume number: page number. Abbreviations used throughout this work for printed and online editions of encyclopedia articles are as follows:

DJI: Dānishnāmah-yi jahān-i islāmī (Tehran, 1375AS/1996-) DJI (online edition): Dānishnāmah-yi jahān-i islāmī Available online: http://www.encyclopaediaislamica.com/ DMBI (online edition): Dāʾirat al-maʿārif-i buzurg-i islāmī Available online: http://www.cgie.org.ir/debaf.asp?id=121 DMT: Dāʾirat al-maʿārif-i tashayyuʿ (Tehran, 1366AS/1988-) EI¹: The Encyclopaedia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples (1st edition, Leiden, 1913-36) EI²: The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd edition, Leiden, 1955-2005) EI³ (online edition): The Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd edition, 2007-) Available online: http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3 EIr: Encyclopædia Iranica (London, 1982-) EIr (online edition): Encyclopædia Iranica (New York, 1996-) Available online: http://www.iranicaonline.org/ EQ: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān (Leiden, 2001-2006) ER: The Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd edition, Detroit, 2005) OEIW (online edition): The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (New York, 2009) Available online: http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/Public/book_oeiw.html

General Introduction

“(Before I reappear), some will come to my Shīʿa claiming to have seen (me) with their own eyes. But beware! Anyone who claims to have seen (me) before the appearance of al-Sufyānī and [the sounding of] the Cry is a lying impostor.”1

“I was present that day in ʿAllāma al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī Baḥr al-ʿUlūm’s class.2 As he smoked his water piper, someone asked whether or not it is possible to see the comely countenance [of the Hidden Imam] during the Greater Occultation. (Baḥr al-ʿUlūm) did not respond. He dropped his head and grew pensive. I then heard him whisper to himself: ‘What can I say? How can I tell him that (the Imam), the blessings of God rest upon him, held me in his arms and embraced me, knowing as I do that according to a hadith, we must disbelieve anyone who claims to see him during his occultation?’ He repeated these words under his breath several times. Finally, he answered the questioner: ‘The Traditions of the Holy Family teach us that we must disbelieve anyone who claims to see the (Hidden Imam).’ He said nothing more and did not make the slightest allusion to the words I had heard him say under his breath.”3

1 The last words of the Hidden Imam from his final written message. For an extensive discussion, see chapter 3 of the present work.

2 Muḥammad b. Mahdī b. Murtaḍā al-Burūjirdī al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī (d. 1212/1797), known as Baḥr al-ʿUlūm (the ocean of [all] knowledge), a leading Shīʿī scholar and early luminary of the revived Uṣūlī school of Shīʿī jurisprudence who like most prominent ulama is alleged by his students and/or later ulama to have been favored with several miraculous encounters with the Hidden Imam. On him, see Algar, “Baḥr-al- ʿOlūm,” EIr, 3:504; Gleave, “Baḥr al-ʿUlūm, Muḥammad Mahdī al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī,” EI³ (online edition).

3 Al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 51-2 (account no. 10) > al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 2:23-4 (no. 12). Persian translation: Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:727 (no. 74). On accounts of Baḥr al-ʿUlūm’s encounters with the Hidden Imam, see chapter 4 of this dissertation. 2

No other issue has challenged the venture of Twelver Shīʿī Islam more than the ghayba

(“absence”) of the twelfth and final Imam.4 Hadiths found in the earliest suriving sources

demand recognition of and recourse to the Imam of one’s age as inter alia the speaking

Qurʾān,5 the living source of knowledge,6 and one of the three (in some hadiths, five in others)

4 On the genesis and early development of the idea of ghayba (lit., absence, though commonly translated as occultation) in Shīʿī history and theology where it represents belief in the physical disappearance of the Imam, its roots in pre-Islamic religions, and on the related motif of rajʿa (return), see MacDonald and Hodgson, “Ghayba,” EI², 2:1026; al-Qāḍī, al-Kaysāniyya fī al-taʾrīkh wa-l-adab; Ess, “Das Kitāb al-irğāʿ des Ḥasan b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya;” Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra, I, 306-9; Kohlberg, “Radjʿa,” EI², 8:371-3; Amir Arjomand, “Ḡayba,” EIr, 10:341-4; Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam, 41-3; Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 244-6; Amir-Moezzi, “Rajʿa,” EIr (online edition); Bashir, Messianic Hopes and Mystical Visions, 11-28; Ansari, “L’imamat et l’Occultation selon l’imamisme: étude bibliographique et histoire des texts;” and other studies consulted below.

5 See, e.g., al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī, Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, 64 (no. 13), where the Imam is called “God’s mouthpiece” (lisān Allāh al-nāṭiq). On the related principle of the Imam as the speaking book (al-kitāb al-nāṭiq) without which one cannot grasp the true or primal meaning of the silent book (i.e., the Qur’an itself), see Ayyoub, “The Speaking Qurʾān and the Silent Qurʾān;” Lawson, “Hermeneutics,” EIr, 12:235-9.

6 The classic example being the hadith, “He who dies without having an Imam [var., without having known (or recognized) his Imam], dies the death of the ignorant barbarians” (man māta wa-laysa lahu imāmun [var., wa-lā yaʿrifu/wa-lam yaʿrif imāmahu] māta mītat an jāhiliyyatan), Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa- l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra1, 83. See also the 5 hadiths mentioned in the first chapter of the Kitāb al-ḥujja of al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī, 1:168-74; 2:398 (no. 5); the 7 hadiths recorded in chapter 25 of al-Nuʿmānī’s al- Ghayba, 350-2; McDermott, The Theology of al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 413/1022), 51; Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imāmī Shiism, 190-2 (section titled, ‘The Duty of Knowing (maʿrifa) the Imam’). 3

pillars (daʿāʾim) of religion,7 while condemning ijtihād (exerting oneself through use of

individual reasoning and personal conjecture)8 and trenchantly criticizing rational methods for

determining laws and forming doctrines.9 Yet according to the Imāmī Shīʿa,10 this living source

7 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 2:18-24 (bāb daʿāʾim al-islām) (nos. 1-15).

8 See al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:54-9; Madelung, “Authority in Twelver Shiism in the Absence of the Imam,” 169. On ijtihād in general, see Schacht, “Idjtihād,” EI², 3:1026-7. On ijtihād in Shīʿī Islam, see Calder, “Doubt and Prerogative: The Emergence of an Imāmī Shīʿī Theory of Ijtihād;” Zysow, “Ejtehād,” EIr, 8:281-6.

9 See, for example, al-Kulaynī, Uṣūl al-kāfī, 1:92-4; Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 38; Carney, “The Personal Imam.”

10 Imāmī Shīʿī and Imāmiyya are used in this work as technical terms to refer to the proto-Ithnā ʿasharī (Twelver) faction (firqa) that would later (and up to the present day) be primarily known as the Ithnā ʿashariyya (Twelver Shīʿa). In Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ashʿarī al-Qummī’s (d. 299/911-2 or 301/913-4) Kitāb al-maqālāt wa-l-firaq, 102, the author says that this firqa “is famously known as the Imāmiyya” (al-maʿrūfa bi-l-imāmiyya). As Kohlberg first pointed out, the term Ithnā-ʿashariyya does not appear in extant Imāmī sources until about the year 390/1000 and even during the Buyid period (334-447/945- 1055), Imāmī authors continued to prefer older names such as Imāmiyya and Shīʿī/Shīʿa, Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 521 (note 2); Kohlberg, “Early Attestations of the Term ‘Ithnā ʿAshariyya’,” 351-4. See also Sander, Zwischen Charisma und Ratio: Entwicklungen in der frühen imāmitischen Theologie, 5 (note 2); Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 247-8. One source these scholars appear to have missed is al-Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 321: “Among the firaq we have mentioned (of the firaq that split after the passing of the Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, the eleventh Imam), the only firqa that still exists in our time, which is the year 373/983-4, is the Twelver-Imāmī (al-imāmiyya al- ithnā ʿashariyya) whose followers believe in the Imamate of (al-ʿAskarī’s) son and who are certain that he is alive and will continue to live until the time he rises with the sword.” The appellation Ithnā- ʿashariyya was, however, used by non-Shīʿī authors after the ghayba of the twelfth Imam to describe the sect as a way of distinguishing this firqa from other ʿAlid (= Shīʿat ʿAlī) currents (viz., the Zaydiyya and the Ismāʿīliyya). The decision on the part of earlier scholars to largely shun the name Ithnā ʿasharī likely reflects (1) a desire to avoid using an outsider’s nomenclature and (2) an affirmation that their tradition represents the true (and only) Imāmī/Shīʿī tradition, and thus, “true Islam,” what many modern 4

of knowledge, the lodestar of the faith, has been in a perpetual state of ghayba for more than eleven centuries. When one begins to contemplate the central Shīʿī belief in the Hidden Imam as inter alia the lord of the final age, the master of time, and the path and proof of God to his

creatures, we cannot help but be sensitive to the distressing corollaries of his indefinite and

inscrutable absence on a community that yearns for his (re)appearance and intervention which

will redress the concatenation of wrongs and setbacks believed by the Shīʿa to have been

inflicted upon each of their Imams and visited upon their community throughout their history.

One of the most grievous and egregious of these setbacks was the Imam’s forced disappearance

itself in the late 3rd/9th century. The intellectual, philosophical, spiritual, social and political

history of Shīʿī Islam since that moment is intrinsically a history of attempts to explain his

disappearance, negotiate his absence and answer the burning question of why he does not

reappear.

The Imam’s ghayba has traditionally been neatly divided into two phases and often uncritically accepted as such. The difference between the two phases is said to be the potential to see and encounter the Imam in one phase and the lack thereof in the other. The first phase is

Shīʿī writers call, “the unadulterated Islam of Muḥammad” (islām-i nāb-i Muḥammadī), see e.g., Dāvarī, Taṣvīr-i imāmān, 223. 5

said to have commenced with the Imam’s disappearance as a young child in 260/874.11 The next seven decades have come to be known as the minor/lesser ghayba” (al-ghayba al-ṣughrā)12

when the Imam is said to have communicated with his small band of followers via four successive authorized messengers, plenipotentiaries, or representatives (sufarāʾ; sing., safīr), the

last of whom died in 329/941.13 Six days prior to his passing, the final safīr furnished a signed

letter (tawqīʿ) from the ensconced Imam, the last among many tawqīʿāt that had been issued in

his name during this first phase, announcing that no further intermediaries would be appointed

for “the second ghayba” (al-ghayba al-thāniyya) – commonly referred to in later sources as

11 Most Shīʿī scholars mark the start of the Lesser Occultation from the death of the eleventh Imam in 260/874 while a minority argue that the Lesser Occultation began with the twelfth Imam’s birth in 256/870 (the years 255/869 and 258/871-72 are also given in sources for his year of birth).

12 For scholarly studies of the period that came to be known as the Lesser Occultation, see Amir Arjomand, “Imam Absconditus and the Beginnings of a Theology of Occultation: Imami Shiʿism circa 280-90 A.H./900 A.D;” Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate and the Institution of Occultation in Twelver Shiʿism;” Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam, 40-1; Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam; Sachedina, Islamic Messianism; Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation; Klemm, “Die vier sufarāʾ des Zwölften Imām Zur formativen Periode der Zwölferšīʿa” [the main points of this article are now summarized in Klemm, “Islam in Iran ix. The Deputies of Mahdī,” EIr, 14:143- 6].

13 However, scholars have pointed out that in the sources that have survived from the period of the Lesser Occultation, including al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī, there is no mention of any individuals formally designated as the Imam’s safīr, but rather a network of agents (wukalāʾ) who knew the location of the Imam. See Newman, “Between Qumm and the West,” 95. On the sufarāʾ, see Kohlberg, “Safīr 1. In Shīʿism,” EI², 8:811-2; Klemm, “Die vier sufarāʾ des Zwölften Imām Zur formativen Periode der Zwölferšīʿa;” and chapter 3 of this dissertation. 6

“the complete ghayba” (al-ghayba al-tāmma) or “the major/greater ghayba” (al-ghayba al- kubrā) – had dawned. The Imam’s final communication concluded with a stark warning

followed by an emphatic declaration quoted in part at the beginning of this introduction. He warned that before he reappears, certain of his followers would attempt to gull others by claiming to have encountered him; but all should know that whoever claimed or was purported to have seen him was a fraud, prone to mendacity. Thus we are presented with the Imam’s final words, quoted for the first time in a work only three decades removed from the start of the

Greater Occultation. According to the standard Shīʿī narrative, this second phase will continue until he emerges from hiding at the end of time, the Imam having abnegated his rights and

authority to the jurisprudents (fuqahāʾ) and ulama in the interregnum.14

The final tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam has long posed a serious epistemological challenge

to the Shīʿa. This dissertation will advance the thesis that initially in the early years of the

Greater Occultation, Shīʿī authorities maintained that all contact with the Imam had been sundered, forcing him to remain forever incommunicado until his (re)appearance. This position,

14 See Eliash, “The Ithnā ‘asharī Juristic Theory of Political and Legal Authority;” Madelung, “Authority in Twelver Shiism in the Absence of the Imam;” Amir-Moezzi, “Remarques sur les critères d’authenticité du hadîth et l’autorité du juriste dans le shi’isme imâmite,” esp., 21-39; Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran x. The Roots of Political Shiʿism (Aspects of Jurist-Theologian Power),” EIr (online edition); Sachedina, “Activist Shi‘ism in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon,” passim, esp. 410. 7

however, proved untenable to maintain before historical exigencies and the incessant longing

for direct contact with the Imam. More than 200 years after the final tawqīʿ, accounts begin to appear detailing encounters between the Imam and the most privileged of his votaries. As we will see, the earliest stories are few in number, suggesting a reluctance to break free from the

tawqīʿ’s gravitational pull. In these early accounts, the Imam is most often presented as a

miracle-worker, guiding lost pilgrims and healing seemingly incurable diseases. It is much later that the accounts begin to exponentially increase in number and become more embellished.

While the Imam continues working miracles, in some of these later accounts, he also answers vexing legal or theological questions to prominent ulama, in essence providing the same direct knowledge that is believed to have been suspended when the Greater Occultation began, and suggesting that epistemologically, remarkably little has in fact changed about the nature and modality of the ghayba from the time of the Lesser Occultation.

Today, the hundreds of stories of contact and encounters with the Hidden Imam form a

mode and expression of pious belief represented in biographical and hagiographical sources and

constitute a recurring and salient theme in the thousands of books and articles that have been 8

published in recent years alone in Arabic and Persian on the Shīʿī savior.15 The accounts

describing the encounters follow common patterns and utilize a similar stock of devices,

images and tropes to describe visions, experiences, and ultimately, relationships enjoyed by a

select cadre of Shīʿa composed with the concealed Imam.

The compilation and publication of these stories, a process that gained considerable momentum in the last century and a half and continues to demand attention (and garner

controversy) has played a significant role in fortifying the doctrine of the ghayba, intensifying

faith in the Hidden Imam’s existence, cultivating an aura of sanctity for the ulama as his

representatives (strengthening thereby their religious and social influence), and substantively freezing the eschatological tensions within Shīʿī Islam while simultaneously mitigating their severity.

Review of Scholarship

Despite increased scholarly activity and interest in virtually every aspect of Twelver

Shīʿī Islam over the last century (in particular since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran),

15 See e.g., Mahdīpūr, Kitābnāmah-yi ḥaḍrat-i Mahdī, published in 1375AS/1996, a slightly annotated bibliography of Arabic and Persian books about the Hidden Imam that introduces 2,066 works; and Bunyād-i Farhangī-i Ḥaḍrat-i Mahdī-i Mawʿūd, Kitābshināsī-i mahdaviyyat, originally published in 1382AS/2004, that introduces some 3,500 works (i.e. some 75% more books and articles). It would be 9

progress in the area of Shīʿī messianism and eschatology has been markedly slow. And while

the subject of encounters with the Hidden Imam is well-known among most Shīʿa, it is a

relative terra incognita in western scholarship (why this should be so is an important question

but need not detain us now). As such, the topic of encounters and contact with the Hidden

Imam remains one of the most observable yet paradoxically least noticed features of Shīʿī

Islam, and consequently, least developed subfields of Islamic studies. In fact, other than three

contributions by Henry Corbin and Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, studies that have been

largely descriptive or focused on what are perceived to be the esoteric or initiatory dimensions

of these narratives, the subject is one that has not received adequate attention from scholars and

has yet to be properly probed for its historical implications in the early period of the Greater

Occultation (the main focus of this dissertation). Here we will provide a survey of the key

contributions that have been made to the study of this issue while pointing out other lacunae in

the secondary literature.

The first scholar in the west to bring attention to the issue of contact with and sightings of the Hidden Imam was the prolific Hungarian Orientalist, Ignác Goldziher (d. 1921). In a footnote in his magisterial Vorlesungen über den Islam (first published in 1910), Goldziher

safe to say that hundreds if not thousands more articles and books have appeared since 2004 on the 10

refers to “fables” of believers who received letters [ = tawqīʿāt] from the Hidden Imam and alludes to those who have claimed to have seen him.16 In view of the paucity of Shīʿī sources

internet alone.

16 Goldziher, Vorlesungen über den Islam, 232 [= Goldziher, Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, 201 (note 98)]. Prior to Goldziher, Comte de Gobineau (d. 1882), in his Trois ans en Asie (de 1855 à 1858), 305 (first published in 1859) stated that “les théologiens officiels” claim that the Imam moves from place to place to avoid becoming recognized but made no mention of stories of those who have seen him. British orientalist Edward Browne (d. 1926), who travelled to Iran in 1887, also never refers to the stories of sightings of the Imam but does repeat throughout his works, without ever providing a source, in a prima facie manner that “[t]he Shi‘ites hold that (the Hidden Imam) did not die, but disappeared in an underground passage in Surra-man-Ra’a [= Samarra], A.H. 329; [and] that he still lives in one of those mysterious cities, Jábulḳá and Jábulsá…” Browne, A Traveller’s Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the Báb, 298. (Browne repeats the same assertion in other works, e.g., Browne, The Táríkh-i-Jadíd or New History of Mírzá Alí Muhammad the Báb by Mírzá Huseyn of Hamadán, 287 (note 1); Browne, “Bábism,” 334 [cited in, Browne, Selections from the Writings of E.G. Browne on the Bábı́ and Bahá'ı́ Religions (ed. Momen), 408]; Browne, A Literary History of Persia, 1:246 (note 1); Browne, “Bāb, Bābīs,” Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, 2:300). The idea that the Imam is hiding in the cities of Jābulqā and Jābulsā (alternatively spelled or vowelized as Jābalqā and Jābalsā/Jābulṣā/Jābalṣā/Jābarsā/Jābarṣā) is repeated after Browne throughout western sources up to the present day, but always without a source (other than Browne), see, e.g., Seoharvi, “Bahaism,” 412 (pub. 1907); Gilmore, “Babism,” The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 394 (pub. 1908), who calls Jābulqā and Jābulsā “Arabic utopias;” Friedlaender, “Jewish-Arabic Studies I. Shiitic Elements in Jewish Sectarianism,” 486 (pub. 1912); Sell, Baháism (pub. 1912), 3; Wilson, Bahaism and its claims, 20 (pub. 1915); Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 165 (pub. 1985), who states, “The Hidden Imam was popularly supposed to be resident in the far-off cities of Jābulsā and Jābulqā and in former times books were written about persons who had succeeded in travelling to these places;” Walbridge, “The Babi Uprising in Zanjan,” 359 (pub. 1996), who states that the Hidden Imam “lives in the fabulous underground cities of Jabalqa and Jabarsa”; and Cole, Modernity and the Millennium, 21-2 (pub. 1998). None of these scholars have provided a primary source for the notions that Jābulqā and Jābulsā are “underground” or that believers have actually travelled to these cities. An in-depth study of Jābulqā and Jābulsā and specifically, their function in Shīʿī sources need not detain us (for now, see Arsanjānī, “Jābulsā wa Jābulqā,” DMBI (online edition); Sajjādī and Sayyid-ʿArab, “Jābulqā va Jābulsā,” DJI (online edition)) but we can provide here for the first time a classical source for the myth 11

available to him and the fact that Shīʿī studies was not his main area of research,17 it is not

surprising that Goldziher did not explore the topic further in his writings. Goldziher’s

‘discovery’ was repeated by Duncan B. MacDonald (d. 1943), the author of the short entry on

ghayba in the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam. MacDonald added that the Hidden

Imam is present, “unrecognized,” at the annual pilgrimage where he “scrutinize[s] the hearts of

the believers.” More significantly, MacDonald appears to have been the first scholar to ponder

the theological implications of the Imam’s ghayba, drawing a connection between the Imam’s

that the Hidden Imam is in these cities. Muḥammad Taqī al-Majlisī (d. 1070/1659), in his Lawāmiʿ-i ṣāḥibqirānī, 4:160, an extended Persian translation of his Arabic Rawḍat al-muttaqīn, itself a commentary on al-Shaykh al-Ṣadūq’s Man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh, in commenting on a prayer attributed to the ninth Imam that invokes blessings upon the Qāʾim’s “descendants and family,” avers that it is well-known (mashhūr ast) that the descendants of the Hidden Imam are all currently (al-ḥāl mawjūdand) in Jābulqā and Jābursā. After citing some of the “numerous hadiths” with “sound” chains of transmission from al-Kāfī and Baṣāʾir al-darājāt that describe these cities, al-Majlisī adds, “I have heard from my teachers (mashāyikh) and seen Traditions from the Imams (rivāyāt) stating that the progeny (awlād) of the lord of the amr are in these cities and from time to time, (the Imam) himself also visits these cities” (gāhgāhī nīz ān ḥaḍrat khūd tashrīf mī-āvarand bih īn shahr-hā). This passage is not found in al-Majlisī’s Arabic commentary, Rawḍat al-muttaqīn. Mahdīpūr, Kitābnāmah-yi, 1:263, has mentioned an unpublished work titled, Jābulqā va Jābulsā, by Muḥammad Bāqir al-Bahārī al-Hamadānī (d. 1333/1915), that discusses “Traditions (rivāyāt) about Jābulqā, Jābulsā and the residence (iqāmatgāh) of the Mahdī.” Others have cited hadiths that mentions these cities to support the veracity of one of the most elaborate of the encounter narratives, viz., the lengthy account of the “Green Island in the White Sea,” a popular story in the late Safavid and Qajar periods. See, e.g., al-Bāḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 259- 64; Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:623-5; ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 475. For a study of these texts, see now, Ghaemmaghami, “To the Abode of the Hidden One: The Green Isle in Shīʿī, Early Shaykhī, and Bābī-Bahāʾī Topography.”

17 Kohlberg, “Western Studies of Shiʿa Islam,” 38. 12

authority and the authority of the ulama: “The earlier organization of the sect has been replaced by the presence of independently learned mudjtahids in the various Shīʿī centres, recognized by the community as qualified to interpret the Imām’s will.”18

Introductory works on Shīʿī Islam have either been silent or treated the theme of encounters with the Imam as at best a minor issue. Dwight Donaldson’s (d. 1976) 1933 monograph, the first book-length survey of Shīʿī Islam in a European language, refers readers to MacDonald’s previous statements in the Encyclopedia of Islam.19 Moojan Momen’s An

Introduction to Shiʻi Islam includes two short but important references to the subject,20 while

Heinz Halm’s Die Schia and Yann Richard’s L’islam chiite: Croyances et idéologies ignore the topic altogether.21 On the other hand, in his short biographical sketch of the twelve Imams, originally published in 1923, the prolific Anglican canon and missionary Edward Sell (d. 1932)

18 MacDonald, “Ghayba,” EI¹ (online edition; originally published in print in 1927). This entry was slightly expanded by Hodgson in MacDonald/Hodgson, “Ghayba,” EI², 2:1026.

19 Donaldson, The Shiʻite Religion, 235. On Donaldson, see Avery, “Donaldson,” EIr, 7:492.

20 Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 165 (mentioned above), 199.

21 Halm, Die Schia [= Halm, Shiʻism (trans. Watson and Hill)]; Richard, L’islam chiite: Croyances et idéologies [= Richard, Shi‘ite Islam: Polity, Ideology, and Creed (trans. Nevill)]. 13

notes the presence of many “fanciful” accounts of the Imam appearing to “his favoured ones”

in order to strengthen their faith in his existence.22

Studies on the Mahdī and the Hidden Imam relying on historical methodologies have not really carried matters forward. Blichfeldt’s instructive survey of early Islamic sources on the Mahdī asserts incorrectly that during the Greater Occultation, the Imam’s “followers were shut off from any kind of communication.”23 Jassim Hussain’s monograph, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam: A Historical Background, offers a traditional noncritical picture of the early

ghayba works. While most of his discussion is reserved for the period of the Lesser

Occultation, the penultimate chapter of his book discusses the implications of the Greater

Occultation for the Shīʿī community in general and the ulama in particular. However, there are

surprisingly no references to the subject of encounters with the Imam in this section.24

Hussain’s apologetic treatment of the Hidden Imam has much in common with the only

other book-length historical survey of the robust Shīʿī belief in this figure: Abdulaziz

Sachedina’s Islamic Messianism: The idea of the Mahdi in Twelver Shiʻism. In the

introduction, Sachedina appears to allude to the topic when stating that “the Imam is not

22 Sell, Ithna ʿAshariyya or The Twelve Shiʿah Imams, 55.

23 Blichfeldt, Early Mahdism, 9. 14

completely cut off from his followers but has spokesmen, in the person of learned jurists, who

can act on his behalf and guide the Shi‘ites in their religious matters.”25 Yet a serious

engagement with the issue of encounters is never realized. In a section titled, “The Miraculous

Appearance of the Mahdi at the Hajj,” Sachedina devotes all of two paragraphs to the subject.

Here he states axiomatically that “the Shiʻites assert” that the Imam resides in the vicinity of

Mecca where he appears each year during the pilgrimage season.26 He then refers readers to

several accounts describing encounters with the Imam in Mecca during the Lesser Occultation.

Referring to this section of Sachedina’s book, Etan Kohlberg has mistakenly claimed that these

encounters occurred during the Greater Occultation27 when in fact all of the accounts that

Sachedina has mentioned are from the Lesser Occultation. As is the case with some other parts of his book, Sachedina’s approach here is purely descriptive, uncritical, and even incomplete.

Indeed, he gives the impression that he is unaware of the many accounts that describe encounters between the ulama and the Imam during the Greater Occultation. Moreover, it seems that he did not consult any of the works by Henry Corbin on the topic, to say nothing of

24 Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam: A Historical Background.

25 Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 23.

26 Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 75. Referred to in Peterson, “Eschatology,” OEIW (online edition).

27 Kohlberg, “Authoritative Scripture,” 307 (note 67). 15

the relevant primary sources other than sections of al-Majlisī’s Biḥār al-anwār, written some

eight hundred years after the start of the ghayba. Neither his monograph nor the dissertation28

on which it was based engages any of Corbin’s many contributions to the study of the Twelfth

Imam. Elsewhere, in the introduction of his translation of Ayatollah Ibrāhīm Amīnī’s (b.

1304AS/1925) apologetic work, Dādgustar-i jahān, Sachedina speaks approvingly of the

author’s adduction of “rational arguments to discredit some of the stories about meeting with

the twelfth Imam that have been accepted uncritically by some scholars of hadith.”29

Etan Kohlberg was the first western scholar to bring attention to two short missives putatively written by the Hidden Imam and presented to one of the ulama in the first century of the Greater Occultation, al-Shaykh al-Mufīd.30 Unfortunately, he does not tell us anything about

the content of these letters other than to say that the Imam ordered al-Mufīd to not show them to anyone. More importantly, Kohlberg neglects to draw attention to the important fact that none of the works written by al-Mufīd or any of his many prolific students or any of the early

rijāl works mention these letters. As we will see, the earliest work that cites them (without a

chain of transmission) was written over a century after al-Mufīd’s death. The article also

28 Sachedina, “Doctrine of Mahdism in Imāmī Shīʿism.”

29 Amini, al-Imām al-Mahdī: The Just Leader of Humanity (trans. Sachedina), ii. 16

overlooks key passages in al-Mufīd’s writings that argue against the possibility of having

contact with the Imam during the Greater Occultation (on which see chapter 3 of the present

work). As a result, no attempt is made to explain the discrepancy between these passages and

the two letters allegedly received by al-Mufīd.31 Kohlberg proceeds to make a passing reference

to seven stories of contact with the Imam – each of which involves a healing or some other

supernatural event – before maintaining that “it can be seen that the Imam appears mainly as a

consoler or a miracle worker; unlike the situation in the Lesser Occultation, in the Greater

Occultation he appears only infrequently in order to answer legal questions.”32 The last part of

this statement is puzzling if only because Kohlberg has not provided any examples of the Imam

answering legal questions of presumably the ulama or fuqahāʾ in his article, though as we will see in chapter 4 of this work, such accounts do exist.

Other books and articles where one would expect a discussion or at least references to the subject are either completely silent or offer barely a whisper. Sachedina’s The Just Ruler

(al-Sulṭān al-ʿĀdil) in Shīʿite Islam is an ambitious theoretical study of the social and political

30 On al-Mufīd and these letters, see chapters 3 and 4 of this dissertation.

31 Kohlberg, “Authoritative Scripture,” 308.

32 Kohlberg, “Authoritative Scripture,” 309. 17

role of the ulama in the absence of the Imam.33 Yet here as well we find no mention of the

theme of encounters with the Imam. In a study of charismatic authority in Shīʿī Islam along

Weberian lines, Liyakat Takim speaks of Shīʿī biographical works “replete with accounts

of…miraculous deeds” ascribed to the ulama but fails to offer a single reference to the theme

of encounters with the Imams featured in these same works.34

The neglect is especially glaring in the numerous studies that have charted the manner

in which the sacrosanct authority of the Hidden Imam has been gradually appropriated by the

Shīʿī ulama. There is no room here to rehearse the evolution of the role of the ulama in

positioning themselves as the “general representatives” of the Hidden Imam and in gradually

appropriating and exercising the prerogatives and privileges traditionally reserved for the

Imams in the classical sources.35 The theoretical basis of the ulama’s authority and its historical

development has been the subject of numerous studies by Eliash, Madelung, Lambton, Keddie,

33 Sachedina, The Just Ruler (al-Sulṭān al-ʿĀdil) in Shīʿite Islam.

34 Takim, The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma and Religious Authority in Shi‘ite Islam, 94.

35 Chief among these rights are: 1) carrying out the legal punishments or sanctions of the Qur’an (iqāmat al-ḥudūd); 2) leading the Friday congregational prayer (ṣalāt al-jumʿa) [on the debate among fuqahāʾ concerning whether it is permissible to convene the Friday prayer during the ghayba, see Algar, “Emām-e Jomʿa,” EIr, 8:386-91]; 3) waging defensive holy war (jihād); and 4) receiving the Imam’s share (sahm al-imām) and the khums tax. See now Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran x. The Roots of Political Shiʿism (Aspects of Jurist-Theologian Power),” EIr (online edition), for a succinct description of these four legal domains. 18

Calder, Algar, Newman, Moaddel, Cole, Litvak, Kazemi-Moussavi, Amanat, Sachedina, Amir

Arjomand, and Brunner inter alios.36 It is surprising that the issue of encounters with the Imam

has received at best scant attention in these studies. In fact, only four scholars from those

whose works were listed make significant references to these stories: Madelung,37 Amir

Arjomand,38 Amanat,39 and Brunner.40

36 See, e.g., Eliash, “The Ithnā ‘asharī Juristic Theory of Political and Legal Authority;” Eliash, “Misconceptions Regarding the Juridical Status of the Iranian ʿUlamaʾ;” Madelung, “Authority in Twelver Shiism in the Absence of the Imam;” Lambton, “A Reconsideration of the Position of the Marja‘ Al-Taqlid and the Religious Institution;” Keddie, “The Roots of the Ulama's Power in Modern Iran;” Calder, “Judicial authority in Imāmī Shīʿī Jurisprudence;” Calder, “Khums in Imami Shi‘i Jurisprudence;” Algar, Religion and State in Iran 1785-1906: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period; Algar, “Fatwā,” EIr, 9:428-36; Newman, “The Nature of the Akhbārī/Uṣūlī Dispute in Late Ṣafawid Iran, Part 2,” 258-61; Moaddel, “The Shi‘i Ulama and the State in Iran;” Cole, Sacred Space and Holy War, passim; Litvak, Shi‘i Scholars of Nineteenth-Century Iraq; Kazemi-Moussavi, Religious Authority in Shi‘ite Islam: From the Office of Mufti to the Institution of Marja‘; Kazemi-Moussavi, “The Establishment of the Position of Marja‘iyyat-i Taqlid in the Twelver-Shi‘i Community;” Amanat, “From ijtihad to wilayat-i faqih: The Evolving of the Shi‘i Legal Authority to Political Power;” Sachedina, The Just Ruler, passim, esp. 139-42, 166; Sachedina, “Activist Shi‘ism,” esp. 410, 424, 426; Brunner, “Shiʿite Doctrine ii. ii. Hierarchy in the Imamiyya,” EIr (online edition); Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam, passim, esp. 51, 141-2.

37 Madelung, “Authority in Twelver Shiism in the Absence of the Imam,” 165: “After (the fourth representative’s) death in 329/941 the greater ghayba began when no one was able to get in touch with the imam who may only occasionally appear to a favored one among his followers.” Madelung here is one of the first scholars to mention directly the issue of contact with the Imam during the Greater Occultation, though he does not further explore the palpable tension in his statement about an unreachable yet reachable Imam.

38 While contextualizing al-Majlisī’s Ḥaqq al-yaqīn (which includes stories of encounters with the Imam; on al-Majlisī and this work, see chapter 4) Amir Arjomand makes the following cogent argument: “The Shiʻite hierocracy [in the Safavid period], while allowing for the intermittent 19

A lack of serious engagement is consequently reflected in numerous entries published in encyclopedias and reference guides that ignore the issue or speak of it erroneously. Many of the entries in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World41 and the second edition of the

Encyclopedia of Islam42 where one might expect at least a reference to the theme of encounters

appearance of the Imam and especially for visits and favors he vouchsafes upon the prominent ‘ulamā’, and attempting to reserve attenuated forms of contact with the Hidden Imam through dreams and visions as their own prerogative, staunchly opposed any attempt to translate the eschatology into this-worldly millenarianism on the basis of mahdistic and epiphanic claims.” Arjomand, The Shadow of God, 162.

39 Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, 55: “…since the Imam was in Occultation, and since after the completion of Lesser Occultation and the time of the Four Agents the chances of any regular contact with the Imam were remote, the mainstream learned Shiʿism insisted that the responsibility of guiding believers during this interregnum rested upon the ʿulama. However, this attitude did not dismiss repeated claims concerning mystical encounters. Part of the literature on Occultation was devoted to these experiences.” As we will see below, not all Shīʿī authors qualify such encounters as “mystical.”

40 Brunner, “Sleeping Mullahs: Dreams and Charisma in Shiite Islam,” and the slightly extended French version of the same article, Brunner, “La charisma des songeurs: Husayn al-Nuri al-Tabrisi et la function des rêves dans le shiʻisme duodécimain;” in particular, the comment on 114: “Le message pour les croyants est sans équivoque: pas de salut sans recours aux savants qui donnent accès aux Imams. C’est sans doute là une des raisons principales de la genèse de la puis sante hièrocratie des savants dans le shiʻisme.”

41 E.g., “Mahdī,” (Robert S. Kramer) [Kramer’s statement here that the Shīʿa believe the Mahdī to be an “incarnation of God” is patently incorrect]; “Ghaybah” (Andrew Newman); “Intiẓār” (Yann Richard); “Imam” (Imtiyaz Yūsuf); “Shīʿī Islam” (Syed Husain M. Jafri, et. Al.); “Messiansim” (Abdulaziz Sachedina); “Imāmah” (Abdulaziz Sachedina); and “Ithnā ʿAsharīyah” (Abdulaziz Sachedina).

42 E.g., “Muḥammad al-Ḳāʾim” (J.G.J. ter Haar); “al-Mahdī” (Wilfred Madelung); “Ḳāʾim Āl Muḥammad” (Wilfred Madelung); and “Imāma.” (Wilfred Madelung). It is hoped that this lacuna will be filled in the new 3rd edition of the The Encyclopedia of Islam. 20

with the Imam are silent.43 In fact, the only entry in EI² other than “Ghayba”

(MacDonald/Hodgson; see above) that mentions the topic is the article, “Ithnā ʿAsharī” (Nasr),

though the author focuses exclusively on the other-worldly interpretations of these accounts

highlighted or advanced by Henry Corbin (see below).44 Three articles in the Encyclopedia of

Religion [“Shiism: Ithnā ‘Ashariyah” (Nasr); “Ghaybah” (Crow); and “Spiritual Guide”

(Smithers)] also refer to the issue of sightings of the Imam but again, mention only Corbin’s view of the accounts.45

43 There is also no mention of the subject in the entry on “Ghayba(t)” (Robert Gleave) in Martin (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Islam and the Modern World, 1:273-4; nor in the entry on “Mahdi” (Reza Aslan) in Campo (ed.), Encyclopedia of Islam, 447-8; nor in the short entry on “Muḥammad al-Qâʾim” in Newby, The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, 155.

44 Nasr makes similar statements in his introductory books about Islam, e.g., Nasr, The Heart of Islam, 72: “(The Hidden Imam) is alive like Elijah, who was taken to Heaven alive according to Jewish belief. But the Twelfth Imām is also the secret master of this world and can appear to those who are in the appropriate spiritual state to see him;” and Nasr, The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, 112, where he suggests without further explanation that the Hidden Imam is a strictly Sufi concept: “…some have achieved the climb [of transcending the ordinary human state] successfully without a human guide, through the agencies of what Sufism calls ‘absent’ or invisible guides (rijāl al- ghayb), such as Khiḍr or the Hidden Imam.” Cf. Nasr, Islam in the Modern World: Challenged by the West, Threatened by Fundamentalism, Keeping Faith with Tradition, 116, where he defines ghayba as the Imam having “concealed [himself] from the gaze of the outward world,” without any further explanation.

45 Cf. the following comment found in the entry, “Ghayba,” by Jamel Velji in the recent published, Campo (ed.), Encyclopedia of Islam, 707: “Although the death of the fourth deputy signaled a cessation of formal contact between the imam and his community, the Hidden Imam is thought to be in contact with many of his followers miraculously, through dreams or visions.” 21

This brings us to Henry Corbin and Mohammad-Ali Amir-Moezzi, the only two scholars who have devoted full-length articles to the topic of encounters with the Imam. It is to

a discussion of their contributions that we now turn.

At first, it must be said that it is almost impossible to overestimate the value of Henry

Corbin’s many studies on the Hidden Imam in general and the theme of encounters with this figure during the Greater Occultation in particular. Corbin was the first and in some cases remains the only western scholar to have studied rare yet significant sources in Arabic and

Persian on the Hidden Imam that mention stories of those who met the Imam. His approach to these sources is largely descriptive, philosophical and phenomenological. In the first of three interrelated studies on the motif, “Au Pays de l’Imām Caché,” Corbin translated three of the accounts: the lengthy story of the Green Island in the White Sea; the account of the archipelago of five islands ruled by the Hidden Imam and his sons; and the account of a believer from

Hamadān who encountered the Imam in the desert near Mecca and was miraculously

transported back to his home in Iran.46 A condensed version of these accounts was included in

the seminal chapter, “Mundus Imaginalis.”47 The three accounts were later republished in the

46 Corbin, “Au Pays de l’Imām caché,” 31-87.

47 This chapter was published in Corbin’s Face de Dieu, face de I’homme. For English translation, see Corbin, “Mundus Imaginalis, or the Imaginary and the Imaginal” (trans. Fox). 22

final volume of his magnum opus, En Islam iranien, to which he appended the translation of a

fourth account – the now famous encounter with the Hidden Imam and the Prophet Khiḍr at the

Mosque of Jamkarān outside of Qum – but not before adding details of his own pilgrimage to

this site with Seyyed Hossein Nasr in 1962.48 Corbin’s translations are the first of their kind in

any European language. However, they are not verbatim. Moreover, Corbin engages in

interpretative license throughout. Since there are often no markers to separate the translations

from Corbin’s glosses of them, short of consulting the original texts of the accounts, it is

impossible in places to determine if it is the original text that is speaking or Corbin. For

example, throughout his translations, Corbin regularly refers to the imaginal world (ʿālam al-

mithāl) and the realm of the placeless (nā-kujā-ābād) giving the impression that such terms are

found in the original texts of the accounts he is translating when in fact they are not.49

In the opinion of Corbin, the accounts describing meetings with the Imam were a

fecund field of mystical speculation. To the untrained eye, they seemed to be describing events

that transpired in the physical mundane world but Corbin averred that they in fact took place in

“un monde qui reste au-delà du contrôle empirique de nos sens et de nos sciences

48 Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:338-9.

49 On the ʿālam al-mithāl, see chapter 2 below. 23

rationnelles.”50 Elsewhere, he maintained that, “A figure like that of the twelfth Imām does not

appear and disappear according to the laws of material historicity. He is a supernatural

being.”51

A firm belief in this metahistorical reality of the Hidden Imam is fused with a deep

interest in symbolism. Both are nurtured by Corbin throughout his writings on the Hidden

Imam. His approach in the three studies mentioned above is characterized by a sanguinity that the Hidden Imam “dwells on the Green Island in the middle of the Sea of Whiteness,”52 is

“hidden between Heaven and Earth in the ʿālam al-mithāl,”53 and can only be encountered in

this realm of the simulacra, a realm that possesses a deeper ontological reality and whose

topography transcend the limits of the empirical world. The gate to this realm was the

phenomena of dreams, ultraphysical visions and other intuitive experiences. Ever the

enthusiastic and imaginative reader, Corbin maintained that visions were the portal to the realm

of the Hidden Imam:

50 Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:376.

51 Corbin, History of Islamic Philosophy (trans. Sherrard), 71 [=Corbin, Histoire de la philosophie islamique, 110].

52 Corbin, Alone with the Alone, 56. On the Green Island, see chapter 4 below.

53 Corbin, Alone with the Alone, 81. 24

For more than ten centuries the figure of the Hidden Imam [has] dominate[d] all Shi‘ite religious consciousness…For more than ten centuries…Shi‘ism has lived in the company of the mysterious Twelfth Imam, lived in the secret of passionate devotion, in the secret of an eschatological expectation that has never been trapped by imposture… (The Imam) is to be seen only in visionary dreams; if he has been encountered it is realized only after the event. Stories abound, filling volumes.54

Elsewhere, he writes:

L’Imâm caché, jusqu’à l’heure de la parousie, ne se rend visible qu’en songe ou bien en certaines manifestations personnelles qui ont alors le caractère d’événements visionnaires; elles n’interrompent pas le temps de la ghaybat, puisqu’elles se passent justement dans cet « entre-temps » [i.e., in the mundus imaginalis], et qu’elles ne se matérialisent pas dans le courant des faits de l'histoire matérielle que le premier venu peut enregistrer et attester. Les récits de ces visions théophaniques sont nombreux dans les livres shî’ites…55

Throughout Corbin’s studies on the Hidden Imam, the reader cannot help but sense a

feeling of urgency. Corbin was deeply affected by the west’s rejection of the imaginal realm

and suppression of the nature and reality of the Unseen.56 He saw in the entire narrative

54 Corbin, “Visionary Dream in Islamic Spirituality,” 405. This reading is also posited by Hossein Ziai, “Dreams ii: In the Persian Tradition,” EIr, 7:550: “The occultation of the twelfth imam, who possessed a higher visionary knowledge…is of special significance in the Shi‘ite view of dreams, for he ‘resides’ in Ḥūrqalyā [sic], a realm of the imagined world and may thus be ‘seen’ through dreams.”

55 Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:330. See also Corbin, “Visionary Dream in Islamic Spirituality,” 406.

56 See Corbin, Corps spirituel et Terre céleste, 20 [= Corbin, Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth (trans. Pearson), xxi. For a representative passage lamenting western civilization, see Corbin, En Islam iranien, 1:8-9. 25

(ḥikāya) of the Hidden Imam, including the accounts of encounters with him, a hierohistory: “it

is a history of real events, but it is not a reality open to critical history.”57 His contributions to

the study of the encounters with the Imam were an attempt to redress the devastating imbalance

he saw in the western worldview. Corbin was especially attracted to the masters of the

Shaykhiyya for nurturing the mode of the invisible presence of the Imam in the imaginal

realm.58

Amir-Moezzi followed the descriptive and hermeneutic trajectory laid out by Corbin in

his studies of the encounter motif. Resisting the historicist mode, he set out to fulfill a wish

expressed by Corbin in his En Islam iranien to categorize the accounts of encounters with the

Imam during the Greater Occultation.59 In his “Contribution á la Typologie des Rencontres avec l’Imám Caché,” Amir-Moezzi introduced a three-part typology “according to the principal

role played by the hidden Imam in the encounter: the humanitarian dimension, the initiatory

dimension, and the individual eschatological dimension.”60 Amir-Moezzi mentions only eleven

57 Corbin, “Visionary Dream in Islamic Spirituality,” 405.

58 See now, Amir-Moezzi, “Une absence remplie de presences: Herméneutiques de l'occultation chez les Shaykhiyya.”

59 Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:330: “il y aurait à en opérer le classement typologique.”

60 Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution á la Typologie,” 110. 26

accounts from the Greater Occultation in this article. He did not translate any of these accounts

choosing instead to summarize them in one or two sentences. Briefly, the five accounts that are

classified by him under the humanitarian category are those in which the Imam comes to the

aid of a desperate believer through for example, healing him of an incurable illness or saving

him from being lost in the desert. The six accounts classified under the rubric of initiatory are

those in which the Imam reveals certain spiritual knowledge or teaches a specific prayer to his

initiate. Finally, the eschatological dimension is that in which “the encounter prompts a

believer’s spiritual resurrection.”61 It is the third dimension that receives most of Amir-

Moezzi’s attention since according to him, it has been “the mystics, theosophists, and Imami sufis, who meditated and developed these traditions.”62

Amir-Moezzi does not mention any specific accounts in this section. Instead, he

discusses the spiritual hermeneutics of some of the accounts offered by modern and

contemporary masters of the Shaykhī school and the Dhahabī and Khāksārī orders. These masters have proposed different forms of the following syllogism: “The Hidden Imam can be seen only at the End of Time, but certain people saw [him], therefore these people reached the

61 Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran VII: The Concept of the Mahdi in Twelver Shiʿism,” EIr, 14:140.

62 Amir-Moezzi, “Eschatology III: In Imami Shiʿism,” EIr, 8:579. 27

End of Time.”63 The third dimension is elucidated further in Amir-Moezzi’s article on the symbolic and theological hermeneutics of the occultation provided by the masters of the

Shaykhiyya.64 According to this perspective, only through interpretation is one able to perceive

the colorful and profound metaphors dormant and latent within the stories. Amir-Moezzis’s

concern for the initiatic component of these narratives is perhaps best illustrated by an article

written by him, describing his own pilgrimage to the Mosque of the Hidden Imam in

Jamkarān.65

63 Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution á la Typologie,” 132. For the English translation of this article, see now, Amir-Moezzi, The Spirituality of Shiʿi Islam: Belief and Practices, 431-60.

64 Amir-Moezzi, “Une absence remplie de presences: Herméneutiques de l'occultation chez les Shaykhiyya.” For English translation of this article, see now, Amir-Moezzi, The Spirituality of Shiʿi Islam: Belief and Practices, 461-86.

65 Since the account features many of the elements, devices, and topoi found in some other encounter narratives, especially the story of the Green Island in the White Sea, it is useful to provide a summary here. Amir-Moezzi recounts that in 1973, he was summoned by his father’s dying great-uncle who revealed that fifty years earlier, he himself had made a pilgrimage to Jamkarān. After arriving in the village, a guide showed him an underground city inhabited by companions of the Hidden Imam: “gens de la hiérarchie initiatique occulte” who frequently attained the presence of “the Mystic Pole” (i.e., the Imam). The denizens of this mysterious city, he tells Amir-Moezzi, were men and women, each more radiant and comely than the next. As he gazed upon them, a young man emerged, advanced toward him and began to initiate him into the knowledge of certain divine mysteries. The next thing he knew, he had rejoined his caravan and was midway between Qum and Tehran. A full week had passed. What had happened? Was it all a dream? Does such a city exist? Most importantly, he asked himself: “Le jeune homme qui me parla était-il l’Imâm du Temps lui-même?” Not having dared venture back to Jamkarān, now in the twilight of his life, he summoned his great-great-nephew to ask him to travel there and attempt “découvrir le secret.” Arriving in Jamkarān, Amir-Moezzi met with the same guide, now in advanced age. Each time he attempted to raise the question of the hidden city in the subterranean realm, 28

The contributions of Corbin and Amir-Moezzi have helped illumine the ways in which a

guide-initiate relationship functions in Shīʿī Islam. To the small sampling of scholars and

mystics that they have studied, the Hidden Imam is the apotheosis of the spiritual guide. Corbin

maintained that these accounts “represent, preeminently, the archetype of an individual and

individuating relationship with a personal heavenly guide.”66 But while this approach is useful

in discussing mystical speculations within Shīʿī Islam such as those advanced by some modern thinkers, it would be a generalization to apply it to the entire corpus of encounter narratives.

his host politely changed the subject to matters of theology, philosophy and the secret meanings latent in the Qur’an and the hadiths of the Imams. Feeling a cold coming on and overcome with fever, he suddenly thought he heard his host tell him: “Ici, à Jamkarân, le temps passe autrement. Nous sommes ici dans le domaine du Seigneur du Temps, et c’est son temps à lui qui s’écoule ici.” His host then took him to the home of four neighbors. Each time Amir-Moezzi attempted to broach the matter of the hidden city, his hosts changed the topic of conversation. As day turned into night, he boarded the minibus for the fifteen minute ride back to Qum. In a feverish and drowsy state, he began to see a vertiginous mixture of images: his great-great-uncle, the doors of a cellar, the inhabitants of the sanctuary of the Hidden Imam, the monotonous voice of his host, the chants of faceless men in an obscure room, the noise of the engine of the minibus…the driver wakened him. It was Wednesday. He had entered Jamkarān on Sunday. Returning to Tehran, he learned that his family had not heard from him in four days. His great-great-uncle passed away on Monday. Amir-Moezzi, “Jamkarán et Máhán: Deux Pélerinages Insolites en Iran,” 154-67. This article is conspicuously absent from Amir-Moezzi’s recently published collection of previously published articles on Shīʿī beliefs, La religion discrète: Croyances et pratiques spirituelles dans l’islam shi’ite. On the Mosque of Jamkarān, see now Calmard, “Jamkarān,” EIr (online edition). For a analysis of the original story describing an encounter with the Imam in Jamkarān relying on textual criticsm, see Ghaemmaghami, “Jamkarān: The Absence of Tradition.”

66 Corbin, “Visionary Dream in Islamic Spirituality,” 386. 29

For example, the main source for the most of the stories Corbin and Amir-Moezzi have

discussed or mentioned in passing was the nineteenth century Traditionist, Mīrzā Ḥusayn al-

Nūrī al-Ṭabarsī (d. 1320/1902; on him (hereafter, Nūrī), see below passim). However, with the

exception of a passing reference by Amir-Moezzi, both have ignored the fact that Nūrī declares

Shīʿī mystics to be inimical to the Imams and has jettisoned any attempt to situate the encounter

stories he collected and published in any realm but the physical world, dismissing the approach

of mystics, theosophists and others interested in esoteric interpretation (ahl-i taʾwīl) who speak

of the imaginal world (ʿālam-i mithāl) or abodes of the heart (manāzil-i qalbiyyah).67 Needless to say, Nūrī does not include any of the accounts found in the works of the Dhahabī and

Shaykhī leaders but one does not necessarily get this impression from studying Corbin and

Amir-Moezzi’s works.

Chapter Outlines

This dissertation will build on the work of previous scholarship while also raising an

entirely new set of concerns, questions and methods of investigation. We will focus chiefly,

though not only, on the development of the theme of encounters with the Imam in the roughly

67 Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:624-5. On the history of anti-Sufi rhetoric among Shīʿī ulama, see Pourjavady, “Opposition to Sufism in Twelver Shīʿism,” 614-23; and in particular during the Qajar period, see Bayat, “Anti-Sufism in Qajar Iran,” 624-38. 30

first three and a half of centuries the Greater Occultation (329/941-the end of the 7th/13th century). It is hoped that by adopting this focus, this dissertation can fill several gaps in our understanding of the topic while presenting new research on an underappreciated aspect and critical phase of Shīʿī intellectual history and piety.

The first two chapters of this work offer a comprehensive textual study of the early hadith corpus on the question of seeing the Hidden Imam. Chapter 1 will serve as a background. Here we will examine the earliest extant Shīʿī sources dealing with the ghayba of

the final Imam from the period that is known as the Lesser Occultation. This period has been

closely studied by scholars.68 However, this chapter will first attempt to fill a glaring gap by

isolating and analyzing the few references to the ghayba in the earliest surviving tafsīr and

hadith works. We will consider what these sources have to say (or not say) on the issue of

seeing the Hidden Imam and speculate on what they imply about the nascent Shīʿī community

of the time. As we will see, the overwhelming majority of hadiths affirm that the Imam cannot

be seen or recognized by anyone during the ghayba, while a small number suggest that he can

be seen though not recognized.

68 See Note 12 above. 31

Considering the authority invested in hadith literature69 and in light of the fact that the

majority of Traditions affirm that the Imam cannot be seen during his absence, a question

emerges: on what scriptural basis do Shīʿī scholars transmit the accounts of those who have

seen and spoken with him during the Greater Occultation? Chapter 2 will focus on three

specific hadiths that are cited by some later scholars as leaving open the possibility of a special

cadre of believers to encounter (and recognize) the Imam during this second ghayba. We will gloss key words found in these hadiths and contextualize them.

Chapter 3 is in many ways the heart and soul of this dissertation. Here, we will focus on the critical first century of the Greater Occultation. The central argument advanced is that there

was a noticeable shift between the Traditionists who wrote in the early years of the Greater

Occultation and the rationalist-oriented scholars who followed them vis-à-vis the question of whether it is possible to see the Imam. The Traditionists argued that the Imam can no longer be encountered in a wakeful state by anyone. The locus classicus for proscribing the possibility of

seeing him in the second ghayba was the final tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam which we have

69 On Shīʿī hadith, see Kohlberg, “Shī‘ī Hadith;” Ahmad, “Twelver Šīʿī ḥadīṯ;” Kazemi-Moussavi, “Hadith ii. In Shiʿism,” EIr, 11:447-9; Brunner, “The Role of ḥadīth as Cultural Memory in Shīʿī History.” For important insights on the function of hadith as both narrative fiction and religious text, see Günther, “Fictional Narration and Imagination within an Authoritative Framework: Towards a New Understanding of Ḥadīth.” 32

referred to above. We will come to see that the rationalist scholars, slowly if cautiously, accede to the possibility of encountering the Imam although they abstain from mentioning anyone who has in actuality met him. These findings challenge some of the conclusions of earlier scholars

who have tended to assume that stories of encounters with the Imam in a wakeful state have

appeared since the beginning of the Greater Occultation.

Finally, in chapter 4, we will examine the earliest accounts of encounters with the

Hidden Imam. The tacit approval of the rationalists discussed in chapter 3 for the possibility of seeing the Imam served as the nucleus of yet another critical shift: In the following two centuries, accounts of encounters and contact with the Imam during the Greater Occultation, albeit rare and infrequent, begin to appear in the works of Shīʿī authorities. At the conclusion of

this chapter, we will see that while the accounts remain few in number and consistent in their

representation of the Hidden Imam in the next centuries, they begin to increase in the Safavid

period and become far more embellished. This development is linked to a critical gloss of the final tawqīʿ which set the hermeneutic stage for the exponential proliferation of these accounts in the modern period and has been cited by numerous scholars to justify the stories of encounters with the Imam. 33

Our study is accompanied by an appendix, a preliminary descriptive catalogue of the main collections of encounters narratives or other works that emphasize such stories found in

Āqā Buzurg al-Ṭihrānī’s al-Dharīʿa ilā taṣānīf al-shīʿa.

CHAPTER 1

The Unknown, the Unseen, and the Unrecognized

In this chapter, we will examine the earliest extant Shīʿī sources from the period that is known

as the Lesser Occultation for what they can tell us about the ghayba of the twelfth and final

Imam and in particular, the question of contacting and seeing this figure. We will consider here

the earliest surviving hadith compilations and tafsīr works.

1.1. The Hadith Compilations of al-Barqī and al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī

At the outset, it must be said that the two earliest surviving Shīʿī hadith collections, both

compiled by scholars who lived during the early years of the occultation of the twelfth Imam,

are decidedly un-messianic. There are no references to the ghayba in Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b.

Khālid al-Barqī’s (d. 274/887 or 280/893) Kitāb al-maḥāsin,70 a point to which Kohlberg first

brought attention in his seminal 1976 study, or in al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī’s (d. 290/902-3) Baṣāʾir

al-darajāt.71 Amir-Moezzi found it “plus complexe et plus troublant” that the latter contains

70 On al-Barqī and his Kitāb al-maḥāsin, see Newman, The Formative Period, 51-9; Kohlberg, “Imam and Community in the Pre-Ghayba Period,” 39.

71 Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya,” 523; Amir-Moezzi, “al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī (m. 290/902-3),” 240; Amir- Moezzi, Le Guide divin 249; Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran VII. The Concept of Mahdi in Twelver Shiʿism,” EIr, 14:137; Newman, Formative Period, 59. 35

only five hadiths (out of 1,881) that number the Imams at twelve,72 but his observation further

supports the point that most Shīʿa knew nothing about the twelfth Imam or that he even existed

during the crisis that erupted after the death of the eleventh Imam, Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī (d.

260/874),73 a period of mass confusion that is simply called al-ḥayra.74 Perhaps even more surprising is that none of the five hadiths that Amir-Moezzi has isolated75 hints at the notion of

ghayba or suggests that the twelfth Imam is the messianic Mahdī or Qāʾim.

However, in the 22nd chapter of Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, entitled, “The Messenger of God

bequeathed the supreme name [of God] (al-ism al-akbar), the heritage of prophecy and the

heritage of [all] knowledge to ʿAlī before he died,” we find two intriguing hadiths that have

escaped scholars. Both hadiths speak openly about the appearance of a prophet (nabī) after

72 Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 249 (note 537), where he states that five out of 1881 hadiths “équivaut à un silence presque total.” Cf. Amir-Moezzi, “al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī et son Kitâb Baṣâʾir al-darajât,” 241, published in the same year as Le Guide divin, where his remark about “almost total silence” is modulated to “très peu.” See also Newman, Formative Period, 84-5.

73 On him, see Halm, “ʿAskarī, Ḥasan b. ʿAlī” EIr, 2:769.

74 Al-Khazzāz, Kifāyat al-athar fī al-naṣṣ ʿalā al-aʾimma al-ithnī ʿashar, 193. Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, 4:222, aptly defines ḥayra as the state of being lost or unable to find one’s way, thus the antonym of ihtidāʾ. Cf. Qur’an 6:71, the only verse where a derivatve of the ḥaʾ-yāʾ-rāʾ root (namely, ḥayrān) is found.

75 Al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī, Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, 280 (no. 15), a hadith of the Prophet commanding Abū Bakr to believe in ʿAlī and eleven of his descendants who the Prophet says “are like me except that they are 36

Muḥammad and the line of Imams. The first of the two is transmitted by the sixth Imam, Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765)76 and is in fact a ḥadīth qudsī (Divine Saying; lit., sacred or holy hadith)

in that the words are spoken by God: “I never leave the earth bereft of a walī [here, meaning an

Imam] who possesses knowledge, by whom My obedience and my walāya are made known, a

Proof [again, an Imam] who will exist between the passing of the Prophet until the appearance

of the next prophet” (bayna qabḍ al-nabī ilā khurūj al-nabī al-ākhar). The second hadith, the

fourth and final Tradition found in the same chapter, is similar, only here the words are

attributed to the angel Gabriel and the definite article is excised from the word nabī to make the

meaning more generic: “…between the passing of a prophet and the appearance of another

(prophet)” (bayna qabḍ nabī ilā khurūj akhār).77 Both hadiths, and in particular the first, imply

not prophets” (mithlī illā al-nubuwwa), 319-20 (nos. 2,4,5), and 372 (no. 16), where all twelve Imams are called Mahdīs; Amir-Moezzi, “al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī et son Kitâb Baṣâʾir al-darajât,” 240 (note 48).

76 On him, see Multiple Authors, “Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq,” EIr, 14:349-66.

77 Al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī, Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, 468-70 (nos. 1,4). On the term, “proof [of God]” (ḥujjat) as a designation of all of the Imams and in particular an epithet of the twelfth Imam in early Shīʿī sources, see Dakake, “Ḥojjat,” EIr, 12:424-6.; Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, index, s.v. ‘ḥujja, ḥujaj (proof).’ On the class of hadiths known as ḥadīth qudsī in Sunnī sources, see Robson, “Ḥadīt̲h̲ Ḳudsī,” EI², 8:28- 9; Algar, “Hadith iv. In Sufism,” EIr, 11:451-3, who discusses the particular interest shown to such hadiths in Ṣūfī literature; Graham, Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam. Graham devotes a few paragraphs to discussing the presence of aḥādīth qudsiyya in the later Shīʿī hadith collection of al- Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī (d. 1104/1693) – which itself is of course a systematic compilation of hadiths found in earlier Shīʿī works – while admitting that a study of aḥādīth qudsiyya in Shīʿī hadith collections is outside the scope of his monograph and merits a separate survey (which still remains a desideratum), 37

that after Muḥammad, an Imam will always be present until the next prophet is raised by

God.78 As is the case with all other hadiths found in Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, these Traditions do not

mention or even hint that any of the Imams who will exist until the appearance of the next

prophet will become concealed. Furthermore, if by the next prophet is meant the Qāʾim, who

according to other Shīʿī hadiths, will introduce a new amr,79 a new Book, a new sovereignty

Graham, Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam, 67-8. In some Shīʿī sources, this body of hadith is called “the hadiths of God” (akhbār Allāh), e.g., al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:65.

78 Cf. a hadith found elsewhere in Baṣāʾir al-darajāt and Kitāb al-maḥāsin that there will always be a Proof (i.e., an Imam) on earth until forty days before the Day of Resurrection: “By God, the earth will continue to have a Proof (ḥujja) [i.e., an Imam] who knows what is permissible (ḥalāl) and what is prohibited (ḥarām) and who will call [people] to the Way of God [cf. Q 16:125]. The Proof will never be cut off from the earth except for [the last] forty days prior to the day of resurrection,” al-Barqī, Kitāb al-maḥāsin, 236; al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī, Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, 484.

79 It is often difficult to translate the term amr (lit., command, order, cause, affair) owing to its multifarious uses. Amr in hadiths about the Qāʾim has clear eschatological and apocalyptic connotations. In certain hadiths, the Qur’anic amr is the Qāʾim. The opening verse of Qur’an 16 is interpreted by al- Ṣādiq as being “our amr, meaning the rise of our qāʾim (huwa amrunā yaʿnī qiyām al-qāʾim), (the one who will rise from) the family of Muḥammad,” al-Najafī, Taʾwīl al-āyāt, 1:252; al-ʿĀmilī al-Iṣfahānī, Muqaddimat tafsīr mirʾāt al-anwār, 73; al-Raḍawī, al-Mahdī l-mawʿūd, 137; cf. Majlisī, Kitāb-i rajʿat, 173. The little-known Safavid exegete, Bahāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Lāhījī (fl. 11th/17th cent.), Tafsīr-i Sharīf Lāhījī, 2:694, based on this and other hadiths, avers that what is meant by (murād) amr Allāh throughout the Qur’an is the Qāʾim. In a related hadith, one of al-Bāqir’s disciples says, “I asked (al- Bāqir) about this amr, when will he appear?” (saʾaltu abā Jaʿfar ʿan al-amr māta yakūn?). He answered, “When you expect that he will come from one direction [or in one manner] and he appears from a [different] direction [or in a different manner], do not reject him!” (in kuntum tuʾammilūn an yajīʿakum

min wajhin thumma jāʾakum min wajhin fa-lā tunkirūnahu), Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al- ḥayra1, 94; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:268 (no. 157). According to a more frequently cited hadith 38

ascribed to al-Ṣādiq, the Qāʾim will appear with an entirely new amr (jāʾa bi-amrin ghayr alladhī kāna), al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:536 (no. 2). A slightly different variation of this hadith is found in al-Sayyārī, Kitāb al-qirāʾāt, 106. A different hadith also attributed to al-Ṣādiq states that the Qāʾim will call people to islām anew, while guiding them to a forgotten amr from which the people have strayed (wa-hadāhum ilā amrin qad duthira fa-ḍalla ʿanhu al-jumhūr), al-Mufīd, al-Irshād, 2:383. Other hadiths appear to equate amr with dīn (= religion, but also belief in the unity of God, pious fear of God, a custom, habit, way, mode, manner of conduct, or the like, see Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 1:944). Al-Mufīd, for example, in a passage excerpted by his student al-Murtaḍā, refers to a hadith saying that the Qāʾim has

been so-called “because he will rise with a religion that has been effaced (yaqūm bi-dīnin qad indarasa), an manifest a truth that was hidden (yuẓhir bi-ḥaqqin kāna makhfiyy ), and fearlessly rise through the power of Truth/God,” quoted in al-Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 322. Moreover, the first part of Qur’an 5:64, {The Jews said, ‘The hand of God is chained up.’}, is interpreted by al-Riḍā as, “(the Jews) meant that God has brought the amr to an end and will not bring forth a new (amr) again.” (yaʿnūna anna Allāh taʿālā qad faragha min al-amr fa-laysa yuḥdith shayʾan),” al-Ṣadūq, ʿUyūn akhbār al- Riḍā, 1:182 > al-Kāshānī, Tafsīr al-ṣāfī, 2:50; al-Ḥuwayzī, Tafsīr nūr al-thaqalayn, 1:649. In other words, the Jews believed that the amr of God brought by Moses to them was the only amr and that God would never raise a prophet with a new amr again. Lawson’s translation of amr as “the divine cause” (Lawson, “Interpretation as Revelation,” 250) would be my preferred choice in translating these hadiths, though some other translations offered by scholars are also useful. Cook, for example, suggests translating amr in messianic and apocalyptic Shīʿī hadiths as “the End,” “a new revelation or messianic system of government,” or “revelation, period or dispensation,” Cook, Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic, 195, 199, 232-3. Clarke translates amr jadīd in a Shīʿī hadith about the Qāʾim as “a new rule (amr, political order),” Clarke, “The Rise and Decline of Taqiyya in Twelver Shiʿism,” 50. Similarly, Amir- Moezzi renders amr jadīd as “a new order,” Amir-Moezzi, “Eschatology iii. In Imami Shiʿism,” EIr, 8:577. The term was also used by the early Fatimids, especially as part of a locution commonly found in proto-Twelver and Twelver sources, ṣāḥib (master, lord, possessor) al-amr. See Halm, The Empire of the Mahdi, 69, 76 See also Baljon, “The ‘Amr of God’ in the Koran;” Momen, “A Study of the Meaning of the Word ‘al-Amr’;” an interesting usage noticed in “‘A Booth Like the Booth of Moses…’ A Study of an Early Ḥadīth;” and the related interpretation of amr in Sunnī works of kalām as a particular revelation of God’s will and the providential rule of creation through His command and decrees, Schwarb, “Amr,” EI³ (online edition). 39

(sulṭān), a new Sunnah, and new laws (aḥkām) – which according to Amir-Moezzi, “seems to

indicate a new religion abrogating Islam”80 – these two hadiths appear to support a notion

about the Qāʾim implied throughout Imāmī Shīʿī works and spoken of directly in Ismāʿīlī

sources: the Qāʾim is prophet-like, if not a prophet himself.81

1.2. The Exegetical Corpus: The tafāsīr of al-ʿAskarī, al-Sayyārī, al-Fūrat, al-Qummī and al-

ʿAyyāshī

80 Amir-Moezzi, “Eschatology iii. In Imami Shiʿism,” EIr, 8:577. Cf. The comment by Amanat, “Islam in Iran v. Messianic Islam in Iran: A General Survey,” 14:131, based presumably on the same hadiths: “(The Mahdī) is the divine agency that brings the old revelatory cycle to its ultimate totality and potentially stands to start a new religious dispensation (even though the latter aspect is often passed over in silence in the Shiʿite literature).” We assume that by “Shiʿite literature,” Amanat has in mind mostly modern and contemporary works, i.e. works produced in post-Bābī/Bahāʾī Shīʿī Islam. Henry Corbin, “Youthfulness and Chivalry,” 71 (For original French, see Corbin, L’homme et son ange, 231-2), read the same hadiths differently: “. . . the Parousia of the Twelfth Imām, is not that the Twelfth Imām must bring a new Book, a new sharīʿat. That would not at all be the advent of taʾwīl; a new Law would not at all mark the advent of the esoteric. Not at all—what the Twelfth Imām brings is the revelation of the hidden meaning of all the revelations.” Kohlberg, “Authoritative Scriptures,” 310-11, expresses a similar opinion: “In some eschatological traditions [= hadiths] it is stated that the Mahdī will bring with him a new order and a new book (or revelation) (amr jadīd wa kitāb jadīd). The amr jadīd is not to be understood to mean that he will usher in a new religion… Similarly, the kitāb jadīd is probably not a previously unknown text but one or more texts that had been the preserve of the Imam.”

81 This interpretation was advanced by Cook, Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic, 226 and 201-2, based on his study of Twelver (though not Ismāʿīlī) hadith compilations: “in Shīʿī traditions the only available explanation of the constant comparison with prophets is that the Mahdī himself is either at the level of a prophet (which depends largely on how the word amr is translated), or just slightly below it.” For a comparison with 4th/10th century Ismāʿīlī sources, see Ghaemmaghami, “{And the Earth will Shine with the Light of its Lord} (Q 39:69): qāʾim and qiyāma in Shi‘i Islam.” 40

While the three hadiths compilations (namely, al-Qummī’s Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, al-Barqī’s

Kitāb al-maḥāsin, and the slightly later al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī (on which, see below)) and the two

Shīʿī heresiographical works of al-Ḥasan b. Mūsā al-Nawbakhtī (d. between 300/912-3 and

310/922-3),82 author of Kitāb firaq al-Shīʿa, and Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ashʿarī al-Qummī (d.

299/911-2 or 301/913-4),83 author of Kitāb al-maqālāt wa-l-firaq, that have survived from the

period that came to be called the Lesser Occultation have been mined by scholars for their few

references to the twelfth Imam and the notion of ghayba, the same cannot be said about the

earliest surviving Shīʿī Qur’an commentaries, all of which likewise date from the Lesser

Occultation, or just before. In order to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of what

light the earliest sources shed about the Imam’s ghayba in general and the question of contact

with the Hidden Imam in particular, it is imperative to consider these sources as well.

Out of the 379 hadiths that make up the tafsīr of the first two suras of the Qur’an

ascribed to Imam Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, only one mentions the ghayba of the Qāʾim, a hadith

82 On him, see Iqbāl, Khāndān-i Nawbakhtī, 125-65; Pingree, “Nowbaḵti, Ḥasan,” EIr (online edition); Kraemer, “al-Nawbakhtī, al-Ḥasan b. Mūsā,” EI², 7:1044; Anṣārī, “Abū Sahl Nawbakhtī,” DMBI, 5:579-83; Madelung, “Imāmism and Muʿtazilite Theology,” 14-16.

83 See Kohlberg, “Early Attestations of the Term “Ithnā ʿAshariyya,” 343. For a comparison of these two heresiographical texts, see Madelung “Bemerkungen zur imamitischen Firaq-Literature,” 37-52. 41

narrated on the authority of al-ʿAskarī’s father, the tenth Imam, ʿAlī al-Hādī (d. 254/868)84:

“Were it not for the ulama who will live after the ghayba of your Qāʾim, invite [people] to [his

cause], guide [them] to him, defend his dīn with the proofs of God, save the weak (ḍuʿafāʾ) among God’s servants from the temptations of Iblīs and his evil spirits (cf. Qur’an 37:7) and the snares of those who are hostile towards the Shīʿa (al-nawāṣib), every person would

renounce the faith of God...”85 Bar-Asher has demonstrated from internal evidence that the

tafsīr ascribed to al-ʿAskarī was likely composed during his lifetime though he is not prepared

to attribute the work directly to the Imam himself.86 The question of provenance aside, the fact that only one hadith out of 379 mentions the ghayba amounts to a near complete silence on the

issue and it is entirely possible that the above hadith or at least the phrase, “the ghayba of your

84 On him, see Madelung, “ʿAlī al-Hādī,” EIr, 1:861-2.

85 Al-ʿAskarī, al-Tafsīr al-mansūb, 344-5 (no. 225) > al-Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 5:319-20. Cf. al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 2:6 (no. 12), who tries to quietly change the oddly sounding “your Qāʾim” (which would be a strange thing for an Imam to say) to “our Qāʾim.” Hadiths of this type that divide the Shīʿa into two distinct categories (ulama and ḍuʿafāʾ) are common in the tafsīr attributed to al- ʿAskarī. See Kohlberg, “Imam and Community in the Pre-Ghayba Period,” 41-3.

86 Bar-Asher, “The Qurʾān Commentary Ascribed to Imam Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī,” 379. Cf. the formidable study by al-Tustarī (which unfortunately Bar-Asher does not mention or engage) who contests vehemently that any attempt to attribute this tafsīr to al-ʿAskarī amounts to slander (buhtān) while arguing that many of hadiths found in this work are fabricated, al-Tustarī, al-Akhbār al-dakhīla, 152- 228. See also Luṭfī, “Tafsīr-i Imām Ḥasan ʿAskarī,” DMBI (online edition). 42

Qāʾim,” was added to the work during or after the period that came to be known as the Lesser

Occultation.

Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Sayyārī’s (fl. 3th/9th cent) recently published work on variant

readings of the Qur’an, known as Kitāb al-tanzīl wa-l-taḥrīf or simply al-Tafsīr, contains numerous references to the Qāʾim (though not to the Mahdī) but surprisingly,87 never mentions

or even hints at the notion of ghayba or the issue of contact with the Hidden Imam.88

Interestingly, later sources attribute a report to al-Sayyārī in which he transmits an account of a

87 Amir-Moezzi and Kohlberg state on more than occasion in the introduction and notes (al-Sayyārī, Revelation and Falsification, 40, 92-3) that the terms Qāʾim and ṣāḥib hādhā al-amr refer to the Mahdī, giving the impression that the title al-Mahdī (with messianic connotations) is used by al-Sayyārī in speaking about the Qāʾim. However, such is not the case. The absence in al-Sayyārī’s work of any mention of the title al-Mahdī (again, with messianic connotations) further supports Sachedina’s thesis that “at least at the beginning of the Imamite history, which should be placed at the end of third/ninth and the beginning of the fourth/tenth century,…no idea about (the twelfth Imam) being al-Mahdi, the eschatological savior of Islam, had yet been accentuated.” Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 59. Sachedina’s argument was criticized by Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 147, who cited a Tradition from al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī that identifies the twelfth Imam as the Mahdī, though to be fair, al-Kulaynī’s work is dated slightly later than the period Sachedina is discussing here. Since the bulk of the sources used for this dissertation are from the period after al-Kulaynī when the appellations Mahdī and Qāʾim are used interchangeably, they will likewise be used interchangeably in this work. On the term Qāʾim, see also Madelung, “Ḳāʾim Āl Muḥammad,” EI², 4:456-7.

88 Not surprisingly, there are also no references to the ghayba or to the twelfth Imam in the Zaydī Shīʿī tafsīr of al-Ḥusayn b. al-Ḥakam al-Ḥibārī (d. 286/899-900), Tafsīr al-Ḥibarī. On this work, see al- Ḥibārī, Tafsīr al-Ḥibarī, 75-216 (from the introduction by al-Jalālī); Lawson, “Exegesis vi. In Aḵbārī and Post-Safavid Esoteric Shiʿism,” EIr, 9:124; and now Amir-Moezzi, Le Coran silencieux et le Coran parlant. On the author, see al-Ḥibārī, Tafsīr al-Ḥibarī, 17-74 (from the introduction by al-Jalālī). 43

miracle performed by the twelfth Imam soon after he was born, perhaps in an attempt to link

al-Sayyārī to the Hidden Imam and compensate for the lack of any reference in his work to the

notion of ghayba.89

A similar observation can be made about the incomplete tafsīr of Furāt b. Furāt Ibrāhīm

al-Kūfī (fl. late 3rd/9th cent.).90 While al-Kūfī cites numerous hadiths that mention the Mahdī,91

we find only one reference to the ghayba of the Imam: In a hadith without an isnād, the Prophet

foretells the coming of “the concealed one who will appear after a lengthy ghayba (al-ghāʾib al-

qādim baʿda ṭūl al-ghayba).”92 Al-Kūfī does not proffer any comments about the meaning of

this hadith or any other hadith as his work is strictly a tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr or commentary based

on Traditions (as opposed to a tafsīr bi-l-raʾy or commentary by opinion).

89 For the sources of this account, see Kohlberg and Amir-Moezzi, “Introduction,” 33.

90 On him, see Bar-Asher, “Forāt b. Ebrāhīm,” EIr, 10:82; Bar-Asher, Scripture and exegesis, 29-31; Hamza, Rizvi, with Mayer, eds., An Anthology of Qurʾanic Commentaries, 25-6. On his tafsīr, see also Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 341.

91 For example, al-Kūfī, Tafsīr Furāt al-Kūfī, 74-5 (no. 48)

92 Al-Kūfī, Tafsīr Furāt al-Kūfī, 267. Also cited in al-Ṣadūq, Amālī al-Ṣadūq, 562; al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Sharḥ al-akhbār, 2:398, 3:444. 44

The case of the tafsīr ascribed to ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-Qummī (fl. 4th/10th cent.)93 is

somewhat different. While the author of this work transmits numerous apocalyptic hadiths, including hadiths about the appearance of the Qāʾim,94 we find only three references to the

ghayba.95 First, under his commentary for Qur’an 28:5, Moses’s fright and concealment are

interpreted as prefigurations of the Qāʾim’s ghayba, escape and concealment (ghaybatihi wa-

harabihi wa-istitārihi),96 though according to the editor of the tafsīr, this sentence is not found

in some manuscripts97 and may in fact be a later addition to the text. The entire hadith is likely

93 On al-Qummī, see Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imāmī Shiism, 33-56; Newman, Formative Period, index, s.v. ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim al-Qummī; Hamza, Rizvi, with Mayer, eds., An Anthology of Qurʾanic Commentaries, 24-5; and now, Amir-Moezzi, “ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-Qummī,” EI³ (online edition).

94 See Cook, Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic, 296; Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imāmī Shiism, 214.

95 Modarresi, Tradition and Survival, xvii, is of the opinion that “the Tafsīr commonly ascribed to ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-Qummī is not by that scholar,” though it is not clear if he is alluding here to the theory advanced by Āqā Buzurg al-Ṭihrānī that the tafsīr was actually assembled by al-Qummī’s student, Abū al-Faḍl al-ʿAbbās, or to something else. On al-Ṭihrānī’s theory, see Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imāmī Shiism, 55; Hamza, Rizvi, with Mayer, eds., An Anthology of Qurʾanic Commentaries, 25; Haydūs, Ḥawl tafsīr al-Qummī: dirāsa taḥqīqiyya.

96 Al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, 2:134. Also cited in al-Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 4:255; al- Ḥuwayzī, Tafsīr nūr al-thaqalayn, 4:109. Cf. Hadith cited by al-ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, 1:64-5, mentioning in part that the Mahdī will depart from Medina following the prophetic precedent of Moses, “{fearful and vigilant} (Qur’an 28:18,21) until he arrives in Mecca” (khāʾif an yataraqqab ḥattā yaqdam Makka).

97 Al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, 2:134 (note 1). 45

of Wāqifī origins, referring to al-Kāẓim’s imprisonment, escape and second period of

concealment (on the Wāqifiyya, see below).

The second reference to the ghayba in al-Qummī’s tafsīr is found under his commentary

on Qur’an 22:45: {How many a city We have destroyed in its evildoing, and now it is fallen

down upon its turrets! How many a deserted well, a lofty palace!}. Here, {a deserted well} is

interpreted as “[a well] from which one cannot draw water: This is the Imam who has vanished

and from whom it is no longer possible to acquire knowledge” (hiya allatī lā yustasqā minhā wa-huwa al-imām alladhī qad ghāba fa-lā yuqtabas minhu al-ʿilm). Al-Qummī contrasts this well with {a lofty palace} which is “a similitude (mathal) for the Commander of the Faithful

[i.e. ʿAlī], for [all of] the Imams, and for their excellent virtues which tower above the

world.”98 Curiously, al-Qummī does not identify “the Imam who has vanished” as the son of

98 Al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, 2:85 > al-Kāshānī, Tafsīr al-ṣāfī, 3:383; al-Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 3:893; al-Ḥuwayzī, Tafsīr nūr al-thaqalayn, 3:507; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 24:101 (no. 5). On the basis of this hadith, Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 1:93-4, lists “the deserted well” as one of the Hidden Imam’s epithets. Al-ʿĀmilī al-Iṣfahānī, Muqaddimat tafsīr mirʾāt al-anwār, 94, likewise interprets the well as “ʿAlī, his walāya, the Silent Imam, the Hidden Imam, Fāṭima and her children [i.e., the Imams] who have been cut off from earthly power.” Other Imāmī hadiths gloss the lofty palace as “the speaking Imam” and the deserted well as “the silent Imam,” al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī, Baṣāʾir al-darājāt, 505; al- Ṣadūq, Maʿānī al-akhbār, 111 (nos. 1-2); the lofty palace as Muḥammad and the deserted well as ʿAlī, Ibn Shahrāshūb, Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, 3:88 [this interpretation is also found in the early Ismāʿīlī work, al-Yaman (attrib.), Kitāb al-kashf, 50 (on this work, see below)]; the lofty palace as ʿAlī and the deserted well as Fāṭima and the other Imams on account of their having been deprived of [earthly] 46

al-Ḥasan b. al-ʿAskarī or any other person for that matter, perhaps because this fact was already

well-known to his readers or perhaps because he himself did not know. There are also no

references to the Imam’s representatives, his agents or to any of his tawqīʿāt said to have been

issued by the Imam at al-Qummī’s time as cited in later works (see chapter 3). Significantly, al-

Qummī states that now that the Imam is in ghayba, there is no way to receive knowledge (al-

ʿilm) of a religious (or non-religious) character from him. Presumably, the ghayba of ʿilm is what has made it necessary for him to produce a written commentary on the Qur’an, something that was not needed when the Imam was present and his ʿilm was accessible.

The third and final reference to ghayba in al-Qummī’s tafsīr is similar to the previous

hadith and is found under his comments on Qur’an 67:30: {Say: ‘What think you? If in the

morning your water should have vanished into the earth, then who would bring you running

water?’}. Here, al-Qummī quotes the words of an unnamed Imam about this verse: “What think

you? If your Imam vanishes from you, who can bring you an Imam like him?” (in aṣbaḥa

an 99 imāmukum ghāʾib fa-man yaʾtīkum bi-imāmin mithlihi). This hadith is reiterated in al-

sovereignty (muʿaṭṭalīn min al-mulk), al-Ṣadūq, Maʿānī al-akhbār, 111 (no. 3). See also al-Baḥrānī, al- Hidāya al-Qurʾāniyya ilā al-walāya al-imāmiyya, 1:432-5 (nos. 620-7).

99 Al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, 2:379; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:50 (no. 21); al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al- anwār al-muḍīʾa, 37-8 47

Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī, al-Nuʿmānī’s al-Ghayba, and al-Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-dīn. The version found in

Kamāl al-dīn is ascribed to the sixth Imam, Muḥammad al-Bāqir (d. 114/732, 117/735 or

118/736),100 and narrated on the authority of ʿAlī b. Abī Ḥamza al-Baṭāʾinī, showing that it is likely of Wāqifī origin (on al-Baṭāʾinī and the Wāqifiyya, see below): “This verse has been revealed about the Qāʾim (nazalat fī al-qāʾim). When your Imam vanishes from you, you will

not know where he is. Who then will bring you an unconcealed (ẓāhir) Imam?”101 In other

words, if the Imam, who is analogous to water – the source of all life on earth – disappears,

God alone can cause him to appear again. What of course immediately stands out is the fact that the vanished Imam and the manifest Imam appear to be two different figures, suggesting that the hadith originated with the one of theWāqifī groups that believed the Imam had died and

would be resurrected in the future as the Qāʾim. This belief is represented in several early Shīʿī

hadiths that are either excised or explained away in later works, perhaps the most significant of

which is a curious hadith ascribed to al-Ṣādiq stating that the Qāʾim will only appear after an

interval or break in the series of Imams (ʿalā fatratin min al-aʾimma), i.e., after a period of time

100 On him, see Madelung, “al-Bāqer, Abū Jaʿfar Moḥammad,” EIr, 3:725-6.

101 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 305 (no. 3); Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra1, 115-6 (no. 105); al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 158; al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:72 (no. 129); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:52 (no. 27). 48

when there are no Imams, just as the Prophet was raised after a break in the sequence of

102 Messengers (kamā anna rasūl Allāh buʿitha ʿalā fatratin min al-rusul; cf. Qur’an 5:19).

102 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:341 (no. 21); al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 193. A different hadith with the same purport (i.e., that there will be a fatra or break in the Imamate) is categorically rejected in al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 596. See also al-Shahrastānī (d. 548/1153-4), al-Milal wa-l-niḥal, 1:171, who in describing the various Shīʿī sects that split after Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī based on earlier sources at his disposal states that the eighth sect maintained: 1. al-ʿAskarī died without issue; 2. those who claimed he had a surviving son were lying and deceitful; 3. it is possible for God to remove (yarfaʿ: lit., to raise; cf. Qur’an 4:158) the Proof (i.e., the Imam) from the earth when the people are transgressing the sacred law (li-maʿāṣīhim); 4. that the earth today is bereft of an Imam just as there was no prophet in the world in the interval between the previous prophet (i.e., Jesus) and the rise of Muḥammad (wa-l-arḍ al-yawm bi- lā ḥujja ka-mā kānat al-fatra qabl mabʿath al-nabī). Cf. the description of the 14th sect of the factions that split after al-ʿAskarī in al-Ashʿarī al-Qummī, (d. 299/911-2 or 301/913-4), Kitāb al-maqālāt wa-l- firaq, 114-5; the 8th sect in al-Nawbakhtī (d. between 300/912-3 and 310/922-3), Kitāb firaq al-Shīʿa, 85-6 [= al-Nawbakhtī, Shīʿa Sects (trans. Kadhim), 159]; and the 9th sect in al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān (d. 363/974), Sharḥ al-akhbār, 3:313-5, who believed that al-ʿAskarī did not have a surviving son; that after his death, the community entered a period when there are no Imams on earth (al-arḍ al-yawm bi-ghayr ḥujja) just as there were no prophets in the period before the appearance of Muḥammad. Cf. also the highly original interpretation found in the early Ismāʿīlī text attributed to Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman (attrib.), Kitāb al-kashf, 79, where ghayba is interpreted as the interregnum between two speaker- prophets (hiya al-fatra allatī takūn bayna al-nāṭiq wa-l-nāṭiq) [the Kitāb al-kashf is a compilation of six pre-Fatimid Ismāʿīlī treatises on the interpretation of the Qur’an. See Madelung, “Das Imamat,” 52-8; Daftary, Ismaili Literature, 122]. Cf. also Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (d. 638/1240) intriguing statement that the

Mahdī will appear after a long break in dīn (yakhruj ʿalā fatratin min al-dīn), Ibn al-ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al- Makkiyya, 3:327. The meaning of this statement by Ibn al-ʿArabī is unclear but it may be related to the sentence that immediately follows, that God will lay down through the Mahdī what has not been laid down in the Qur’an. This passage is cited by Ḥaydar Āmulī (d. after 787/1385) in at least two of his works: Jāmiʿ al-asrār wa-manbaʿ al-anwār, 441, and al-Muqaddamāt min kitāb naṣṣ al-nuṣūṣ fī sharḥ fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, 236; by Mullā Ṣadrā in his Sharḥ uṣūl al-kāfī, 1:560, as well as by Ṣadrā’s student al- Fayḍ al-Kāshānī in his hadith compendium, al-Wāfī, 2:470, though none of these scholars adds his own comments to the passage. The statement is not included in the sections of the al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya that have been translated into English and I am not aware of any commentaries on it in western sources. 49

Before concluding our discussion of the Qāʾim in Tafsīr al-Qummī, it would be

appropriate to discuss the famous hadith of al-Khiḍr/al-Khaḍir103 which is recorded in this work

and has received significant attention from western scholars. In an older version of this hadith

found in al-Barqī’s Kitāb al-maḥāsin, ʿAlī (d. 40/661), his son al-Ḥasan (d. 50/670)104 and the

Prophet’s companion, Salmān al-Fārsī (d. 35/655-6 or 36/656-7)105 were one day greeted inside a mosque by a mysterious stranger dressed in silk and later identified by ʿAlī as “my brother, al-Khaḍir.” The stranger posed a number of questions to ʿAlī who deflected them to al-Ḥasan,

testing his prowess. Fully satisfied with the responses he received, the stranger turned to ʿAlī

and bore witness that he was the Prophet’s successor (waṣī), that Ḥasan would in turn succeed

103 Al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, 2:44-5. Al-Khaḍir/al-Khiḍr (“the green man”) is the name given to the legendary figure of Islamic lore commonly associated with the anonymous servant of God and spiritual guide who accompanied Moses and his companion (Qur’an 18:59-81). See Krasnowolska, “Ḵeżr,” EIr (online edition); Renard, “Khaḍir/Khiḍr,” EQ, 3:81-4; A.J. Wensinck “al-Khaḍir (al-Khiḍr),” EI², 4:902-5; and especially, Franke, Begegnung mit Khidr. In Shīʿī works written to prove the ghayba of the Hidden Imam, stories of al-Khiḍr are often adduced as accounts of another holy figure whose life has been miraculously prolonged by God and who is in a perpetual state of (physical) concealment. For an analysis of narrative stories about al-Khiḍr that were incorporated into the earliest surviving ghayba works, see Yoshida, “Qiṣaṣ Contribution to the Theory of Ghaybah in Twelver Shīʻism,” 91-104. See also Markwith, “The Eliatic Function in the Islamic Tradition: Khiḍr and the Mahdī,” esp. 62-74; Cheetham, Green Man, Earth Angel, 122; Corbin, “Visionary Dream in Islamic Spirituality,” 390; and Brown, The Challenge of Islam, 113, who astutely observes, following Corbin, that the Shīʿī institution of the Imamate is in some ways “an attempt to institutionalize the spirit of Khidr.”

104 On him, see Madelung, “Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib,” EIr, 12:26-8.

105 On him, see Levi Della Vida, “Salmān al-Fārisī or Salmān Pāk,” EI², 12:701-2. 50

him followed by the other Imams “until he came to the last of them” (ḥatta atā ʿalā

ākhirihim).106 Kohlberg, Amir-Moezzi and Newman have all written that this hadith as found in

al-Qummī’s tafsīr is significant for being the earliest text in which the names of all twelve

Imams are mentioned.107 However, this is not exactly correct. The hadith, as found in al-

Qummī’s tafsīr neither mentions the name of the twelfth Imam nor suggests that he will have a

ghayba. It does not even state explicitly that the Qāʾim is the son of the eleventh Imam. The

precise wording is that the successor (waṣī) of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī (al-ʿAskarī) is the eagerly awaited (al-muntaẓar) Qāʾim who will fill the world with justice and equity.108 The name of the

twelfth Imam is nowhere mentioned in this hadith or in any of the extant sources that precede

al-Kulaynī.

106 Newman, Formative Period, 59.

107 Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 523 (note 2); Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 260 (note 566) [= Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 216: “The first text of certain authenticity that we presently [=currently] possess where the names of the twelve imams are listed is the Tafsîr written by ʿAlî b. Ibrâhîm al-Qummî (d. 307/919)”; cf. a more recent article, Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran VII. The Concept of Mahdi in Twelver Shiʿism,” EIr, 14:137, where it seems he has attempted to modulate his earlier statement: “The oldest text of certain authenticity that we have, in which a complete list of the twelve Imams is found, seems to be the Tafsir by ʿAli b. Ebrāhim Qomi.” (notice that he omits saying that the names of the Imams are listed as he did in the earlier work)]; Newman, Formative Period, 85. Cf. Amir Arjomand, “Imam Absconditus and the Beginnings of a Theology of Occultation,” 11 (note 83).

108 Al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, 2:45. On the significance of the term waṣī in Shīʿī sources, see E. Kohlberg, “Waṣī,” EI², 11:161-2. 51

Finally, in Abū al-Naḍr Muḥammad al-ʿAyyāshī’s (fl. late 3rd/9th – early 4th/10th cent.)109 tafsīr, which is extant for the first eighteen suras of the Qur’an,110 we find only two

references to the ghayba. The first is in a hadith ascribed to ʿAlī about the Quranic figure Dhū

al-Qarnayn. After recounting that Dhū al-Qarnayn concealed himself from his people before

returning to them, ʿAlī declares, “and in your midst is one like him” (wa-fīkum mithluhu).111

The phrase may have been understood as a proleptic reference to the ghayba since Imāmī

sources adduce the concealment of Dhū al-Qarnayn as a prophetic precedent of the ghayba of

the Qāʾim.112 It is more likely to have been understood as a reference to ʿAlī himself as later

Shīʿī (both Imāmī and Ismāʿīlī) texts identify Dhū al-Qarnayn as ʿAlī.113

109 On al-ʿAyyāshī, see Poonawala, “ʿAyyāšī, Abu’l-Nażr Moḥammad,” EIr, 3:163-4; Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis, 56-8; Madelung, Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran, 84-5; Hamza, Rizvi, with Mayer, eds., An Anthology of Qurʾanic Commentaries, 26-7; Aḥmadīnizhād-Balkhī, “ʿAyyāshī Samarqandī: Āftāb-i Samarqand.”

110 As pointed out by Hamza, Rizvi, with Mayer, eds., An Anthology of Qurʾanic Commentaries, 27, his comments on later verses are found in subsequent Shīʿī exegetical works.

111 Al-ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, 2:339; al-Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 3:663. Al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, 2:41, has recorded this report in his tafsīr as well and added the words yaʿnī nafsahu (meaning himself, i.e. ʿAlī) after wa-fīkum mithluhu. Cf. hadith ascribed to al-Bāqir in al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 13:300 (no. 19).

112 See, for example, al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 357 (no. 1).

113 See for example, Strothmann, ed., Arbaʿat kutub Ismāʿīliyyah, 138; al-Bursī, Mashāriq anwār al- yaqīn, 257, 268; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 26:6; al-Ḥusaynī, Manāqib-i Murtaḍā, 136, 153; al-Ḥāʾirī al- Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 1:39. 52

The only other reference in al-ʿAyyāshī’s tafsīr is found in a long hadith ascribed to al-

Bāqir which identifies {the distressed one} of Qur’an 27:62 as the eagerly awaited Imam. Since this hadith deals directly with the issue of contact with the Imam, it is instructive to cite the

relevant section in full:

While pointing towards to the region of Dhū Ṭuwā,114 al-Bāqir said, “The master of this amr will hide in one of these gorges. Two nights before he appears, the mawlā who is at his disposal (al-mawlā alladhī yakūn bayna yadayhi) will come and meet some of his followers. He will ask them, ‘How many of you are here?’ They will respond, ‘About forty.’ He will then ask, ‘What would you do if your Master appeared at this very moment?’ And they will say, ‘By God, if he asks us to move the mountains for him, we would not hesitate.’ The next night, (the mawlā) will return to them and say, ‘Point out ten of your leaders and the best among you.’ They will do so and he will leave with (these ten) and they will meet their master who will promise to see them the next night [to make his khurūj/ẓuhūr ?]…115

114 Dhū Ṭuwā is a place (mawḍiʿ) near Mecca, al-Ḥamawī, Muʿjam al-buldān, 4:45. Shīʿī sources identify it as a mountain near Mecca that serves at times as the residence (jāygāh) of the Hidden Imam. See Muḥsin Muʿīnī, “Dhī Ṭuwā,” DMT, 8:73-4. Ṭuwā is an enigmatic term mentioned in the Qurʾān, denoting a place or concept of holiness. It is mentioned twice (Q 20:12, 79:16) as the name of a sacred valley where Moses encountered God. See Brinner, “Ṭuwā,” EQ, 5:395-6, who notes that Ṭuwā “has been defined as something ‘twice done,’ as though folded, and medieval writers have said that ṭuwā is ‘twice sanctified, twice blessed and twice called,’ as God calls Moses.”

115 Al-ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, 2:56. Also cited in al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:341 (no. 91); al- Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 2:686 (no. 4273). A similar hadith with a different chain of transmission is cited in al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 187 (no. 30). 53

This hadith is also likely of Wāqifī origin. In a report that closely resembles the above, a

believer meets the seventh Imam, Mūsā al-Kāẓim (d. 183/799),116 and one of his servants

(khādim) and is told that they have settled this year in Dhū Ṭuwā.117 (We will return to the

significance of the mawlā mentioned in this hadith in chapter 2). The reference to gorges

(shuʿāb) is likely meant to recall the story of Muḥammad concealing himself in the ravine of

Shiʿb Abī Ṭālib outside of Mecca. Together with the time when the Prophet and Abū Bakr hid

in a cave on the journey to Yathrib, this account is adduced in Shīʿī sources as proof that

Muḥammad himself was forced into two ghaybas out of fear for his life.118

These few references notwithstanding, the fact that the above tafsīr works are almost

entirely silent on issues of messianism is peculiar, in particular in the case of al-Qummī who

116 On him, see Kohlberg, “Mūsā al-Kāẓim,” EI², 7:645-648.

117 This rare report is cited in al-Ṭabarī al-Shīʿī, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 338-340 (no. 296).

118 See al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 92; al-Murtaḍā, Masʾala wajīza, 11 [translated in Sachedina, “A Treatise on the Occultation,” 121]; al-Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 58; al-Ṭūsī, Talkhīṣ al-shāfī, 4:215-6; al-Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, al-Maslak fī uṣūl al-dīn, 282; Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā- ‘ashariyya,” 529; Kohlberg, “Taqiyya in Shīʿī Theology and Religion,” 349. For the story of the Prophet hiding in Shiʿb Abī Ṭālib, see Majlisī, Ḥayāt al-qulūb, 3:795. Cf. statement attributed to al- Ṣādiq in the Kitāb al-haft wa-l-aẓilla, composed between the 8th and 11th centuries AD and transmitted by Nuṣayrī Shīʿa, confirming his father’s words that the master of the amr will conceal himself in a gorge (fī baʿḍ ashʿābikum) which he situates beyond the Mountain of Qāf that encompass the earth, al- Juʿfī (attributed), Kitāb al-haft, 173. 54

was one of al-Kulaynī’s teachers119 and whose name is found in the asānīd of no less than one-

third of the hadiths al-Kulaynī transmits in his al-Kāfī, including most of the reports concerning the Qāʾim and his ghayba.120At least three explanations can be offered for this relative silence:

1) that the genre of tafsīr was not deemed appropriate for transmitting hadiths about the Qāʾim,

leaving this for the numerous works on the ghayba that have not survived but which are

referred to in biographical and bibliographical works produced in the next century;121 2) that

some of the hadiths about the ghayba of the Qāʾim simply did not exist or were not known and

were later fabricated or discovered; 3) that the doctrine had not yet been found necessary to

elaborate since the proto-Imāmī Shīʿa shared the same messianic beliefs in the Qāʾim as other

contemporary Shīʿī groups, such as the followers of Ḥamdān Qarmaṭ (d. after 286/899)122 who

began his messianic and apocalyptic activities around the all-important year of 260/874.123

1.3. Al-Baṭāʾinī and the Wāqifiyya

119 Amir-Moezzi, “ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-Qummī,” EI³ (online edition).

120 Ibrāhīmzādah, “Thiqat al-Islam Kulaynī: Āftāb-i ḥadīth,” 18.

121 A similar explanation has been advanced by Newman, Formative Period, 84-5, for why Baṣāʾir al- darajāt does not address the ghayba of the Imam. However, I do not wish to join him in all his conclusions.

122 On him, see Madelung, “Ḥamdān Ḳarmaṭ b. al-As̲h̲ʿat̲h̲,” EI², 3:123-4. 55

Since all of the hadiths concerning the ghayba that will be discussed in the remaining

sections of this chapter and the next chapter are likely of Wāqifī origin or explicitly transmitted

on the authority of known Wāqifīs, a brief overview of this sect is in order.124 The Wāqifiyya is

an appellation originally used in rijāl and firaq works for various groups of followers of the

seventh Imam, Mūsā al-Kāẓim, who denied his death and claimed that he had escaped from

prison in Baghdad (which marked his first period of concealment or ghayba) and entered into

hiding (which marked his second ghayba giving rise to the idea of two ghaybas), pending his

return as the Qāʾim.125

123 On responses by Twelver scholars to the Qarmaṭiyya and Fatimid branches of the Ismāʿīliyya, see chapter 3 of this dissertation.

124 The best scholarly treatments of the Wāqifiyya are Buyukkara, “The Imami Shīʿī movement in the time of Mūsā al-al-Kāẓim and ʿAlī al-al-Riḍā” and Buyukkara, “The Schism in the Party of Mūsā al- Kāẓim and the Emergence of the Wāqifa.” See also Halm, Die Schia, 37-9; Halm, “al-Wāḳifa or al- Wāḳifiyya,” EI²; Watt, “Sidelights on Early Imāmite Doctrine, 3. The Wāqifa,” 295-6; Momen, An Introduction to Shi‘i Islam, 45, 56-7; Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 39. For a traditional Imāmī Shīʿī perspective on the sect, see al-ʿĀmilī al-Iṣfahānī, Ḍiyāʾ al-ʿālamīn, 2:335-7. On ʿAlī al-Riḍā, see now, Bayhom-Daou, “ʿAlī al-Riḍā,” EI³ (online edition).

125 Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 532. Cf. Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate and the Institution of Occultation in Twelver Shiʿism,” 494; Amir Arjomand, “Islamic Apocalypticism in the Classical Period,” 263; and now, Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran VII. The Concept of Mahdi in Twelver Shiʿism,” EIr, 14:150: “It must be emphasized that the concept of two occultations, the first shorter than the second, originated in the beliefs of the Wāqefis of the seventh Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem.” At least some Wāqifīs claimed that al-Kāẓim had in fact died (though not killed) but then resurrected from the dead and entered into a second ghayba. See al-Nawbakhtī, Kitāb 56

The key figure in this movement was Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Abī Ḥamza al-Baṭāʾinī (d. ca. 201-2/816-8), known as al-Baṭāʾinī, a Kufan mawlā of the Anṣār and a hadith transmitter

from al-Ṣādiq and al-Kāẓim, whose name features prominently in the present chapter.126 During

Mūsā al-Kāẓim’s time in Baghdad, al-Baṭāʾinī served as his agent (wakīl). He continued to

transmit hadiths from al-Kāẓim but was denounced by al-Riḍā after founding the Wāqifiyya

firaq al-Shīʿa, 68: “Some of them denied that he was killed. They said that he has died, that God lifted him up to Himself (cf. Qur’an 4:158) and would send him back when he rises (from the dead).”

126 Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 183-7 (no. 32), who informs us that al-Baṭāʾinī was “reportedly the first to suggest that Mūsā al-Kāẓim did not die and to oppose ʿAlī al-Riḍā’s claim to the succession.” See also al-Sayyārī, Revelation and Falsification, 79 (n. 58); al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 249-50; al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, 161-2 (no. 418); al-Ṭūsī, Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, al-maʿrūf bi-rijāl al- Kashshī, 2:705, 706, 742 where he is denounced as, inter alia, “a doubt-filled liar;” al-Ḥillī, Khulāṣat al- aqwāl fī maʿrifat al-rijāl, 181, 362-3, who regards him as “extremely weak” (ḍaʿīf jiddan) [on Khulāṣat al-aqwāl, see Schmidtke, The Theology of al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, 68]; Buyukkara, “The Schism in the Party of Mūsā al-Kāẓim and the Emergence of the Wāqifa,” 86-7; Halm, “Das „Buch der Schatten“ [II],” 27; al-Khūʾī, Muʿjām rijāl al-ḥadīth, 12:234-51 (no. 7846). Al-Baṭāʾinī son, Abū Muḥammad Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ḥamza al-Baṭāʾinī (known as Ibn al-Baṭāʾinī), was also a Kufan mawlā of the Anṣār, a Wāqifī, and the author of the lost polemical works Kitāb al-ghayba, Kitāb al-qāʾim, and Kitāb al-fitan/al-malāḥim, written undoubtedly in defense of the Wāqifī belief in the ghayba of Mūsā al-Kāẓim and used by future scholars like al-Nuʿmānī. See al-Ṭūsī, Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, al-maʿrūf bi-rijāl al- Kashshī, 2:827, where he is denounced as, inter alia, “an accursed falsifier” (kadhdhāb malʿūn); Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 250-4 (no. 81); Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, 45 (note 152), 87 (note 184); Madelung, “al-Mahdī,” EI², 5:1236; Klemm, “Die vier sufarâʾ,” 127; Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 12, 245, where he is mistakenly identified as a “Wāqifī disciple of the Imam al-Riḍā”; Buyukkara, “The Schism in the Party of Mūsā al-Kāẓim and the Emergence of the Wāqifa,” 90; Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran VII. The Concept of Mahdi in Twelver Shiʿism,” EIr, 14:137. 57

and serving as one of the group’s leaders (aḥad ʿumad al-wāqifa) after the death of al-Kāẓim.127

As observed by Modarressi, he was reportedly the first to claim that al-Kāẓim had not died and

could not die because he was the promised Qāʾim. He thus openly opposed ʿAlī al-Riḍā’s (d.

203/818) claim to the succession of the Imamate. According to Imāmī sources, as the financial agent of Mūsā al-Kāẓim, he and another agent of the Imam in Kūfa had a large sum of money

(30,000 dīnār according to a report mentioned by Ibn Bābūya128) in their possession when al-

Kāẓim died. Rather than hand over these funds to al-Riḍā, they kept them129 and maintained

that al-Kāẓim had in fact not died but was simply in hiding.130 The fact that al-Kāẓim’s body

127 By contrast, those who affirmed al-Kāẓim’s death are referred to as Qaṭʿiyya (those who affirmed (qaṭaʿū ʿalā) the physical death of al-Kāẓim) in the Shīʿī heresiographical works of al-Nawbakhtī and al- Ashʿarī al-Qummī.

128 Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra1, 75 (no. 66).

129 Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 184; Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, 62; Sachedina, “The Significance of Kashshī’s Rijāl in Understanding the Early Role of the Shīʿite Fuqahāʾ,” 203-4; Kohlberg, “Mūsā al-Kāẓim,” EI², 7:647-8.

130 In a remarkable hadith cited by al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:380 (no. 1), Abū Jarīr al-Qummī (on him, see al-Sayyārī, Revelation and Falsification, 74 (note 47)), a follower of al-Kāẓim, appeared before al-Riḍā and asked if his father, al-Kāẓim, was alive or dead. Al-Riḍā answered, “I swear by God that he has died.” Al-Qummī then stated some of the Shīʿa (viz., the Wāqifīs) are claiming that al-Kāẓim will manifest the prophetic precedent of four prophets, alluding to a hadith ascribed to al-Bāqir and al-Ṣādiq in various forms stating in part that like Joseph, the Qāʾim would be concealed. Al-Riḍā again responded, “I swear by God besides whom there is no other God, (al-Kāẓim) has perished (halaka)!” Al-Qummī then asked, “Has he perished in the sense that he is now hiding or has he perished in the a a sense that he is dead?” (halāk ghaybatin aw halāk mawtin). Al-Riḍā answered, “He has perished in the sense of having died.” Al-Qummī then asked, “Are you practicing taqiyya with me?” Al-Riḍā 58

was hung over a bridge in Baghdad by the Abbasid Caliph for public display131 did not prevent

Wāqifīs (lit. those who stop or put an end to [the imamate with al-Kāẓim]) from refusing to

deliver the khums (a tax intended for pious purposes and a significant source of income to be

administered by the Imam) paid by al-Kāẓim’s followers to al-Riḍā. As Madelung observed,

“Many, perhaps the majority, of the Kufan Imāmī transmitters in the third/ninth century belonged to this sect.”132 Later rijāl works identify al-Baṭāʾinī and several other hadith

transmitters as Wāqifīs in a clear attempt to discredit them as untrustworthy transmitters of

hadith though, as we will see, this did not prevent the authors of the ghayba works from

absorbing hadiths transmitted on their authority about the Qāʾim and his ghayba. We will return

to the Wāqifiyya in the pages to come.

answered, “Gracious God! [i.e., That is not the case!]” Al-Qummī said, “Did he appoint you as the executor of his will?” Al-Riḍā said, “Yes.” Al-Qummī said, “Did he appoint anyone else along with you [as executor of his will]?” (fa-ashraka maʿak fīhā). Al-Riḍā answered, “No.” Al-Qummī said, “Are any of your brothers an Imam over you [i.e., do any of your brothers have a greater right to be an Imam?]?” Al-Riḍā said, “No.” Al-Qummī finally asked, “Then, are you the Imam?” Al-Riḍā said, “Yes!” In a different hadith, al-Riḍā exclaims, “Gracious God! The Messenger of God died but Mūsā [al-Kāẓim] cannot die!?! I swear by God, Mūsā has passed away (maḍā) just as the Messenger of God passed away,” al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:380 (no. 2). A similar hadith is mentioned by al-Kashshī, quoted in Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, 88-9 (note 191).

131 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 23. See also Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate and the Institution of Occultation in Twelver Shiʿism,” 511 (note 24).

132 Madelung, Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran, 80. 59

1.4. The Hadith Compilation of al-Kulaynī

Now that we have briefly considered the works produced before al-Kulaynī, we can turn

our attention to the oldest extant work in which accounts of those who saw and recognized the

Hidden Imam during the Lesser Occultation appear: al-Kulaynī’s (d. 328/939-40)133 hadith

compendium, al-Kāfī, widely recognized as the most important work that has survived from the

period of the Lesser Occultation.134 Al-Kulaynī is as loud as his predecessors are quiet on the issue of the Imam’s ghayba. Throughout his work, al-Kulaynī mentions the names of several

133 On al-Kulaynī and his al-Kāfī, see Kohlberg, “Kolayni,” EIr (online edition), Madelung, “al-Kulaynī (or al-Kulīnī),” EI², 5:362-363; Kazemi-Moussavi, “Hadith ii. In Shiʿism,” EIr, 11:447-9; Ahmad, “Twelver Šīʿī ḥadīṯ,” 134-5; Newman, Formative Period, passim; Akhtar, Early Shīʻite Imāmiyyah Thinkers, 1-37; and now, Amir-Moezzi and Ansari, “Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī,” 191-247.

134 Amir Arjomand, “The Consolation of Theology,” 551. Al-Kāshānī, al-Wāfī, 1:5, for example, praised al-Kāfī as “the most trustworthy and most complete” (awthaqahā wa-atāmmahā) of the four main Shīʿī hadith collections. Authors of numerous Shīʿī hagiographies have alleged that not only was al-Kulaynī in contact with the Hidden Imam but that his al-Kāfī was approved by the Imam, attributing

an oft-cited saying to the Imam: “Al-Kāfī suffices our Shīʿa” (al-kāfī kāfin li-shīʿatinā). See Ibrāhīmzādah, “Thiqat al-Islam Kulaynī: Āftāb-i ḥadīth,” 21. However, there is no historical evidence to support this clearly apocryphal claim. I have not found the above saying attributed to the Hidden Imam in any pre-modern work or collection of the Imam’s tawqīʿāt. The only passage that resembles it in a pre-modern text is al-Majlisī (Senior)’s words: “Al-Kāfī is sufficient for knowing the Imams (al-kāfī

kāfin fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma),” al-Majlisī, Rawḍat al-muttaqīn, 13:262, but this is not attributed as a saying to the Hidden Imam. More importantly, neither al-Kulaynī nor any of students ever alludes to an encounter with the Hidden Imam; indeed, al-Kulaynī’s decision to spend twenty years of his life producing a voluminous compilation of over 16,000 Imāmī hadiths meant to serve as an authoritative guide on theology and fiqh was itself inspired by the fact that the Imam was no longer accessible to the majority of the Shīʿa. 60

individuals who have served as the Imam’s agents (wukalāʾ) in different regions from Yemen

to Nīshāpūr, collecting the khums and zakāt taxes from believers and carrying messages to and

from the Imam.135 In a chapter called, “the names of those who saw (the twelfth Imam),”136 al-

Kulaynī transmits 15 separate reports (all but one from a single transmitter) of believers who

saw the Imam as an infant in Samarrāʾ or as a youth in Mecca or between Mecca and Medina.

Most of these reports are brief, unembellished and straightforward: so and so reported that he

saw the twelfth Imam as a boy during the lifetime of his father, Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, or so and so reported that he saw him as a child or youth in Mecca. The fifteenth and final report in this chapter is noticeably different from those that precede it, in that (1) it contain a clear narrative structure and (2) the isnād reverts to an anonymous source, namely, one of the residents of al-

Madāʾin (baʿḍ ahl al-madāʾin).137 Since this account is representative of stories of encounters

135 See Newman, Formative Period, 151. At this time, during the Lesser Occultation, some individuals are said to have “corresponded with the (Hidden Imam) and asked him questions concerning various aspects of the sharia” (kātaba ṣāḥib al-amr wa-saʾalahu masāʾil fī abwāb al-sharīʿa) al-Najāshī, Rijāl al- Najāshī, 354-5 (no. 949). Al-Najāshī is here referring to Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar al-Ḥimyarī, known as Abū Jaʿfar al-Qummī (fl. late 3rd/9th-early 4th/10th cent). A Kitāb al-ghayba is attributed to al-Ḥimyarī’s father, known as “Shaykh of the Qummīs,” but has not survived. See Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 216 (no. 566); Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate and the Institution of Occultation in Twelver Shiʿism,” 503.

136 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:329-32. 61

with the Hidden Imam from the Lesser Occultation found in later works,138 a translation is useful:

I was performing the ḥajj with one of my companions. We arrived at the halting station (al-mawqif) at the plain of ʿArafāt.139 Suddenly, we came upon a youth (shābb) seated (on the ground) and wearing a cloth around his waist and over one of his shoulders. He had yellow sandals on his feet...and did not show any of strains of travel. A mendicant approached us but we shooed him away. He went to the youth and begged him [for money]. (The youth) picked up something from the ground and handed it to him. The beggar prayed for him, praying fervently and for a long time. The youth then stood up and disappeared from us.

Intrigued, the narrator and his companion approach the mendicant and ask him to show them

what the youth gave him. The beggar takes out a small piece of gold which they estimate to be

twenty mithqāls or 3.4 ounces140 in weight. The two immediately realize that the youth was

137 Al-Madāʾin (old Ctesiphon) was once a metropolis on the Tigris River that declined in importance after the founding of Baghdad. See Streck and Morony, “al-Madāʾin,” EI², and now, Morony, “Madāʾen,” EIr (online edition). According to Muḥarramī, Tārīkh-i tashayyuʿ, 181, most of the residents were Shīʿī or pro-ʿAlids during the first to third centuries of the Islamic era,.

138 On these accounts, see al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 399-435 (bāb 44: dhikr man shāhaduhu wa-raʾāhu wa-kallamahu), al-Mufīd, al-Irshād, 2:351-4 (bāb dhikr man raʾā al-imām al-thānī ʿashar wa-ṭarafa min dalāʾilihi wa-bayyinātihi); al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 253-80; al-Qazwīnī, al-Imām al-Mahdī: min al-mahd ilā al-ẓuhūr, 187-93; al-Ṣadr, Tārīkh al-ghayba al-ṣughrā, 566-90; al-Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 2:70-1; Ghaemmaghami, “Numinous Vision, Messianic Encounters: Typological Representations in a Version of the Prophet's ḥadīth al-ruʾyā and in Visions and Dreams of the Hidden Imam,” 51-76.

139 That the encounter is taking place at a location where a number of events are to take place on the Day of Judgment is likely not a coincidence. See Wensinck, “Mawḳif,” EI², 6:874.

140 One mithqāl is equivalent to approximately 4.8 grams. 62

their “master” (mawlā), by whom we are to assume is meant the Hidden Imam. They search

for him frantically but are unable to find him. They then ask their fellow-pilgrims from Mecca

and Medina whether they know anything about this young man. They learn only that he is “a

youth and a descendant of ʿAlī (shābb ʿalawī) who performs the ḥajj on foot each year.”141

In his instructive study, “Contribution à la Typologie des Rencontres avec l’Imâm

Caché,” Amir-Moezzi argued that such reports of sightings of and encounters with the Hidden

Imam found in al-Kāfī aimed principally to prove that the eleventh Imam had a surviving son who was the expected Qāʾim.142 Such reports however remained atypical. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b.

Bābūya (d. 329/940-1; the father of al-Shaykh al-Ṣadūq (d. 381/991)) who died near the end of the Lesser Occultation, for instance, did not cite any accounts of sightings of the Hidden Imam in his al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra, a work written as the title suggests to dissipate the

confusion of believers who had fallen into uncertainty about the existence or identity of the

141 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:332 (no. 15) > al-Kāshānī, al-Wāfī, 2:401 (no. 899); al-Bāḥrānī Tabṣirat al- walī, 64 (no. 33), 276 (114); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:59-60 (no. 43) [= Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 799]; Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 317; Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 281; Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 114. A similar though clearly different account (unfortunately, without a source) is summarized in Sell, Ithna ʿAshariyya or The Twelve Shiʿah Imams, 55-6. For a comparison of this and similar stories with a well-known version of a hadith describing the Prophet’s encounter with God in the form of a comely youth (shābb) who wore yellow sandals, see Ghaemmaghami, “Numinous Vision, Messianic Encounters,” 51-76.

142 Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 110, 121. 63

twelfth Imam.143 There are also no accounts, or any mention of the Hidden Imam for that

matter, in one of the other few known works to have survived from the period of the Lesser

Occultation, namely, al-Ṭabarī al-Imāmī’s (fl. early 4th/10th cent.) al-Mustarshad fī al-

imāma.144 Matters appeared to have changed rather quickly as a report cited by al-Ṣadūq (d.

143 Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 114. Ibn Bābūya is said to have been in contact with the third and fourth safīr of the Hidden Imam, Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra2, 38 (from the editor’s introduction). According to an account often cited in hagiographical sources, both of Ibn Bābūya’s sons were born as a result of a prayer offered by the Hidden Imam, a story meant to affirm the intercessory power of the Hidden Imam (and by extension, all members of the ahl al-bayt at whose shrines prayers for intercession are recited), Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra2, 22 (from the editor’s introduction); al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 321 (no. 267); Goldziher, Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, 201 (note 98); Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 18. Amir- Moezzi adds that Ibn Bābūya (the father) cited messages in his al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra that were transmitted by the Hidden Imam through his representatives. However, the chapter in which these messages appear (called bāb imāmat al-Qāʾim) is in fact part of an addendum (mustadrak) to the manuscript of al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra. This addendum is composed of reports transmitted on the authority of Ibn Bābūya in the works of his son, al-Shaykh al-Ṣadūq. This addendum was added to the Qum edition [Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra1] and does not appear in the manuscript itself nor in the later Beirut edition of the text [Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al- ḥayra2].

144 Al-Ṭabarī al-Imāmī, al-Mustarshad fī imāmat amīr al-muʾminīn ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, written to prove the imamate of ʿAlī by a contemporary of al-Kulaynī. The scholar should not be confused with al-Ṭabarī al- Ṣaghīr (on whom, see chapter 4 of this dissertation). Several other works where one might expect to find accounts of Lesser Occultation encounters do not contain any such reports, e.g., ʿAlī al-Khazzāz al- Rāzī’s (fl. 4th/10th cent.) Kifāyat al-athar fī al-naṣṣ ʿalā al-aʾimma al-ithnay ʿashar, written to prove the investiture of the twelve Imams. The only hadith in this work that that speaks of someone seeing the Hidden Imam is the following attributed to Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī: “Praise be to God who did not cause me to leave the world before showing me my successor, he who most resembles the Messenger of God in his physical appearance as well as in his character (khalqan wa-khulqan). May God protect him during his ghayba and cause him to appear so that he may fill the earth with equity and justice even as it has been filled with injustice and tyranny,” al-Rāzī, Kifāyat al-athar, 291. On the author, see idem, 6-11; Amir- 64

381/991) some three decades after the start of the Greater Occultation mentions the names of

68 individuals who saw the Hidden Imam or witnessed his miracles during the Lesser

Occultation.145

1.5. The Hidden Imam: Not Seen and Not Recognized

In fact, the overwhelming majority of hadiths and reports found in al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī

and the earliest surviving ghayba apologias (on these works, see chapter 3) maintain that the

Qāʾim cannot be seen or recognized during his ghayba in general and the second or longer

ghayba in particular.

Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 56 [ = Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 22]. Al-Rāzī does transmit a number of apocalyptic hadiths about the Mahdī preserved in earlier works, perhaps none more important for our concerns than a hadith ascribed to the Prophet identifying where the Imam will appear from. This hadith stipulates that when the world is filled with confusion and chaos (harjan marjan), God will grant permission to the Qāʾim to manifest himself from a village in Yemen called Karʿa. He will then emerge wearing a turban, equipped with the chain of the Prophet, entrusted with his sword, and preceded by a caller (cf. Qur’an 50:41) who will proclaim to the world: “This is the Mahdī, the Caliph of God! Follow him!” al-Rāzī, Kifāyat al-athar, 150-1. Other manuscripts of this work have Akraʿa, Karīma, and Karīmah instead of Karʿa, al-Rāzī, Kifāyat al-athar, 150 (note 7). This hadith in various forms is widely cited in Sunnī sources, e.g., al-Ḥamawī, Muʿjam al-buldān, 4:452 (under his entry for Karʿa about which he does not provide any further details); Cook, Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic, 179.

145 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 406-7 (no. 16) > al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:30-31 (no. 26). Nūrī (d. 1320/1920) adds to this list some 240 other individuals who are said to have seen the Imam during the Lesser Occultation, Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 288-91 > al-Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar, 377-81. Modern works thus mention over 300 people who are said to have seen the Hidden Imam during the Lesser Occultation. See al-Zanjānī al-Najafī, ʿAqāʾid al-imāmiyya al-ithnā ʿashariyya, 1: 248; Ṭayyib, Kalim al-ṭayyib dar taqrīr-i ʿaqāyid-i islām, 537. 65

At the outset, we must point out that there are clear contradictions and inconsistencies

in these sources. These contradictions reflect the al-ḥayra (confusion and perplexity) that

reigned after the sudden and unexpected death of the eleventh Imam.146 In the chapter on the

ghayba in al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī, for example, conflicting hadiths are transmitted, at times from

the same people, about the year of birth of the twelfth Imam147 and the number of ghaybas (one

or two).148 One of the greatest discrepancies concerns the length of the ghaybas. According to a rare hadith ascribed to al-Ṣādiq, “the master of this amr will have two ghaybas. One of them

will be longer than the other. The first (ghayba) will last forty days while the other (ghayba)

will last six months or something close to that.”149 In contrast, a hadith ascribed to ʿAlī

stipulates that there will be one ghayba which will last “six days, six months or six years.”150

146 Al-Khazzāz, Kifāyat al-athar fī al-naṣṣ ʿalā al-aʾimma al-ithnī ʿashar, 193.

147 See Newman, Formative Period, 150.

148 See Newman, Formative Period, 120, 139 (notes 17, 18); Newman, “Between Qumm and the West,” 95.

149 Al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 535 (no. 519). This hadith is not mentioned by any other scholar, either before or after al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr (on whom, see chapter 3).

150 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:338 (no. 7). Later scholars, obviously perturbed by the phrase, “six days, six months or six years,” altered it to “a period of time” or omitted it altogether. See Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, 87, 103 (note 259). To the sources mentioned by Modarressi in this note can be added al- Mufīd, al-Ikhtiṣāṣ, 209. 66

The hadith likewise present a conflicting picture about the nature of the ghayba. On the

one hand, we find hadiths explicitly ruling out that the Imam can ever be seen, which of course

is the definition of ghayba. It is said that the Qāʾim’s “body will not be seen and he is not

called by his name” (lā yurā jismuhu wa-lā yusammā bi-ismihi).151 When Muḥammad b. Ziyād

al-Azdī152 asked Mūsā al-Kāẓim about the verse, {He has lavished on you His blessings,

outward and inward?} (Qur’an 31:20), the seventh Imam declared: “The outward blessing is

the unconcealed Imam while the inward blessing is the hidden Imam…His body will be

concealed from the eyes of men but his remembrance will not be absent from the hearts of the

believers. He is the twelfth from among us.”153 A well-known hadith ascribed to the Prophet states that the Imam “will be hidden from his Shīʿa and his friends/initiates” (yaghīb ʿan

shīʿatihi wa-awliyāʾihi), i.e., from everyone. The Prophet goes on to say that during the ghayba,

151 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:333 (no. 3); Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra1, 117; al-Khaṣībī, al-Hidāya al-kubrā, 364; al-Masʿūdī (attributed), Ithbāt al-waṣiyya, 266; al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 587 (no. 2) > al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:33 (no. 12); al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:93 (no. 179), 5:107 (no. 226), 5:208 (no. 754).

152 Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUmayr Ziyād b. ʿĪsā Abū Aḥmad al-Azdī, considered trustworthy (thiqa) in the rijāl works. See al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 326-7 (no. 887); Ibn Dāwūd, Rijāl Ibn Dāwūd, 159-60 (no. 1272); al-Khūʾī, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, 15:291-306 (no. 10043); Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, index, s.v. ‘Ibn Abī ʿUmayr.’

153 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 344 (no. 6); al-Khazzāz, Kifāyat al-athar, 270; al-Kāshānī, Nawādir al- akhbār, 225; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:150 (no. 2). Cf. al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al-anwār al-muḍīʾa, 39- 40; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār 51:64; al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:195 (no. 676), 5:210 (no. 762). 67

the Imam’s partisans will be illumed by his light and benefit from his walāya in the same way that people draw benefit from the sun when hidden behind the clouds.154 This hadith was

clearly meant to convey the message that the benefits of the Imamate continue despite the fact

that the Imam is absent. Similarly, in a long hadith ascribed to ʿAlī, it is said that the Hidden

Imam is omni-present, “moving from east to west, listening to the people and greeting them.

He sees but is not seen. [In this manner, he passes time] until the [appointed] hour (cf.

Qur’an15:38, 38:81) [when] the promise [will be fulfilled] (cf. Qur’an 21:97) and the call of the

one who calls from the sky (cf. Qur’an 50:41) [will be heard]. Truly, on that day, (blissful) joy

154 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 241 (no. 3); Sobhani, Doctrines of Shiʿi Islam (trans. Shah-Kazemi), 117; al- Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 2:62; Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 282 = Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 116. A different hadith attributes the same words to al-Ṣādiq, al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 199 (no. 22). Moreover, a similar expression is found in a tawqīʿ from the Hidden Imam to the second safīr, Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān al-ʿAmrī (in all likelihood the final tawqīʿ to the second safīr written sometime around 281/895) recorded in al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 292, and translated in Ayoub, Redemptive Suffering in Islām, 221: “As for the benefits that can accrue from me during my ghayba, they are like those of the sun when clouds hide it from the sight of men.” For different translations of this hadith, see Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 282 = Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 116; Amir Arjomand, “Imam Absconditus and the Beginnings of a Theology of Occultation,” 4; Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate,” 502-3. Cf. the well-known prophetic hadith transmitted on the authority of the famous Companion of the Prophet Abū Hurayra (d. ca. 58/678) in Sunnī hadith collections: “The people said to the Messenger of God: ‘O Messenger of God! Will we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?’ He responded: ‘Do you have any trouble seeing the moon when it is full?’ (hal tuḍārrūn fī ruʾyat al-qamar laylat al-badr) They said no. He asked them, ‘Do you have any trouble [seeing] the sun when it is not covered by clouds?’ (hal tuḍārrūn fī al-shams laysa dūnahā saḥāb) They said no. He said: ‘You will behold (God) in the same manner that you see the sun and the moon’.” Muslim al-Nisābūrī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 1:112. Cf. Muslim al-Nisābūrī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 1:114-5; 8:216. 68

(cf. Qur’an 76:11) will be the lot for the progeny of ʿAlī and his Shīʿa.”155 Other hadiths cited

by al-Ṣadūq compare the Shīʿa to cattle searching for pasture yet unable to find it.156 The Imam

“will not appear to them and they will not know his location.”157 Similar hadiths stating that

“none will see him” (fa-lā yarāhu aḥad)158 or “his body/person will not been seen” (lā yurā

shakhṣuhu)159 are found throughout the earliest ghayba works.

Rather than expect to see the Imam, the Shīʿa must wait patiently for the relief from

grief and sorrow that his appearance (ẓuhūr) will deliver. Yearning for this deliverance or

salvation (intiẓār al-faraj) is “the best of acts” (afḍal aʿmāl) and the greatest mode of

worshipping God.160 Indeed, one of the purposes of intiẓār (again, yearning for the

manifestation of the Imam) is to test (tamḥīṣ/imtiḥān) the faith of the Shīʿa.161

155 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 146.

156 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 286 (no. 12), 286-7 (no. 14). Also cited in al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:109-10 (no. 1); al-Kāshānī, Nawādir al-akhbār 227 (no. 4); al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:78 (no. 114).

157 Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra1; al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 165 (no. 1); al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 457 (no. 468); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:94-5 (no. 9), 52:145 (no. 67).

158 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 237.

159 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 353 (no. 1).

160 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 584 (no. 3). See also the other hadiths in the same bāb, entitled, “mā ruwiya fī thawāb al-muntaẓir lil-faraj” as well as the hadiths mentioned al-Kāshānī, Nawādir al-akhbār, 249-51 (bāb intiẓār al-faraj fī ghaybatihi). On the Shīʿī conception of intiẓār, see Turner, Islam without Allah?, 69

1.5.1. The Hidden Imam: Not Seen and Not Recognized on Pilgrimage

That the Imam will live amongst the people incognito is perhaps best represented in a

number of hadiths stating that the Qāʾim attends the pilgrimage each year. According to a

hadith ascribed to al-Ṣādiq, “the year that the master of this amr does not attend pilgrimage, the

pilgrimage of the people is not accepted” (al-ʿām alladhī lā yashhad ṣāḥib hādhā al-amr al-

mawsim lā yuqbal min al-nās ḥajjuhum).162 Moreover, a set of four hadiths likewise attributed

to al-Ṣādiq and transmitted on the authority of Zurāra b. Aʿyān (d. 148-9/765-7)163 or his son

194-215; Turner, “Still Waiting for the Imam? The Unresolved Question of Intiẓār in Twelver Shi‘ism,” 29-47.

161 See, e.g., al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 339-40 (nos. 286-8); Nawādir al-akhbār, 251-2 (bāb al-tamḥīs).

162 Al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 487 (no. 485); al-Baḥrānī, Ḥilyat al-abrār, 6:283 (no. 7). Al- Baḥrānī adds here that Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī (known as al-Shahīd al-Thānī) (d. 965/1557-8 or 966/1558-9) has mentioned (a hadith?) in his Manāsik that when the master of the amr attends the pilgrimage, Iblīs does not.

163 Abū al-Ḥasan Zurāra b. Aʿyan b. Sunsun, a Kūfan who transmitted hadith from al-Bāqir and al-Ṣādiq and is numbered among the first mutakallimūn of the Shīʿa in heresiographical and bio-bibliographical sources. Identified by Modarressi as “the most prominent Shīʿite scholar of his generation,” Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 404-5. See also Sachedina, “The Significance of Kashshī’s Rijāl in Understanding the Early Role of the Shīʿite Fuqahāʾ,” 198-202 (section titled: “Zurārah ibn Aʿyān: A Symbol of the Power of the Early Disciples”); Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 35; Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 77. 70

ʿUbayd,164 affirm that while the Qāʾim is present on pilgrimage and sees and recognizes the

pilgrims, they are incapable of seeing him:

ِ ِ ِ (١) َﻴْﻔ ﻘُد ٱ ﱠﻟﻨﺎ ُس إَﻤ َﺎﻤﻬُْم َﻴ ْﺸﻬَُد ٱْﻟَﻤْوﺴَم ﻓََﻴَر ُاﻫْم َوَﻻ َﻴَرْوَﻨﻪ

1. “The people will miss their Imam. He will attend the pilgrimage and see them but they will

165 not see him.”164F

ِ ِِ ِ ِ ِ (٢ ) ﻟْﻠﻘَﺎﺌم َﻏْﻴَﺒﺘَ ِﺎن َﻴ ْﺸ ﻬَُد ﻓﻲ إ ْﺤَد ُاﻫَﻤﺎ ٱْﻟَﻤَواﺴَم َﻴَر ٰى ٱ ﱠﻟﻨ َﺎس َوَﻻ َﻴَرْوَﻨﻪ

164 ʿUbayd b. Zurāra b. Aʿyan was a hadith transmitter from Kūfa. On him, see Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 383-4.

165 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:337-8 (no. 6) > al-Ḥalabī, Taqrīb al-maʿārif, 432; al-Kāshānī, al-Wāfī, 2:413 (no. 917); al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:55 (no. 19). The same matn with a slightly different isnād is cited by al-Ṣadūq in the chapter of his work on hadiths ascribed to al-Ṣādiq concerning the Qāʾim and his ghayba, al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 330 (no. 49). Cf. a slightly different version of the hadith with similar isnād recorded by al-Ṣadūq on the authority of his father in al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn 325 (no. 34), 404 (no. 7) > al-Baḥrānī, Ḥilyat al-abrār, 6:281 (no. 2); Rayshahri, The Scale of Wisdom, 253.This hadith is also found in al-Ṣadūq’s father’s work, Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra, 126. The same hadith is also cited by al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 161 (no. 119), and al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 482 (no. 477), 531 (no. 509). Al-Majlisī considered this hadith to be weak (ḍaʿīf), al-Majlisī, Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl, 4:42, but nonetheless mentions the different versions in his Biḥār al-anwār, 52, 151-2 (no. 2). Persian translation: Qazvīnī-Khurāsānī, Bayān al-furqān, 899. The verb yafqid means both ‘to lose’ and ‘to miss’ and is found in the Quranic story of Joseph (Q 12:71-2). Other hadiths use the same verb, for example, a hadith ascribed to al-Kāẓim begins with: “When the fifth descendant of the seventh goes missing (fuqida)…” al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 156 (no. 11). Also “The master of this amr will be missed for a time” (ṣāḥib hādhā al-amr yufqad zamānan), al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 162 (no. 5). A form of this verb is found in a rare report in which al-Ṣādiq, after traveling with a follower to a mysterious island, tells his companion that whenever an Imam goes missing (uftuqida), rather than die, he travels to the island and waits there for the time of his return (see chapter 4 below). 71

2. “The Qāʾim will have two ghaybas. During one of them, he will attend the pilgrimage. He

will see the people but they will not see him.”166

ِ ِ ِ (٣ ) َﻴْﻔﺘَﻘُد ٱ ﱠﻟﻨ ُﺎس إَﻤﺎﻤﺎً َﻴ ْﺸﻬَُد ٱْﻟَﻤَواﺴَم َﻴَر ُاﻫْم َوَﻻ َﻴَرْ وَﻨﻪ

3. “The people will miss an Imam. He will attend the pilgrimage. He will see (the people) but

167 they will not see him.”166F

ِ ِ ِِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ (۴) إ ﱠن ﻟْﻠﻘَﺎﺌم َﻏْﻴَﺒﺘَْﻴ ِن َﻴ ْرﺠﻊُ ﻓﻲ إ ْﺤَد ُاﻫَﻤﺎ َوﻓﻲ ٱْﻷُ ْﺨَر ٰى َﻻ ﻴُ ْد َرى أَ ْﻴ َن ُﻫَو َﻴ ْﺸﻬَُد ٱْﻟَﻤَواﺴَم َﻴَرى ٱ ﱠﻟﻨ َﺎس َوَﻻ َﻴَرْوَﻨﻪ

166 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:339 (no. 12) > al-Baḥrānī, Ḥilyat al-abrār, 6:281-2 (no. 3); Klemm, “Die vier sufarāʾ des Zwölften Imām,” 142; Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 84.

167 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 180 (no. 13). Hadiths 1 and 3 speak generically about al-Kulaynī, al- Nuʿmānī and all of the scholars who followed them clearly believed that they applied to the Qāʾim. The first three hadiths have the name of Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. Mālik b. ʿĪsā b. Sābūr al-Fazārī in the isnād, a Kūfan mawlā of Asmāʾ b. Khārija b. Ḥisn al-Fazārī who al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 122 (no. 313), calls a weak reporter of hadith: “Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn said that he used to grossly fabricate hadith (yaḍaʿ al-ḥadīth waḍʿ an) and report from unknown persons. I heard someone say that he believed in corrupt doctrines and was misguided in his narration of hadith” (fāsid al-madhhab wa-l-riwāya), which according to Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, 22, usually designates those “who split from the community and established their own heretical sects on the basis of their interpretations.” Ibn al- Ghaḍāʾirī (fl. mid. 5th cent./11 cent.), al-Rijāl li-Ibn al-Ghaḍāʾirī, 48 (no. 27), called him a liar (kadhdhāb) who held doctrines elevating the Imam (wa-fī madhhabihi irtifāʿ) and stated that he transmitted hadiths from weak and unknown narrators. On this basis, he ruled all of the hadiths narrated by him are rejected (matrūk al-ḥadīth jumlatan). (The expressions ahl al-irtifāʿ and fī madhhabihi irtifāʿ are used in early Shīʿī rijāl works to describe the Mufawwiḍa. See Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, 24-5). Al-Ṭūsī, Rijāl al-Ṭūsī, 418 (no. 6037), says that he was formerly trustworthy but certain people caused him to become a weak transmitter (thiqa wa-yuḍaʿʿifuhu qawm) and that he narrated many strange things concerning the birth of the Qāʾim. 72

4. “The Qāʾim will have two ghaybas. He will return in one of them while in the second, it will not be known where he is. He will attend the pilgrimage and see the people but they will not see him.”168

1.6. The Hidden Imam: Seen but not recognized

Side by side with the hadiths stating that the Imam cannot be seen, there are hadiths and reports that maintain that he can be seen but cannot be recognized as an Imam. One cannot but notice the contrast between the four hadiths above stating explicitly that the Imam cannot be seen during the pilgrimage and the following report attributed to Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān al-

ʿAmrī (d. ca. 305/917), later canonized as the second of the four official representatives

(sufarāʾ) of the Hidden Imam during the Lesser Occultation:

ﱠ ِ ﱢ ِ ِ ﱠ ٍ ِ ِ َﺤدﺜََﻨﺎ ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤُد ْﺒ ُن ُﻤ َوﺴﻰ ْﺒ ن ٱْﻟُﻤﺘََوﻛﻝ َ رﻀ َﻲ ٱﷲ ُ َﻋْﻨﻪُ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ َﺤ دﺜََﻨﺎ َﻋْﺒُد ٱﷲ ُ ْﺒ ُن َﺠ ْﻌﻔ َر ْاﻟﺤ ْﻤَﻴرﱡي َﻋ ْن ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﱠ ِ ِ ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ْﺒن ُﻋﺜَْﻤ َﺎن ٱْﻟ َﻌ ْﻤرﱢي َرﻀ َﻲ ٱﷲ ُ َﻋْﻨﻪُ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ َﺴﻤ ْﻌﺘُﻪُ َﻴﻘُ ُوﻝ َ وٱﷲ إن َﺼﺎﺤ َب َﻫَذا ٱْﻷَْﻤر ﻟََﻴ ْﺤ ُﻀُر ِ ﱠ ٍ ٱْﻟَﻤْوﺴَم ُﻛﻝ َﺴَﻨﺔ ﻓََﻴَر ٰى ٱ ﱠﻟﻨﺎ َس َوَﻴ ْﻌِرﻓُﻬُْم َوَﻴَرْوَﻨﻪ ُ َوَﻻ َﻴ ْﻌ ِرﻓُ َوﻨﻪ

168 Al-Nuʿmānī, Ghayba, 181 (no. 15). Persian translation in Dhākirī, “Irtibāṭ bā imām-i zamān,” 67; Amīnī, Dādgustar-i jahān, 204 [= Amini, al-Imām al-Mahdī (trans. Sachedina), 209]. 73

“I swear to God! The master of this amr attends the pilgrimage every year. He sees the people and recognizes them while they see him but do not recognize him.”169

In reports and hadiths of this kind affirming that the Hidden Imam can be seen without

being recognized, the Qāʾim is often compared with Joseph. In fact, as we began to see earlier,

no other prophet, with the exception of Muḥammad, is compared more often to the Qāʾim than

Joseph. Allegory and typology are the most frequently marshaled methods employed in these

169 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 404 (no. 8); al-Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh, 2:520; al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al- ghayba, 363-4 (with minor differences); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:152 (no. 4; from Kamāl al-dīn) = Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyah-ʾī), 1:747-8; al-Baḥrānī, Ḥilyat al-abrār, 6:282 (no. 4); Ṣamadī, “Barrasī-i masʾalah-yi dīdār bā imām-i zamān,” 196; Amir Arjomand, “Imam Absconditus and the Beginnings of a Theology of Occultation,” 2. According to two reports transmitted by the same narrator in al-Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-dīn, al-ʿAmrī saw the Hidden Imam in Mecca. In the first report, when asked if he saw master of the amr, al-ʿAmrī answered yes and added that the last pledge he made to him was at the Kaʿba, Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 404 (no. 9); al-Baḥrānī, Ḥilyat al-abrār, 6:282 (no. 5). In the second report, al-ʿAmrī says that he saw the Imam clinging to the curtains of the Kaʿba at the wall called al-Mustajār (tradition has it that this was where ʿAlī was born), praying: “O God! Take revenge on my enemies for my sake!” (allāhumma intaqim lī min aʿdāʾī), Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 404 (no. 10); al-Baḥrānī, Ḥilyat al-abrār, 6:282 (no. 5). Cf. al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 252, who has, “Take revenge on your enemies for my sake” (intaqim lī min aʿdāʾika), and al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:351, who has, “Take revenge on your enemies through me” (intaqim bī min aʿdāʾika). It is of course possible that the four hadiths introduced in the previous section can be reconciled with the above report though I am only aware of one Shīʿī scholar who has attempted this reconciliation, namely al-Majlisī, who in glossing one of the four previous hadiths, suggests that “perhaps by the word ‘seeing’ [in these hadiths] is meant recognizing (wa-laʿalla al-murād…bil-ruʾya al-maʿrifa), in other words, none of the people will recognize him (ay lā yaʿrifuhu aḥad min al-nās),” al-Majlisī, Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl, 4:47. 74

hadiths. The Qāʾim “will have a ghayba like the ghayba of Joseph.”170A hadith of likely Wāqifī

origin ascribed to al-Ṣādiq and transmitted by al-Baṭāʾinī predicts that just as God placed a figurative veil (ḥijāb) between Joseph and the people so that they saw him without the ability to

recognize him (yarawnahu wa-lā yaʿrifūnahu), the master of the amr will likewise be veiled

from the people.171 In other words, the people will see him without discerning that he is the

170 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 149. Cook, Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic, 198-9, states “it is not clear at all why Joseph was chosen in place of some other long-lived prophet.” If Joseph’s ghayba and suffering in imprisonment were the only qualities that the Qāʾim was to manifest, one could wonder why, but other Shīʿī hadiths indicate that the Qāʾim will manifest many other attributes of Joseph, chief among them his beauty (Joseph serving as the embodiment and archetype of beauty, comeliness, modesty and beneficence in Islamic literature; for which, see, e.g., Majlisī, Ḥayāt al-qulūb, 3:711, where Joseph is described as exceeding all others in beauty as the full moon excels the star (ziyādatī-i ḥusn-i ū bar sāyir- i mardum mānand-i ziyādatī-i māh-i shab-i chahārdahum būd bar sitārigān); Schimmel, A Two-Colored Brocade, 64, 66). For example, a hadith ascribed to al-Bāqir states that in his beauty and magnanimity (jamālihi wa-sakhāʾihi), the Qāʾim will manifest the beauty and magnanimity of Joseph, al-Masʿūdī (attributed), Ithbāt al-waṣiyya, 267. According to a number of hadiths, the Qāʾim will appear wearing Joseph’s shirt, see, e.g., al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn2, 1:143; a much rarer hadith adds that “the believers throughout the world (lit., east and west) will then smell its scent. This is the same shirt whose scent u u Jacob sensed when he said, {I sense the scent of Joseph!} (Qur’an 92:12)” (yakhruj wa-ʿalayhi qamīṣ yūsuf fa-yashammu al-muʾminūn rāʾiḥatahu sharqan wa-gharban wa-huwa alladhī shamma raʾiḥatahuhu yaʿqūb fī qawlihi {innī la-ajidu rīḥa yūsuf}). The earliest and only work in which I have found this particular hadith is al-Bayāḍī (d. 877/1472-3), al-Ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm ʿilā mustaḥiqqī al-taqdīm, 2:253, though he does not provide a source, saying only that the hadith has been narrated on the authority of al-Ṣādiq’s discipline, al-Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar al-Juʿfī. On the symbolism of Joseph’s short and its scent, see now, Lawson, “Typological Figuration and the Meaning of “Spiritual”: The Qurʾanic Story of Joseph” (forthcoming).

171 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 329 (no. 46); al-Kāshānī, al-Wāfī, 2:424; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:223- 4 (no. 10); al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:90 (no. 158); Shubbar, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn fī maʿrifat uṣūl al- dīn, 288; al-Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar, 301 (no. 5). Persian translation in Ṣamadī, “Barrasī-i masʾalah-yi dīdār bā imām-i zamān,” 195. 75

Imam. According to al-Ṣādiq, the Qāʾim “knows the people but they do not recognize him just as Joseph knew the people but they failed to recognize him” (yaʿrif al-nās wa-lā yaʿrifūnahu kamā kāna yūsuf yaʿrif al-nās wa-hum lahu munkirūn),172 an allusion to Qur’an 12:58: {And the brethren of Joseph came, and entered unto him, and he knew them, but they knew him not}

(fa-ʿarafahum wa-lum lahu munkirūn).173 In this connection, al-Ṣādiq points out that even though the brothers of Joseph were his kinsmen, they were unable to recognize him before he manifested himself to them and proclaimed {I am Joseph} (Qur’an 12:90). And when Joseph was in Egypt, he lived a distance of only eighteen days travel from Jacob. God could have easily apprised Jacob about Joseph’s location but chose not to. Thus, al-Ṣādiq asks rhetorically:

Who is to say that God cannot conceal His Proof (i.e., the Hidden Imam) in the same manner that He concealed Joseph from his family?174 In other words, like Joseph, the Qāʾim is in close proximity to the believers during his ghayba but they are unable to see him or know his location before his ẓuhūr at the end of time. A similar hadith ascribed to al-Ṣādiq explicates the

172 Al-Nuʿmānī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 144 (no. 2); al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:144 (no. 462); al- Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:112-3 (no. 8); Dhākirī, “Irtibāṭ bā imām-i zamān,” 61.

173 Cf. the words attributed to the Shaykhī leader Kāẓim al-Rashtī (d. 1259/1843) about the Hidden Imam, addressing his disciples: “You behold Him with your own eyes…and yet recognize Him not!” [Zarandī], The Dawn-Breakers (trans. Shoghi Effendi), 25.

174 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 320-1 (no. 21); al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 167 (no. 4). 76

prophetic precedent (sunna) that the Qāʾim will manifest: “As for Joseph, his brothers spoke

with him and paid homage to him but could not recognize him (wa-ammā sunnat Yūsuf fa-inna

ikhwatahu kānū yubāyiʿūnahu wa-yukhāṭibūnahu wa-lā yaʿrifūnahu).”175 Another hadith

comparing the Hidden Imam to previous prophets insists that the Imam will not only be hidden

from the generality of believers but also from his closest disciples (al-ghayba min khāṣṣatihi

wa-ʿāmmatihi) just as Joseph was concealed from his brethren despite the close distance

between him and his father, family and partisans.176 These hadiths affirm again and again that

like Joseph, the Hidden Imam “walks in their markets” (yasīr [alt., yamshī] fī aswāqihim; cf.

Qur’an 25:7, 25:20), lives amongst the people and associates with them. The people see him

but are bereft of the ability to recognize him.177

175 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 39. Cf. al-Karājkī, Kanz al-fawāʾid, 1:374 and al-Ḥalabī, Taqrīb al-maʿārif, 431, both of whom cite a similar ‘prophetic-precedent’ hadith ascribed to al-Bāqir stating in part that the prophetic precedent of Joseph that the Qāʾim will manifest is “ghayba from his family in such wise that he will not recognize them and they will in turn be unable to recognize him” (wa-ammā Yūsuf fa-l- ghayba ʿan ahlihi bi-ḥaythu lā yaʿrifuhum wa-lā yaʿrifūnahu). The wording here is odd since in the Qur’an, Joseph clearly recognizes his brothers. Al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:198 (no. 690), attempted to correct this anomaly by removing the first occurrence of the word lā and rendering the hadith: wa-ammā Yūsuf fa-l-ghayba ʿan ahlihi bi-ḥaythu yaʿrifuhum wa-lā yaʿrifūnahu.

176 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 306 (no. 7); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:217-8 (no. 6); al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:83 (no. 131). Other hadiths of this type comparing Joseph and the Qāʾim are summarized in al-Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 2:59 (section titled: ghaybat Yūsuf).

177 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:336-7 (no. 4); al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 167; al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 145 (no. 11), 320-1 (no. 21). Persian translation of the version in al-Nuʿmānī: Qazvīnī-Khurāsānī, Bayān al- 77

As we have seen, the first set of hadiths presented in section 1.5 suggests that no one

can see the Imam. The second set presented in section 1.6, on the other hand, affirm that it is

indeed possible to see the Imam though no one, not even his closest followers, are capable of

recognizing him.

furqān, 901. See also Amīnī, Dādgustar-i jahān, 205, 215 [= Amini, al-Imām al-Mahdī (trans. Sachedina), 210, 222]. Cf. hadiths cited in both Sunnī and Shīʿī works about al-Khaḍir and Ilyās (Elijah) who are said to be alive “walking on earth” (bāqiyān yasīrān fī al-arḍ), al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:98. 78

CHAPTER 2

Hidden From All Yet Seen by Some? The Case of 3 Shīʿī Hadiths

On what basis then do later Shīʿī scholars (on whom, see chapter 4 below) who contend that it

is possible to see and recognize the Hidden Imam base their assertion? As one might expect,

these scholars tend to emphasize the stories of sighting and encounters with the Imam as the

greatest proof that seeing and contacting the Hidden Imam is possible during the Greater

Occultation.178 Yet, in face of the final tawqīʿ of the Imam (mentioned in the introduction

above; further details in chapter 3) and the hadiths we discussed in chapter 1 explicitly denying that the Imam can be recognized during the ghayba, they have sensed a need to support their

position with traditional proofs (al-dalāʾil al-naqliyya). Three hadiths – and only three – found

in the earliest sources have been adduced and glossed by these scholars as leaving open the

possibility of a special cadre of believers to encounter (and recognize) the Imam during the

178 Nūrī (on whom, see chapter 4), for examples, claims: “Let it be known that we have limited ourselves in citing the stories [of encounters with the Hidden Imam] to what we found in credible books (kutub-i muʿtabarah) or heard from trustworthy scholars and ulama. We left out a number of accounts which did not have a reliable chain of transmission,” Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:846. The publisher of a recently published compilation of such stories claims that “since there are so many widely attested reports (al-akhbār al-kathīra wa-l-mutawātira) from ulama and scholars (al-fuḍalāʾ) (who met the Hidden Imam), no one can deny or reject (this fact) and say it is impossible to see him during the occultation (lā 79

Greater Occultation.179 In this chapter, we will introduce and comment on these three hadiths, critically assess how they have been understood by Shīʿī scholars, and offer suggestions about their Sitz im Leben.

2.1. Hadith 1: “the 30 are never lonely”

The first hadith (henceforth, Hadith 1) is found in al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī:

ِ ِ ٍ .A number of our masters180 < Aḥmad b ﻋﱠدةٌ ﻤ ْن أَﺼﺤﺎﺒَِﻨﺎ ﻋ ْن ْأَﺤﻤَد ْﺒ ِن ﻤﺤﱠﻤد ﻋ ِن ْاﻟﺤﺴ ِن ْﺒ ِن ْ َ َ َ ُ َ َ َ َ 181 ِ ﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ٍ -Muḥammad < al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al ﻋﻠ ﱟﻲ ْاﻟوﺸﺎء ﻋن ﻋﻠ ﱢﻲ ﺒن أَﺒﻲ ﺤﻤَزةَ ﻋن أَﺒﻲ ﺒﺼﻴر 182 َ َ َ ْ َ ْ َ ْ َ ْ َ -Washshāʾ < ʿAlī b. Abī Ḥamza (al Baṭāʾinī)183 < Abū Baṣīr184 < al-Ṣādiq:

yumkin li-aḥadin inkār wa-juḥūd wa-istiḥāla mushāhadatihi fī zamān al-ghayba),” al-Nīlī, al-Sulṭān al- mufarrij, dāl (from the publisher’s introduction).

179 Dhākirī, “Irtibāṭ bā imām-i zamān.”

180 This formula is not common in hadiths cited in al-Kāfī but suggests that al-Kulaynī considered the hadith as one attested to by multiple chains of transmission.

181 Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā al-Ashʿarī (d. b/w 274/887 and 280/893), a companion of Imam al- Jawād and an associate of Imams al-Riḍā and al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī. See Newman, Formative Period, 41- 2, and index, s.v. ‘Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā al-Ashʿarī.’

182 Al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Ziyād, known as Abū Muḥammad al-Washshāʾ, one of the companions of al-Riḍā and a prominent believer (min wujūh al-ṭāʾifa), al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 39 (no. 80). Also known as al-Kūfī and al-Khazzāz, al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, 106 (no. 202).

183 On him, see chapter 1.

184 Abū Muḥammad Yaḥyā b. al-Qāsim al-Asadī (d. 149-50/767), known by his alternative kunya of Abū Baṣīr, a Kūfan mawlā and one of the most prolific transmitters of hadith from Imams Muḥammad al-Bāqir and Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 441 (no. 1187); Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 395, Buyukkara, “The Schism in the Party of Mūsā al-Kāzim and the Emergence of the 80

ِ ِ The master of this amr will be forced into َﻋ ْن أَﺒِﻲ َﻋْﺒد اﷲ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ: hiding and he will certainly be isolated during ﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ٍ ﱠ ِ his ghayba.185 Ṭayba is the best abode and the َﻻ ُﺒد ﻟ َﺼﺎﺤب َﻫَذا ْاﻷَْﻤِر ﻤ ْن َﻏْﻴَﺒﺔ َوَﻻ ُﺒد ﻟَﻪُ ﻓﻲ thirty are never lonely (lit., and in thirty, there ِِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﻏﻴﺒﺘﻪ ﻤن ﻋْزﻟَﺔ وﻨﻌم ْاﻟﻤﻨزُﻝ طَﻴﺒﺔُ وﻤﺎ ﺒﺜََﻼﺜﻴن ﻤن 186 ََْ ْ ُ َ َْ َْ َْ َ َ َ ْ .(is no loneliness

َوْﺤ َﺸﺔ

Following al-Kulaynī, two scholars in the following century, both of whom we will return to in

chapter 3, presented this hadith in their works:

1. Al-Nuʿmānī (d. 345/956 or 360/971), who transmitted numerous hadiths from his teacher al-

187 Kulaynī and personally copied the latter’s al-Kāfī,186F includes Hadith 1 verbatim in his al-

188 Ghayba (completed in Dhū al-Ḥijja 342/April-May 954).187F

Wāqifa,” 86-7. Newman, Formative Period, 82, erroneously calls him “a Wāqifī companion of the fifth and sixth Imams.” There is no evidence in the Shīʿī rijāl works that he held Wāqifī beliefs.

185 This sentence can be translated in a number of ways, e.g., “A ghayba is inevitable/indispensable for the master of this amr and it is inevitable that he will be isolated during his ghayba.” Cf. hadith ascribed to al-Ṣādiq: “The Qāʾim must go into hiding” (la budda lil-qāʾim min ghayba). When pressed as to why, al-Ṣādiq responds while pointing to his stomach to show that the Qāʾim will be in danger of being killed, because “he fears for his life” (yakhāf ʿalā nafsihi), al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 437 (no. 7). For a different translation of this and a similar hadith, Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 277 (note 612).

186 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:340 (no. 16); al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:57 (no. 27). Al-Nuʿmānī has cited the same hadith on the authority of al-Kulaynī, al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 194 (no. 41) = al-Nuʿmānī, Ghaybat-i Nuʿmānī (trans. Fahrī), 220 (no. 41).

187 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 13; Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, 102-3 (note 259). On al-Nuʿmānī, see Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exgesis, 63-4; Newman, “Between Qumm and the West.” 81

2. Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī (d. 447/1055) cites Hadith 1 without an isnād in his Taqrīb al-maʿārif,

though in his version, the enigmatic phrase, “and the thirty are never lonely,” (discussed

below) is excised.189

Moreover, al-Ṭūsī (d. 459 or 460/1066-7), who will we also return to in chapter 3,

recorded a similar hadith ascribed to al-Bāqir (rather al-Ṣādiq) with a slightly different isnād in

his Kitāb al-ghayba, completed in 447/1055-6:

ِ ِ > Aḥmad b. Idrīs190 < ʿAlī b. Muḥammad191 وﺒِﻬَذا ِْاﻹﺴَﻨﺎد (أي ْأَﺤﻤُد ْﺒن ِإْدِرﻴس ﻋ ْن ﻋﻠ ﱢﻲ ْﺒ ِن َ َ ْ ْ َ ُ َ َ َ 192 ِ ِ ِ ﱠ ِ ِ -al-Faḍl b. Shādhān al-Nīshābūrī < ʿAbd al ﻤﺤﱠﻤد) ﻋن ْاﻟﻔَﻀﻝ ﺒن َﺸ َﺎذان اﻟﻨﻴ َﺸﺎﺒورﱢي ﻋن ﻋﺒد 193 ُ َ َ ْ ْ َ ْ ُ َ ْ َْ Raḥmān b. Abī Najrān < ʿAlī b. Abī

188 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 194 (no. 31) > al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:157 (no. 20) = Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyih-ʾī), 1:754; Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 932-3.

189 Al-Ḥalabī, Taqrīb al-maʿārif, 431.

190 Aḥmad b. Idrīs b. Aḥmad Abū ʿAlī al-Ashʿarī al-Qummī. On him, see al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 92; al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, 71 (no. 81); Newman, Formative Period, index, s.v. ‘Aḥmad b. Idrīs al-Ashʿarī.’

191 This is likely ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Abbān al-Rāzī al-Kulyanī, known as ʿAlān (or ʿAllān), the maternal uncle of Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī, who is the author of a work that has not survived called Kitāb akhbār al-Qāʾim, al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 260-1 (no. 682). Al-Kulaynī transmits a number of hadiths from him in al-Kāfī.

192 Faḍl b. Shādhān al-Nīshābūrī (d. 260/873), a scholar and trusted follower of the eleventh Imam. On him, see Kohlberg, “Fażl b. Šāḏān,” EIr, 9:463-464. A book about the ghayba is attributed to him but has not survived, Klemm, “Die vier sufarâʾ,” 127; Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 4.

193 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Najrān al-Tamīmī, a Kūfan mawlā who narrated hadiths from al-Riḍā (his father, Abū Najrān, transmitted hadiths from al-Ṣādiq). On him, see al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 235-6 (no. 622); al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, 177 (no. 475). 82

ِ ِ ِ -Ḥamza (al-Baṭāʾinī)194 < Abū Baṣīr195 < al ﱠاﻟرْﺤَﻤ ِن ْﺒ ِن أَﺒﻲ َﻨ ْﺠَر َان َﻋ ْن َﻋﻠ ﱢﻲ ْﺒ ِن أَﺒﻲ َﺤْﻤَزةَ َﻋ ْن ِ :Bāqir أَﺒِﻲ َﺒﺼ ٍﻴر َﻋ ْن أَﺒِﻲ َﺠ ْﻌﻔٍَر ﻗَ َﺎﻝ

ِ ِ ِ ٍ ِ ِِ The master of this amr will be forced to َﻻ ﺒﱠد ﻟﺼﺎﺤ ِب َﻫَذا ْاﻷَﻤِر ﻤ ْن ﻋْزﻟَﺔ وَﻻ ﺒﱠد ﻓﻲ ﻋْزﻟَﺘﻪ ُ َ ْ ُ َ ُ ُ become isolated, but he will definitely have ِ ٍ ِ ِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ﻤ ْن ﻗُﱠوة َوَﻤﺎ ﺒﺜََﻼﺜ َﻴن ﻤ ْن َوْﺤ َﺸﺔ َوﻨ ْﻌَم ْاﻟَﻤْﻨزُﻝ طَْﻴَﺒﺔ power in his isolation. The thirty are never lonely and Ṭayba is the best abode.196

Hadith 1: Commentary

The most important name in the isnād of this hadith is the aforementioned ʿAlī b. Abī

Ḥamza al-Baṭāʾinī. Al-Majlisī is the only scholar to have formally graded this hadith as defined

by the specific principles of ʿilm al-dirāya /ʿilm dirāyat al-ḥadīth (the science of knowledge of the Traditions). He classified it as either “weak or reliable/dependable” (ḍaʿīf aw

194 On him, see above.

195 On him, see above.

196 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba 162 (no. 121) > al-Majlisī, Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl, 4:51; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:153 (no. 6) = Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyih-ʾī), 1:748; Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 930. Cf. hadith ascribed to ʿAlī stating that when “a man from among my descendants appears at the End of Time,” he will touch the head of his servants and God will give each of them the power (quwwa) of forty men, al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 592 (no. 17). A different hadith ascribed to al-Bāqir likewise states that each of the Imam’s men will have the strength of forty men and that they collectively will be the foundations of the earth and its treasures, al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 8:294 (no. 449); Ayoub, Redemptive Suffering, 218. 83

muwaththaq),197 though he does not provide a reason. Other than al-Baṭāʾinī, the other

individuals in the hadith’s isnād are considered trustworthy (thiqa) in the various rijāl works.198

It would thus be safe to presume that al-Majlisī’s rather uncertain classification is based on the presence in the isnād of the impugned Wāqifī, al-Baṭāʾinī. Though al-Majlisī does not say so explicitly, he seems to be implying that if al-Baṭāʾinī transmitted this hadith during the lifetime of al-Ṣādiq or al-Kāẓim (and thus, as a prophetic statement about the twelfth Imam), it could be considered muwaththaq, but if he transmitted the hadith after al-Kāẓim’s death, it was to be deemed ḍaʿīf since al-Baṭāʾinī would have fabricated the hadith to support his claim that al-

Kāẓim was the Qāʾim who had not died but was in fact hiding, though not in Iraq where he had been imprisoned but rather back in Ṭayba (Medina as we will see below), with 30 of his followers.

197 Al-Majlisī, Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl, 4:50. ḍaʿīf (4) and muwaththaq (3) are the lowest categories of Shīʿī hadith classification, ḥasan (“good”) (2) and ṣaḥīḥ (“sound”) (1) being the higher two. For descriptions of all four categories, see Ahmad, “Twelver Šīʿī ḥadīṯ,” 138-9 and Afsaruddin, Excellence and Precedence, 204-6. A fifth category, qawī (“strong”), that comes between muwaththaq and ḍaʿīf is not as common as the other four. See al-Fadli, Introduction to Hadith, 116-7; Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law 5-6.

198 On the four main classical Shīʿī rijāl works (which are al-Kashshī’s (d. 367/ 978) Kitāb maʿrifat al- nāqilīn ʿan al-aʾimma al-ṣādiqīn, available in a version abridged by al-Ṭūsī and called Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl; al-Ṭūsī’s Kitāb al-rijāl and Kitāb fihrist kutub al-Shīʿa; and al-Najāshī’s Kitāb al-rijāl), see Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 5. On al-Kashshī, see now Takim, “Kašši, Abu ʿAmr Moḥammad,” EIr (online edition). 84

Here we will gloss the key phrases of this Tradition:

ʿuzla: “and he will certainly be isolated during his ghayba”

ʿUzla (synonyms: khalwa, waḥda, infirād, inqiṭāʿ) denotes withdrawing oneself from association

with others and retiring into seclusion. It is similar to the concept of iʿtikāf or the seclusion of onself, usually in a place of worship (and often during Ramaḍān), to perform a religious exercise or practice, à la khalwa, a technical term in Islamic mysticism.199 Not surprisingly,

ʿuzla is used in a similar sense in Shīʿī sources.200 However, in commenting on this hadith, Shīʿī

scholars have agreed, in light of other Traditions, that the Imam’s seclusion was not voluntary;

rather, he was forced to withdraw from the community and enter ghayba out of fear for his

life.201

199 See Melchert, “Asceticism,” EI³ (online edition); Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 1:2036.

200 For example, a well-known hadith ascribed in different forms to Muḥammad and al-Ṣādiq states that “self-seclusion is a mode of worshipping (God)” (al-ʿuzla min al-ʿibāda), al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 74:185; al-Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, 11:388 (no. 13337). This adage is also found in Sunnī works, e.g., Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya, 9:275.

201 Safeguarding the life of the Imam from danger is the main reason given in Shīʿī hadiths for the ghayba, the other reason known only to God. According to a report narrated by a certain Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣāliḥī, identified in later sources as one of the deputies (wukalāʾ) of the Hidden Imam during the Lesser Occultation, the location of the Imam could not be revealed to his followers out of fear that “if they learned [his] location, they would reveal it [to others]” (in ʿarafū al-makān dallū ʿalayhi), al- Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:333 (no. 2); Kohlberg, “Taqiyya in Shīʿī Theology and Religion,” 349. See also Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 103-6, 145. For a discussion of other representative Traditions, see 85

ghayba: “and he will certainly be isolated during his ghayba”

Hadith 1 has been understood by some as referring only to the first ghayba, commonly referred

to in later sources as the Lesser Occultation. In his remarks on this hadith in his al-Ḥāshiyya

ʿalā uṣūl al-kāfī, Muḥammad Amīn al-Astarābādī (d. 1033/1623-4 or 1036/1626-7) – widely considered the founder (muʾassis) or propagator (murawwij) of the Akhbārī school (depending

on one’s view concerning its origins)202 – states that Hidden Imam likely lived in Medina

during the Lesser Occultation where he sought the company of 30 of his friends/initiates (kāna

203 yastaʾnis bi-thalāthīn min awliyāʾihi). His opinion that Hadith 1 applies to the Lesser

Occultation was also held by Fakhr al-Dīn al-Ṭurayḥī (d. 1087/1676-7), author of the important

Shīʿī lexicon, Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn,204 as well as by Muḥsin al-Fayḍ al-Kāshānī (d. 1090/1679), who comments in his hadith compendium al-Wāfī that “it seems that [this hadith] refers to (the

Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 277. As we will see in chapter 3, the late 4th/10th and 5th/11th century rationalists offer the Imam’s self-protection as the rationale (ʿilla) for the ghayba.

202 Gleave, “Akhbāriyya and Uṣūliyya,” EI³ (online edition); Madelung, “Ak̲h̲bāriyya,” EI², 12:56-7. On al-Astarābādī, see Gleave, Scripturalist Islam, passim, esp. 31-139; Kohlberg, “Astarābādī, Moḥammad Amīn,” EIr, 2:845-6; Newman, “The Nature of the Akhbārī/Uṣūlī Dispute in Late Ṣafawid Iran. Part 1,” 22.

203 Al-Astarābādī, al-Ḥāshiyya ʿalā uṣūl al-kāfī, 161. Al-Astarābādī’s comments here are cited verbatim in al-Māzandarānī, Sharḥ uṣūl al-kāfī, 6:244. See also al-Majlisī, Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl, 4:50-1. On al- Astarābādī’s commentary on al-Kāfī, see Gleave, Scripturalist Islam, 37. His commentary is the oldest surviving commentary on the collection that glosses the hadiths about the ghayba. 86

Imam’s) short ghayba [i.e., the Lesser Occultation] because during the long (ghayba) [i.e, the

Greater Occultation], there is no way for his Shīʿa to reach him” (fa-inna fī al-ṭawīla laysa li-

shīʿatihi ilayhi sabīlun).205 Al-Kāshānī’s statement that the Imam is unreachable during the

Greater Occultation may appear odd in light of the fact that he was among the first authorities

to transmit two popular and controversial stories in his Nawādir al-akhbār fī mā yataʿallaq bi-

uṣūl al-dīn and ʿIlm al-yaqīn fī uṣūl al-dīn of Shīʿa who travelled during the Greater Occultation

to mysterious islands ruled by the Hidden Imam and his sons (see below, chapter 4), and the

fact that he affirms the ontological reality of “the world of images” (ʿālam al-mithāl)206 in his

204 Al-Ṭurayḥī, Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn, 2:110.

205 Al-Kāshānī, al-Wāfī, 2:416. Al-Kāshānī adds, “When (the twelfth Imam) isolated himself and hid in (Medina), 30 of his Shīʿa were with him (wa-maʿahu thalāthīn min shīʿatihi), keeping each other company. As a result, they were never lonely (fa-lā waḥshata lahum).”

206 The imaginal realm or world of images (ʿālam al-mithāl) interposed between the physical world and spiritual realm originates in its Islamic expression in the teachings of the innovative Persian philosopher, Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī (d. 587/1191), the founder of the Illuminationist (ishrāqī) School and is transmitted into Shīʿī thought via Ibn Abī Jumhūr al-Aḥsāʾī (fl. 9th/15th cent.) and Mullā Ṣadrā (d. ca. 1045/1635-6), inter alios. See Madelung, “Ibn Abî Ğumhûr al-Aḥsâ’is Synthesis of kalâm, Philosophy and Sufism,” 149; Lawson, “Ebn Abi Jomhūr Aḥsāʾi,” EIr, 7:662-3; Rahman, “Dream, Imagination and ʿĀlam al-mithāl,” 409-19. On the ʿālam al-mithāl as the location of the Hidden Imam in later Shīʿī (viz., Shaykhī) thought, see Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:286-91; Corbin, Histoire, 110-1 [= Corbin, The History, 70-1]; Corbin, “Visionary Dream in Islamic Spirituality,” 405; Lawson, “The Authority of the Feminine and Fāṭima’s Place in an Early Work by the Bab,” 105; Lawson, “Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy,” 135-6; Rafati, The Development, 107-9, 114; Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 227; Muḥammad-Ḥusaynī, Ḥaḍrat-i Bāb, 113; MacEoin, The Messiah of Shiraz, 616, 621-2; Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, 50-3, 59; Amanat, “The Resurgence of the Apocalyptic in Modern Islam,” 87

Kalimāt-i maknūna as the realm where “the Holy Imams [including presumably the Hidden

Imam] are present when they appear before a dying person.”207 It is possible that al-Kāshānī

believed that whereas the generality of Shīʿa could not reach the Imam during the Greater

Occultation, a special group could and in fact has encountered the Imam as reflected in the

accounts he chose to transmit and the interpretation he advances on Hadith 2 (see below).

Most scholars, however, have interpreted this hadith as applying to the Greater

Occultation. According, for example, to Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Māzandarānī (d. 1080/1669 or

240; Bayat, Mysticism, 45; Hamid, The Metaphysics, 41-2; Eschraghi, Frühe Ṧaiḫī, 41-3; Ziai, “Dreams ii: In the Persian Tradition,” EIr, 7:550. Cf. al-Aḥsāʾī, Kitāb al-rajʿa, 92; al-Aḥsāʾī and al-Rashtī, Asrār al-imām al-mahdī, 110; al-Rashtī, Risālat al-ṭabīb, 102; al-Rashtī, Majmaʿ al-rasāʾil, 46; Ishrāq-Khāvarī, Qāmūs-i Īqān, 2:1032; 4:1630-1 [the last five references are discussed in Ghaemmaghami, “To the Abode of the Hidden One.”]

207 Translated in Corbin, Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth (trans. Pearson), 178, and discussed in Lawson, “Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī and the World of Images,” 26. On al-Kāshānī’s Kalimāt-i maknūna, see Lawson, “The Hidden Words of Fayḍ Kāshānī,” 427-47. However, as Lawson points out elsewhere, al-Kāshānī does not speak of the possibility of encountering the Hidden Imam in the ʿālam al-mithāl while a believer is alive, Lawson, “Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy,” 136. That the Imams appear to a dying person is a Shīʿī axiom. Al-Majlisī, al-Iʿtiqādāt, 27, mentions as part of his survey of Shīʿī doctrines that “the Prophet and the twelve [!] Imams appear at the death of [both] the pious and the sinners, the believers and the infidels. The believers benefit from their intercession in easing the throes of death…” In a different creedal work, al-Majlisī, al-ʿAqāʾid, 67, he states that according to Shīʿī hadiths, the tears that flow from the eyes of the believers when they die stem from the exceeding gladness and exultation they feel at the moment of death from beholding the Prophet and the Imams (min shiddat faraḥihim wa- surūrihim bi-ruʾyatihim al-nabī wa-l-aʾimma). Restating the traditional Ashʿarī bi-lā kayfa “solution,” al- Majlisī adds that it is not necessary to think about how this vision will take place (wa-lā yalzam al- tafakkur fī kayfiyyat dhālik), but is quick to rule out any attempt to arrive at an esoteric interpretation of the words of the Imams in this regard (wa-lā yajūz al-taʾwīl). 88

1081/1670),208 the locution {and he will certainly be isolated during his ghayba} is a reference

(ishāra) to the Greater Occultation since it is widely believed that during (the Greater

Occultation), (the Imam) is isolated from everyone (li-annahu yaʿtazilu fīhā al-nās jamīʿ an).

However, al-Māzandarānī is quick to add that in some manuscripts, this sentence of Hadith 1 is

missing the word budda, generating a diametrically opposite meaning: {and he will not be

isolated during his ghayba} (wa-lā lahu fī ghaybatihi min ʿuzla). He explains this divergent text

by suggesting that the Imam is among the people and sees them while they cannot see him

despite the fact that they benefit from his presence among them.209 It would seem that he

prefers this latter version of the sentence as it agrees with the purport of the hadiths we

introduced in chapter 1.5.

Asad Allāh al-Shaftī (d. 1290/1873) likewise opined that Hadith 1 “in all likelihood”

refers to the Greater Occultation because the Imam was not completely isolated during the

208 Al-Māzandarānī was a student of among others, Muḥammad Taqī al-Majlisī (d. 1070/1659-60) and Muḥammad b. Ḥusayn Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī, known as al-Shaykh al-Bahāʾī (d. 1030/1621), and a teacher of Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī and al-Fayḍ al-Kāshānī. His commentary on the Uṣūl al-kāfī astringently criticizes Mullā Ṣadrā’s commentary. See Barārī-Fandarī, “Mullā Ṣāliḥ Māzandarānī,” esp. 108, and Kohlberg, “Kolayni,” EIr (online edition).

209 Al-Māzandarānī, Sharḥ uṣūl al-kāfī, 6:243-4. 89

Lesser Occultation.210 Nūrī (d. 1320/1902) was even more confident in interpreting Hadith 1 to

mean that in every generation throughout the Greater Occultation, “thirty believers attain (the

Imam’s) presence.”211 This interpretation has been advanced by numerous other scholars post-

Nūrī to defend their interpretation that thirty believers in any given age are privileged to be in contact with the Imam. On the basis of this interpretation, the veracity of the stories of ulama who have claimed to have contacted the Imam during the Greater Occultation is established in their minds. Prominent Iraqi grand ayatollah Muḥammad Ṣādiq al-Ṣadr (d. 1419/1999), for

example, maintains that “this hadith…proves that a group of people in every generation

recognize the Mahdī, are in contact with him, and dispel [his] loneliness (hādhā al-

khabar…yuthbit anna jamāʿa min al-nās fī kull jīl yaʿrifūna al-mahdī wa-yattaṣilūna bihi wa-

yarfaʿūna ʿanhu al-waḥsha).”212

Ṭayba: “Ṭayba is the best abode”

210 Al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 2:301 (no. 228).

211 Al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 148.

212 Al-Ṣadr, Tārīkh al-ghayba al-kubrā, 68. Similarly, Lebanese scholar Muḥammad Jamīl Ḥammūd (al- ʿĀmilī) argues “while it is well-evident (min al-maʿlūm) that the elite mawālī who see (the Imam) during the Greater Occultation are not the Mahdī’s representatives or deputies, this hadith [in stating that thirty believers have contact with the Imam] proves the veracity (of their claims).” Ḥammūd, Abhā al-murād fī sharḥ muʾtamar ʿulamāʾ Baghdād, 2:677 (on the elite mawālī, see below). See also ʿIrāqī- Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 192, for a similar reading. 90

All Shīʿī commentators of this hadith agree that Ṭayba is a reference to Medina (madīnat al- nabī).213 According to classical Islamic sources, Ṭayba (“the sweet-smelling”) was an honorific

name bestowed on Medina by the Prophet himself.214 This is affirmed by commentators who

adduce Hadith 1 as proof that just as Muḥammad lived in Medina, so likewise the Imam resides

in or around Medina during the ghayba.215

In his comments on this hadith in his Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl fī sharḥ akhbār al-rasūl, widely

recognized as “arguably the most useful and comprehensive commentary”216 on al-Kāfī, al-

Majlisī reasoned that “(the Imam) is likely always in Medina or its environs [during the Greater

Occultation] or was there during the Lesser Occultation. It is has also been said that Ṭayba is

the name of a place other than Medina where he lives with his companions but this is mere

conjecture (rajm bi-l-ghayb).” Al-Majlisī then refers to a hadith recorded in al-Kāfī in which

213 Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 930.

214 Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿarab, 1:56; Watt, “al-Madīna,” EI², 5:994.

215 Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:158 [= Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 933]. Cf. al-Majlisī, Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl, 4:50, where he reads al-Ṭayba as al-Ṭība.

216 Kohlberg, “Kolayni,” EIr (online edition). Strangely, this important work is not mentioned in Hairi, “Majlisī, Mullā Muḥammad Bāqir,” EI², 5:1086-8. 91

Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, when asked where to look for his successor should something happen to him,

answered, “in Medina.”217

Since Hadith 1 is almost certainly of Wāqifī origins, it is not surprising to see Medina

mentioned as the abode of the Qāʾim. Over and above the city being the refuge of the Prophet from his adversaries, Medina was the birthplace of Mūsā al-Kāẓim (b. 128/745). Al-Kāẓim lived in Medina all of his life, with two exceptions (i.e., two times in which he was absent

(ghāʾib) from his followers in Medina, in effect, in ghayba): (1) He was briefly arrested by the

Abbasid caliph Muḥammad b. Manṣūr al-Mahdī (r. 158/775-169/785) and detained in the

Abbasid capital of Baghdad sometime between 163/779-80 and 166/782-3. According to al-

Ṭabarī, after al-Mahdī was chastised in a dream by ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, he immediately released

al-Kāẓim who subsequently returned to Medina; (2) He was arrested again at the order of

Hārūn al-Rashīd (d. 193/809) in 179/795-6 and once again brought to Baghdad, where he is

said to have been killed at the behest of the caliph in 183/799.218 The Wāqifīs who contended

that as the Qāʾim, al-Kāẓim had not died, could point to this hadith from al-Ṣādiq (or rather,

217 This hadith is recorded in al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:328 (no. 2). See also al-Masʿūdī (attributed), Ithbāt al-waṣiyya, 229.

218 See Madelung, “Mūsā al-Kāẓim,” EI², 7:645. 92

fabricate it) to make the case that he had returned to Medina where he was in the company of

thirty of his closest followers.

The Number 30: “the thirty are never lonely”

The meaning of this critical though enigmatic phrase is unclear. Shīʿī sources commonly

number the Qāʾim’s companions at “313,” the same number of men who according to Shīʿī

sources fought alongside the Prophet at the Battle of Badr.219 What then is the significance of

the number thirty? Schimmel observes that in Judeo-Christian sources, the number 30 is

connected with ideas of order and justice,220 two principles that are closely connected to the

219 The fact that 313 is also the abjad numerical value of the word jaysh (army) is not merely a coincidence [on this, see Amir-Moezzi, “Aspects de la Figure du Sauveur dans l’Eschtologie Chiite Duodécimaine,” 221]. Al-Nuʿmānī records five hadiths with this number in chapter 20 of his work concerning “the army of wrath that is the companions of the Qāʾim, their number, their characteristics, how they will be tested, and [who] they will fight,” al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 325-31 (nos. 3,6,7,8,9). Another notable hadith found in this chapter and ascribed to al-Ṣādiq states that even if all the people of the world abandoned the Qāʾim, God would enable his companions (aṣḥābuhu), who been preserved for him (maḥfūẓatun lahu), to reach and succor him. Several Quranic verses are then interpreted as having been revealed about these companions, e.g., 6:89, and most notably, 5:54: {God will assuredly bring a people He loves, and who love Him, humble towards the believers, disdainful towards the unbelievers, men who struggle in the path of God, not fearing the reproach of any reproacher}, al-Nuʿmānī, al- Ghayba, 330 (no. 12). The fact that this hadith is not among the Traditions adduced by Shīʿī scholars as proof that a special cadre of believers know the location of the Imam suggests that it may have been overlooked or, more likely, that it has been understood as applying to the time after the Qāʾim’s appearance from ghayba and not before. On the Battle of Badr, see now, Athamina, “Badr,” EI³ (online edition).

220 Schimmel, The Mystery of Numbers, 239-40. 93

Qāʾim. A more likely explanation can be found in the Shīʿī sources themselves. Two significant

hadiths mention the number 30 in the context of companions of the seventh Imam and the

Prophet. According to the first report, al-Kāẓim disclosed to a group of 30 presumably elite

followers that his son, ʿAlī (al-Riḍā), was his successor.221 More importantly, according to the

second report, the day the Prophet died, it is said that there were precisely 30 companions by

his side. This report features prominently in a work attributed to Sulaym b. Qays al-Hilālī (d.

76/695-6), a follower of ʿAlī from Kūfa.222

Commenting on the phrase, “the thirty are never lonely,” al-Majlisī states:

In other words (ay), (the Imam) is with 30 of his mawālī and elite followers (khawāṣṣihi). They never feel lonely for they keep each other company (laysa lahum

waḥsha li-istīnās baʿḍihim bi-baʿḍin). On the other hand, [it could be that] (the Imam) is (himself) one of the 30 and thus never feels alone. A [third] possibility is that [the preposition] al-bāʾ [in the phrase, wa-mā bi-thalāthin min waḥsha] denotes ‘with’ (maʿa) [rather than ‘in’], to mean that he never feels alone because he is with 30 [other people, though not necessarily his elite followers].

221 Al-Masʿūdī (attributed), Ithbāt al-waṣiyya, 204.

222 Al-Hilālī, Kitāb Sulaym b. Qays al-Hilālī, 794 > al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 22:398. On al-Hilālī, see Djebli, “Sulaym b. Ḳays,” EI², 9:818-9. Serious doubts about the authenticity of this work have been raised by both Shīʿī and non-Shīʿī scholars; nonetheless, it has been cited by numerous Shīʿī scholars through the centuries. See Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 532-3; Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, 101; Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 82-6; al-Sayyārī, Revelation and Falsification, 243 (n. 567); and now, Amir-Moezzi, “Note Bibliographique sur le Kitāb Sulaym b. Qays, le plus ancien ouvrage shiʿite existant.” 94

It has also been said that this hadith means that (the Imam) is [always] in the appearance (haʾyat) of someone who is 30 years old for (at this age),223 a person [is old enough to] never feel lonely even if he is utterly remote [from everyone else] (wa-man kāna kadhālika lā yastawḥish fa-huwa fī ghāyat al-buʿd).224

In his comments on this hadith in his Biḥār al-anwār, al-Majlisī argues that “when one of the

30 dies, someone else takes his place” (in māta aḥaduhum qāma ākharu maqāmahu).225

Elsewhere, in his Persian Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, he explicitly states that “during the ghayba, it is

possible for some of the Shīʿa to attain (the Imam’s) presence.” To support this assertion, he

alludes to the above hadith which according to him, affirms “that 30 of his elite [followers] (sī

nafar az makhṣūṣān) are perpetually in (the Imam’s) service. In other words (yaʿnī), when one

[of these 30 followers] dies, another [follower] takes his place.”226

223 He is likely here referring to his teacher al-Māzandarānī’s opinion: “It has been said: it is possible that by this hadith is meant that he is always in the appearance of someone who is 30 years old for a person does not feel lonely at that age (wa-mā fī hādhā al-sinn min waḥsha), but God knows best.” Al- Māzandarānī, Sharḥ uṣūl al-kāfī, 6:244.

224 Al-Majlisī, Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl, 4:50-1. A Persian summary of al-Majlisī’s explanation is provided by Fahrī in his translation of al-Nuʿmānī’s al-Ghayba: al-Nuʿmānī, Ghaybat-i Nuʿmānī (trans. Fahrī), 220-1.

225 Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:158 = Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 933. This view is also maintained by Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:854.

226 Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 345-6. A similar interpretation is advanced by Muṣṭafavī, namely that 30 or 29 (if we include the Imam himself) of the Imam’s companions (aṣḥāb) are with him during his ghayba, al-Kulaynī, Uṣūl al-kāfī (trans. Muṣṭafavī), 2:140 (no. 16). 95

Later sources state that the 30 are in fact a category of awliyāʾ (friends or initiates).

Commenting on this hadith in his Kitāb al-rajʿa, Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī (d. 1241/1826)227 employs

terminology common to descriptions of the Ṣūfī hierarchical order of awliyāʾ in stating that

“thirty” refers to the 30 substitutes (abdāl)228 and chiefs (nuqabāʾ)229 that are in the company of

the Hidden Imam.230 While he does not explicitly say so, it appears that he has in mind a hadith

ascribed to al-Bāqir prophesying that some three hundred believers will take an oath of

227 On him, see Lawson, “Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in Twelver Shiʿism,” 128-9; MacEoin, The Messiah of Shiraz, 59-106, 607-18.

228 There are differences of opinion about the number of the abdāl. The Persian mystic ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī (d. between 465/1072 and 469/1077) states they are 40 in number in his well-known Ṣūfī handbook (see Awn, “Sufism,” ER, 13:8821) while the famous Andalusian philosopher and mystic Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240) states that there are only 7 abdāl in any given age (see I. Goldziher and H.J. Kissling, “Abdāl,” EI²). On the infiltration of the term abdāl into later Shīʿī sources, see J. Chabbi, “Abdāl,” EIr, 1:173-4; Moosa, Extremist Shiites, 110-19; Corbin, History of Islamic Philosophy, 72. On the position of the nujabāʾ and nuqabāʾ in later Shaykhī discourse, in particular, the writings of Muḥammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī (d. 1871), see Bayat, Mysticism and Dissent, 66-7, 76; MacEoin, The Messiah of Shiraz, 24-5, 29.

229 The nuqabāʾ of the Hidden Imam are referred to in an early hadith ascribed to al-Ṣādiq and found in al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī, 8:167 (no. 185) and appear to refer to an elite body of initiates: “…[When he appears], the Qāʾim will take out a book (kitāban) which has been sealed with a golden seal (makhtūm bi-khātam min dhahab). He will tear off [the seal] and read from (this book) to the people. They will become startled and scatter away from him like frightened sheep. Only his nuqabāʾ will remain.” Cf. a slightly different version of this hadith in al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 610 (no 25) > al-Majlisī, Biḥār al- anwār, 52:326 (no. 42); al-Aḥsāʾī, Sharḥ al-ziyāra, 3:77.

230 Al-Aḥsāʾī, Kitāb al-rajʿa, 92. The abdāl interpretation is also advanced by Ḥammūd, Abhā al-murād fī sharḥ muʾtamar ʿulamāʾ Baghdād, 2:677. 96

allegiance to the Qāʾim when he appears at the Kaʿba, among who will be nujabāʾ from Egypt,

abdāl from Syria, and akhyār (outstanding people) from Iraq.231

Ḥasan Urūmiyyih-ʾī (d. after 1260/1844), who translated volume 13 of al-Majlisī’s

Biḥār al-anwār on the ghayba of the twelfth Imam into Persian, commented that “(the Imam’s)

home during the days of ghayba is (in Medina),” adding that “it appears that the 30 people refers to the Men of the Unseen (rijāl al-ghayb) who are in the service of the Imam during the

ghayba.”232

In interpreting this hadith, the scholar and Qur’an commentator Muḥammad

Muḥammadī Ishtihārdī (d. 1385AS/2006) states that “besides his wife and children, a group of

his friends who according to a hadith are 30 of his supports (awtād) and prominent disciples are

231 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 477. A similar hadith ascribed to ʿAlī states that the nujabāʾ are from Kūfa and the abdāl from Syria, al-Mufīd, al-Amālī, 31.

232 Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyih-ʾī), 1:748. The rijāl al-ghayb are another name for the abdāl. On this term in early Ṣūfī and Shīʿī sources labeled by the problematic appellation ghulāt, see Moosa, Extremist Shiites, 110-1. Ibn al-ʿArabī speaks frequently about the Men of the Unseen in his al- Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya as, for example, a class of spiritual beings who the Helpers of the Mahdī can see with their “penetrating vision…even when (the Men of the Unseen) want to be veiled and not to appear to [ordinary human] vision,” Ibn al-ʿArabī, The Meccan Revelations (trans. Morris), 1:73, 254 (note 30). Ibn al-ʿArabī himself cites two personal experiences of encounters with such spiritual beings both of whom were strangers and one of whom was Persian, idem, 1:90-1, 271-2 (notes 119-21). Cf. the adoption of the term rijāl al-ghayb by leaders of the Shaykhī school to designate an occult spiritual hierarchy, Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:276; Amir-Moezzi, “An Absence filled with Prescenses,” 42-4. 97

always (hamvārih) in his service.”233 Since this statement follows his discussion of the famous

encounter story of ‘the Green Island in the White Sea’ (see footnote, chapter 4), it appears that

the special friends Ishtihārdī has in mind here are the family and followers of the Imam who

are said to reside on the Green Island with him.

waḥsha: “the thirty are never lonely”

Finally, the word waḥsha (defined in Arabic lexicons as loneliness; solitude; forlornness,

desolateness and sadness arising from these states) is derived from waḥsh (pl. wuḥūsh),

meaning wild beasts of the desert, which is how it is used in Quran 81:5, the only verse where

we find a word from the wāw-ḥāʾ-shīn root. Waḥsha is the antonym of uns (companionship)

and shares a common semantic property with waḥda (loneliness), khawf (fear) and hamm

(concern). As an example of its usage in classical Arabic literature, the lexicographer Ibn al-

Zabīdī provides the expression, akhadhathu al-waḥsha: “sadness arising from loneliness or solitude laid hold upon him.”234 In Arabic sources, laylat al-waḥsha (also called laylat al-

waḥda) is the first night after the burial of a loved one. In Shīʿī sources, the night of ʿĀshūrā

(viz., the eve of 11 Muḥarram) is called laylat al-waḥsha since on this night, the plight of the

233 Ishtihārdī, Ḥaḍrat-i Mahdī: Furūgh-i tābān-i wilāyat, 53.

234 Al-Zabīdī, Tāj al-ʿarūs, 9:221; Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 2929-30. 98

captive survivors of Karbala who spent the night fearful in the desert is remembered and

mourned.235 Moreover, waḥsha is encountered in a significant Imāmī hadith ascribed to al-Riḍā

about al-Khaḍir/al-Khiḍr’s relationship to the Hidden Imam (one cannot but notice the similarities with the hadiths presented in the previous chapter about the Qāʾim’s appearance

during pilgrimage):

Al-Khaḍir drank from the water of life and is alive. He will not die until {the Trumpet is blown} (Q 78:18). He comes and greets us. We hear his voice but do not see him. He is present whenever his name is mentioned (or remembered - dhukira). Whoever mentions him should greet him [for he is then present]. He attends the Pilgrimage, performs the rites, stands in vigil at Mount Arafat and says ‘amen’ to the prayers of the believers. Through him, God will keep our Qāʾim company (sa-yuʾnis bihi waḥshat qāʾiminā [lit., through him, God will keep company the loneliness of our Qāʾim]) during his ghayba and protect him from feeling lonely (wa-yaṣil bihi waḥdatahu).236

235 Muḥaddithī, Mawsūʿat ʿĀshūrāʾ, 392 (entry on laylat al-waḥsha).

236 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 362 (no. 4) > al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:152 (no. 3) = Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 929. A similar hadith is attributed to Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī and is first encountered in al-Rāwandī’s al-Kharāʾij wa-l-jarāʾiḥ, 3:1173 (no. 68) and later in al-Nīlī’s Muntakhab al-anwār al- muḍīʾa, 75. The phrase, wa-yaṣil bihi waḥdatahu, is similar to a sentence found in a Shīʿī prayer recited when a dead body is prepared for burial: “O God! Be Thou his companion, befriend him in his loneliness (ānis waḥshatahu) and dispel his solitude through Thy mercy (wa-ṣilo waḥdatahu bi- raḥmatika)…”, al-Ṣadūq, Fiqh al-Riḍā, 171. A different version of the same prayer is cited in al-Ṭūsī, Miṣbāḥ al-mujtahid, 21. 99

Commenting on the phrase, “the thirty are never lonely,” Jalālī maintains that “with the

30 people that are near him, (the Imam) prevents fear and worry to enter [his heart]” (bā sī tan

kih dar kinār-i ūyand, bīm va harāsī bih khud rāh nimīdahad).237

2.2. HADITH 2: “[and] no one will know his location except the elite of his mawālī”

The second hadith that has been cited by some later scholars as proof of the possibility of

contacting the Imam during the Greater Occultation (henceforth, Hadith 2) is, like Hadith 1,

first encountered in al-Kulaynī’s Uṣūl al-kāfī:

ِ -Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā238 < Muḥammad b. al ﻤﺤﱠﻤُد ْﺒن ﻴ ْﺤﻴﻰ ﻋ ْن ﻤﺤﱠﻤد ْﺒ ِن ْاﻟﺤﺴْﻴ ِن ﻋ ِن ْاﺒ ِن ُ َ ُ َ َ َ ُ َ ُ َ َ 240 239 ٍ ِ ِ ٍ ِ .Ḥusayn < Ibn Maḥbūb < Isḥāq b ﻤﺤﺒوب ﻋن إﺴﺤ َﺎق ﺒن ﻋﱠﻤﺎر ﻗَ َﺎﻝ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ أَﺒو ﻋﺒد اﷲ: 241 َ ْ ُ َ ْ ْ َ ْ َ ُ َْ :ʿAmmār (al-Ṣayrafī) < al-Ṣādiq

237 Ṭūsī, Khūrshīd dar nahān (trans. Jalālī), 1:231.

238 On him, see Newman, Formative Period, index, s.v. ‘Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-ʿAṭṭār al-Ashʿarī al- Qummī.’

239 Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī al-Khaṭṭāb al-Zayyāt (d. 262/876). On him, see Newman, Formative Period, 68; Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, index, s.v. ‘Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī ʼl-Khaṭṭāb’.

240 Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb al-Sarrād or al-Zarrād (d. 224/838-9), author of the work, Kitāb al-mashyakha on the subject of the ghayba (which has not survived) and considered trustworthy by authors of early Shīʿī rijāl works. See Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 531-2; Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 264; Takim, “The Rijāl of the Shīʿī Imāms as Depicted in Imāmī Biographical Literature,” 216; Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 4, 6.

241 Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq b. ʿAmmār b. Ḥayyān (d. circa 181/798), an important and trusted early hadith transmitter from al-Ṣādiq who is said to have at one point entertained doctrines that were deemed ‘extreme’ by later Imāmī Shīʿa who of course liked to think of themselves as ‘moderate’ (for an insightful discussion about the problem of using the term ghulāt (lit. exaggerators) which I prefer to 100

The Qāʾim will have two ghaybas. One of ِ ِِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﻟْﻠﻘَﺎﺌم َﻏْﻴَﺒﺘَﺎن إ ْﺤَد ُاﻫَم ﻗَﺼ َﻴرةٌ َو ْاﻷُ ْﺨَرى طَوﻴﻠَﺔٌ ْاﻟ َﻐْﻴَﺒﺔُ them will be short while the other will be ِ ِِ ِ ِﱠ ِ ِِ ْاﻷُوﻟَﻰ َﻻ َﻴ ْﻌﻠَُم ﺒَﻤ َﻛﺎﻨﻪ ﻓﻴﻬَﺎ إﻻ َﺨ ﱠﺎﺼﺔُ ﺸ َﻴﻌﺘﻪ َو ْاﻷُ ْﺨَرى long. During the first ghayba, no one will ِ ِِ ِ ِﱠ ِ ;know his location except the elite of his Shīʿa َﻻ َﻴ ْﻌﻠَُم ﺒَﻤ َﻛﺎﻨﻪ ﻓﻴﻬَﺎ إﻻ َﺨ ﱠﺎﺼﺔُ َﻤَواﻟ ﻴﻪ while during the other, no one will know his location except the elite of his mawālī.242

Al-Nuʿmānī records the same hadith in his al-Ghayba, stating that he heard it directly from al-

Kulaynī, though in his work, the words, “in his faith” (fī dīnihi), are added to the end of the

hadith’s matn:

ِ > al-Kulaynī < Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā َﺤﱠدﺜََﻨﺎ ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤُد ْﺒ ُن َﻴ ْﻌﻘُ َوب َﻋ ْن ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ْﺒ ِن َﻴ ْﺤَﻴﻰ َﻋ ْن Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn < Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb ﻤﺤﱠﻤِد ﺒ ِن ْاﻟﺤﺴﻴ ِن ﻋ ِن ْاﻟﺤﺴ ِن ﺒ ِن ﻤﺤﺒ ٍوب ﻋن ُ َ ْ ُ َْ َ َ َ ْ َ ْ ُ َ ْ :Isḥāq b. ʿAmmār < al-Ṣādiq > ِ ﱠِ ِإ ْﺴ َﺤ َﺎق ْﺒ ِن َﻋﱠﻤ ٍﺎر ﻗَ َﺎﻝ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ أَﺒُو َﻋْﺒد اﻟﻠﻪ (ع)

ِ ِِ ِ ِ ِ The Qāʾim will have two ghaybas. One of ﻟ ْﻠﻘَﺎﺌم َﻏْﻴَﺒﺘَ ِﺎن إ ْﺤَد ُاﻫَﻤﺎ ﻗَﺼ َﻴرةٌ َو ْاﻷُ ْﺨَرى طَوﻴﻠَﺔٌ ْاﻟ َﻐْﻴَﺒﺔُ them will be short while the other will be ْاﻷُوﻟَﻰ َﻻ ﻴﻌﻠَم ﺒِﻤ َﻛﺎﻨِِﻪ ِﻓﻴﻬﺎ إِﱠﻻ َﺨ ﱠﺎﺼﺔُ ِﺸﻴﻌﺘِِﻪ و ْاﻷُ ْﺨرى َ ْ ُ َ َ َ َ َ long. During the first ghayba, no one will ِ ِِ ِ ِﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ َﻻ َﻴ ْﻌﻠَُم ﺒَﻤ َﻛﺎﻨﻪ ﻓﻴﻬَﺎ إﻻ َﺨ ﱠﺎﺼﺔُ َﻤَواﻟﻴﻪ ﻓﻲ دﻴﻨﻪ ;know his location except the elite of his Shīʿa while during the other, no one will know his

avoid, see Hodgson, “How did the Early Shīʿa become Sectarian?” 4-5; al-Qāḍī, “The Development of the Term Ghulāt in Muslim Literature,” 295-319). On Ibn Ḥayyān, see Halm, “Das „Buch der Schatten“ [I],” 241-2; Madelung, Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran, 81; Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 299 (no. 111).

242 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:340 (no. 19) > al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:58; Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 532. 101

location except the elite of his mawālī in his faith.243

Al-Nuʿmānī also cites a similar hadith ascribed to al-Ṣādiq:

ِ ِ ٍ .Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Saʿīd b. ʿUqda (d َﺤ ﱠد ﺜَ َﻨ ﺎ أَ ْﺤ َﻤ ُد ْﺒ ُن ُﻤ َﺤ ﱠﻤ د ْﺒ ِن َﺴﻌﻴد ْاﺒ ُن ُﻋْﻘَدةَ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ َﺤﱠدﺜََﻨﺎ 333/944-5)244 < ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan al-Taymulī ﻋِﻠ ﱡﻲ ﺒن ْاﻟﺤﺴ ِن اﻟﺘﱠﻴﻤِﻠ ﱡﻲ ﻋن ﻋﻤر ﺒ ِن ﻋﺜْﻤﺎن ﻋ ِن َ ْ ُ َ َ ْ ُ َ ْ ُ ََ ْ ُ َ َ َ d. 224/838-9)245 < ʿUmar b. ʿUthmān < Ibn) ِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ٍ ِ ْاﻟ َﺤ َﺴن ْﺒن َﻤ ْﺤﺒُوب َﻋ ْن إ ْﺴ َﺤ َﺎق ْﺒن َﻋﱠﻤﺎر ﱠاﻟﺼْﻴَرﻓ ﱢﻲ -Maḥbūb < Isḥāq b. ʿAmmār al-Ṣayrafī < al ِ ِ ﱠِ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ َﺴﻤ ْﻌ ُت َأَﺒﺎ َﻋْﺒد اﻟﻠﻪ (ع) َﻴﻘُ ُوﻝ :Ṣādiq

The Qāʾim will have two ghaybas. One of ِ ِِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﻟْﻠﻘَﺎﺌم َﻏْﻴَﺒﺘَﺎن إ ْﺤَد ُاﻫَﻤﺎ طَوﻴﻠَﺔٌ َو ْاﻷُ ْﺨَرى ﻗَﺼ َﻴرةٌ ﻓَ ْﺎﻷُوﻟَﻰ them will be long while the other will be ِ ِِ ِ ِ ِ ِِ َﻴ ْﻌﻠَُم ﺒَﻤ َﻛﺎﻨﻪ ﻓﻴﻬَﺎ َﺨ ﱠﺎﺼﺔٌ ﻤ ْن ﺸ َﻴﻌﺘﻪ َو ْاﻷُ ْﺨَرى َﻻ َﻴ ْﻌﻠَُم short. During the first, [only] the most elite of ِ ِِ ِ ِﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ his Shīʿa will know his location, while during ﺒَﻤ َﻛﺎﻨﻪ ﻓﻴﻬَﺎ إﻻ َﺨ ﱠﺎﺼﺔُ َﻤَواﻟﻴﻪ ﻓﻲ دﻴﻨﻪ the other, no one will know his location except the elite of his mawālī in his faith.246

Al-Ḥalabī has cited a similar hadith on the authority of Isḥāq b. ʿAmmār with two

noticeable differences: 1) His version does not contain the second part of the hadith and 2) the

243 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 175 (no. 2) > al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 2:302 (no. 230).

244 Known as Ibn ʿUqda. On him, see al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 94 (no. 233); Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, index, s.v. ‘Ibn ʿUqda’.

245 Abū Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl al-Kūfī al-Taymulī, a transmitter of hadith from al- Kāẓim and al-Riḍā. On him, see al-Sayyārī, Revelation and Falsification, 62, n. 17. 102

term awliyāʾ is used as opposed to Shīʿa or mawālī: “The Qāʾim will have two ghaybas, one

short and the other long. As for the first one, his place will be known, especially to his

u an 247 friends/initiates” (yuʿlam makānuh khāṣṣat li-awliyāʾihi).

Curiously, the two versions of this hadith cited by al-Majlisī in Biḥār al-anwār are

markedly different. One version reads, “The Qāʾim will have two ghaybas. One of them will be

short while the other will be long. During the first ghayba, no one will know his location

except the elite of his mawālī.”248 Here, there is no mention of whether anyone will know the

Imam’s location and be able to contact him during the second or Greater Occultation.

The second version of the hadith recorded by al-Majlisī is even more surprising. Here, the preposition illā is left out, generating a radically different meaning: “The Qāʾim will have

two ghaybas. One of them will be long while the other will be short. During the first, [only] the

most privileged of his Shīʿa will know his location, while during the other, not even the elite of

his mawālī in his dīn will know his location.”249

246 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 175 (no. 1) > al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 2:301 (no. 229); Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 210 (note 16); Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin 327-8 (note 711).

247 Al-Ḥalabī, Taqrīb al-maʿārif, 431.

248 Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:155 (no. 11); Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyih-ʾī), 1:750-1.

249 Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:155 (no. 10). The editors of the most recent edition of Biḥār al-anwār have ‘corrected’ this anomaly by placing the word illā back into the hadith in brackets and referencing 103

Hadith 2: Commentary

Like Hadith 1, Hadith 2 is also of Wāqifī origin. Although none of the names mentioned

in the isnād are identified as Wāqifī in rijāl works, at least one, namely al-Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb transmitted numerous hadiths from the Wāqifī ʿAlī b. Abī Ḥamza al-Baṭāʾinī250 and

consequently, al-Ṭūsī called his authority into question.251 Moreover, Hadith 2 is clearly modeled after a different Wāqifī Tradition that has been preserved by al-Ṭūsī: “Abū al-Ḥasan

[i.e., Mūsā al-Kāẓim] will have two ghaybas. One of them will be short and the other will be

long” (iḥdāhumā taqill wa-l-ukhrā taṭūl).252

the published edition of al-Nuʿmānī’s al-Ghayba, but it is entirely possible that al-Majlisī relied on an earlier manuscript of al-Nuʿmānī’s al-Ghayba that has not survived to our time. It merits noting that in the two published Persian translations of al-Majlisī’s work, both translators rendered the hadith the way it was preserved by al-Majlisī without observing any problems. Thus, Urūmiyyih-ʾī translates the last part of the hadith as, “In the short ghayba, the elite (khāṣṣān) of [his] Shīʿa know his location while in the other, not even the elite are aware [of his location],” Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyih-ʾī), 1:750. Davānī’s translation is similar: “During the first (short) ghayba, the elite of his Shīʿa know his location; but during the second (long) ghayba, not even his special friends (dūstān-i makhṣūs-i ū) know where he is,” Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 930.

250 See for examples, al-Ṭūsī, al-Amālī, 216 (no. 380); al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 435; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 23:4 (no. 81); 52:214 (no. 69); 52:354 (no. 115).

251 Al-Ṭūsī, Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, al-maʿrūf bi-rijāl al-Kashshī, 2:799 (no. 989).

252 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 57; Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 532 (note 78); Klemm, “Die vier sufarāʾ des Zwölften Imām Zur formativen Periode der Zwölferšīʿa,” 142. 104

From reading Hadith 2 (the version found in al-Nuʿmānī, not al-Kulaynī) as stating that

“the first ghayba will…be the longer one,” Kohlberg has argued that “the impression gained

from the discrepancy between the description of the respective lengths of the first and second

ghaybas is that initially it was not quite clear which of the two would last longer.”253 However,

there in fact is no discrepancy. Hadith 2 states that one of the two ghaybas will be longer

though not necessarily the first. Moreover, elsewhere in al-Nuʿmānī’s al-Ghayba, where this

version of Hadith 2 is first cited, in a passage that Kohlberg appears to have missed, al-

Nuʿmānī is adamant that “the short ghayba” (al-ghayba al-qaṣīra) has ended and that he is

writing during the long (what came to be known later as the Greater) ghayba (see chapter 3).

Of particular importance is the meaning of the word khāṣṣa in Hadith 2. In early Imāmī

sources, the Shīʿa were often called al-khāṣṣa (‘the elect’) while the non-Shīʿa (and especially the Sunnīs) were disparagingly labeled al-ʿāmma (‘the usual run of men’).254 However, in early

253 Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-ʿAshariyya,” 528. The same reading of this Tradition is found in Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 75.

254 Kohlberg, “ʿĀmma,” EIr, 1:976-7; Kohlberg, Belief and Law in Imāmī Shīʻism, 8; M.A.J. Beg, “al- Khaṣṣa wa’l-ʿĀmma,” EI²; Floor, “Ḵāṣṣa,” EIr, 16:106-12. On the terms khāṣṣa and ʿāmma, see also Mahdīpūr, “Khāṣṣah va ʿĀmmah,” DJI (online edition). In one of the accounts of an encounter with the Hidden Imam from the Lesser Occultation, the Imam tells ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm Mahziyār (on him, see chapter 3) that were it not for the repentance of some of the Shīʿa, everyone on earth would be killed “except the elite few of (his) Shīʿa whose words do not differ from their deeds” (illā khawāṣṣ al-shīʿa alladhīna 105

works such as al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī’s (d. 290/903) Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, the early Shīʿī community

is itself divided into two circles. The majority of the Shīʿa constituted al-ʿāmma while a

prestigious minority or inner circle made up al-khāṣṣa, a qualified spiritual elite who were

initiated into secret knowledge and esoteric doctrine that was kept from al-ʿāmma and who were charged with “la garde du secret,” to quote Amir-Moezzi’s translation for taqiyya.255

According to a report found in Ithbāt al-waṣiyya, the tenth Imam concealed himself from all but a handful of his elite Shīʿa (ʿadad yasīr min khawāṣṣihi), while Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī would speak with his elite followers and others from behind a veil. It is said that they did this to prepare the believers for the ghayba of the Qāʾim so that they would not reject the ghayba and

that concealment would become routine for them.256 Our translation of khāṣṣa as “elite

believers,” follows Amir-Moezzi, who renders khāṣṣa as “l’élite des croyants,”257 while

arguing that the expression khāṣṣat shīʿatihi “désigne sans doute les quatre ‘représentants’

tushabbih aqwāluhum afʿālahum), al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 154; cf. cited with slight differences in al-Baḥrānī, Madīnat al-maʿājiz, 8:118; al-Baḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 146.

255 Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 221. See also Friedman, The Nuṣayrī-ʿAlawīs, 185.

256 Al-Masʿūdī (attributed), Ithbāt al-waṣiyya, 272 > al-Ṣadr, al-Mahdī, 181-2.

257 Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 74 (English translation: Amir-Moezzi, The Divin Guide, 29). 106

(nāʾib/wakīl/safīr) de l’imam cache pendant l’Occultation mineure,”258 since according to

tradition, they alone knew the location of the Imam. However, it should be pointed out Amir-

Moezzi here is expressing a much later interpretation of Hadith 2 since, as mentioned earlier, the institution of sifāra is not alluded to in any of the works that have survived from the Lesser

Occultation.

As Hadith 1 and Hadith 2 are recorded in al-Kulaynī’s Uṣūl al-kāfī (unlike Hadith 3

below), it would be appropriate to discuss here a commentary on al-Kāfī that has not yet been

mentioned: the renowned Safavid philosopher Mullā Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī’s (Mullā Ṣadrā) (d.

ca. 1045/1635-6) highly philosophical though incomplete Sharḥ uṣūl al-kāfī.259 While a rigorous

258 Amir-Moezzi, “Fin du Temps,” 62; Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin 328 (note 711); Amir-Moezzi, “Eschatology iii. In Imami Shiʿism,” EIr, 8:579. Cf. Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 133, where the words, “sans doute,” are left out.

259 On Ṣadrā, see Rahman, “Mullā Ṣadrā,” ER, 9:6231-4, though he does not mention Ṣadrā’s commentary on the Uṣūl; Rizvi, “Mollā Ṣadrā Ṧirāzi,” EIr (online edition); Rizvi, “Reconsidering the Life of Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī (d. 1641),” 181-201. His Sharḥ uṣūl al-Kāfī was one of his final works, written, as pointed out by Rustom, “Qurʾanic Exegesis in Later Islamic Philosophy: Mullā Ṣadrā’s Tafsīr Sūrat al-Fātiḥa,” 115 (now published as Rustom, The Triumph of Mercy: Philosophy and Scripture in Mulla Ṣadrā), after he had completed his commentaries on various suras of the Qur’an. Another important philosophical commentary on al-Kāfī by Muḥammad al-Bāqir Mīr Dāmād (d. 1040/1630), al-Rawāshiḥ al-samāwiyya fī sharḥ aḥadīth al-imāmiyya, does not contain any comments on the hadiths about the ghayba. 107

analysis of Ṣadrā’s views on the Hidden Imam is beyond the scope of this study,260 some brief notes about his comments on these hadiths may be registered: Although Ṣadrā chose not to directly gloss Hadith 1 and Hadith 2, he argued in the chapter of his work concerning hadiths about the Qāʾim and his ghayba that the Qāʾim has been named al-qāʾim “because he exists

(mawjūd)…never becomes weak or ill, never grows old, and will never be forgotten…rather, he lives and will die in accordance with the will of God.” Ṣadrā here appears to be reading qāʾim in a sense that is closer to the meaning of the divine name, qayyūm (everlasting or self- subsisting; cf. Qur’an 2:255). He then contends, in a possible echo of his signature philosophical principle of substantial/essential motion/change (al-ḥaraka al-jawhariyya), that

“the substance/essence of (the Qāʾim’s) spirit is not separate from [his] body (laysa anna jawhar rūḥihi mufāraqun ʿan al-jasad); rather, he is [constantly] eating, drinking, talking, moving, resting, walking, sitting and writing.” In other words, the Qāʾim is not essentially stable but rather, like the rest of reality, is undergoing flux and being ceaselessly renewed by

God.

260 Studies in Persian include the short descriptive articles, Mamdūḥī, “Ḥaḍrat-i Mahdī-i mawʿūd az nigāh-i Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn” and Saʿdī, “Imām-i Mahdī az manẓar-i Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn.” On the general role of the Imam in Ṣadrā’s worldview as “a microcosmic disclosure of God and cosmos,” though sans any reference to the Hidden Imam, see Rizvi, Mullā Ṣadrā and Metaphysics, 128-30. 108

Specifically concerning the ghayba of the Imam, Ṣadrā maintains that “the nature

(kayfiyya) of (the Hidden Imam) being alive and existing on earth is the same as the nature of

Jesus being alive and existing in heaven. Anyone who rejects the fact that the Mahdī exists

today or thinks that it is inconceivable that he could live so long suffers from deficient

knowledge, weak faith and inadequate awareness of the nature [of the ghayba].”261 Elsewhere, he states that “in investigating the reality of this matter and others like it, we have pursued a fastidious methodology and meticulous approach. This is not the place to go into the details

un un un un (wa-lanā fī taḥqīqi hādhā al-marām wa-amthālihi maslak anīq wa-manhaj daqīq laysa hāhunā mawḍiʿ tafṣīlihi), but briefly, we have alluded to it earlier in saying that the quiddity of his existence and his being alive in the realm of the earth (ʿālam al-arḍ) is the same as Jesus

existing and being alive in heaven.” It is not difficult to come away from this passage with the

impression that Ṣadrā is not speaking about the physical earth and sky. In fact, immediately

following this comment, Ṣadrā integrates a passage from Ibn al-ʿArabī’s al-Futūḥāt al-

Makkiyya, without an introduction or any indication that he is citing from that work, about “the

261 Shīrāzī, Sharḥ uṣūl al-kāfī, 1:558. Ṣadrā then cites, approvingly we are to presume, via his teacher, al-Shaykh al-Bahāʾī, a lengthy passage from the challenging chapter 366 of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s al-Futūḥāt al- Makkiyya concerning the Mahdī and his helpers without any further comments of his own. See also Ṣadrā’s compiled Qur’an commentary where he affirms the doctrine of the Return (al-rajʿa) to take place at the time of the appearance of the Qāʾim, al-Shīrāzī, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm, 5:76. 109

earth of worship” (arḍ al-ʿibāda) suggesting that this is what he means by the “realm of the

earth” as the abode of the Hidden Imam.262 Needless to say, Ṣadrā’s interpretation, like his entire philosophical system, is highly original, although the influence of Ibn al-ʿArabī here as elsewhere is discernible. It also merits pointing out that at a time when stories of encounters with the Hidden Imam were being recorded and compiled, Ṣadrā’s works do not contain any references to the issue, in contrast, for example, to his student al-Kāshānī. Likewise, Ṣadrā chose not to directly comment on any of the reports found in al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī about

believers who had seen the Hidden Imam during the Lesser Occultation.

2.3. HADITH 3: “except the mawlā who is in charge of his affairs”

The third and final hadith (henceforth Hadith 3) invoked by some Shīʿī scholars to make the

case for encounters with the Imam is ascribed to al-Ṣādiq and transmitted on the authority of

his well-known disciple, al-Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar al-Juʿfī (fl. late 2nd/8th cent., d. before

179/795-6).263 This hadith is not found in any of the Shīʿī works that have survived from the

262 Shīrāzī, Sharḥ uṣūl al-kāfī, 1:564.

263 Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar al-Juʿfī, an agent of al-Ṣādiq and hadith transmitter from both al-Ṣādiq and al- Kāẓim who according to some later sources briefly preached certain antinomian ideas that al-Ṣādiq disapproved. On him, see Halm, “Das „Buch der Schatten“ [I],” 224-36 and passim; Halm, Die Islamische Gnosis, 214-7; Madelung, “Khaṭṭābiyya,” EI²; Sachedina, Islamic messianism, 215 (n. 27); Sachedina, “The Significance of Kashshī’s Rijāl in Understanding the Early Role of the Shīʿite Fuqahāʾ,” 194; Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, index, s.v. ‘Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar al-Juʿfī’; Bar- 110

Lesser Occultation. In fact, the earliest extant work in which it appears is al-Nuʿmānī’s al-

Ghayba. Two other versions are cited in al-Ṭūsī’s Kitāb al-ghayba (henceforth, al-Ṭūsī (1) and al-Ṭūsī (2)). For ease of comparison, all three hadiths are presented in the following table:

ﻤن اﻟﻐﻴﺒﺔ ﻟﻠﻨﻌﻤﺎﻨﻲ ﻤن ﻛﺘﺎب اﻟﻐﻴﺒﺔ ﻟﻠطوﺴﻲ ١ ﻤن ﻛﺘﺎب اﻟﻐﻴﺒﺔ ﻟﻠطوﺴﻲ ٢

ِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ِ َوأَ ْﺨ َﺒ َرَﻨ ﺎ أَ ْﺤ َﻤ ُد ْﺒ ُن ُﻤ َﺤ ﱠﻤ د ْﺒ ِن َﺴ ﻌ ﻴ د ْأَﺤَﻤُد ْﺒ ُن إْدِر َﻴس َﻋ ْن َﻋﻠ ﱢﻲ ْﺒ ِن ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ﻗَ َﺎﻝ َوَرَوى إْﺒَراﻫ ُﻴم ْﺒ ُن ْاﻟُﻤ ْﺴﺘَﻨ ِﻴر ﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ َﺤدﺜََﻨﺎ ْاﻟﻘَﺎﺴُم ْﺒ ُن ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ْﺒ ِن َﻋ ِن ْاﻟﻔَ ْﻀﻝ ْﺒ ِن َﺸ َﺎذ َان َﻋ ْن َﻋْﺒ د اﷲ َﻋ ِن ْاﻟُﻤﻔَ ﱠﻀﻝ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ َﺴﻤ ْﻌ ُت َأَﺒﺎ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ِِ ِ ِ ِ ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ْﺒ ِن ْاﻟ َﺤ َﺴ ِن ْﺒ ِن َﺤ ِﺎزم ﻤ ْن ﻛﺘَﺎﺒﻪ ْﺒ ِن َﺠَﺒﻠَﺔَ َﻋ ْن َﻋْﺒد اﷲ ْﺒ ِن ْاﻟُﻤ ْﺴﺘَﻨ ِﻴر َﻋْﺒد اﷲ (ع) َﻴﻘُ ُوﻝ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ِ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ َﺤﱠدﺜََﻨﺎ ُﻋَﺒْﻴ ُس ْﺒ ُن ﻫ َﺸﺎم َﻋ ْن َﻋْﺒد َﻋ ِن ْاﻟُﻤﻔَ ﱠﻀﻝ ْﺒ ِن ُﻋَﻤَر ﻗَ َ ﺎﻝ َﺴﻤ ْﻌ ُت

ِ ِ ِ اﷲ ْﺒ ِن َﺠَﺒﻠَﺔَ َﻋ ْن إْﺒَراﻫ َﻴم ْﺒ ِن َأَﺒﺎ َﻋْﺒد اﷲ (ع) َﻴﻘُ ُوﻝ ِ ِ ْاﻟُﻤ ْﺴﺘَﻨ ِﻴر َﻋ ِن ْاﻟُﻤﻔَ ﱠﻀﻝ ْﺒ ِن ُﻋَﻤَر ِ ِ ِ ْاﻟ ُﺠ ْﻌﻔ ﱢﻲ َﻋ ْن أَﺒِﻲ َﻋْﺒد اﷲ ﱠاﻟﺼﺎد ِق

(ع) ﻗَ َﺎﻝ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ إ ﱠن ﻟ َﺼ ﺎ ﺤ ب َﻫَذا ْاﻷَْﻤِر َﻏْﻴَﺒﺘَْﻴ ِن ﱠإن ﻟ َﺼﺎﺤب َﻫَذا ْاﻷَْﻤِر َﻏْﻴَﺒﺘَْﻴ ِن ِإ ﱠن ﻟ َﺼﺎﺤب َﻫَذا ْاﻷ َْﻤِر َﻏْﻴَﺒﺘَْﻴ ِن

ِ ﱠ ِ ﱠ ِ ِ ﱠ إ ْﺤ َد ُاﻫ َﻤﺎ ﺘَطُ ُوﻝ َﺤﺘﻰ َﻴﻘُ َوﻝ َﺒ ْﻌ ُﻀﻬُْم إ ْﺤَد ُاﻫَﻤﺎ ﺘَطُ ُوﻝ َﺤﺘﻰ َﻴﻘُ َوﻝ َﺒ ْﻌ ُﻀﻬُْم إ ْﺤَد ُاﻫ َﻤﺎ ْأَطَو ُﻝ ﻤ َن ْاﻷُ ْﺨَرى َﺤﺘﻰ ِ ِ ِ َﻤ َﺎت َوَﺒ ْﻌ ُﻀﻬُْم َﻴﻘُ ُوﻝ ﻗُﺘ َﻝ َوَﺒ ْﻌ ُﻀﻬُْم َﻤ َﺎت َوَﻴﻘُ َوﻝ َﺒ ْﻌ ُﻀﻬُْم ﻗُﺘ َﻝ َوَﻴﻘُ َوﻝ ُﻴﻘَ َﺎﻝ َﻤ َﺎت َوَﺒ ْﻌ ٌض َﻴﻘُ ُوﻝ ﻗُﺘ َﻝ َﻴﻘُ ُوﻝ َذ َﻫ َب َﺒ ْﻌ ُﻀﻬُْم َذ َﻫ َب ِ ِ ﱠ ِ ِ ﱠ ﻓََﻼ َﻴْﺒﻘَﻰ َﻋﻠَﻰ ْأَﻤِرِﻩ ﻤ ْن ْأَﺼ َﺤﺎﺒِﻪ إِﻻ َﺤﺘﱠﻰ َﻻ َﻴْﺒﻘَﻰ َﻋﻠَﻰ ْأَﻤِرِﻩ ﻤ ْن ْأَﺼ َﺤﺎﺒِﻪ ﻓََﻼ َﻴْﺒﻘَﻰ َﻋﻠَﻰ ْأَﻤِرِﻩ ِإﻻ َﻨﻔٌَر ِ ﱠِ ِ ِ ِ ِﱠ ِ ﱠِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِِ ﱠِ َﻨﻔٌَر َﻴﺴ ٌﻴر َﻻ َﻴطﻠﻊُ َﻋﻠَﻰ َﻤْوﻀﻌﻪ إﻻ َﻨﻔٌَر َﻴﺴ ٌﻴر َﻻ َﻴطﻠﻊُ َﻋﻠَﻰ َﻤْوﻀﻌﻪ َﻴﺴ ٌﻴر ﻤ ْن ْأَﺼ َﺤﺎﺒﻪ َوَﻻ َﻴطﻠﻊُ َأَﺤٌد ِ ِ ِ ِﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِﱠ َأَﺤٌد ﻤ ْن َوﻟ ﱟﻲ َوَﻻ َﻏْﻴِرﻩ إﻻ ْاﻟ َﻤْوﻟَﻰ َأَﺤٌد ﻤ ْن ُوْﻟدﻩ َوَﻻ َﻏْﻴِرﻩ إﻻ ْاﻟَﻤْوﻟَﻰ َﻋﻠَﻰ َﻤْوﻀﻌﻪ َو ْأَﻤِرﻩ َوَﻻ َﻏْﻴِرﻩ إﻻ ﱠِ ِ ﱠِ ِ ﱠِ ِ اﻟذ ي َ ﻴ ﻠ ﻲ أَ ْﻤ َرﻩ اﻟذ ي َ ﻴ ﻠ ﻲ أَ ْﻤ َرﻩ ْاﻟَﻤْوﻟَﻰ اﻟذ ي َ ﻴ ﻠ ﻲ أَ ْﻤ َرﻩ ُ

Asher, Scripture and Exegesis, 240-1; and now, Asatryan, “Mofażżal al-Joʿfi,” EIr (online edition). On the works that are attributed to him, see Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 333-7. 111

al-Ṭūsī (2): “The master of al-Ṭūsī (1): “The master of this al-Nuʿmānī: “The master of this amr will have two amr will have two ghaybas. this amr will have two ghaybas. ghaybas. One of them will last One of them will last until One of them will last until longer than the other until some say that he has died and some say that he has died and some say that he has died others say that he was killed, others say that he was killed, and still others that he has left and others say that he was and still others that he has left [and will not return]. killed. [and will not return]. No one will remain [It will last] until none of his None of his companions will [faithful] to his amr except companions are left [faithful] to be remain [faithful] to his amr a small group of his his amr except a small group. except a small group. None of companions. No one will None of his children or anyone his friends or anyone else will know his location or have else will know his location know his location except the any knowledge about his amr or anything else except the mawlā who is in mawlā who is in charge of his 265 266 [related to him] except the charge of his affairs.”264F affairs.”265F mawlā who is in charge of 264 his affairs.”263F

264 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 61 (no. 60).

265 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 161-2 (no. 120); al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al-anwār al-muḍīʾa, 155; al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:118 (no. 279); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:152-3 (no. 5); al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 152; al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 2:304 (no. 238).

266 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 176 (no. 5) > al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 2:302 (no. 232). Partial translation in Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 528. Al-Nuʿmānī states that if he transmitted this hadith and no other to prove the ghayba of the Imam, it would suffice: wa-law lam yakun yurwā fī al- ghayba illā hādhā al-ḥadīth la-kāna fīhi kifāya li-man taʾammalahu. 112

The matn of the hadith as recorded by al-Nuʿmānī is older and appears to be more reliable than

al-Ṭūsī (1) leading scholars to conclude that the hadith was corrupted (muḥarraf) as al-Nuʿmānī

narrated it without mentioning any children for the Imam.267

As first observed by Madelung, this Tradition, like others that specify two ghaybas for

the Qāʾim, is undoubtedly of Wāqifī origin.268 ʿAbd Allāh b. Jabala (d. 210/834) of Kūfa

mentioned in the isnād wrote a work to prove the ghayba of Mūsā al-Kāẓim and is widely recognized as a Wāqifī in the early rijāl works.269 Though al-Ṭūsī cites it, he felt obliged to

respond to the challenge that the hadith was of Wāqifī origin. He comments that this report

makes clear that the Qāʾim will have two ghaybas. During the first or lesser ghayba,

information about the Imam was accessible to the faithful. However, during the second ghayba,

news about him (akhbāruhu) has been cut off, his written communications (mukātabātuhu), i.e.,

his tawqīʿāt, have ceased and no one has any information about him except one special person,

267 Al-Tustarī, al-Akhbār al-dakhīla, 150. This point is likewise made by Luṭf Allāh Gulpāyigānī (b. 1918), Pāsukh-i dah pursish, 54, in arguing that it is not possible to know with certainty whether or not the Hidden Imam has a wife and children.

268 Madelung, “al-Mahdī,” EI², 5:1236. Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 57 (no. 52), preserves a hadith stating explicitly that al-Kāẓim will have “two ghaybas.”

269 Al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 216 (no. 563); al-Ḥillī, Khulāṣat al-aqwāl fī maʿrifat al-rijāl, 372; al- Shāhrūdī, Mustadrakāt ʿilm rijāl al-ḥadīth, 4:497 (no. 8138). 113

a reference to the mawlā. Al-Ṭūsī argues that this was not the case with the ghayba of Mūsā al-

Kāẓim and therefore this hadith was not applicable to him.270

2.4. al-Mawlā / al-Mawālī

From Hadith 2 and Hadith 3 we learn that during the ghayba of the Imam, and in

particular during the second or longer ghayba, none of his family, nor any of his Shīʿa or any of

his awliyāʾ will know his location and be able to contact him. The only person/people that will

be able to reach him are the elite of his mawālī (according to Hadith 2) or simply the mawlā

who is in responsible for his affairs (according to Hadith 3) which raises the question: who

is/are the mawlā/mawālī?

Mawlā (pl. mawālī), a polysemic word from the root waw-lām-yāʾ with a notoriously

expansive semantic field, is undoubtedly the most ambiguous term in the above hadiths. Al-

mawlā can be rendered as protector, friend, patron, lord or chief; kinsman or relative; freedman

or client (in the sense of being under the patronage of a manumitter); or servant.271 The term

270 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 61 (no. 60); al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:117 (no. 277), with minor differences.

271 Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 2:3061. On its use in the Quran, see Guenther, “Clients and Clientage,” EQ, 1:344-6; Wensinck, “Mawlā I. In the Ḳurʾān and Tradition,” EI²; Calderini, “Lord,” EQ, 3:229-31; Badawi and Abdel Haleem, Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur'anic Usage, 1048-9, who identify five denotations: 1. master, protector, patron; 2. ally, friend; 3. kinfolk, dependents; 4. a freed 114

has a rich history in Shīʿī sources and most immediately conjures the cryptic and perhaps most

contentious words the Prophet is said to have worded during his Farewell Pilgrimage at Ghadīr

Khumm, words which for centuries have been the subject of intense debate among Sunnī and

Shīʿī scholars: “For whomever I am their mawlā, ʿAlī is [also] their mawlā.”272

Mawlā = God

Some Shīʿī scholars have curiously interpreted al-mawlā in Hadith 3 as referring to God. Ḥasan

Urūmiyyih-ʾī (d. after 1260/1844) appears to have been the first to posit this interpretation by rendering illā al-mawlā alladhī yalī amrahu as “except Providence who directs his affairs”

(magar parvardigārī kih mudabbir-i umūr-i ūst)273 in his Persian translation of volume 13 of al-

Majlisī’s Biḥār al-anwār. More than a century later, ʿAlī Davānī (d. 1427/2007) was even less

oblique in his updated translation of the same volume, completed in 1339AS/1960: “except for

God who determines when, where and how (the Imam) will appear” (juz khudāvandī kih

slave; 5. inheritor, heir. See also Crone, “Mawlā II. In Historical and Legal Usage,” EI²; Campo, “Mawlā,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World; Landolt, “Walāyah,” ER, 14:9656-9662.

272 Translated and discussed in Valieri, “G̲h̲adīr Ḵh̲umm,” EI², 2:993-4; Landolt, “Walāyah,” 14:9658; Amir-Moezzi, “Notes à propos de la Walāya Imamite,” 738; Dakake, The Charismatic Community, 46- 7; Dakake, “Ḡadīr Ḵomm i. In Shiʿite Literature,” EIr, 10:246-7; Jafri, Origins and Early Development of Shiʿa Islam, 21-2; Dien and Walker, “Wilāya,” EI², 11:207-9; Bar-Asher, “La rapport de la religion nuṣayrite-ʿalawite au shiʿisme imamite,” 81.

273 Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyih-ʾī), 1:748. Parvardigār is one of the names of God in Persian. 115

ẓuhūr-u ū bi-dast-i viy ast).274 More recently, Muḥammad Sipihrī advanced the same

interpretation: “No one, not even his children, knows (the Imam’s) location except God who

has (the Imam’s) affairs in His hands” (magar khudāyī kih ikhityār-i ū rā dar dast dārad).275

This reading of al-mawlā as God is a very late development and though textually tenable, it implies that no human being knows where the Imam is during the Greater Occultation and would presumably negate the possibility of any person ever contacting or seeing him, a position that none of the three scholars mentioned earlier would agree with since all three have approvingly translated many of these accounts.

Mawlā = Friend

A more likely interpretation is reading mawlā as friend (close to one of the meanings of walī)

or initiate. The term is certainly used in this sense in some early sources. For instance, a hadith

ascribed to al-Kāẓim classifies humanity into “three kinds of people (al-nāsu thalāthatun): the

true genuine Arab, the mawlā and the uncouth. We [i.e., the Imams] are the true, genuine

Arabs; the mawlā is he who befriends/loves/is loyal us (fa-man wālānā)276; and the uncouth is

274 Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 930.

275 ʿĀmilī, Jazīrah-yi khaḍrāʾ dar tarāzū-yi naqd (trans. Sipihrī), 218.

276 Cf. additional sentence added to the hadith of Ghadīr Khumm in some versions: “O God, befriend him who befriends (ʿAlī), be an enemy to him who is enemy to him!” (Allāhumma wāli man wālāhu 116

he who disassociates himself from us and is openly hostile towards us.”277 It is said that the

tenth Imam appointed his son as the next Imam in the presence of “a group of mawālī,”278 here

meaning close followers and friends. And a Tradition ascribed to al-Ḥusayn states that the

mawālī are “from us” (wa-hum minnā),279 which to cite Amir-Moezzi, “probablement qu'ils sont formés de la même substance que nous.”280

The greatest proponent of this interpretation has been the aforementioned scholar, Amir-

Moezzi. He contends that taken together, Hadith 2 and Hadith 3 “appear to suggest” that the

faithful believers in the Imam remain in contact with him throughout the Greater Occultation.

In his works, Amir-Moezzi translates khāṣṣat mawālīhi in Hadith 2 as “les élus parmi ses Amis

wa-ʿādi man ʿādāhu), al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 2:226; translated in Lawson, The Qur’an Commentary, 91; for slightly different translations, see Landolt, “Walāyah,” 14:9658; Lawson, “Seeing Double,” 44.

277 Al-Ṣadūq, Maʿānī al-akhbār, 403 (no. 70). For discussion and a different translation, see Amir- Moezzi, “Seul l’Homme de Dieu est Humain,” 194, 201-2. Similar hadiths are found in al-Kulaynī’s al- Kāfī that present the trinary without the word mawlā or other derivatives of walāya, e.g., “There are three categories of people: the possessor of knowledge, the seeker of knowledge, and the flotsam (ghuthāʾ). We [i.e., the Imams] are the possessors of knowledge, our Shīʿa are the seekers of knowledge, and the rest of the people are flotsam.” Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:34 (no. 4).

278 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:325 (no. 2).

279 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 8:244-5 (no. 339).

280 Amir-Moezzi, “Seul l’Homme de Dieu est Humain,” 202. 117

intimes” (the chosen ones among his intimate Friends)281 and “les élus parmi ses Amis fidèles”282 / “les élus parmi ses fidèles Amis”283 (the chosen ones among his faithful Friends).

According to him, khāṣṣat mawālīhi refers to “les fidèles particulièrement initiés pour pouvoir

être en contact avec l’imâm caché pendant l’Occultation majeure.”284

Amir-Moezzi’s translation of Hadith 3 as it appears in al-Nuʿmānī is peculiar: “Seuls

quelques-uns parmi ses fidèles resteront acquis à sa Cause et nul, parmi les amis ou autres, ne

connaîtra l’endroit [walī] où il se trouve, hormis l’Ami intime qui régit sa Cause [al-mawlā al-

ladhī yalī amrahu].”285 As correctly observed by Amir-Moezzi, “une distinction inhabituelle” is

being made in this tradition between the walī, which he translates in the case of this hadith as

“ami,” and the mawlā, which he translates as “ami intime,” to establish a hierarchy among the

281 Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 327.

282 Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 133.

283 Amir-Moezzi, “Fin du Temps,” 62.

284 Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin 328 (note 711). This interpretation is repeated with slight variations in Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 133; Amir-Moezzi, “Fin du Temps,” 62; Amir-Moezzi, “Eschatology iii. In Imami Shiʿism,” EIr, 8:579.

285 Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 328 [= The Divine Guide, 137]; also cited in Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 133 where “l’Ami intime” is rendered as “l’Ami fidèle;” and Amir- Moezzi, “Fin du Temps,” 62, where “l-Ami intime” is rendered as “fidèle Ami.” 118

believers.286 But it is not clear what he intends by reading mawlā as the intimate friend of the

Imam who “rules over” (régit) his Cause unless by friend here is meant God which is clearly

not the case.287 The phrase yalī amrahu may be understood to mean ‘he who protects/guards his

amr’ or ‘he who holds command or authority over his amr’ but as Ibn Manẓūr points out, to

yalī an amr or to be the walī of an amr is also to take an affair or matter upon oneself, i.e. to

undertake something,288 which is the reading that most scholars have preferred (see below).

Based on his interpretation, Amir-Moezzi suggests that the “les mystiques imâmites n’ont pas cessé de declarer” that the friends of the Imam are a small minority of faithful believers who “discover the Light of the Imam in their hearts and thus attain esoteric

Knowledge [sic] and miraculous powers” and come to “know ‘the location of the hidden imam’,” but who are “able to hide their privilege from the eyes of the world, so that the conditions set up by the hidden imam in his last letter may [declaring anyone who has seen him a lying impostor] be respected.”289

286 Amir-Moezz, Le Guide divin, 328 (note 712).

287 Cf. Amir-Moezzi, “Eschatology iii. In Imami Shiʿism,” EIr, 8:579 where al-mawlā alladhī yalī amrahu is translated as “the faithful friend who guides his cause.”

288 Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, 15:407. See also Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 2:3060; Editors, “Wālī (a., pl. wulāt),” EI², 11:109.

289 Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 329 [= Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 137]. 119

This reading is reflected in some 19th century sources and developed most fully in the

writings of the Shaykhī masters but it would be anachronistic if not forced to read this

interpretation back into the early sources.290 In fact, other than certain works of Aḥmad al-

Aḥsāʾī, this reading is encountered in the works of only three other Shīʿī writers, all of which date from the 19th century onward: 1) Urūmiyyih-ʾī rendered khāṣṣat mawālīhi as “his special friends” (khāṣṣān-i dūstanash)291; 2) Amīnī (b. 1304AS/1925) likewise interpreted khāṣṣat mawālīhi as the elite of the Imam’s friends (khawāṣṣ-i dūstān)292; 3) Finally, in his translation

of al-Nuʿmānī’s Kitāb al-ghayba, Ghaffārī translated the phrase as “his servants or his special

friends” (khidmatkārān va yā dūstān-i khāṣṣ-i ū)”293 in one place and “the elite friends-servants

of (the Imam) who are firm in his dīn” (dūstān-i khidmatguzār-i khāṣṣ-i ānḥaḍrat kih bar dīn-i

ū hastand) in another.294

Mawlā = Servant

290 On the Shaykhī hermeneutics of the ghayba, see Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:205-300 passim and in particular, 274-86 and 286-91; Amir-Moezzi, “Une absence remplie de présences. Herméneutiques de l'occultation chez les Shaykhiyya.”

291 Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyih-ʾī), 1:751.

292 Amīnī, Dādgustar-i jahān, 131.

293 Al-Nuʿmānī, Matn va tarjamah-yi ghaybat-i Nuʿmānī (trans. Ghaffārī), 249.

294 Al-Nuʿmānī, Matn va tarjamah-yi ghaybat-i Nuʿmānī (trans. Ghaffārī), 250. 120

A more tenable reading is to understand mawlā in this hadith as denoting servant, similar in

meaning to the word khādim (coll. khadam, pl. khuddām).295 It is common knowledge that the

Prophet and all of the Imams possessed male servants, from Anas b. Mālik (d. 93/712) who

entered Muḥammad’s service as a youth,296 to Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ Qanbar b. Kādān al-Dawsī,

ʿAlī’s famous mawlā and groom,297 to the many servants and attendants of the Ḥasan al-

ʿAskarī.298 The will and testament of Mūsā al-Kāẓim preserved by al-Kulaynī states in part that

he bequeathed his “charities (ṣadaqāt), properties (amwāl) and servants (mawālī)” to his son.299

Shaykh al-Mufīd appears to have had the above hadiths in mind when he maintained

that during the second or longer ghayba, not even the Imam’s most elite votaries know his

295 Wensinck, “Khādim,” EI², 4:899.

296 On him, see now Juynboll, “Anas b. Mālik,” EI³ (online edition).

297 He is designated in Imāmī Shīʿī sources as a mawlā, khādim and ghulām of ʿAlī from Kūfa and stories of his unwavering loyalty to ʿAlī and ʿAlī’s deep affection for him are plentiful. See, e.g., al- Majlisī 42:121-140 (bāb 122: aḥwāl Rashīd al-Hijrī wa-Maytham al-Tammār wa-Qanbar). There is surprisingly little about him in western sources. See Friedlaender, “The Heterodoxies of the Shiites in the Presentation of Ibn Ḥazm,” 99-100; Rajkowski, “Early Shīʿism in Iraq,” 120 (note 2); Anthony, The Caliph and the Heretic, 171-2 (note 62). Several of his descendants were hadith transmitters, e.g. Kathīr al-Qanbarī. See Modarressi, Tradition and Survival, 309. He is also features prominently in an early Nuṣayrī source as “the bāb of revelation.” See Bar-Asher and Kofsky, “A Tenth-Century Nuṣayrī Treatise on the Duty to Know the Mystery of the Divinity,” esp. 244-9.

298 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:329 (no. 6).

299 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:316 (no. 15). 121

location or are able to reach him. This is because “the only people who know his location

during the longer (ghayba) are those from among his most trustworthy friends/initiates who

have been entrusted with the task of serving him (man tawallā khidmatahu min thuqāt

awliyāʾihi) and who do nothing else but tend to his [daily] needs (lam yanqaṭiʿ ʿanhu ilā al-

ishtighāl bi-ghayrihi).”300 In other words, the mawālī are the Imam’s servants.

In fact, the overwhelming majority of Shīʿī scholars who have commented on these

hadiths have interpreted mawlā and mawālī as a servant or servants who tends to the everyday needs of the Imam, using an Arabic or Persian derivative of the khāʾ-dāl-mīm root and on rare

occasion, in the case of Persian translators and commentators, the word ghulām.301 Commenting

on the version of Hadith 2 found in al-Kāfī, al-Kāshānī speculated that “it seems that by

khāṣṣat al-mawālī is meant those who serve (the Hidden Imam)” (ka-annahu yurīd bi-khāṣṣat

al-mawālī alladhīna yakhdimūnahu). He then echoed a previous statement mentioned earlier:

300 Al-Mufīd, al-Masāʾil al-ʿashar fī al-ghayba, 76.

301 The word ghulām is of Arabic origin and denotes “either a servant, sometimes elderly and very often, but not necessarily a slave servant; or a bodyguard, slave or freedman, bound to his master by personal ties,” D. Sourdel, et al. “Ghulām,” EI², 2:1079-1091; Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 2286- 7. The word has a rich history in Arabic literature beginning with the Qur’an where the following are referred to as ghulām: Ismāʿīl (15:53; 37:101); the unnamed youth killed by the companion of Moses (18:74, 80); the two orphaned owners of the wall that the companion of Moses repaired (18:82); John the Baptist (3:40, 19:7-8); Jesus (19:19-20); the young men who serve the denizens of Paradise (52:24); 122

“because there is no way for the rest of the Shīʿa to reach him during (the Greater

Occultation)” (li-anna sāʾir al-shīʿat laysa lahum fīhā ilayhi sabīlun).302 According to al-Majlisī,

the khāṣṣat al-mawālī are the Imam’s “servants (khadamahu), family members and children or

the 30 who have already been mentioned [in his commentary on Hadith 1].”303 Nūrī rendered

illā al-mawlā alladhī yalī amrahu as “except for the one who is busy serving [the Imam] and

tending to his needs” (magar ānkih mashghūl-i khidmat va mutavallī-i umūr-i ūst).304

Scholars from the twentieth century have advanced the same interpretation. In his

exposition of the doctrines of Shīʿī Islam, Mujtabā Qazvīnī-Khurāsānī (d. 1386/1967)305

translated illā al-mawlā alladhī yalī amrahu as “except the one who serves (the Imam)” (magar

and Joseph (12:19), the ghulām par excellence in Islamic sources. In Persian, the loan word ghulām denotes a young male servant or slave, Dihkhudā, Lughatnāmah (online edition), s.v. ‘ghulām.’

302 Al-Kāshānī, al-Wāfī, 2:414. The same explanation is repeated by al-Kāshānī in his al-Shāfī fī al- ʿaqāʾid wa-l-akhlāq wa-l-aḥkām, 332.

303 Al-Majlisī, Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl, 4:52. Persian translation in Dhākirī, “Irtibāṭ bā imām-i zamān,” 87. The first part of al-Majlisī’s explanation is also mentioned in a footnote to Muṣṭafavī’s translation of Uṣūl al-kāfī, al-Kulaynī, Uṣūl al-kāfī (trans. Muṣṭafavī), 2:140-1 (no. 19).

304 Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:861.

305 A renowned 20th century scholar and the teacher of such prominent contemporary ulama as ʿAlī Sīstānī (b. 1349/1930) and Abū al-Qāsim Khazʿalī (b. 1304AS/1925) (on whom, see the General Conclusion). 123

ān-kih ū rā khidmat mīnamāyad).306 Amīnī understood the phrase as “his special servant”

(khidmatkār-i makhṣūṣash),307 while Ayatollah Yad Allāh al-Dūzdūzānī (b. 1935) interpreted

al-mawlā as “those who support his amr. These are [his] servants and no one else” (wa-hum al-

khadama wa-lā yashmal ghayr al-khadama).308

Muḥammad Javād Ghaffārī, the Persian translator of al-Nuʿmānī’s al-Ghayba, rendered the final part of the hadith as, “except for the servant who tends to his needs” (magar hamān khidmatguzārī kih bikār-hā-yi ū mīrisad).309 Ghaffārī’s translation is similar to a more recent

translation by ʿAlī-Akbar Dhākirī: “except for the servant who takes care of his affairs” (magar

khādimī kih kārhā-yi īshān rā anjām mīdihad).310 Kamrahʾī rendered khāṣṣat mawālīhi as “his

initiated servants” (khādimīn-i maḥram-i ū),311 while Bihbūdī translated the locution as “his

306 Qazvīnī-Khurāsānī, Bayān al-furqān, 900.

307 Amīnī, Dādgustar-i jahān, 132. In his English translation of Amīnī’s book, Sachedina mistranslates khidmatkār-i makhṣūṣash as “his very few followers,” Amini, al-Imām al-Mahdī (trans. Sachedina), 126.

308 Al-Dūzdūzānī, Taḥqīq laṭīf, 91.

309 Al-Nuʿmānī, Matn va tarjamah-yi ghaybat-i Nuʿmānī (trans. Ghaffārī), 251. See also idem, 259, where al-mawlā is translated as “special servant” (khidmatkār-i makhṣūṣ). A similar translation is offered by Yaʿqūbī, “Nigāhī bih tavallud,” 353: “except the person who is in charge of his affairs” (juz ān kasī kih umūr-i vay rā pay mīgīrad).

310 Dhākirī, “Irtibāṭ bā imām-i zamān,” 88.

311 Al-Kulaynī, Uṣūl al-kāfī (trans. Kamrahʾī), 2:576 (no. 19). 124

special servants” (ghālimān-i makhṣūs-i ū).312 Aḥmad Fahrī-Zanjānī translated mawālī in

connection with these hadiths as servants (nawkarān).313 ʿAlīpūr citing this hadith as proof that

meeting the Imam is possible, translates khāṣṣat mawālīhi as “the elite servants”

(khidmatkārān-i khāṣṣ)314 who he argues are “special individuals” (afrād-i khāṣṣī)315 that have

seen and recognized the Imam.

Muḥammad Rāzī who translated al-Ṭūsī’s Kitāb al-ghayba into Persian rendered the

phrase in al-Ṭūsī (1) as “except for the servant who tends to his needs” (magar ghulāmī-kih

mutavallī-i amr-i ū mīshavad),316 and al-Ṭūsī (2) as “except that servant who will oversee his affairs” (magar ān ghulāmīkih mubāshir-i kār-i ūst).317 ʿAbbās Jalālī, who recently retranslated

al-Ṭūsī’s Kitāb al-ghayba into Persian followed suit, translating the phrase in al-Ṭūsī (1) as

“except the servant who has assumed responsibility for his affairs” (juz ghulāmī kih umūr-i

312 Al-Kulaynī, Guzīdah-yi Kāfī (trans. Bihbūdī), 1:90 (no. 118).

313 Al-Nuʿmānī, Ghaybat-i Nuʿmānī (trans. Fahrī-Zanjānī), 220. Elsewhere, Fahrī-Zanjānī translates al- mawlā as “special servant” (khidmatkār-i makhṣūṣ), idem, 213.

314 ʿAlīpūr, Jilvah-hā-yi pinhānī, 110.

315 ʿAlīpūr, Jilvah-hā-yi pinhānī, 113.

316 Al-Ṭūsī, Tuḥfah-yi qudsī (trans. Rāzī), 51.

317 Al-Ṭūsī, Tuḥfah-yi qudsī (trans. Rāzī), 135 (no. 6). 125

marbūṭ bih ū rā bar ʿuhdah mīgīrad),318 and al-Ṭūsī (2) as “except for the servant who is

responsible for his affairs” (magar ghulāmī kih ʿuhdihdār-i kārhā-yi ū mīshavad).319 This

reading is affirmed by Javād Muʿallim who alluding to Hadith 1 states “the Imam’s servants are

some 30 people who not only see the Imam whenever they wish but are in fact always in his

service (hamīshih dar khidmat-i ḥaḍratand).”320

Three western scholars have advanced the same interpretation. Sachedina and Klemm translated khāṣṣat al-mawālīhi as “(the Imam’s) special slaves”321 and “the chosen ones from

among (the Imam’s) assistants” (Auserwählten seiner Helfer),322 respectively, while Hussain translated al-mawlā as “his servant.”323

Mawlā = Client

A fourth possibility is that mawlā denotes client. This meaning should perhaps be the first

advanced in discussing any hadith or report that mentions both mawālī and the Mahdī or

318 Ṭūsī, Khūrshīd dar nahān (trans. Jalālī), 1:231.

319 Ṭūsī, Khūrshīd dar nahān (trans. Jalālī), 1:107.

320 Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 74 (note 1 by the editor, Muʿallim).

321 Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 84.

322 Klemm, “Die vier sufarāʾ des Zwölften Imām,” 142-3.

323 Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 142. 126

Qāʾim. In the first centuries of Islam, the mawālī were non-Arab converts to Islam who were forced to affiliate themselves with an Arab tribe and who made up an underprivileged second- class citizenry.324 The promise of the appearance of the Mahdī was especially appealing to

many of the mawālī.325 Consequently, many of the mawālī were attracted to various movements

of Shīʿī or proto-Shīʿī Islam, in particular in its more pronounced messianic and eschatological

modes of expression.326 We know for example that al-Mukhtār b. Abī ʿUbayd Allāh al-

Thaqafī’s (d. 67/686-7) main supporters were mawālī of Persian origin from Kūfa, the cradle of

Shīʿī Islam.327 Al-Mukhtār’s failed revolt is not only significant for being widely recognized as

the first time the title Mahdī was used with an explicitly messianic connotation as the promised

restorer of true Islam – in this case, applied by al-Mukhtār to ʿAlī’s son, Muḥammad b. al-

324 One of the best discussions of this topic remains Sharīf’s 1954 work, al-Ṣirāʿ bayna al-mawālī wa-l- ʿarab.

325 Daftary, “ʿAlids,” EI³ (online edition). However, as Tucker, Mahdis and Millenarians, 126 and index, s.v. ‘Mawla [sic], Mawālī’, has shown, Arabs clearly continued to play a role in the various manifestations of Shīʿī messianic fervor.

326 For example, Tucker, “Bayān b. Samʻān and the Bayāniyya: Shīʻite Extremists of Umayyad Iraq,” 197, speculates that the mawālī made up most of not all of Bayān b. Samʿān’s (d. 119/737) followers. On him, see now, Walker, “Bayān b. Samʿān,” EI³ (online edition). See also Amir Arjomand, “Islamic Apocalypticism in the Classical Period,” 255-6.

327 See Friedlaender, “Jewish-Arabic Studies. I. Shiitic Elements in Jewish Sectarianism,” 281; Litvak, “Iraq X. Shiʿites of Iraq,” EIr 13:581; Newman, Formative Period, 6. For Kūfa’s role as the “cradle of Shīʿism,” see Djaït, “al-Kūfa,” EI², 5:345-51, esp. Part II. Politics, ideology and culture in Kūfa. 127

Ḥanafiyya328 (d. 81/700–1) – but also because two central closely-related doctrines of later

Twelver Shīʿī Islam were promulgated: 1) the notion of sifāra in that al-Mukhtār claimed to be the authorized representative of the concealed Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya; 2) the notion of

ghayba in that a group of Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya’s followers denied his death and claimed that he was simply in hiding. The Kaysāniyya were likewise led by the Persian mawlā Kaysān

Abū ʿAmra who enjoyed the support of many mawālī in southern Iraq.329 Furthermore, mawālī

is used in the sense of clients, or more precisely liberated clients, in hadiths ascribed to the

Imams.330

While the Abbasid Revolution is credited with having largely dispelled the glaring

distinctions between Arabs Muslims and the mawālī,331 it is likely that the above Traditions

328 On him, see Buhl, “Muḥammad Ibn al-Ḥanafiyya,” EI², 7:402-3.

329 Jafri, Origins and Early Development of Shiʿa Islam, 114, 262-3; Amir-Arjomand, “Millenial Beliefs, Hierocratic Authority and Revolution in Shiʻite Iran,” 221-2; Madelung, “Kaysāniyya,” EI², 4:836-8.

330 See for example, al-ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, 2:263 (no. 436), where {the mountains} and {the trees} (Qur’an 16:68) are interpreted by al-Ṣādiq as the Arabs and the mawālī who were freed (al- mawālī ʿatāqat an) respectively; referred to in Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imāmī Shiism, 111-2.

331 Daniel, “ʿAbbāsid Revolution,” EI³ (online edition). Cf. the lengthy Daniel apocalyptic text found in Ibn al-Munādī’s (d. 336/947) Kitāb al-malāḥim, where an unnamed mawlā features prominently as a messianic figure, giving us an important window to some of the apocalyptic attitudes that permeated late 3rd-4th/9th-10th cent. Baghdad. For complete translation and discussion, see Cook, “An Early Muslim Daniel Apocalypse.” 128

originated in a pre-Abbasid milieu during the lifetimes of al-Bāqir and al-Ṣādiq and were later modified by proponents of the Wāqifiyya to fit their doctrines. Identifying these hadiths as

Wāqifī in origin, Madelung translated al-mawlā alladhī yalī amrahu as “the client in charge of

his affairs.”332 Hussain’s translation of khāṣṣat mawālīhi as “his close associates”333 would

appear to be similar in meaning.

2.5. Conclusion

The multivalency of mawlā and the resulting ambiguity renders all of the above

interpretations tenable, though the evidence is stacked in favor of either client or servant, with the latter being the preferred reading among most Shīʿī scholars.

The above three hadiths are the only Traditions adduced by some later Shīʿī scholars as

traditional proofs to lend credence to their position that an elite body of believers – in particular from the ranks of the ulama – can see and recognize the Imam during the Greater Occultation.

Yet as we have seen, there is much more to these hadiths than meets the eye. Most importantly, all three hadiths appear to have emanated from the Wāqifī followers of Mūsā al-Kāẓim. As

Kohlberg and Madelung have both convincingly demonstrated, many, if not most, of the

332 Madelung, “al-Mahdī,” EI², 5:1236.

333 Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 142. 129

hadiths that speak about a ghayba or two ghaybas for the Qāʾim had been in existence long

before the twelfth Imam. Shīʿī scholars like al-Kulaynī and al-Nuʿmānī drew on these hadiths

and brought them into line with the nascent dogmas about the ghayba of the twelfth Imam.334

This was done partly through reinterpreting the earlier reports and partly through producing

new reports based on the earlier sources.

It merits repeating that the overwhelming majority of hadiths mentioned in the earliest

sources, many of which were discussed in sections 1.5 and 1.6, affirm that the Imam cannot be

recognized by anyone during the ghayba. The single most important text that negates the possibility of anyone encountering the Imam is the final tawqīʿ attributed to the Hidden Imam and it is to a study of this document and its historical context that we now turn.

334 See Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 532; Madelung, “al-Mahdī,” EI², 5:1236. See also Halm, Shiʻism, 31-2, 38, 40; Amir Arjomand, “Imam Absconditus and the Beginnings of a Theology of Occultation,” 10. 130

CHAPTER 3

“A Lying Impostor”

The death in Shaʿbān 329/May 941 of the last representative of the Hidden Imam marks the

start of the second ghayba (commonly referred to in later sources as the Greater Occultation).

In the immediate decades that followed, there was a drive to deny the possibility of ever seeing the Imam again until his ẓuhūr. This was the position advanced by the Shīʿī Traditionists as

reflected in the earliest surviving defenses of the ghayba written by al-Nuʿmānī and al-Ṣadūq and, in particular, the final tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam recorded by the latter. This position,

however, proved untenable. The next generation of scholars revived the rationalist approach

that had been in abeyance since the period of the Lesser Occultation.335 While al-Mufīd, the

first exponent of the new rationalist Baghdad school, for the most part affirmed the opinion of

the Traditionists on the question of seeing and contacting the Imam, his students (and in

particular al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā) disagreed with him and maintained that it was at least

335 On this early stage of Muʿtazilite influence on the Shīʿī belief in the Imam’s ghayba, see Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, Part II; Amir Arjomand, “Ḡayba,” EIr, 10:341-4; McDermott, “Ebn Qeba, Abū Jaʿfar Moḥammad, EIr,” 8:45; Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran VII. The Concept of Mahdi in Twelver Shiʿism,” EIr, 14:137-8. 131

theoretically possible for many of the believers to encounter the Imam during the Greater

Occultation. We will begin our discussion with the Traditionists.

3.1. The Kitāb al-ghayba of the Scribe

Ibn Abī Zaynab al-Nuʿmānī (d. 345/956 or 360/971) was an itinerant student of Shīʿī

hadith, having travelled in search of Traditions of the Imams to Shiraz, Baghdad, Damascus

and Aleppo. As mentioned in the previous chapter, he was a student of al-Kulaynī and is in fact

commonly referred to by the agnomen al-kātib (“the scribe”) for having personally copied the

latter’s al-Kāfī;336 however, unlike his teacher who is believed to have died before the end of

the first or shorter ghayba, al-Nuʿmānī’s lived and wrote into the second ghayba as well.337

Al-Nuʿmānī’s Kitāb al-ghayba (completed in Dhū al-Ḥijja 342/April-May 954),338 a

work we have cited extensively in chapters 1 and 2, is the earliest extant defense of the ghayba

of the twelfth Imam from the Greater Occultation. It is difficult to overestimate its importance

as a window into the Shīʿī community of the period of heightened ḥayra (confusion,

336 Newman, “Between Qumm and the West,” 96. On al-Nuʿmānī, see also Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, 102-3 (note 259); Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis, 63-4; Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 52. For general comments on his Kitāb al-ghayba, see Ourghi, Schiitischer Messianismus, 30; Amir-Moezzi, “Fin du Temps et Retour à l’Origine,” 54 and passim.

337 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 13. 132

helplessness and loss) that characterized the period that immediately followed the four sufarāʾ,

especially in light of the fact that unlike al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī which is a catalogue of Shīʿī

Traditions with few comments from its compiler, al-Nuʿmānī offers valuable observations about

the state of the fledgling Twelver Shīʿī community of his time and on rarer occasions, his own

interpretation of the Traditions he cites.

In the work’s introduction, al-Nuʿmānī bemoans the fact that the Shīʿa have split into

numerous branches (tashaʿʿabat madhāhibuhā). Those who believe in the line of the Imams

either do not know who the Hidden Imam is, dispute his existence, or are so pusillanimous as

to allow themselves to be overcome with doubt about the ghayba.339 He has therefore taken

338 Al-Nuʿmānī mentions that the Imam has been in hiding “some 80 years” at the time he is writing, al- Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 159.

339 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 27-8. The heresiographical works that have survived from the Lesser Occultation indicate that after the passing of al-ʿAskarī, his followers split into numerous sects. According to al-Nawbakhtī (d. between 300/912-3 and 310/922-3), Kitāb firaq al-Shīʿa, 79-94 (= al- Nawbakhtī, Shīʿa Sects (trans. Kadhim), 153-6) fourteen factions emerged; according to al-Ashʿarī al- Qummī (d. 299/911-2 or 301/913-4), Kitāb al-maqāmāt wa-l-firaq, 102-16, fifteen factions. The celebrated historian and geographer al-Masʿūdī (d. 345/956), writing circa 332/943-44 (see, Cooperson, “Masʿudi,” EIr (online edition)), says that the followers of al-ʿAskarī split into 21 factions. See al- Masʿūdī, Murūj al-dhahab wa-maʿādin al-jawhar, 4:199, mentioned in al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 50:336 (no. 15). We do not know how many of these sects continued to exist at the time of al-Nuʿmānī, who again is writing twelve years after the start of the second ghayba, but it is clear from his description here that many factions continue to vie with one another. A contemporary of al-Nuʿmānī, the Ismāʿīlī dāʿī and Fatimid chief judge, Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān b. Muḥammad al-Tamīmī al-Maghribī, known as al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān (d. 363/974), Sharḥ al-akhbār, 3:313-5, states that 11 sects appeared after the death of al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, with number 6 being the Twelver Shīʿa. If al-Mufīd is to believed, the situation 133

matters into his own hands and decided to write a formal defense of the ghayba from the

attacks of “those who oppose the tiny group [of believers] who steadfastly follow” (man

khālafa al-shirdhima al-mustaqīma ʿalā)”340 the hidden twelfth Imam. It is clear from the work’s

prologue that at the time in which al-Nuʿmānī is writing (some twelve years after the death of

the last representative of the Hidden Imam), the Shīʿa who upheld the ghayba of the son of

Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī were barely a visible minority. Al-Nuʿmānī refers to his fellow believers as

“the small band” (al-ʿiṣāba al-qalīla)341 and “tiny group who stand apart from the great majority

who claim to be Shīʿa (al-shirdhima al-munfarida ʿan al-khalq al-kathīr al-muddaʿīn lil-

tashayyuʿ) but who have split into different factions (firaq) as a result of their corrupt and

selfish inclinations.”342 These he accuses of stubbornly refusing to patiently endure the loss

(fiqdān) of the Imam and the length of his ghayba despite repeated warnings from the

changed quite rapidly since he is attributed to have said: “Among the firaq we have mentioned [of the factions that split after the passing of the Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, the eleventh Imam], the only firqa that still exists in our time, which is the year 373/983-4, is the Twelver-Imāmī (al-imāmiyya al-ithnā ʿashariyya) whose followers believe in the Imamate of (al-ʿAskarī’s) son and who are certain that he is alive and will continue to live until the moment [at the end of time] when he rises with the sword,” al- Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 321.

340 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 159.

341 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 34.

342 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 174. 134

(previous) Imams to remain steadfast, e.g., “Be not distressed at the small number of those who

tread the path of guidance” (lā tastawḥishū fī ṭarīq al-hudā li-qillat man yaslukuhu).343

The Kitāb al-ghayba is the first Shīʿī work in which the distinguishing features of the

two ghaybas are delineated: “As for the first ghayba, it was when there were representatives

(al-sufarāʾ) between the Imam and the people who had been appointed (manṣūbīn) [by the

Imam].” It is noteworthy that al-Nuʿmānī neither identifies these representatives nor for that

matter suggests that they were only four in number as codified a century later by al-Ṭūsī. He

says only that they were prominent people who were visible and well-known to the believers

(ẓāhirīn mawjūdī al-ashkhāṣ wa-l-aʿyān). These representatives served as messengers between

the Imam and the faithful, providing answers to all manner of abstruse questions and problems

posed by the believers to their Imam. However, al-Nuʿmānī adds, “this was the short ghayba

(al-ghayba al-qaṣīra) whose days have come to an end and whose time has now passed. The second ghayba (al-ghayba al-thāniyya) is the one during which the representatives (al-sufarāʾ)

and the intermediaries (al-wasāʾiṭ)344 have been removed for a purpose intended by God.” Al-

343 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 175 (also cited in idem, 34, 35). An almost identical statement is found in al-Imām ʿAlī (attributed), Nahj al-balāgha, 319 (sermon 201).

344 This is one of the two times in the text where al-Nuʿmānī mentions the wasāʾiṭ (see below for the other mention). It is not clear if this is another term for the sufarāʾ or if it refers to a different class of individuals who served as the Imam’s agents and deputies, similar to the term wukalāʾ used by scholars 135

Nuʿmānī declares that this “second ghayba,” a time in which the believers are tested (al-tamḥīṣ wa-l-imhtiḥān), thrown into confusion (al-balbala), sifted (al-gharbala), and purified (al- taṣfiyya), “is now upon us.”345 Yet according to him, the Traditions of the Prophet and previous

Imams predicted both the ghayba of the twelfth Imam (referred to inter alia as the ‘the master of truth’ - ṣāḥib al-ḥaqq) and the ghayba of “the means [of reaching the Imam]” (al-sabab), that

is, the Imam’s representatives and intermediaries who constituted the support (al-sanād) whom

the Shīʿa relied on. The moment this support was removed, they became like goats without a

before and after al-Nuʿmānī (the related term nuwwāb is a Safavid invention when the four sufarāʾ came to be known as al-nuwwāb al-khāṣṣa and the ulama as al-nuwwāb al-ʿāmma of the Hidden Imam).

345 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 178-9. A different translation of a part of this passage is provided by Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 140-1. Cf. Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 85-6. A partial Persian translation is given by Amīnī, Dādgustar-i jahān, 134-5, though he interpolates a phrase that is not found in the original text: “through the intermediation (of the sufarāʾ), the sick were healed (marīḍ-hāyī shifā yāftand).” Equally strange is Sachedina’s translation of this passage of Amīnī’s work: “…from [their] hands emanated cures derived from the knowledge and the intricate wisdom which they possessed,” Amini, al-Imām al-Mahdī (trans. Sachedina), 129. (It is clear that Sachedina failed to consult the original Arabic of al-Nuʿmānī’s text). Interestingly, although al-Nuʿmānī is the first scholar to outline the distinguishing features of the two ghaybas – an idea which as we saw in chapter 2, was clearly borrowed from the post-Mūsā al-Kāẓim Wāqifīs – he nonetheless includes hadiths that mention only one ghayba for the Qāʾim as well, e.g., the following intriguing hadith ascribed to al-Ṣādiq: “The master of this amr will have a ghayba. He will say during it, {I fled from you when I feared you. But [now] my Lord has granted me the Law and made me one of the messengers} (Qur’an 26:21),” al- Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 173 (no. 10). According to this Tradition, when he appears, the Qāʾim will reveal new laws and declare that he is a messenger of God. 136

shepherd346 and the upheaval (fitna) of the second occultation commenced.347 For as long as

they had intermediaries (al-wasāʾiṭ) between themselves and the Hidden Imam, there was a

means to communicate (balāgh) with him and receive guidance (hudā). God then decreed “to

remove such means” (rafʿ al-asbāb) during the second ghayba in order to further test the

Shīʿa.348

Al-Nuʿmānī’s Kitāb al-ghayba represents an initial push to deny any possibility of

contacting the Imam until his reappearance (in Shīʿī parlance, commonly called his ẓuhūr). Al-

Nuʿmānī is adamant that seeing the Imam is no longer possible: The Imam physically exists

(inna al-imām mawjūd al-ʿayn wa-l-shakhṣ); however, at this time [i.e. in the second ghayba] and “until the day of [the appointed] time and the promise [when] the caller will call from the sky (cf. Qur’an 50:41)” (ilā yawm al-waqt wa-l-waʿd wa-nidāʾ al-munādī min al-samāʾ), “he sees but is not seen” (yarā wa-lā yurā).349

346 Al-Nuʿmānī is here alluding to a hadith ascribed to ʿAlī cited in his al-Ghayba, 197 (no. 3), and translated in chapter 1 of our study.

347 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 198.

348 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 198. See also al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 164. The idea that the purpose of the ghayba is to test the faith of the Shīʿa is found in numerous hadiths. See, e.g., al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 156 (no. 11), and chapter 2 of our study.

349 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 138. 137

According to al-Nuʿmānī, the “widely attested” (mutawātir) Traditions he has presented suffice and testify to the truth (ṣiḥḥa) of the ghayba and the concealment of knowledge (ikhtifāʾ al-ʿilm) and “by knowledge is meant the Proof (of God) to the world [i.e., the Hidden Imam].”

The previous Imams commanded the Shīʿa to cling steadfastly to their creed, never shake or

waver in their belief and yearn patiently for the Imam’s ẓuhūr. Al-Nuʿmānī then makes a striking statement: while the Shīʿa still have an obligation to know and recognize their Imam, they “are excused from not being able to see the Proof (of God) and Imam of their time during

[his] ghayba (wa-hum maʿdhūrūn fī an lā yaraw ḥujjatahum wa-imāma zamānihim fī ayyām al-

ghayba).” In fact, they are forbidden to search for the Imam (wa-maḥẓūrun ʿalayhim al-faḥṣ wa-

l-kashf ʿan ṣāḥib al-ghayba), to demand to know his name or to ask where he lives or where he

is hiding. They are even prohibited from “speaking about him in glowing terms, to say nothing

of asking to see him with their own eyes” (wa-maḥẓūrun ʿalayhim…al-ishāda bi-dhikrihi faḍlan

ʿan al-muṭalaba bi-muʿāyinatihi).350 Unlike the people of knowledge (ahl al-maʿrifa) who submit

to the bidding of God and endure patiently, only the people of ignorance (ahl al-jahl) fail to

discern what the Imams have said and demand instead to be guided to the Hidden Imam and his

350 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 163-4. 138

location (yuṭālibūna bi-l-irshād ilā shakhṣihi wa-l-dalāla ʿalā mawḍiʿihi) or insist imperiously

that he show himself to them (wa-yaqtariḥūna iẓhārahu lahum).351

It is difficult to not see in these words an implicit dialogue with the rival Ismāʿīlī

Shīʿa.352 The crisis that followed the death of Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī in 260/874 had played into the

hands of the Ismāʿīlī mission or ‘Call to Truth’ (daʿwat al-ḥaqq) as many of al-ʿAskarī’s former

followers switched allegiance to the Ismāʿīlī Imam, including the founder of the Ismāʿīlī

community in Yemen, Ibn Ḥawshab, known as Manṣūr al-Yaman (d. 302/914), who came from

a prominent proto-Twelver family in Baghdad.353 On the eve of the Fatimid dynasty (297/909-

567/1171), reports indicate that some of the former followers of al-ʿAskarī left Baghdad when

351 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 164.

352 As Halm has pointed out, the followers of the movement we now call Ismāʿīlī used other terms to describe themselves, namely ahl al-ḥaqq (the people of truth or the people of God), their movement as dīn al-ḥaqq (the religion of truth) or simply al-ḥaqq, and the preaching of their movement as daʿwat al- ḥaqq (the call to truth) or simply al-daʿwa. See Halm, The Empire of the Mahdi, 17; Halm, Die Schia, 194. Likewise, the Ismāʿīlī Caliphate that ruled until 567/1171 is commonly called the Fatimid dynasty but in their documents, the Fatimids referred to themselves as dawlat al-ḥaqq (the dynasty/cycle of truth). See Halm, Die Schia, 209.

353 On him, see Halm, “Ebn Ḥawšab,” EIr, 8:28-9. Al-Yaman was plagued with doubts after the death of al-ʿAskarī and openly complained about “the fraud which the followers of Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al- ʿAskarī (the twelfth Imam) were perpetrating.” Halm, The Empire of the Mahdi, 32. Halm’s statement that “his was father was a Twelver Shiʿite” (Halm, “Ebn Ḥawšab,” EIr, 8:28) need to be modified since we cannot speak of a Twelver Shiʿi Islam before 260/874. See also Halm, Shiʻism, 164: “Ismāʻīlī propaganda (daʻwa) was aimed in particular at the Imāmī Shiʻites who had been shaken by the death of their eleventh Imam.” 139

the Fatimid Caliph ʿAbd Allāh al-Mahdī (d. 322/934) assumed power to encourage him to

conquer the Abbasid capital and the eastern frontiers.354 Meanwhile, followers of the eastern

Ismāʿīlī branch known as the Qarāmiṭa ridiculed the Twelver Shīʿa for their belief in an absent,

concealed Imam.355 It is not surprising therefore to find that proto-Twelver and Twelver Shīʿī

scholars were actively involved in anti-Ismāʿīlī polemics during this period. Faḍl b. Shādhān al-

Nīshābūrī (d. 260/873), a confidant of the eleventh Imam, wrote a refutation of the Ismāʿīlīs

(which has not survived) called al-Radd ʿalā al-bāṭiniyya wa-l-Qarāmiṭa.356 Al-Kulaynī likewise

authored a work attacking the Qarāmiṭa entitled Kitāb al-radd ʿalā al-Qarāmiṭa.357 And his Uṣūl

al-kāfī includes numerous Traditions that seek to discredit Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar and remonstrate with

354 Halm, The Empire of the Mahdi, 182.

355 See for example the text translated by Halm, The Empire of the Mahdi, 254 (note 398), and attributed to a Qarmaṭī propagandist: “Our Imam is the Mahdi so-and-so, son of so-and-so, the son of Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq; we are not like those stupid Twelver Shiʿites (rāfiḍa) who make propaganda for an expected Absent One.” On the Qarāmiṭa, see Madelung, “Ḳarmaṭī,” EI²; Daftary, “Carmatians,” EIr, 4:823-32; and the important study by Madelung, “The Fatimids and the Qarmaṭīs of Baḥrayn,” 21- 73, in which he corrects the notion advanced by Sunnī polemicists and western scholars, in particular M. J. de Goeje, in demonstrating that the Qarmaṭī leaders in Bahrain were not in collusion with the Fatimids.

356 Al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, 198; al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 10:189 (no. 459). On Faḍl b. Shādhān, see chapter 2 of our study.

357 Kohlberg, “Kolayni,” EIr (online edition); Marcinkowski, “A Glance on the First of the Four Ḥadīth Collections,” 15. 140

the Ismāʿīlīs of his own time.358 Al-Kulaynī’s contemporary, ʿAlī b. Bābūya al-Qummī (father

of al-Ṣadūq), included reports in his al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra discrediting Ismāʿīl b.

Jaʿfar.359

The threat posed by Ismāʿīlī Shīʿa remained so great in 342/954 that al-Nuʿmānī devoted two complete chapters of his Kitāb al-ghayba to (1) Traditions denouncing the right of Ismāʿīl

to the imamate360 and (2) Traditions concerning “those who claim to be an Imam yet are not”

(man zaʿama annahu imāmun wa-laysa bi-imām).361 According to al-Najāshī (d. 450/1058-9), al-

358 For example, al-Kulaynī includes a report of a believer and his father who wrote letters to the Hidden Imam and received responses (the contents of these letters and responses is not revealed). A third person then wrote a letter and did not receive a response. The reason: he had become a Qarmaṭī (anna al-rajul taḥawwala qarmaṭiyyan), the Hidden Imam miraculously knowing this, al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:520 (no. 13); repeated in al-Ḥalabī, Taqrīb al-maʿārif, 434; al-Ṭabrisī, Iʿlām al-warā, 2:263; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al- anwār, 51:309-10 (no. 28); al-Shīrāzī, Kalimat al-Imām al-Mahdī, 524-5 (no. 7). An example of the many implicitly anti-Ismāʿīlī hadiths in al-Kāfī is one in which al-Bāqir glosses Qur’an 39:60, {And upon the Day of Resurrection thou shalt see those who lied against God, their faces blackened; is there not in Gehenna a lodging for those that are proud?}, as “he who claims that he is an Imam yet is not an Imam.” When asked, “Even if he is a descendant of ʿAlī and a descendant of Fāṭima? (wa-in kāna ʿalawiyyan wa-fāṭimiyyan), al-Bāqir responded, “Yes, even should he be a descendant of both ʿAlī and Fāṭima.” al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:372; al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, 2:69; Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 113 (no. 5).

359 Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra2, 207 (bāb ibṭāl imāmat Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar). See also the previous chapter on proving the Imamate of Mūsā al-Kāẓim. Idem, 201-6.

360 Al-Nuʿmānī, Ghayba, 343-9 (bāb 24: fī dhikr Ismāʿīl b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh wa-l-dalāla ʿalā akhīhi Mūsā b. Jaʿfar [al-Kāẓim]).

361 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 111-6 (bāb 5). Cf. the claim made by Sajjādī, “Ghaybat-i Nuʿmānī,” DMT, 12:155, that the Ismāʿīlī philosopher Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī stated in the introduction of his Aʿlām al- 141

Nuʿmānī also authored a celebrated refutation of the Ismāʿīlīs (which has not survived) called

Kitāb al-radd ʿalā al-Ismāʿīliyya.362 Moreover, both al-Nuʿmānī and several of the scholars who

followed him regularly conducted debates with Ismāʿīlī propagandists.363

3.2. The Veracious Teacher

The other prominent Traditionist from the early decades of the second ghayba whose

apologies of the occultation has survived is Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. ʿAlī, known as al-Shaykh

al-Ṣadūq (“the veracious teacher”) (b. ca. 311/923; d. 381/991).364

nubuwwa that he requested al-Nuʿmānī to write Kitāb al-ghayba in defense of the occultation of the twelfth Imam. Equally surprising is Sajjādī’s accusation that the Ismāʿīlīs excised this sentence from later manuscripts and published editions of this work. Both claims require further investigation.

362 Al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 383; Karīm, introduction to al-Nuʿmānī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 11; al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 10, 183 (no. 409); Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis, 63; Newman, “Between Qumm and the West,” 96.

363 Including al-Ṣadūq, al-Mufīd and al-Murtaḍā. See, e.g., al-Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 326, where he speaks about the falsity (buṭlān) of the Ismāʿīlī Imams and idem, 306; Halm, Shiʻism, 50- 1 and other sources below.

364 On al-Ṣadūq and his works, see Khusravī, Shaykh Ṣadūq; al-Aʿlamī, introduction to al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 5-11; Serdani, Der verborgene Imam: Eine Untersuchung der chiliastischen Gedanken im schiitischen Islam nach Ibn Bābūya (gest. 991): Kamāl al-dīn wa-tamām al-niʿma; McDermott, “Ebn Bābawayh (2),” EIr, 8:2-4; Kohlberg, “Ibn Bābawayhi or Ibn Bābūyah,” ER, 6:4262-3; Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin 53-4; Akhtar, Early Shīʻite Imāmiyyah Thinkers, 39-77. As mentioned in chapter 1, al- Ṣadūq’s birth is credited to the miraculous intervention of the Hidden Imam after his father wrote a letter to Ḥusayn b. Rawḥ al-Nawbakhtī asking him to intercede on his behalf with the Hidden Imam to pray that he be given a son. See Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 319. 142

Al-Ṣadūq addresses the ghayba of the twelfth Imam in a number of works though he

often avoids the question of seeing the Imam. In his al-Iʿtiqādāt fī al-imāmiyya, the earliest

extant Shīʿī creed,365 he affirms: “We believe that no one else [but the twelfth Imam] can be the

Qāʾim (lā yajūz an yakūn al-qāʾim ghayrahu) no matter how long he may remain in a state of

ghayba.366 Even were he to remain in hiding in perpetuum, no one other than him could ever be

the Qāʾim” (wa-law baqiya fī ghaybatihi ʿumr al-dunyā lam yakun al-qāʾim ghayrahu).367 In this

statement of core Shīʿī beliefs, al-Ṣadūq chooses not to broach the question of whether the

Imam can ever be contacted or encountered during the ghayba.

The same silence can be observed in the record of a series of debates al-Ṣadūq conducted at the court of the head of the Buyid confederation, Rukn al-Dawla (d. 366/976).368 It

365 On the development and use of Islamic creedal compositions, see Watt, “ʿAḳīda,” EI², 1:332-6.

366 Here, again, al-Ṣadūq is in implicit dialogue with other Shīʿī groups (viz., the Fatimids, the Qarāmiṭa, and Zaydīs) who supported rival claimants to the Mahdī-Qāʾim (which by his time, were seen by the Shīʿa as one being one and the same person).

367 Al-Ṣadūq, al-Iʿtiqādāt fī al-imāmiyya, 95. For a different translation, see Fyzee, A Shīʿite Creed, 86. See also al-Ṣadūq, al-Iʿtiqādāt fī al-imāmiyya, 94 (note 1); Fyzee, A Shīʿite Creed, 85. In his critical commentary and correction of al-Ṣadūq’s creed, al-Mufīd does not mention the twelfth Imam and in fact makes no references to the ghayba, al-Mufīd, Taṣḥīḥ al-iʿtiqād bi-ṣawāb al-intiqād aw sharḥ ʿaqāʾid al- Ṣadūq. On this work, see Halm, Shiʿism, 49.

368 The original Arabic record of the debates have only recently (1431/2010) been published for the first time, see al-Ṣadūq, Munāẓarat al-Malik Rukn al-Dawla lil-Ṣadūq b. Bābūyah. The editor, Syrian scholar Jawād al-Ward, relied in part on a previously unpublished and undated manuscript available in Iran’s 143

would be useful to review the portion of the debates in which al-Ṣadūq seeks to prove and

defend the ghayba of the twelfth Imam. Rukn al-Dawla is said to have asked him three questions about the Hidden Imam. First, he asked when the Imam will appear. Al-Ṣadūq responded that God has concealed the Imam from the people for a wisdom and purpose known to Him alone, adducing the prophetic hadith: “The Qāʾim [who will appear] from my descendants is like the Hour [of the Day of Judgment]” (mathal al-Qāʾim min wuldī mathal al- sāʿa).369

Rukn al-Dawla’s second question dealt with how the Imam could live so long. Al-Ṣadūq defended the Imam’s superhuman longevity by adducing the story of Noah from the Qur’an who is said to have lived 950 years. But when Rukh al-Dawla objected that no one lives as

Parliament Library (see al-Ṣadūq, Munāẓarat, 24-5 (from the editor’s introduction)). On other extant manuscripts of this work in Iran, see Tafaḍḍulī, Kitābshināsī-i nuskhahhā-yi khaṭṭī-i āthār-i Shaykh Ṣadūq dar Iran, 254-62. A Persian translation of parts of these debates was previously published in the well-known Safavid jurist al-Qāḍī Nūr Allāh Shūshtarī’s (d. 1019/1610-11) Majālis al-muʾminīn, 1:461- 3. Al-Ṣadūq was invited to Rayy by Rukn al-Dawla in 350/962 and was held in great esteem while he was there. See Madelung, “Imamism and Muʿtazilite Theology,” 20; Serdani, Der verborgene Imam, 51-3 (Ibn Bābūyas Beziehungen zu den Herrschern). On Rukn al-Dawla, see Bowen and Bosworth, “Rukn al-Dawla, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan b. Būya,” EI², 8:597-8; Donohue, The Buwayhid Dynasty in Iraq 334H./945 to 403H./1012, index, s.v. ‘Rukn al-Dawla’. For al-Ṣadūq’s record of still another debate at the court of Rukn al-Dawla (referred to below), see al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 92-3.

369 This hadith is also recorded in al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 347; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:154; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Shiʻite Islam, 212-3. Cf. Abū Maʿāsh, al-Imām al-mahdī fī al-Qurʾān wa-l-sunna, 144-6; Mubārak, Bashāʾir al-imām al-muntaẓar, 17, 127-8. 144

long as Noah anymore, al-Ṣadūq responded by quoting a hadith ascribed to Muḥammad prophecying that everything which occurred in the past will be repeated in his community. He then argued that since no one is more well-known than the Mahdī (laysa hunāka man huwa

akthar shuhratan min al-imām al-mahdī), it is only natural to expect that the prophetic precedent of prolongation of life (sunnat ṭūl al-ʿumr) would be fulfilled by the Hidden Imam.

Finally, Rukn al-Dawla inquired about what need was served by an absent Imam, a

question which as will see, would be of paramount importance for the rationalist scholars who

followed al-Ṣadūq. Al-Ṣadūq responded with alacrity by adducing the traditional proof found in

Shīʿī hadiths that the world will cease to exist without the presence of an Imam. Citing Qur’an

8:33, {But God would never chastise them, with thee [O Muḥammad] among them}, he

maintained that just as God did not punish the people while the Prophet was alive, He will not

chastise the world while an Imam exists for “the Imam is the successor of the Prophet in every

way except in prophecy and the descent of revelation” (illā fī al-nubuwwa wa-nuzūl al-

waḥy).370

That al-Ṣadūq did not broach the possibility of seeing the Imam in the above works

amounts to an argumentum e silentio. In a different debate conducted with an unnamed heretic

370 Al-Ṣadūq, Munāẓarat al-Malik Rukn al-Dawla lil-Ṣadūq b. Bābūyah, 67-71. 145

(mulḥid) also held at the court of Rukn al-Dawla, al-Ṣadūq was asked how he personally could

believe in an Imam that he cannot see. He responded that if faith was contingent on seeing, no

one would believe in God or the Prophet since no one has physically seen them.371

Al-Ṣadūq addresses the question of contacting the Hidden Imam more directly in his

magnum opus on the ghayba, entitled Kamāl al-dīn wa-tamām al-niʿma fī ithbāt al-ghayba wa-

kashf al-ḥayra, a work which has been described as “the comprehensive work on the subject of

the twelfth Imam and his ghayba.”372 Similar to al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ṣadūq decided to undertake this

work after becoming deeply perturbed by the doubts and questions that pervaded the Shīʿī

community in Nīshāpūr during his time there.373 Above and beyond the Traditions al-Ṣadūq cites in Kamāl al-dīn negating the possibility of seeing the Imam (see chapter 1 of our study), he maintains that the Shīʿa cannot reach the Imam or know where he is hiding because people

371 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 93.

372 Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 79. In the classical period (pre-Mongol invasion), al-Ṣadūq’s work was also referred to as Kitāb al-ghayba, al-Kamāl fī al-ghayba, Kamāl al-niʿma fī al-ghayba, and Ikmāl al-dīn wa-itmām al-niʿma. See Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 210 (no. 251).

373 Serdani, Der verborgene Imam, 59, sets 368/978-9 as the terminus post quem of the work’s composition. See also Ourghi, Schiitischer Messianismus, 30-1. Sachedina, who mistakenly dates the death of al-Ṣadūq as 981AD, suggests that Kamāl al-dīn “seems to have been written during the last years of (al-Ṣadūq’s) life—the time when the Imāmites were under attack from Ismāʿilites [sic];…the Zaydites…; and the Sunnites.” Sachedina, “A Treatise on the Occultation of the Twelfth Imāmite Imam,” 112. See also Amīnī, “Kitāb-i ghaybat-i Shaykh Ṭūsī,” 480. 146

by nature cannot keep secrets. If his location were revealed or if he met with some of his

believers, there would be a risk that one of them might unintentionally divulge this information

because when something – anything – is disclosed, one can never be sure that it will not get into the wrong hands.374 Moreover, if the Imam could be seen, some Shīʿa might, during

polemics (fī awqāt al-jidāl) with their opponents, reveal his identity or give away his

location.375 In sum, the Imam cannot be seen.

3.3. The Final Missive of the Hidden Imam

In Kamāl al-dīn, al-Ṣadūq is the first scholar to record the locus classicus for proscribing the possibility of seeing the Imam in the second ghayba: the final written

communication (tawqīʿ) of the Hidden Imam.376 This short missive, a document “d’une

374 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 54

375 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 54-5; referred to in Kohlberg, “Taqiyya in Shīʿī Theology and Religion,” 350.

376 On the tawqīʿāt of the Imams, and in particular, the Hidden Imam, see Shabīrī, “Tawqīʿ (3),” DJI (online edition); Ḥāʾirī, “Tawqīʿāt,” DMT, 5:150-3. In the classical period, tawqīʿ had three general meanings: 1. the record of a verdict in a tort redress; 2. a written edit; 3. a signature at the end of a letter. See Babinger and Bosworth, “Tawqīʿ,” EI², 6:933-5 (where there is no mention of the tawqīʿāt of the Shīʿī Imams). On the literary qualities of the first two usages, see now Gruendler, “Tawqīʿ (Apostille): Royal Brevity in the Pre-Modern Islamic Appeals Court,” 101-29. There are approximately 70 documents identified as tawqīʿāt from the Hidden Imam. See Riḍvānī, Mawʿūdshināsī va pāsukh bih shubuhāt, 271. With the exception of two (both addressed to Shaykh Mufīd; on these, see chapter 4), all of the tawqīʿāt allegedly written by the Hidden Imam are from the Lesser Occultation. The tawqīʿāt are compiled in two contemporary works, Akbar-Nijād, Mawsūʿat tawqīʿāt al-imām al-mahdī and al-Shīrāzī, 147

importance capital dans la destine historique et doctrinal de l’imâmisme,”377 was furnished by

ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Samurī (d. 329/941),378 canonized in later sources as the fourth and final of the four representatives (sufarāʾ), six days before his death.379 The tawqīʿ was then cited

Kalimat al-Imām al-Mahdī. A comprehensive study of the tawqīʿāt remains a desideratum but one is struck by the fact that a majority of these letters deal with either questions of money or instances of excommunication (viz., charging certain believers such as al-Shalmaghānī with heresy and apostasy, see Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 126-32; Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam, 42-3; and Amir Arjomand, “Imam Absconditus and the Beginnings of a Theology of Occultation,” 2).

377 Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 276 [= Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 114].

378 His name is often misspelled in western sources as al-Samarrī based on the assumption that he was from the city of Sāmarrāʾ where the Hidden Imam is first believed to have entered into hiding, but if that were the case, we would expect a nisba of al-Sāmarrāʾī. Halm, Die Schia, 43 (note 16), suggests a vocalization of al-Simmarī after Simmar, located in southern Iraq near Kashkar between Wāsiṭ and Baṣra. Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 133, offers the same explanation, though he renders the nisba al-Sammarī. The correct vocalization, however, appears to be al-Samurī, a nisba that reverts to one of his ancestors whose name was al-Samur (meaning gum-acacia-tree, Lane, An Arabic- English Lexicon, 1:1425). This vocalization is given in al-Tabrīzī (d. 1093/1682), al-Hidāyā li-shīʿat aʾimmat al-hudā, 1:96; Farīdanī, “Samurī,” DMT, 9:292; and ʿAlī, al-Mahdī al-muntaẓar ʿinda al-Shīʿa al-ithnī ʿashariyya, 239 [= Arabic translation of Ali, Der Mahdī der Zwölfer-Schiʿa und seine vier Safire, which was not available to me]. Al-Ṣadr, Tārīkh al-ghayba al-ṣughrā, 412, states that some have written his name as al-Saymarī or al-Ṣaymarī but he has not given a source and we have never encountered these vocalizations. On the four sufarāʾ in general, see Ali, “Die beiden ersten Safīre des Zwölften Imāms,” 224-7; Klemm, “Die vier sufarāʾ des Zwölften Imām Zur formativen Periode der Zwölferšīʿa.”

379 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 394 (no. 364), is the first work in which we find a report stating that al- Samurī died on 15 Shaʿbān 329/20 May 941 when the Hidden Imam would have been almost 70 years old. However, both al-Ṭabarsī and Ibn Ṭāwūs state that al-Samurī died in 328/940 while adding that the Lesser Occultation lasted 74 years. (Al-Majlisī, Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl, 4:52-3, reasons that al-Ṭabarsī and Ibn Ṭāwūs are calculating the Lesser Occultation from the year the Hidden Imam was born rather than the year when Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī died. This view is repeated in al-Ṣadr, Tārīkh al-ghayba al-ṣughrā, 417). 148

some eighty years after al-Ṣadūq in al-Ṭūsī’s Kitāb al-ghayba, who states that he heard it from

a group of Shīʿa on the authority of al-Ṣadūq. For ease of comparison, the texts are presented

side-by-side in the following table followed by a translation. The text of the tawqīʿ is almost

identical in both works with one major difference (underlined below):

Al-Ṭūsī (d. 460/1067-8) Al-Ṣadūq (d. 381/991-2)

Kitāb al-ghayba Kamāl al-dīn wa-tamām al-niʿma

ﱠ ٍ ﱢ ِ ِ ِ (١) َﺤدﺜََﻨﺎ ُأَﺒو ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ْاﻟ َﺤ َﺴ ُن ْﺒ ُن ْأَﺤَﻤَد ْاﻟُﻤ َﻛﺘ ُب ﻗَ َﺎﻝ : (١) َوأَ ْﺨ َﺒ َرَﻨ ﺎ َﺠ َﻤ ﺎ َﻋ ﺔٌ َﻋ ْن أَ ﺒ ﻲ َﺠ ْﻌ ﻔَ ٍر ُﻤ َﺤ ﱠﻤ د ْﺒ ِن َﻋﻠ ﱢﻲ ْﺒ ِن ِ ﱠ ِ ٍ ْاﻟ ُﺤ َﺴْﻴ ِن ْﺒ ِن َﺒ َﺎﺒَوْﻴﻪ ﻗَ َﺎﻝ َﺤدﺜَﻨﻲ أَﺒُو ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ْاﻟ َﺤ َﺴ ُن ْﺒ ُن ْأَﺤَﻤَد ْاﻟُﻤ َﻛﺘﱢ ُب ﻗَ َﺎﻝ : ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﱠِ ﱢ ِ ﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﱠِ ﱢ ِ ﱠ (٢) ُﻛْﻨ ُت ﺒَﻤد َﻴﻨﺔ ﱠاﻟﺴَﻼم ﻓﻲ ﱠاﻟﺴَﻨﺔ اﻟﺘﻲ ﺘُُوﻓ َﻲ ﻓ ﻴﻬَﺎ اﻟﺸْﻴ ُﺦ َﻋﻠ ﱡﻲ (٢) ُﻛْﻨ ُت ﺒَﻤد َﻴﻨﺔ ﱠاﻟﺴَﻼم ﻓﻲ ﱠاﻟﺴَﻨﺔ اﻟﺘﻲ ﺘُُوﻓ َﻲ ﻓﻴﻬَﺎ اﻟﺸْﻴ ُﺦ أَﺒُو ٍ ﱠ ِِ ِ ٍ ِ ٍ ِ ْﺒ ُن ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ﱠاﻟﺴُﻤِرﱡي (ﻗَد َس اﷲُ ُر َوﺤﻪُ) ﻓَ َﺤ َﻀْرﺘُﻪُ ﻗَْﺒ َﻝ َوﻓَﺎﺘﻪ ﺒ ﱠﺄَﻴﺎم ْاﻟ َﺤ َﺴ ِن َﻋﻠ ﱡﻲ ْﺒ ُن ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ﱠاﻟﺴُﻤِرﱡي (ﻗُﱢد َس ﺴﱡرﻩُ) ﻓَ َﺤ َﻀْرﺘُﻪُ ﻗَْﺒ َﻝ ِ ِ ِ : ِِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ِ ﻓَ ْﺄَﺨَرَج إﻟَﻰ ﱠاﻟﻨﺎس ﺘَْوﻗﻴﻌﺎً ُﻨ ْﺴ َﺨﺘُﻪ ُ َوﻓَﺎﺘﻪ ﺒ ﱠﺄَﻴﺎم ﻓَ ْﺄَﺨَرَج إﻟَﻰ ﱠاﻟﻨﺎس ﺘَْوﻗﻴﻌﺎً ُﻨ ْﺴ َﺨﺘُﻪُ:

ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ٍ (٣) ﺒ ْﺴم اﷲ ﱠاﻟرْﺤ ِﻤن ﱠاﻟرﺤﻴم َﻴﺎ َﻋﻠ ﱠﻲ ْﺒ َن ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ﱠاﻟﺴُﻤِرﱠي ْأَﻋظََم (٣) ﺒ ْﺴم اﷲ ﱠاﻟرْﺤ ِﻤن ﱠاﻟرﺤﻴم َﻴﺎ َﻋﻠ ﱠﻲ ْﺒ َن ُﻤ َﺤﱠﻤد ﱠاﻟﺴُﻤِرﱠي ْأَﻋظََم ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﱠ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﱠِ ٍ اﷲُ ْأَﺠَر إ ْﺨَواﻨ َك ﻓ َﻴك ﻓَﺈﱠﻨ َك َﻤﱢﻴ ٌت َﻤﺎ َﺒْﻴَﻨ َك َوَﺒْﻴ َن ﺴ ﺘ ﺔ أَ ﱠﻴ ﺎ م ﻓَ ﺎ ْﺠ َﻤ ْﻊ اﷲُ ْأَﺠَر إ ْﺨَواﻨ َك ﻓ َﻴك ﻓَﺈﱠﻨ َك َﻤﱢﻴ ٌت َﻤﺎ َﺒْﻴَﻨ َك َوَﺒْﻴ َن ﺴﺘﺔ ﱠأَﻴﺎم ﻓَ ْﺎﺠَﻤ ْﻊ ِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ ْأَﻤَرَك َوَﻻ ﺘُوص إﻟَﻰ َأَﺤد َﻴﻘُ ُوم َﻤﻘَ َﺎﻤ َك َﺒ ْﻌَد َوﻓَﺎﺘ َك ﻓَﻘَْد َوﻗَ َﻌت ْأَﻤَرَك َوَﻻ ﺘُوص إﻟَﻰ َأَﺤد ﻓََﻴﻘُ َوم َﻤﻘَ َﺎﻤ َك َﺒ ْﻌَد َوﻓَﺎﺘ َك ﻓَﻘَْد َوﻗَ َﻌت ﱠ ِ ِﱠ ِ ِ ﱠ ﱠ ِ ﱠ ِﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ْاﻟ َﻐْﻴَﺒﺔُ اﻟﺜﺎﻨَﻴﺔ ُ ﻓََﻼ ظُﻬُ َور إﻻ َﺒ ْﻌَد إْذ ِن اﷲ َﻋز َوَﺠﻝ َوَذﻟ َك َﺒ ْﻌَد ْاﻟ َﻐْﻴَﺒﺔُ اﻟﺘ ﱠﺎﻤﺔ ُ ﻓََﻼ ظُﻬُ َور إﻻ َﺒ ْﻌَد إْذ ِن اﷲ ﺘَ َﻌﺎﻟ َﻰ ذ ْﻛُرﻩُ َوَذﻟ َك َﺒ ْﻌَد ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ طُوﻝ ْاﻷََﻤد َوﻗَ ْﺴَوة ْاﻟُﻘﻠُوب َو ْاﻤﺘَﻼ ء ا ْﻷَ ْرض َﺠ ْو را ً طُوﻝ ْاﻷََﻤد َوﻗَ ْﺴَوة ْاﻟُﻘﻠُوب َو ْاﻤﺘَﻼء ْاﻷَْرض َﺠْورا ً ِ ِ ِ ﱠ ِ ﱠ ِ ِ ِ ﱠ ِ ﱠ (٤) َ و َﺴَﻴْﺄﺘﻲ ﺸ َﻴﻌﺘﻲ َﻤ ْن َﻴدﻋﻲ ْاﻟُﻤ َﺸ َﺎﻫَدةَ َأَﻻ ﻓََﻤ ِن اد َﻋﻰ (٤) َو َﺴَﻴْﺄﺘﻲ ﺸ َﻴﻌﺘﻲ َﻤ ْن َﻴدﻋﻲ ْاﻟُﻤ َﺸ َﺎﻫَدةَ َأَﻻ ﻓََﻤ ِن اد َﻋﻰ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﱠ ْاﻟُﻤ َﺸ َﺎﻫَدةَ ﻗَْﺒ َﻝ ُﺨُر ِوج ﱡاﻟﺴْﻔَﻴﺎﻨ ﱢﻲ َو ﱠاﻟﺼْﻴ َﺤﺔ ﻓَﻬَُو َﻛﺎذ ٌب ُﻤْﻔﺘٍَر َوَﻻ ْاﻟُﻤ َﺸ َﺎﻫَدةَ ﻗَْﺒ َﻝ ُﺨُر ِوج ﱡاﻟﺴْﻔَﻴﺎﻨ ﱢﻲ َو ﱠاﻟﺼْﻴ َﺤﺔ ﻓَﻬَُو َﻛذ ٌاب ُﻤْﻔﺘٍَر َوَﻻ ِﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِﱠ ِ ﱠِ ِ ِ ِ َﺤْو َﻝ َوَﻻ ﻗُﱠوةَ إﻻ ﺒﺎﷲ ْاﻟ َﻌﻠ ﱢﻲ ْاﻟ َﻌظﻴم َﺤْو َﻝ َوَﻻ ﻗُﱠوةَ إﻻ ﺒﺎﻟﻠﻪ ْاﻟ َﻌﻠ ﱢﻲ ْاﻟ َﻌظﻴم 149

ﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﱠ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ (٥) ﻗَ َﺎﻝ ﻓََﻨ َﺴ ْﺨَﻨﺎ َﻫَذا اﻟﺘْوﻗﻴﻊَ َوَﺨَرْﺠَﻨﺎ ﻤ ْن ﻋْﻨدﻩ َﻓﻠَﱠﻤﺎ َﻛ َﺎن ْاﻟَﻴْوُم (٥) ﻗَ َﺎﻝ ﻓََﻨ َﺴ ْﺨَﻨﺎ َﻫَذا اﻟﺘْوﻗﻴﻊَ َو َﺨَرْﺠَﻨﺎ ﻤ ْن ﻋْﻨدﻩ َﻓﻠَﱠﻤﺎ َﻛ َﺎن ْاﻟَﻴْوُم ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﱠاﻟﺴﺎد ُس ُﻋْدَﻨﺎ إﻟَْﻴﻪ َوُﻫَو َﻴ ُﺠ ُود ﺒَﻨْﻔﺴﻪ ﻓَﻘ َﻴﻝ ﻟَﻪُ َﻤ ْن َوﺼﱡﻴ َك ﻤ ْن ﱠاﻟﺴﺎد ُس ُﻋْدَﻨﺎ إﻟَْﻴﻪ َوُﻫَو َﻴ ُﺠ ُود ﺒَﻨْﻔﺴﻪ ﻓَﻘ َﻴﻝ ﻟَﻪُ َﻤ ْن َوﺼﱡﻴ َك ﻤ ْن ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ٍ ِ ِ َﺒ ْﻌد َك ﻓَﻘَ َﺎﻝ ﷲ ْأَﻤٌر ُﻫَو َﺒﺎﻟ ُﻐﻪُ َوَﻤ َﻀﻰ َرﻀ َﻲ اﷲُ َﻋْﻨ ﻪُ ﻓَﻬََذا آﺨُر َﺒ ْﻌد َك ﻓَﻘَ َﺎﻝ ﷲ ْأَﻤٌر ُﻫَو َﺒﺎﻟ ُﻐﻪُ َوﻗَ َﻀﻰ ﻓَﻬََذا آﺨُر َﻛَﻼم ُﺴﻤﻊَ ﻤْﻨﻪُ 380 381 ٍ ِ ِ F380 ِ ﱠ F379 َﻛَﻼم ُﺴﻤﻊَ ﻤْﻨ ﻪ. َرﻀ َﻲ اﻟﻠﻪُ َﻋْﻨﻪُ َو أَْر َﻀﺎﻩ.

The following translation is based on the version of the tawqīʿ in al-Ṣadūq:

(1) Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad al-Mukattib382 told us:

(2) I was in Baghdad the year ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Samurī died. I visited him a few days before he died when he showed the people a tawqīʿ [from the Hidden Imam] which I copied:

(3) In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful! To ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Samurī, may God increase the reward of your brethren through you! You will die in six days, so prepare yourself and appoint no one to succeed you, for the second ghayba [al-Ṭūsī: the complete ghayba] has come and the ẓuhūr will not take place before God permits it - exalted

380 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 395 > al-Ṭabrisī, Tāj al-mawālid fī mawālīd al-aʾimma wa-wafayātihim, 112-3; al-Ṭabrisī, Iʿlām al-warā, 2:260; al-Rāwandī, al-Kharāʾij wa-l-jarāʾiḥ, 3:1128-9 (no. 46); al- Ṭabarsī, al-Iḥtijāj ʿalā ahl al-lajāj, 2:478; al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma, 2:1023-4; al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al- anwār al-muḍīʾa, 338-9; al-Kāshānī, Nawādir al-akhbār, 233; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:360-1 (no. 7), 52:151 (no. 1); al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:321 (no. 112); al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 2:308; al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 1:378; al-Shīrāzī, Kalimat al-Imām al-Mahdī, 203. Persian translations: Ardabīlī, Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa, 2:989-9; Khātūnābādī, Kashf al-ḥaqq, 58; ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 191, 229-30; Nūrī-Ṭabrisī2 (d. 1318/1900-1), Kifāyat al-muwaḥḥidīn fī ʿaqāyid al-dīn, 2:788; Ṭūsī, Khūrshīd dar nahān (trans. Jalālī), 2:554-5; Amīnī, Dādgustar-i jahān, 143.

381 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 467 (no. 44) > al-ʿAṭṭār, “Muqaddimat al-muḥaqqiq,” 22. Persian translations: Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn (trans. Pahlavān), 2:294-5.

382 He was one of the teachers of al-Ṣadūq. See Dhākirī, “Irtibāṭ bā imām-i zamān,” 57. 150

and glorified be He - and that will only happen after a long time has passed, when hearts have become callous and oppression has filled the earth.383

(4) (Before I reappear), some will come to my Shīʿa claiming to have seen (me) with their own eyes.384 But beware! Anyone who claims to have seen (me) before the appearance of al- Sufyānī385 and [the sounding of] the Cry386 is a lying impostor387; and there is no power, nor strength, except in God, the Exalted, the Great.388

383 This is a reference to the famous prophetic hadith that God will raise up one of Muḥammad’s descendants at the End of Time (near or on the Day of Resurrection) who will fill the earth with equity and justice, even as it has been filled with injustice and tyranny, al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:338 (no. 7).

384 It is also possible to read this sentence as: ““(Before I reappear), my Shīʿa will come, those claiming to have seen (me) with their own eyes.” Cf. Shubbar (d. 1242/1826-7), Ḥaqq al-yaqīn fī maʿrifat uṣūl al- dīn, 287, who reproduces the tawqīʿ from a manuscript of al-Ṭabarsī’s al-Iḥtijāj ʿalā ahl al-lajāj (on whom, see chapter 4) and has this sentence as: “(Before I reappear), some will come claiming to have seen (me)…” (wa-sayaʾtī man yaddaʿī al-mushāhada), i.e. without the word “my Shīʿa” (shīʿatī).

385 In early Shīʿī sources, likely originating in a Kūfan anti-Umawī collection of apocalyptic literature, al-Sufyānī is presented as the chief opponent and eschatological Doppelgänger of the Mahdī. See Cook, Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic, index, s.v. ‘Sufyānī and Sufyānī cycle’; Cook, “Ḥadīth, Authority and the End of the World,” 34; Madelung, “The Sufyānī between Tradition and History,” 5-48; Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 165, 211 (note 66); Poonawala, “Apocalyptic ii. In Muslim Iran,” EIr, 2:157-60; Amir Arjomand, “Islamic Apocalypticism in the Classical Period,” 254-6, 262. For Shīʿī hadiths that mention his rise as one of the signs that will precede the appearance of the Qāʾim, see al-Nuʿmānī, al- Ghayba, 310-8 (chapter 18: mā jāʾa fī dhikr al-Sufyānī wa-anna amrahu min al-maḥtūm). His name suggests that he will be a descendant of the Umayyad patriarch, Abū Sufyān (d. 32/653[?]), the archenemy of Muḥammad.

386 The Cry is mentioned six times in the Qur’an as the harbinger of the end of the world and the arrival of the Day of Judgment, most prominently Qur’an 50:42:{On the day they hear the Cry in truth, that is the day of coming forth}. See ʿAlī, al-Mahdī al-muntaẓar ʿinda al-Shīʿa al-ithnī ʿashariyya, 241 (note 6); Raven, “Reward and Punishment,” EQ, 4:451-61. The sounding of the cosmic Cry or Scream from the heavens is glossed as one of the portents of the appearance of the Qāʾim in Shīʿī sources. See Amir- Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 287 [=Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 118]; Ghaemmaghami, “{And the Earth will Shine with the Light of its Lord} (Q 39:69): qāʾim and qiyāma in Shi‘i Islam.” On the Cry, see also Cook, “The Apocalyptic Year 200/815-16 and the Events Surrounding It,” 64; Lawson, “Duality, Opposition and Typology in the Qur’an,” 37-8. Cf. ʿAlī’s declaration in the well-known 151

(5) (Al-Mukattib) said: We copied this tawqīʿ and left (al-Samurī’s) home. Six days later, we returned and found him in the throes of death.389 Someone said to him, ‘[Tell us,] who is to succeed you?’ He responded, ‘God has an amr [here, likely meaning purpose] which He will surely accomplish’ (cf. Qur’an 65:3). He passed away, may God be pleased with him, and these were the last words anyone heard from him.”390

Khuṭbat al-bayān that he is al-ṣayḥa, al-Bursī, Mashāriq anwār al-yaqīn, 319 (cf. Dihdār-Shīrāzī, Sharḥ khuṭbat al-bayān 76).

387 Al-Ṣadūq has the nomen agentis al-kādhib (liar OR one who lies, deludes and misleads since the nomen agentis in Arabic is properly speaking a verbal adjective) while al-Ṭūsī gives the more intensive verbal adjective al-kadhdhāb (a habitual liar) from the faʿʿāl form, the ism al-mubālagha (the noun of intensiveness). The phrase is clearly meant to recall the Quranic verse, {He is naught but a man who has forged against God a lie} (in huwa illā rajul iftarā ʿala Allah kadhiban) (Q 23:38). The locution iftarā (or some other form of this verb) ʿala Allāh kadhiban/al-khadhib is encountered 21 times in the Qur’an, e.g. 4:50, 6:21, 10:69, 21:61, 34:8. The word may have been changed by al-Ṭūsī (or one of the unnamed transmitters) to kadhdhāb as a further slight against Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī, the brother of the Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī who is referred to as Jaʿfar al-Kadhdhāb in Shīʿī sources for claiming that al-ʿAskarī did not have a surviving son and (in some narrations) proclaiming himself the next Imam. In later Shīʿī sources, e.g., Majlisī, Jalāʾ al-ʿuyūn, 869, the sixth Imam, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, is said to have adopted the epithet al- Ṣādiq to distinguish himself from this future Jaʿfar al-Kadhdhāb. This report is one of many circulated to vilify Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī.

388 The nuances of this common Arabic exclamation (lit., there is no possibility for change/transformation/motion or strength/power except from/by/through God, the [Most] Exalted, the [Most] Great), known as the ḥawqala, are difficult to convey in English. The ḥawqala is sometimes found at the end of a composition as it is here but its more common usage in both classical and modern sources is after hearing disastrous news or something blasphemous or reprehensible. See Piamenta, Islam in Everyday Arabic Speech, 155-8 (6.2.2 The ḥawqala). Its use at the end of this tawqīʿ immediately serves to emphasize the previous sentence gainsaying anyone who claims to see the Imam before his appearance at the eschaton.

389 The expression jāda bi-nafsihi (lit., to give generously of one’s self or sacrifice oneself) is said of someone who is in the agony of death (ʿind al-mawt) or about to give up the spirit, Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, 5:21; Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 1:481.

390 For different translations, see Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 96; Amini, al-Imām al-Mahdī (trans. Sachedina), 138. In both cases, Sachedina interpolates the key sentence as, “In the near future there will 152

The final tawqīʿ of the Imam has been transmitted by numerous prominent Shīʿī scholars

through the centuries, most of whom have cited the version produced by al-Ṭūsī.391 Before we

be those among my followers…” The word “near” is not mentioned in the text. Also translated in Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 276 [= Amir-Moezzi, The Divin Guide, 113]; Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 122-3; Klemm, “Die vier sufarâʾ…,” 135; Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 164; Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 134-5, who has the singular “someone shall come to my partisans claiming…”; Eliash, “Misconceptions regarding the Juridicial Status of the Iranian ʿUlamâ,” 23-4; Corbin, “Au pays de l’Imâm cache,” 45; Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:324; Kohlberg, “Authoritative Scriptures,” 308; Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God, 43; Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate,” 508-9. Persian translations: ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 191; Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:851; ʿAlīpūr, Jilvah-hā-yi pinhānī-i imām-i ʿaṣr, 120, ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Nūrī and ʿAlīpūr all of whom are great proponents of encounters with the Imam during the Greater Occultation, interpolate the text by adding the word “near” (zūd / bih zūdī) or “in the near future” (dar āyandah-yi nazdīk) as Sachedina above. By adding the word “near,” all of these scholars are attempting to rewrite the final tawqīʿ and claim that although those who claimed to have seen the Hidden Imam in the years immediately following the end of the Lesser Occultation were liars, later (and contemporary) claimants to encountering the Imam are perhaps veridical. Contrast this with other Persian translations which remain loyal to the text of the tawqīʿ: Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 315; Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 928; al-Kamarahʾī, Davāzdahumīn imām va falsafah-yi ghabat-i Mahdī, sīn-zāʾ-sīn-ḥāʾ; Qazvīnī-Khurāsānī, Bayān al-furqān, 902; Farīdanī, “Samurī,” DMT, 9:292; Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmīyyah-ʾī), 1:507, 745-6, who has “some of my Shīʿa will come claiming to have seen me” (sa-yaʾtī min shīʿatī man yaddaʿī al-mushāhada);

391 See the notes following the Arabic text of the tawqīʿ for some of these references. A few scholars have discussed the tawqīʿ but chosen to blatantly ignore or leave out the “lying impostors” sentence. For example, the well-known East African Khoja Shīʿī scholar Mullah Haji Mohammadjaffer Sheriff Dewji (d. 1960) mentions the final tawqīʿ in his defense of the Hidden Imam but inexplicably leaves out this sentence. Dewji, Imame Zaman Hazrat Mehdi (A.S.), 46. Since his book features stories of “numerous persons [who] have reported meeting Hazrat Mehdi (A.S.)” (idem, 129) during the Greater Occultation (cited from the works of al-Nūrī (on him, see below)), Dewji likely felt that this sentence of the tawqīʿ conflicted with the accounts and did not bother attempting a reconciliation. A deliberate distortion of the tawqīʿ can also be observed in a self-purported “analytical history” of the ghayba by Shīʿī scholars, Pūr-Sayyid-Āqāyī, Jabbārī, ʿĀshūrī and Ḥakīm, titled, Tārīkh-i ʿāṣr-i ghaybat: Nigāhī tāḥlīlī bih ʿāṣr-i ghaybat-i imām-i davāzdahum. In their discussion of the final tawqīʿ, they point out five 153

discuss the critical sentence (underlined above), a few comments on the final safīr and the

interpolation of “second ghayba” (in al-Ṣadūq) to “complete ghayba” (in al-Ṭūsī) are in order.

3.3.1. The Final Representative of the Hidden Imam

ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Samurī is a mysterious figure indeed. Virtually nothing is known about

the last person who is said to have been in regular contact with the Hidden during the Lesser

Occultation. The only information given about him in the 5th/11th century rijāl works is that

(1) he was originally one of the companions of the eleventh Imam, al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī and (2)

facts: 1) it was written for al-Samurī; 2) he was ordered not to appoint a successor to replace him which “is proof that direct communication between the Mahdī and his special/exclusive representatives (navvāb-i khāṣṣ) had ended and from this date forward, the people could no longer pose questions to the Imam through them”; 3) the Lesser Occultation had come to an end and the Greater Occultation had begun; 4) the Imam will appear at a time of God’s choosing; 5) two signs that will herald the Imam’s parousia: the appearance of al-Sufyānī and the sounding of the Cry, idem, 300-1. The sentence in the tawqīʿ about “lying impostors” has disappeared! Consequently, their work, ostensibly a history of the ghayba, does not contain a single account of an encounter with the Imam from the Greater Occultation. In fact, the authors choose not to broach this important subject altogether. Another contemporary Shīʿī scholar, Ḥabīb Ṭāhirī, Sīmā-yi āftāb: Sayrī dar zindigī-i ḥaḍrat-i mahdī, 231, blatantly corrupts the text of the tawqīʿ by adding in parenthesis in his Persian translation of the “lying impostors” sentence: “Anyone who claims to have seen (in the sense that the four representatives saw me (namāyandigī [the Persian equivalent of the Arabic verbal-noun, niyāba])) is a lying impostor.” In other words, Ṭāhirī is asserting that anyone who claims to have seen the Imam and likewise claimed to be his representative is a liar. Otherwise, as long as one does not claim to be the Imam’s representative, this sentence of the tawqīʿ does not apply. As we will see below in chapter 4, this eisegesis of the tawqīʿ is anachronistic as the concept of al-niyāba (in the sense being used here) is not developed until the Safavid period. Ṭāhirī is in fact repeating an interpretation of the tawqīʿ first advanced by al-Majlisī (d. 1111/1699-1700) (see below, chapter 4). 154

he succeeded al-Ḥusayn b. Rūḥ (or Rawḥ) al-Nawbakhtī (d. 326/938)392 as the fourth safīr of

the Imam.393 However, there is no early textual evidence for either; unlike other agents and

representatives of the Imam, his name is not mentioned in any of the works that have survived

from the Lesser Occultation (including al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī or Ibn Bābūya’s al-Imāma wa-l-

tabṣira min al-ḥayra) nor in al-Nuʿmānī’s Kitāb al-ghayba; moreover, unlike the previous

sufarāʾ, there are no letters from the Imam announcing that he was the successor to the third

safīr. In fact, there appears to have been serious doubts about al-Samurī’s claim to be the

Imam’s representative. Al-Ṭūsī recounts several theurgic acts (karāmāt) attributed to him as evidence of his being a safīr, including that he magically announced the precise moment when

Ibn Bābūya died.394 Here, we must at least entertain the probability that these putative miracles were meant to prove his station to some who questioned his authority.

392 On him, see now Arjomand, “Ḥosayn b. Ruḥ,” EIr, 12:506-8. Cf. for a traditional, sympathetic approach, see Hūshangī, “Ḥusayn b. Rūḥ Nawbakhtī,” DJI (online edition).

393 Al-Shīrāzī, Kalimat al-Imām al-Mahdī, 104; al-Ṣadr, Tārīkh al-ghayba al-ṣughrā, 412-3; Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 96, who says that he “belonged to the close associates of al-ʿAskarī”; but again, in the absence of evidence, this statement is pure speculation.

394 On these miracles, see al-Mūsawī, al-Ḥayra fī ʿaṣr al-ghayba al-ṣughrā, 223-39; ʿAlī, al-Mahdī al- muntaẓar ʿinda al-Shīʿa al-ithnī ʿashariyya, 239-40. On the theme of miraculous powers ascribed to the sufarāʾ, see Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 273-5. 155

As a historical figure, al-Samurī “is essentially on the record for performing a single

task: the abolition of the short-lived institution of sifāra.”395 Yet it is not clear why the system

of the sifāra was abandoned in favor of the idea of a second ghayba during which there would

no longer be any sufarāʾ. Amir Arjomand speculates that “it is not unreasonable to regard

Samari [sic] as a cipher for the failed project to institutionalize central hierocratic authority in

the form of sifāra.”396 We know that there were others who claimed to be the deputy (wakīl) or

gate (bāb) of the Hidden Imam both before al-Samurī’s death (such Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj and al-

Shalmaghānī)397 and shortly after (viz., the nephew of the second safīr, Abū Bakr al-

Baghdādī),398 as well as at least one claimant to being the Hidden Imam himself.399

395 Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate and the Institution of Occultation in Twelver Shiʿism,” 508.

396 Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate,” 508.

397 Iqbāl, Khāndān-i Nawbakhtī, 111-6 (regarding al-Ḥallāj), 222-39 (al-Shalmaghānī); Massignon, La Passion de Husayn Ibn Mansur Hallaj, 1:362, 373, 376-7 (al-Ḥallāj); Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God, 42. Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 397-412, mentions six “imprecated” individuals in the chapter of his work titled, “Mention of the disgraced ones (al-madhmūmīn; cf. Qur’an 17:22, as opposed to the sufarāʾ who are called ‘the praised ones’ (al-maḥmūdīn)) who falsely claimed to be the gate of the Imam (al- bābiyya) and his safīr.” See also Majlisī, ʿAyn al-ḥayāt, 1198-1201.

398 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 412-4; Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 139; Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate and the Institution of Occultation in Twelver Shiʿism,” 509.

399 See Klemm, “Die vier sufarāʾ des Zwölften Imām Zur formativen Periode der Zwölferšīʿa,” 133. 156

In the final tawqīʿ announcing the second ghayba, we see the reflection of a community

that had lost hope in his speedy appearance. By the time of al-Samurī, it had become seemingly impossible to keep up the pretense of direct communication with an absent Imam. Perhaps of greater significance is the religious and political context which was marked by an active

Ismāʿīlī daʿwa which, as we mentioned, emerged shortly after the death of al-ʿAskarī and was

gaining ground in the central Islamic lands. The Ismāʿīlī duʿā(t) preached political and military

action (led by a Caliph-Imam no less in the case of the Fatimid Ismāʿīlīs) in contradistinction to

the political quietism practiced by the now Twelver Shīʿa which certainly must have pleased

the ruling pro-Shīʿī Buyids. The Buyids were likely Zaydī Shīʿa but the Twelver belief in the

ghayba of the Imam and thus an invisible and depoliticized ruler appealed to them politically.

Consequently, they extended patronage to Twelver Shīʿī scholars.400 That the final tawqīʿ of the

Hidden Imam sundering all contact with him is said to have been produced less than five years

before the Buyids seized control of central Iraq is of no minor note. The Twelver Shīʿī

authorities in Iraq who had supported the institution of sifāra decided it was more prudent for

400 On Buyid support for the Twelver Shīʿa and the overall conditions of the Shīʿī community under Buyid rule, see Halm, Shiʿism, 45-8; Jaʿfariyān, Tārīkh-i tashayyuʿ dar Iran: Az āghāz tā qarn-i dahum-i hijrī, 1:359-70; Donohue, The Buwayhid Dynasty in Iraq 334H./945 to 403H./1012, 329-34; Marinkowski, Shi’ite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts, 75-6; Letvik, “Iraq x. Shiʿites of Iraq,” EIr, 13:581-8; Nagel, “Buyid,” EIr, 4:578-86. 157

the Shīʿa to have an invisible and more importantly, unreachable, divine guide to whom they

could keep their spiritual allegiance rather than continue the failing and politically hazardous

experiment of having living representatives for the Imam. It was then left to Shīʿī Traditionists

such as al-Nuʿmānī and al-Ṣadūq to justify this shift. The continued existence and growth of the

Twelver Shīʿī Islam proved that this decision kept the nascent community intact.

3.3.2. From the Second Ghayba to the Complete Ghayba

The most reliable edition of Kamāl al-dīn was prepared by ʿAlī-Akbar al-Ghaffārī who consulted seven different manuscripts. In a footnote to the locution, “the second ghayba” (al- ghayba al-thāniyya), al-Ghaffārī notes that “some manuscripts” have “the complete

occultation” (al-ghayba al-tāmma).401 Al-ghayba al-tāmma is almost certainly a later redaction introduced either by al-Ṭūsī or the unnamed group (al-jamāʿa) that transmitted the hadith to him

from al-Ṣadūq. This interpolation was likely later reintroduced into some manuscripts of al-

Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-dīn to make it conform with the version in al-Ṭūsī’s Kitāb al-ghayba since it

would be highly unlikely for al-ghayba al-tāmma to be changed to al-ghayba al-thāniyya. Al-

401 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn2, 2:516 (note 1). The oldest manuscript available to me, from the 12th/18th century has “the complete ghayba” (al-ghayba al-tāmma), al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn (ms. 1), folio 330. Cf. a lithograph printed in Iran in 1301/1883 which has “the second ghayba” (al-ghayba al-thāniyya), al- Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn (ms. 2), folio 284. Pahlavān’s Persian translation of Kamāl al-dīn also has “second 158

Ṭūsī’s version was cited by Aḥmad al-Ṭabarsī (d. late 6th/12th cent.; on whom, see chapter 4) in his al-Iḥtijāj ʿalā ahl al-lajāj and subsequently by most Imāmī scholars that followed,402

though a small number have preserved al-Ṣadūq’s al-ghayba al-thāniyya.

This interpolation is significant in that neither al-Nuʿmānī nor al-Ṣadūq ever mention

the notion of a “complete ghayba.”403 This term was in fact completely foreign to them and is

not found in any of their writings. On the other hand, both al-Nuʿmānī and al-Ṣadūq use the

expression, “the second ghayba,” throughout their works.404

3.4. Lying Impostors

Initially, the final tawqīʿ of the Imam was understood to mean that no one could claim

to see the Imam after the start of the second ghayba. Al-Ṣadūq devoted a lengthy chapter in his

extended defense of the ghayba to accounts of those who had seen and spoken with the Hidden

ghayba” (duvvumīn ghaybat) [al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn (trans. Pahlavān), 2:294], while Kamarahʾī’s translation has “complete ghayba” (ghaybat-i kāmil) [ al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn (trans. Kamrahʾī), 2:193].

402 Al-Ṭabarsī, al-Iḥtijāj, 2:478.

403 Sachedina’s mention of Complete Occultation (Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 100) when speaking about al-Nuʿmānī and al-Ṣadūq is thus incorrect.

404 See, e.g., al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn2, 1:139, 1:146 and the examples provided above in al-Nuʿmānī’s Kitāb al-ghayba. 159

Imam (bāb man shāhada al-qāʾim wa-raʾāhu wa-kallamahu).405 The chain of transmission and

text of these accounts reveals that all of them – without exception – are from the Lesser

Occultation.406

Here, the position of scholars (both western and traditional) who have claimed that al-

Ṣadūq (and al-Ṭūsī after him) cites accounts of contact with the Imam from the Greater

Occultation needs to be corrected. Amir-Moezzi, for example, has argued that although al-

Ṣadūq cites the final tawqīʿ of the Imam in his Kamāl al-dīn, he “does not hesitate to relate in the same work some accounts of meetings with the Hidden Imam after his Major Occultation

[i.e., during the second ghayba – again the term “major occultation” is never used by al-

Ṣadūq].”407 Based on this premise, which we will return to presently, Amir-Moezzi confidently

asserts:

It is important to note that Ebn Bābuya [al-Ṣadūq], who reports this letter [i.e., the final tawqīʿ] in his Kamāl al-din, does not hesitate to relate in the same work some accounts of meetings with the Hidden Imam after his Major Occultation. From the very

405 On information about surviving manuscripts of Kamāl al-dīn in Iran, see Tafaḍḍulī, Kitābshināsī-i nuskhahhā-yi khaṭṭī-i āthār-i Shaykh Ṣadūq dar Iran, 206-28.

406 The same is the case with the reports mentioned in the two chapters in al-Mufīd Kitāb al-irshād, 2:351-67 and al-Ṭūsī Kitāb al-ghayba, 253-84 on those who saw the twelfth Imam or witnessed his miracles (muʿjizātihi) (on both of these books, see below). All of these accounts date from the Lesser Occultation. Some of these accounts are found in al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī.

407 Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran vii: The Concept of Mahdī in Twelver Shi‘ism,” EIr, 11:140. 160

beginning, ocular vision of the imam, to which the (final tawqīʿ) refers, seems to have been understood not in a general sense, but as a condition of the Hidden Imam’s representative. Thus, what is declared impossible during the major occultation (thus until the end of time) is not an encounter with the Hidden Imam as such, but laying claim to the niāba [sic] of the latter by citing a meeting with the Hidden Imam as grounds. A believer may be granted the privilege of meeting the Imam, but if following this he declares himself to be the ‘representative’ of the Imam due to the encounter, he is considered (according to terms of the letter) no less than a liar and impostor.408

There are two critical problems with this argument: First, the interpretation that the

tawqīʿ means that believers can see the Imam as long as they do not claim to be his representative is not advanced until some eight hundred years after the beginning of the ghayba

408 Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran vii: The Concept of Mahdī in Twelver Shi‘ism,” EIr, 11:140. The same explanation is made in Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 123 (italicized emphasis added): “Ibn Bâbûya [al-Ṣadūq] semble être le premier à reproduire cette letter [i.e., the final tawqīʿ]. Il rapporte pourtant des récits de rencontres pendant l'occultation majeure, et son exemple sera suivi par les auteurs postérieurs. C’est que dés le début, la vision oculaire de l'imâm caché dont parle la lettre paraît avoir été comprise non pas dans un sens général, mais comme une condition de la représentation de 1'imâm. Ce qui est déclaré impossible pendant l’occultation majeure, et donc jusqu’à la Fin du temps, ce n’est pas la rencontre de l’imâm caché mais la prétention à la niyâba de ce dernier sous prétexte de rencontre. Le fidèle peut être gratifié du privilège de la vision oculaire de l’imâm, mais si par la suite et en raison de cette rencontre il se déclare «représentant» de l’imâm, il ne peut être considéré, selon les termes de la lettre, que comme un menteur et un imposteur.” The influence of Henry Corbin here is palpable: after citing the last tawqīʿ, Corbin argued: “Ainsi commença le temps de la Grande Occultation (al-ghaybat al-kobrâ); il dure encore. Car non seulement quiconque prétendrait être l'Imâm en personne, mais aussi quiconque prétendrait se donner comme le représentant qualifié de l'Imâm (son Bâb, son Seuil) et revendiquerait une investiture personnelle en vue d'une prédication publique, celuilà briserait l'attente qui est essentielle au sentiment eschatologique shîʻite, et en voulant anticiper sur la parousie, se mettrait eo ipso en dehors du shîʻisme. La chose est arrivée, nous le savons; ce fut la tragédie du bâbisme, puis du behâ’isme.” Corbin, “Au Pays de l’Imâm caché,” 45 (italicized emphasis added). See also Corbin, History of Islamic Philosophy, 70 (= Corbin, Histoire de la philosophie islamique, 110). 161

by the Safavid savant Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī (on whom, see chapter 4). Amir-Moezzi is

in essence attempting to read this interpretation back into the earlier sources.409 Elsewhere, he

has argued that, “The last letter of the twelfth imam will cut to the quick: not only will there

not be a ‘representative,’ but no one but an impostor will claim to be one.”410 But is this the case? The tawqīʿ does not declare that anyone who claims to be the Imam’s representative is a

lying impostor; it says that anyone who claims to have seen him is one.411 To support his

contention that from the beginning of the Greater Occultation, this important sentence of the

tawqīʿ was understood to mean that no one could simultaneously claim to see the Imam and be

his representative (as opposed to just seeing the Imam), Amir-Moezzi alleged that al-Ṣadūq

409 Amir-Moezzi, “Islam in Iran vii: The Concept of Mahdī in Twelver Shi‘ism,” EIr, 11:140, cites al- Murtaḍā and Ibn Ṭāwūs as the two other scholars ante-al-Majlisī who advanced this interpretation; however, the works he references have been closely consulted and do not contain the niyāba interpretation.

410 Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 136 [= Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 326]. A similar reading was given earlier by Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 135.

411 It seems that Amir-Moezzi wishes to read the critical sentence of the tawqīʿ declaring anyone who claims to have seen the Imam a liar the way it is read by contemporary Shīʿī scholar, Javād Muʿallim, in his attempt to reconcile the tawqīʿ and the many stories of ulama who have claimed to have encountered the Hidden Imam in the modern period. Muʿallim intentionally distorts the meaning of the sentence in his Persian translation of the tawqīʿ: “Whoever claims to have seen me in the same manner that you, the four representatives, saw me, which was of your own volition [i.e., anytime the sufarāʾ wanted to meet with the Imam, they could], is a liar and a charlatan.” Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 13 (from the intro by Muʿallim). In a footnote, Muʿallim adds that in translating the tawqīʿ, he has used other 162

records accounts in his Kamāl al-dīn of sightings of the Imam from after the Lesser

Occultation. Whether he realized it or not, Amir-Moezzi is here repeating an argument put forward by the Qajar Traditionist Nūrī (d. 1320/1902) and repeated by contemporary ‘grand ayatollah’ Luṭf Allāh al-Ṣāfī al-Gulpāyigānī (b. 1336/1918), both of whom allege that al-Ṭūsī

(rather than al-Ṣadūq), who as we have seen, also recorded the final tawqīʿ, ignored the critical

sentence about “lying impostors” and included stories of Greater Occultation encounters with

the Imam in his Kitāb al-ghayba (on which, see below).412 But this position does not stand the

test of scrutiny.

In his “Contribution á la Typologie des Rencontres avec l’Imâm Caché,” Amir-Moezzi cited two accounts from al-Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-dīn which he maintains took place during the

second ghayba: 1) the account of ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār413 and 2) an account of a believer

hadiths/reports (rivāyāt-i dīgarī) on the same issue but he fails to provide any further information about these hadiths. See also idem, 74 (note 1).

412 See al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 146; al-Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar, 400 (note 1). Before these scholars, the Safavid scholar Mīr-Lawḥī Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 638 (on him, see below) likewise claimed that accounts of Greater Occultation encounters with the Imam are transmitted in Kamāl- al-dīn, though he does not provide any specific examples.

413 Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 129 (Récit d’Ibrâhîm b. ʿAlî b. Mahziyâr (IV/Xe s.)). 163

from Hamadān who was saved from sure death in the desert.414 A close look at both accounts,

however, suggests strongly that they are in fact from the period of the Lesser Occultation.

(1) The story of ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār al-Ahwāzī begins when a stranger appears to him in a dream and commands him to perform the ḥajj, promising that he will meet the Hidden

Imam in Mecca. Upon waking, al-Ahwāzī sets out at once from his native ʿIrāq for the Ḥijāz.

One night in Mecca, while circumambulating the Kaʿba, he sees “a comely and sweet-smelling youth wearing a mantle.” The youth knows al-Ahwāzī and his family though al-Ahwāzī has

414 Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 128 (Récit de l’homme des Banî Râshid de Hamadân (IV/Xe siècle)). Corbin likewise placed this account in the Greater Occultation and provided an abridged translation in Corbin, “Au Pays de l’Imâm caché,” 76-9; repeated with minor differences in Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:374-6 (in the chapter called, “Au temps de la « Grande Occultation »”). See also Corbin, “Mundus Imagalinas,” 29-30. A third account from the 4th/10th century (though not found in al-Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-dīn) which Amir-Moezzi placed in the Greater Occultation (though again, without furnishing any evidence) is the story of a Shīʿī who was saved by the Imam from dying of thirst in the desert after having lost his caravan, Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 128. This account is first cited (and translated into Persian) in Mīr Lawḥī Sabzavārī’s (fl. 11th/17th cent) Kifāyat al-muhtadī fī maʿrīfat al-mahdī, 583-4, citing as his source al-Ḥasan b. Ḥamza al-ʿAlawī al-Ṭabarī’s (fl. 4th/10th cent.) Kitāb al-ghayba which has not survived. However, it is important to note that Sabzavārī has not mentioned this account in the chapter of his work dealing with Greater Occultation accounts, suggesting very strongly that he regarded the account as a Lesser Occultation story. The only other Shīʿī scholar I am aware of who has cited this account is the contemporary cleric Luṭf Allāh al-Ṣāfī al- Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar, 391, citing as his source Arbaʿīn-i al-Khātūnābādī, which is a reference to the prominent Isfahani Qajar scholar Mīr Muḥammad Ṣādiq Khātūnābādī’s (d. 1272/1856) collection of forty hadiths also known as Kashf al-ḥaqq (on this work, see the appendix). Al- Gulpāyigānī places the account in the chapter of his work on miracles performed by the Hidden Imam during the Lesser Occultation and states in a footnote, idem (note 1), that in all likelihood the story is from the Lesser Occultation. 164

never met him. He guides al-Ahwāzī out of Mecca and they ride to the mountains of Ṭāʾif. The youth points to a tent bursting with light pitched on a nearby hill.415 As the two approach the

tent, the youth turns to al-Ahwāzī and declares, “This land is sacred. Only a friend of God

(walī) enters it and only a friend of God takes leave from it.”416 The youth enters the tent and instructs al-Ahwāzī to do the same. As soon as al-Ahwāzī enters, he beholds the Imam:

I entered into his presence and found him seated on a rug with brown and red-coloured spots, reclining on a pillow. We greeted each other. I looked at him closely and saw a face as luminous as the moon. He was strong yet refined and mild-tempered, not too tall and not too short. He was of medium build and possessed a broad forehead, beautifully arched eyebrows, deep-black and large eyes, an aquiline nose, and two smooth cheeks with a birthmark on the right. As I looked at him, my mind was lost in his features.

The Imam proceeds to tell al-Ahwāzī to prepare the Shīʿa for the uprising (al-khurūj) and yearn for the portents of the ẓuhūr for the “the Hour is night” (Qur’an 54:1).417

415 Cf. the tabernacle or tent of meeting where Moses would meet with God (Exodus passim). In a hadith found in several early sources, the twelfth Imam is said to have a residence called bayt al-ḥamd (cf. al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 3:219) with a light inside that will continue to shine until he rises with the sword, see al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 245 (no. 31); al-Masʿūdī (attributed), Ithbāt al-waṣiyya, 267; al-Ṭusī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 467. On the motif of light and the Hidden Imam, see Ghaemmaghami, “{And the Earth will Shine with the Light of its Lord} (Q 39:69): qāʾim and qiyāma in Shi‘i Islam.”

416 Cf. the words spoken to Moses as he approached the Burning Bush, Exodus 3:4-5 and Qur’an 20:12.

417 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 424-7 (no. 23); al-Baḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 109-15 (no. 49); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:42-6 (no. 32). The account is referred to in passing in Amir Arjomand, “Imam Absconditus and the Beginnings of a Theology of Occultation,” 6; Amir Arjomand, “Islamic Apocalypticism in the Classical Period,” 268. The text is ambiguous on whether the youth is the Imam or a different person. All scholars who have commented on this account or translated it into Persian 165

Three other stories very similar to the above in content are mentioned in the early

sources:

(1) The story of Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār. This account, also mentioned by al-Ṣadūq, is very similar

to the above account but features the jarring presence of a brother of the Hidden Imam in his

tent named Mūsā.418

(2) A second story of ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār.419

(3) A third story of ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār.420

The identity of ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār al-Ahwāzī has been a subject of debate

among Shīʿī scholars. A ʿAlī b. Mahziyār al-Ahwāzī is identified in the rijāl works as a non-

have said that the youth is one of the Imam’s special servants, a reading that appears to be influenced by the hadiths we discussed in chapter 2, but the text is inconclusive, perhaps intentionally.

418 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 408-14 (no. 19); al-Baḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 80-90 (no. 46); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:32-7 (no. 28); Nūrī-Ṭabarsī2, Kifāyat al-muwaḥḥidīn fī ʿaqāyid al-dīn, 2:809-11. Al- Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 1:360-2 (no. 360), records the account in the chapter of his work on those who met the Imam during the Lesser Occultation. Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 641, identifies Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār and his son Muḥammad as two of the Imam’s representatives during the Lesser Occultation.

419 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 263-7 (no. 228). Also cited in al-Baḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 156-61 (no. 65); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:9-12 (no. 6); Ardabīlī, Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa, 2:977-80 (Persian translation); Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 603-7 (Persian translation). Al-Majlisī translated the version from al-Ṭūsī which he claimed has a sound isnād in Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 340-43.

420 Al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 539-42 (no. 522); al-Baḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 143-7 (no. 60); al-Baḥrānī, Madīnat al-maʿājiz, 8:115-8 (no. 2732). A shortened version of this report is recorded in al- Ḥillī’s Mukhtaṣar al-baṣāʾir, 176-7, citing his teacher al-Nīlī as his source. See also al-Nīlī, al-Sulṭān al- mufarrij, 92-3 (account 16). 166

Arab client (mawlā) from Ahwāz and a companion of the eighth and ninth Imams. The early

sources identify him as the son of a Christian convert from India421 and a prolific author of

some 31 books (none of which have survived).422 Ibn Bābūya (father of al-Ṣadūq) states that he

is the brother of Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār423 who is listed by al-Ṭūsī as one of the companions of

the ninth and tenth Imams,424 and who was likely the father of the ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār

al-Ahwāzī mentioned in the above account. ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār’s brother, Muḥammad

b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār (also called Muḥammad b. Mahziyār) was a close deputy (wakīl) of the

eleventh Imam425 who is said to have had doubts about his successor before witnessing a

421 See Buyukkara, “The Imami Shīʿī movement in the time of Mūsā al-al-Kāẓim and ʿAlī al-al-Riḍā,” 410; Amir-Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate,” 498, 500.

422 A Kitāb al-malāḥim (Book of End-Times Calamities) and Kitāb al-Qāʾim (Book of the Qāʾim) are ascribed to him, almost certainly written to refute the Wāqifī claims about Mūsā al-Kāẓim and cited as evidence of the fact that he “played a key role in the reception of chiliastic traditions into the Imami corpus,” Amir-Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate,” 500. See also Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 4; Watt, “Sidelights on Early Imāmite Doctrine,” 294; Buyukkara, “The Schism in the Party of Mūsā al-Kāẓim and the Emergence of the Wāqifa,” 92; Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin 251.

423 Ibn Bābūya, al-Imāma wa-l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra2, 201 (no. 56). He also narrates from ʿAlī b. Mahziyār in idem, 234 (no. 83).

424 Al-Ṭūsī, Rijāl al-Ṭūsī, 374, 383.

425 Al-Ṭūsī, Rijāl al-Ṭūsī, 402, who mentions that he was one of the companions of Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī; al- Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 406 (n. 16) > al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al-anwār al-muḍīʾa, 295; al-Amīn, Aʿyān al- Shīʿa, 2:71; al-Shīrāzī, Kalimat al-Imām al-Mahdī, 109. See also Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 638, who identifies Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār as the deputy of the Imam in Ahwāz. 167

miracle which he attributed to the Hidden Imam’s miraculous powers.426 Moreover, a ʿAlī b.

Mahziyār is mentioned as one of the servants of Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī who aided in hiding the

twelfth Imam during al-ʿAskarī’s lifetime.427

Nūrī mentions the names of Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār and ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār as

two of the individuals who encountered the Hidden Imam during the Lesser Occultation but is

quick to add that in his opinion, a mistake (isthibāh) has been made in one of these names and

that in fact, all the accounts refer to a single person (an agent of the eleventh Imam who

likewise met the twelfth Imam) and a single episode.428 To our knowledge, other than Amir-

Moezzi, no other scholar has placed any of the above four accounts in the Greater Occultation and since Amir-Moezzi has not provided any evidence for his argument, it is difficult to assess.

In fact, every scholar who has mentioned these accounts has placed them in the Lesser

Occultation.429

426 Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1:518 (no. 5); al-Mufīd, al-Irshād, 2:355-6; Newman, Formative Period, 151. This account is repeated in numerous works in chapters about the miracles performed by the Hidden during the Lesser Occultation. See al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al-anwār al-muḍīʾa, 215 (note 8) for references.

427 See Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 106-8.

428 Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 1:448.

429 See e.g., al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 1:328, and the references provided in the above accounts. 168

(2) The only other encounter with the Hidden Imam recorded by al-Ṣadūq that Amir-

Moezzi (and Corbin before him) maintained occurred during the Greater Occultation is that of

Aḥmad b. Fāris al-Adīb. Al-Ṣadūq says that he heard this account from one of his teachers

(shaykh), a scholar of hadith (aṣḥāb al-ḥadith) named Aḥmad b. Fāris al-Adīb, likely a

reference to the man of letters, Abū al-Ḥasan Aḥmad b. Fāris b. Zakariyyā al-Qazwīnī al-Rāzī

(fl. 4th/10th cent.).430 According to this account, while in Hamadān, al-Adīb heard a story about

a group of people known as the Banū Rāshid who were all Shīʿa (ahl al-imāma). When asked

about how they became Shīʿa, one of their elders narrated a story about one of their ancestors

(jadd) who became separated from his caravan while undertaking the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Suddenly, this pilgrim reached a green land (arḍ khaḍrāʾ) with a luminous palace (qaṣr)

guarded by two white servants (khādimayn abyaḍayn). After receiving permission to enter the

palace, he entered a room with a a large sword hanging from the ceiling. It is here that he

encountered a youth (fatā) described as being as luminous as the full-moon (ka-anna al-fatā

badrun yalūḥ). The youth introduced himself as the Qāʾim who will appear at the End of Time

430 He was a teacher of the famed Arabo-Persian litterateur Aḥmad Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī (d. 398/1008) and a specialist of grammar. See al-Amīn, Aʿyān al-shīʿa, 3:60-2; al-Shāhrūdī, Mustadrak safīnat al-biḥār, 8:177; research note in al-Baḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 90 (note 10); and al-Khūʾī, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, 2:199, who indicates that al-Adīb lived for some time in Hamadān before moving to 169

with the sword above his head to fill the world with justice and equity. He then asked the pilgrim from Hamādān (who he knew intimately) if he wished to return to his family. Signaling one of his servants to take the pilgrim’s hand, he gave him a purse and walked with him a few feet. As they walked, the man saw trees and the minaret of a mosque. The servant asked him,

“Do you recognize this place?” He answered, “Near our city is a town called Asadābād which resembles this area.” The servant responds, “This is Asadābad!” The man looked to the place the servant had been standing only to find that he had disappeared. Looking in the purse the servant had given him, he found 40 or 50 dīnārs. He then rushed home to his family in

Hamadān.431 It is not stated but presumed that after hearing of this incident, the tribe known as

Banū Rāshid all converted to Shīʿī Islam.

Rayy where he died in either 375/985-6 or 390/999-1000. On Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī, see R. Blachère, “al-Hamadhānī,” EI².

431 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn 414-5 (no. 20). Also cited in al-Ṭūsī, al-Thāqib fī al-manāqib, 605-6 (no. 553); al-Nīlī, al-Sulṭān al-mufarrij, 62-4 (no. 12); Ardabīlī, Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa, 2:967-9 (Persian); Mīr Lawḥī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī 634-6 (Persian); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:40-2 (no. 30); Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 339-40 (Persian); al-Baḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 90-3; al-Baḥrānī, Madīnat al-maʿājiz, 8:183-5 (no. 2781); al-Baḥrānī, Ḥilyat al-abrār, 5:230-2 (no. 3); al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:298-9; al- Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 1:356-7; al-Qummī, Muntahā al-āmāl fī tawārīkh al-nabī wa-l-āl ʿalayhim al-salām, 3:2022-4; Qummī, Nigāhī bar zindigī-i chahārdah maʿsum, 559-61 (Persian). The story continues to be very popular and is cited in many contemporary books about the Hidden Imam. See for example, Āl Quṭayṭ, Salū al-mahdī ʿan dawlatihi, 405; ʿĀshūr, Mawsūʿat ahl al-bayt, 19:73-4. A similar account is recorded in al-Rāwandī, al-Kharāʾij wa-l-jarāʾiḥ 2, 788-9 (no. 112) > al-Baḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī 204-5 (no. 69). Shūshtarī, Majālis al-muʾminīn, 80, alludes to this account in stating that 170

Prior to Corbin and Amir-Moezzi, only two other scholars placed this story in the

period of the second ghayba.432 However, this opinion is almost certainly erroneous. There is

no date in the account itself but we know that al-Ṣadūq heard it earlier from Aḥmad b. Fāris al-

Adīb earlier than 368/978-9, when he completed Kamāl al-dīn. Based on this fact, we can

conclude that al-Adīb in turn heard the story sometime during the last part of the Lesser

Occultation or the early years of the Greater Occultation. As we have seen, al-Adīb explicitly says that the account is about the forefather (jadd) of the one of the believers in Hamadān. The

word jadd means both grandfather and a higher ascendant or ancestor.433 Assuming that this

jadd was not alive when al-Adīb heard the story (since otherwise, al-Adīb would have heard the account directly from the jadd rather than an elder of Hamadān), we can be almost certain that

the account is from the Lesser Occultation. This is in fact the consensus of scholarly opinion

among Shīʿī scholars about the story: Nūrī recorded the account in chapter six of his al-Najm

al-thāqib as one of the 40 most popular stories of Lesser Occultation miracles associated with

according to al-Rāwandī’s al-Kharāʾij, “some of the families of Hamadān were Shīʿa and became Shīʿa as a result of a miracle.”

432 Al-Muqaddas al-Ardabīlī, Ḥadiqat al-Shīʿa, 967-8; ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 505, though neither provides any evidence to support the notion that this account belongs in the category of stories of encounters during the Greater Occultation.

433 Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 1:385. 171

the Hidden Imam.434 Moreover, Asad Allāh al-Shaftī (d. 1290/1873) and Ismāʿīl Aḥmad Nūrī-

Ṭabarsī (d. 1318/1900-1) likewise recorded the account in the chapters of their respective works dealing with believers who saw and recognized the Imam during the Lesser

Occultation,435 while ʿIrāqī-Maythamī (d. 1306/1888-9, 1308/1890-1 or 1310/1892-3) included

the story in the chapter of his tome on the Hidden Imam concerning those who saw the Hidden

Imam during the Lesser Occultation or soon after it.436 Moreover, al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī (d.

1333/1915) and ʿAbbās al-Qummī (d. 1359/1940) also recorded the story in their works but not

in the chapters dealing with accounts of encounters with the Imam during the Greater

Occultation, suggesting that they too regarded it as a Lesser Occultation encounter.437

Furthermore, all of the other 25 accounts in the chapter of al-Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-dīn on

believers who have seen the Imam are from the Lesser Occultation and al-Ṣadūq does not make

the slightest hint that the above accounts are an exception. However, al-Ṣadūq does mention

one and only one person who saw the Imam during the second ghayba though in a different

434 Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 1:428-30 (no. 27).

435 Al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 1:360-2; Nūrī-Ṭabarsī2, Kifāyat al-muwaḥḥidīn fī ʿaqāyid al-dīn, 2:811-2.

436 ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 315-7 (no. 21).

437 Al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 1:356-7; al-Qummī, Muntahā al-āmāl fī tawārīkh al-nabī wa-l-āl ʿalayhim al-salām, 3:2022-4. 172

section of his work. That person is none other than himself. In Kamāl al-dīn’s introduction, al-

Ṣadūq recounts how one night while he was deeply disturbed by the doubts and confusion that

continued to haunt the Shīʿī community about the Imam’s absence, he dreamt he was standing

next to the Black Stone of Kaʿba. He suddenly saw “our master, the Qāʾim, the lord of the

[final] age” standing at the door of the Kaʿba. The Imam knew why al-Ṣadūq was so

despondent merely from looking at his face. He suggested that al-Ṣadūq write a book about the

ghayba. When al-Ṣadūq responded that, “I have already written many things about the ghayba”

(qad ṣannaftu fī al-ghayba ashyāʾ a),438 the Imam answered that what al-Ṣadūq (or others) have

written was not what he had in mind. He then ordered him (āmuruka) to write a new book that

would focus on the Prophets who appeared before him and who had likewise disappeared

(ghaybāt al-anbiyāʾ) or had their lives miraculously prolonged by God.439 Implicit in al-Ṣadūq’s

438 Al-Ṣadūq’s words can be alternately translated as: “Many things have already been written about the ghayba [by others]” (qad ṣunnifat fī al-ghayba ashyāʾ u).

439 Al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 15. Referred to in Amir Arjomand, “The Consolation of Theology,” 555; Tafaḍḍulī, Kitābshināsī-i nuskhahhā-yi khaṭṭī-i āthār-i Shaykh Ṣadūq dar Iran, 207; al-Jahramī, Riʿāyat al-Imām al-Mahdī lil-marājiʿ wa-l-ʿulamāʾ al-aʿlām, 51-3. Al-Ṣadūq’s dream of the Hidden Imam continues to be adduced by Shīʿī scholars as proof of “the blessings” that have been bestowed on “traditionalists [sic], theologians and scholars, who have compiled comprehensive books on each and every topic concerning Imam-e-Zamana [sic], thereby clarifying the discussions in their entirety.” [Gulpāyigānī], Traditional Reports on the Hidden Imam (A Translation of Muntakhab al Asar) by Ayatullah Lutfullah Safi Gulpaigani (trans. Rizvi), iii (from the translator’s introduction). Rizvi adds: “The significance of working on this subject can be gauged from the fact that Imam-e-Zamana [sic] 173

oneiric encounter with the Imam is that he can appear in dreams (at least to al-Ṣadūq). That the

Imam can appear only in a dream must certainly have been an innocuous position to advance in the context of Buyid rule when the nascent Twelver Shīʿī community was actively attempting to portray itself as apolitical vis-à-vis the Ismāʿīlī Shīʿa who posed the greatest political and military challenge to the Buyid confederacy.

3.5. The Instructive Teacher

Following al-Ṣadūq, the most prominent Shīʿī teacher and leading Shīʿī jurist and

theologian of the late 4th/10th century was his student, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. al-

Nuʿmān al-Baghdādī al-Karkhī, known as Ibn al-Muʿallim (lit., son of the teacher, i.e., the

second coming of Aristotle) and more commonly al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (“the instructive

teacher”) (b. 336/948 or 338/950, d. 413/1022).

During the reign of the Buyid ruler ʿAḍud al-Dawla (d. 372/983), al-Mufīd was held in

great esteem by the court and was often invited to debate other thinkers. Although the Shīʿa

enjoyed unprecedented freedoms in Buyid Baghdad, his prominence made him the object of

himself ordered Shaikh Saduq to pen a book on occultation.” See also al-Jahramī, Riʿāyat al-Imām al- Mahdī lil-marājiʿ wa-l-ʿulamāʾ al-aʿlām, 51-3. 174

Sunnī attacks and he was exiled from the Abbasid capital following Sunnī-Shīʿī riots on at least three different occasions.440

Although he studied with al-Ṣadūq, al-Mufīd trenchantly criticized him in some of his

works. He is widely considered the revivifier of the rationalist orientation that had been in

abeyance in Baghdad since the time of the Nawbakhtīs in the early 4th/10th century.441 He and his students produced the principles of jurisprudence (uṣul al-fiqh) and assigned reason (al-ʿaql) a fundamental role in acquiring religious knowledge.442 They also severely weakened the school

of the Traditionists. In fact, al-Ṣadūq is widely considered the last of the great classical Shīʿī

Traditionists.

440 On al-Mufīd and his thought, see al-Amīnī, Muʿallim al-Shīʿa: al-Shaykh al-Mufīd; Zanjānī, “Shaykh Mufīd,” DMT, 10:178-85; Madelung, “Mufīd, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad,” EI², 7:312-3; Bayhom- Daou, Shaykh al-Mufid; Kadhim, “Politics and Theology of Imāmī Shīʿa in Baghdād in the 5th/11th Century,” 47-81; McDermott, The Theology of al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 413/1022); Sourdel, “L’Imamisme vu par le Cheikh al-Mufīd,” 217-96; Howard, “Introduction,” xxi-xxvii (The Life and Times of al-Shaykh al-Mufīd).

441 On the dominance of the Nawbakhtīs in Lesser Occultation Baghdad, in particular its head, the jurist and theologian, Abū Sahl Ismāʿīl al-Nawbakhtī (d. 311/923-4), see Amir Arjomand, “The Crisis of the Imamate and the Institution of Occultation in Twelver Shiʿism,” 502-7 and Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation, index, s.v. ‘Abū Sahl al-Nawbakhtī’; Klemm, “Die vier sufarāʾ des Zwölften Imām Zur formativen Periode der Zwölferšīʿa,” 139-41 (Abū Sahl Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī an-Naubaḫtī und sein Kreis).

442 See Halm, Shiʻism, 48-56. 175

Al-Mufīd devoted several works to questions of the Imamate and the ghayba.443 In one

his earlier works, the Kitāb al-irshād, written circa 380/990, he recorded many of the Lesser

Occultation encounter accounts that are mentioned by al-Kulaynī though, unlike al-Kulaynī, he did not consider these accounts as the primary proof of the Imam’s existence.444 In the final

chapter of Kitāb al-irshād, he rearticulates (following al-Nuʿmānī) the doctrine of two ghaybas:

ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ َوﻟَﻪُ ﻗَْﺒ َﻝ ﻗَﻴﺎﻤﻪ َﻏْﻴَﺒﺘَ ِﺎن إ ْﺤَد ُاﻫَﻤﺎ ْأَطَو ُﻝ ﻤ َن ْاﻷُ ْﺨَر ٰى َﻛَﻤﺎ َﺠ َﺎء ْت ﺒَذﻟ َك ْاﻷَ ْﺨَﺒ ُﺎر ﻓَ ﱠﺄَﻤﺎ ْاﻟﻘ ُ ْﺼَر ٰى ﻤْﻨﻬَُﻤﺎ ﻓَُﻤْﻨُذ َوْﻗت ِِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ﱡ ِ ِ ِ ِ َﻤْوﻟدﻩ إﻟَﻰ ْاﻨﻘطَ ِﺎع ﱢاﻟﺴﻔَ َﺎرة َﺒْﻴَﻨﻪُ َوَﺒ ْﻴ َن ﺸ َﻴﻌﺘﻪ َوَﻋَدم ﱡاﻟﺴﻔََراء ﺒ ْﺎﻟَوﻓَﺎة َو ﱠأَﻤﺎ اﻟطوﻟَ ٰﻰ ﻓَﻬ َﻲ َﺒ ْﻌَد ْاﻷُوﻟَ ٰﻰ َوﻓﻲ آﺨرَﻫﺎ َﻴﻘُ ُوم ﺒِ ﱠﺎﻟﺴْﻴ ِف

As has been narrated in the hadiths (of the Imams), before his rise, (the Hidden Imam) has two ghaybas, one longer than the other. As for the shorter of the two, it lasted from (the Imam’s) birth to the point when the function performed by the those who served as representatives between him and his Shīʿa was suspended and there were no longer any representatives because they had all died. As for the longer (ghayba), it was after the first. At the end of it, (the Imam) will rise 445 with the sword.444F

443 For a list of al-Mufīd’s works on the Imamate and the ghayba, based on Rijāl al-Najāshī, see Amīnī, “Kitāb-i ghaybat-i Shaykh Ṭūsī,” 480.

444 Al-Mufīd, al-Irshād, 2:351-4. On this work, see Akhtar, Early Shīʻite Imāmiyyah Thinkers, 96-99.

445 Al-Mufīd, al-Irshād, 2:340 (for a different translation, see al-Mufīd, Kitāb al-irshād: Book of Guidance (trans. Howard), 525). Al-Mufīd’s explanation is cited by a number of prominent scholars: al- Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma1, 2:949; ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī (attributed), al-Mustajād min kitāb al-irshād, 253-4; Ibn al-Ṣabbāgh, al-Fuṣūl al-muhimma, 2:1097-1100 (with minor differences); al-Kāshānī, ʿIlm al-yaqīn, 2:933-4; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:23-4 (no. 36); al-Baḥrānī, Madīnat al-maʿājiz, 8:6; al-Ḥāʾirī al- Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 1:289; al-Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar, 321. Sachedina’s comment that “al- Mufīd does not embark on the question of the two forms of ghayba in his account of the twelfth Imam in al-Irshad,” Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 87-8, obviously needs to be corrected. 176

Similar to al-Nuʿmānī, al-Mufīd maintains there are no representatives or gates (al-

abwāb, another term he uses in the same sense as sufarāʾ)446 to establish contact between the

Imam and the faithful or impart knowledge to them. He is adamant that the second ghayba

could last seemingly forever. In fact, he states elsewhere that the Imam may stay in hiding for a

thousand years (wa-law baqiya alf ʿām).447

The arguments in al-Mufīd’s later works on the ghayba are based on rational proofs

(dalāʾil ʿaqliyya as opposed to dalāʾil naqliyya). The previous generation of scholars were not shy about expressing their aversion to the Muʿtazila. Al-Nuʿmānī numbered the Muʿtazila as

enemies of the Imams, similar to those who advocate (religious) innovations (al-mubtadiʿīn).448

Al-Ṣadūq stated in his Kamāl al-dīn that the harsh attacks of the Muʿtazilites had exacerbated

the confusion and doubt that Shīʿa from Baghdad to Nīshāpūr were experiencing, leading many

to renounce their beliefs.449 By the time of al-Mufīd, the traditional arguments furnished by al-

446 al-Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 318. This book is a compilation of passages from different works written by al-Mufīd (which have otherwise not survived), mainly his al-ʿUyūn wa-l- maḥāsin by his student al-Murtaḍā. See Akhtar, Early Shīʻite Imāmiyyah Thinkers, 188.

447 al-Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 319.

448 Al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ghayba, 36.

449 For references, see Hussain, The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam, 144. 177

Nuʿmānī and al-Ṣadūq were no longer adequate. To defend the doctrine of the ghayba to their

rationalist interlocutors, Shīʿī scholars had to adduce strictly rational proofs.

Al-Mufīd does not directly posit the possibility of encountering the Imam in any of his

works. In a key doctrinal text, when responding to the question of what proof there is for the

Imam’s existence (mā al-dalīl ʿalā wujūdihi), he responds that every age must have an Imam

who is protected by God from committing sin (maʿṣūm), emphasizing the key ghayba principle

of the Shīʿī rationalists: luṭf or grace from God.450 We might expect here some mention of the

Imam appearing to his followers as an evidence of his existence. None is offered.

But can anyone ever see the Imam or benefit from his guidance? Al-Mufīd responds to

this question in his defense of the doctrine of the ghayba titled al-Masāʾil al-ʿashar fī al- ghayba,451 one of his last works completed near the end of 411/1021.452 On the question of

450 Al-Mufīd, al-Nukat al-iʿtiqādiyya, 44-5. On the principle of luṭf, see al-Murtaḍā, al-Dhakhīra fī ʿilm al-kalām, 186-98; Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 20, 124-35 passim; Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam, 44; Halm, Shiʻism, 53. Briefly, the argument stems from the Muʿtazilī principles that (1) God is just and (2) man is responsible for his actions. Since man is prone to error and thus, in need of guidance and the ruling Caliphs are sinful and tyrannical, God’s luṭf (divine grace) obligates Him to provide an authoritative source of guidance at all times in the form of an Imam who He has protected (maʿṣūm) from committing error. If this Imam is not present, he must be in hiding. On the Shīʿī ascription of ʿiṣma (divine protection from errancy) to the Imams, see Algar, “Čahārdah Maʿṣūm,” EIr, 4:627-9.

451 On this work, see Kadhim, “Politics and Theology of Imāmī Shīʿa in Baghdād in the 5th/11th Century,” 78-80 (his comment that the book was written in 410/1019-20 needs to be corrected). No 178

seeing the Imam, he responds: “A group of the companions of Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī saw his

successor [i.e., the twelfth Imam] with their own eyes (shāhadū khalafahu)453 while al-ʿAskarī

was still alive.” These companions were al-ʿAskarī’s elite followers (khāṣṣatahu). After al-

ʿAskarī’s death, these same elite companions became “the intermediaries (al-wasāʾiṭ) between

(the twelfth Imam) and his Shīʿa during his ghayba.” Al-Mufīd maintains that the mere fact

“that (the Hidden Imam) was seen [by these companions] disproves the enemy who claims,

‘The leader [of the Shīʿa] has not been seen or encountered since his alleged birth.’” But what

happened after these companions died? Al-Mufīd goes on to say:

… As for the time after their passing [that is, after the passing of the elite companions and the intermediaries], … we have hadiths that have been narrated on the authority of the Imams which affirm that the eagerly awaited Qāʾim will have two ghaybas: one longer than the other. [These hadiths state that] the elite (of his followers) possess information about him (yaʿrif khabarahu al-khāṣṣū) during the shorter (ghayba), but the only people who know his location during the longer (ghayba) are those from among his

scholar has discussed al-Mufīd’s writings concerning the question of contacting the Imam but for general comments about his thought regarding the ghayba, see McDermott, The Theology of al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 413/1022), 127-31; Bayhom-Daou, Shaykh al-Mufid, 77-81. According to McDermott, The Theology of al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 413/1022), 35 (no. 90), 36 (no. 108), al-Mufīd is said to have composed two others work concerning the occultation called Kitāb al-ghayba and Kitāb mukhtaṣar fī al- ghayba neither of which have survived.

452 Al-Mufīd, al-Masāʾil al-ʿashar fī al-ghayba, 32.

453 Notice that here al-Mufīd uses the same verb found in the critical sentence of the last tawqīʿ which he likely knew about (having been a student of al-Ṣadūq with access to the latter’s Kamāl al-dīn) but chose not to cite in any of his works. 179

most trustworthy friends/initiates who have been entrusted with the task of serving him (man tawallā khidmatahu min thuqāt awliyāʾihi) and who do nothing else but tend to his [daily] needs (lam yanqaṭiʿ ʿanhu ilā al-ishtighāl bi-ghayrihi).454

Thus, according to al-Mufīd’s interpretation of the Shīʿī hadith (and he almost certainly is alluding in the above passage to Hadith 2 and Hadith 3 discussed in chapter 2 of this study), not even all of the elite followers of the Hidden Imam can see him during the second ghayba; the only believers who see him are a very select group of the Imam’s friends who are in fact his servants charged with tending to his personal needs.

In other late works in which he responds to this question, al-Mufīd is far from charitable towards his fellow Shīʿa. A Muʿtazilī scholar once asked him a question which he had posed to other Shīʿī scholars from Khurasan to Fārs and for which he never received a satisfactory answer: “Does (the Hidden Imam) fear you in the same way that he fears his enemies (hal huwa taqiyya minkum kamā huwa fī taqiyya min aʿdāʾihi)? Or does he fear his enemies only?”

In other words, the Muʿtazilī was at least willing to understand the rationale for the Imam being forced to hide out of fear from his enemies; but why not appear to his believers, especially at a time (in the context of Buyid rule) when they enjoyed liberties and freedoms unheard of when the ghaybas commenced? Al-Mufīd responds that the Imam is in fact fearful of not only his

454 Al-Mufīd, al-Masāʾil al-ʿashar fī al-ghayba, 76. 180

enemies and those who don’t know him but also of his Shīʿa. That he distrusts his enemies is

self-evident but the Imam cautiously evades those who don't know him because they may kill

him or turn him over to his enemies in order to receive a monetary reward or some position in

the government. Finally, the Imam has reservations about appearing to his Shīʿa because none

of the Shīʿa are perfect, that is to say, none of the Imam’s followers are incapable of making a

mistake (laysū bi-maʿṣūmīn min al-ghalaṭ). If the Imam showed himself to them (law ẓahara lahum al-imām) and they saw him or they somehow learned his whereabouts (aw ʿarafū

makānuhu), they might be tempted by Satan to reveal this to the authorities in their desire for

the transitory things of this world (ṭamʿan fī al-ʿājila wa-raghbatan fīhā; cf. Qur’an 17:18, 76:27)

as was so often the case with the followers of previous prophets who apostatized their faith

(here, he gives the example of the followers of Moses who abandoned him and Aaron and

followed al-Sāmarī (Qur’an 20:85-97)).455 Another follower may unintentionally (ʿalā sabīl al-

sahw) tell others that he has seen the Imam or knows his location or seek to parade the fact that

he knows he has seen the Imam to others (lil-tajammul wa-l-tasharruf bi-maʿrifatihi bi-l-

mushāhada).456

455 Al-Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 110-1. Partially discussed in Kohlberg, “Taqiyya in Shīʿī Theology and Religion,” 350. See also Bayhom-Daou, Shaykh al-Mufid, 80.

456 Al-Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 115. 181

In lieu of seeing the Imam, al-Mufīd argues that if any differences arise among the Shīʿa

or they have any questions about matters of belief, “they must seek the help of the ulama of the

Shīʿa and their fuqahāʾ” (yastaʿīnū … bi-ʿulamāʾ al-shīʿa wa-fuqahāʾihim) and if they are not able to find answers to their questions in the Traditions, they may use reason as a source for deriving laws.457 Thus, the ulama and fuqahāʾ are at once the Imam’s locum tenentes and

conduits for his guidance to the faithful.

Al-Mufīd’s defense of the ghayba became the framework for the next generation of

Twlever Shīʿī scholars, all of whom were his intellectual agnates. In his statement that a

number of believers are in the service of the Imam, we see the first signs of a shift that was

made explicit by two of his most prominent students: al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā and al-Ṭūsī. Al-

Murtaḍā, al-Ṭūsī and their students all suggested in subtle terms that direct contact with the

Hidden Imam was theoretically possible for his closest and most devoted followers before his

reappearance. It is to a discussion of their works that we now turn.

3.6. The Banner of Guidance and His Students

457 Al-Mufīd, ʿIddat rasāʾil, 386-7 (from al-risāla al-thāniyya fī al-ghayba). 182

When al-Mufīd died in 413/1022, the mantle of religious authority was passed to his student,

al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā (d. 436/1044).458 Al-Murtaḍā, the prodigious man of letters known as

ʿAlam al-Hudā (the Banner of Guidance), was the doyen of the renowned Shīʿī scholars of the

Buyid period and the “undisputed head of the Imāmī community after the death” of al-

Mufīd.459 With him, the anti-Traditionist, rationalist, and Muʿtazilī-leaning orientation of the

Shīʿī scholars of Baghdad which al-Mufīd had revivified reached its peak.460 However, in

contrast to his master al-Mufīd, who had maintained that reason alone without the aid of

inspired tradition (i.e. the aḥādīth of the ahl al-bayt) was insufficient to attain knowledge, al-

Murtaḍā affirmed, in full agreement with the Muʿtazila, that “the fundamental truths of religion

must be established primarily by reason.”461 Al-Murtaḍā’s oeuvre deserves much more attention

458 On al-Murtaḍā, see Brockelmann, “al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā,” EI², 7:634; Madelung, “ʿAlam-al-Hodā,” EIr, 1:791-5; Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 311; Halm, Shiʻism, 51; Akhtar, Early Shīʻite Imāmiyyah Thinkers, 177-204.

459 Madelung, “A Treatise of the Sharīf al-Murtaḍā on the Legality of Working for the Government (Masʿala fī ʼl-ʿamal maʿa ʼl-Sulṭān),” 21.

460 On the attempts of the rationalist scholar in Baghdad “to modulate the radicalism” of the Traditionist school of Qum, see Lawson, “Hermeneutics,” EIr, 12:235-9.

461 Madelung, “ʿAlam-al-Hodā,” EIr, 1:793; Madelung, “Imamism and Muʿtazilite Theology,” 25-8. On the differences between al-Mufīd and al-Murtaḍā’s legal approaches, see Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 42 (note 8). 183

than it has thus far received. Here we will have to limit our study to his elucidations and teachings about the ghayba of the Hidden Imam.

Al-Murtaḍā’s views on the Hidden Imam are expressed in several books and treatises.462

Importantly, al-Murtaḍā seldom cites from the Traditions introduced in chapters 1 and 2 of our

study. His decision to largely censure al-Kulaynī, al-Nuʿmānī and to a lesser extent al-Ṣadūq for filling their compilations with “forged” Traditions averse to reason has been documented by scholars.463

Like al-Mufīd, al-Murtaḍā’s speculations about the ghayba begin with the premise of

the Imamate. If a person becomes convinced in the necessity of the Imamate, then the doctrine

of the Imam’s ghayba is easy to grasp.464 In his works, al-Murtaḍā gives official sanction for the reports of the Imam making incognito visits to his acolytes or granting audiences to some

462 Cf. the recently published late 6th/12th or early 7th/13th anonymous Shīʿī-Muʿtazilī theological treatise, Khulāṣat al-naẓar, which offers a very similar response centered around the principle of luṭf (divine grace) but does not even hint at the possibility of Imam appearing to his most elite disciples during the Greater Occultation. See Schmidtke and Ansari, eds., Khulāṣat al-naẓar, 171-8, esp. 176.

463 Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin 32 [= Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide, 13]; Kohlberg, “Kolayni,” EIr (online edition); Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 41: “he was very critical of the traditionists, and even accused all ‘Qummiyyūn’ of being religious deviationists, with the only exception of al-Ṣadūq, toward whom he adopted a more moderate approach.”

464 For a general discussion of al-Murtaḍā’s teachings on the ghayba, see Kadhim, “Politics and Theology of Imāmī Shīʿa in Baghdād in the 5th/11th Century,” 173-6. For his thought about the Imamate, see Mohaghegh, “Al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā and the Defense of the Imamate,” 123-31. 184

of his followers in the Lesser Occultation by claiming that that the Imam used to appear before

his adherents at the beginning of his ghayba, hiding himself from only his enemies; only later

(i.e., after the end of the Lesser Occultation), when danger to his life increased did he have to

hide from both followers and adversaries. According to al-Murtaḍā, “the Imam hides from his enemies because he must protect himself from them (lil-taqiyya minhum) and he hides from his

friends (awliyāʾihi) because he fears for them (lil-taqiyya ʿalayhim)…for if he were to appear to

those who affirm his Imamate or to be seen by an enemy who then tells others, his followers

would be persecuted; and even if, in these circumstances, the Imam himself managed to evade

capture by going back into hiding, these enemies would still inflict grievous harm upon his

followers.”465 Al-Murtaḍā repeats this same assertion when stating that the Imam will only

appear when there is no longer a need for him to be cautious (tazūl ʿanhu al-taqiyya – lit., fear vanishes from him), adding ominously that “(the Imam) is constantly watching us (shāhid

465 We have not been able to find this passage in al-Murtaḍā’s extant writings but al-Ṭabrisī (on whom, see chapter 4) quotes him thus in his Iʿlām al-warā, 2:303. The passage is repeated a century later by al- Irbilī (on whom, see chapter 4), who again attributes it to al-Murtaḍā. See al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma1, 2:1033. The translation here is from Kohlberg, “Taqiyya in Shīʿī Theology and Religion,” 350, slightly revised after consulting the original text. 185

lanā), he is omnipresent (muḥīṭ binā) and nothing about us is hidden from him (wa-ghayr khāfin

ʿalayhi shayʾ un min aḥwālinā).”466

Using dialectical arguments, in his Masʾala wajīza fī al-ghayba, al-Murtaḍā asserts that indeed, the possibility of the Imam appearing in person to some of his friends cannot be been ruled out: “If it is said: ‘What is the difference between (saying that the Imam) exists or does not exist when he is concealed (ghāʾib) and no one can reach him or benefit from him (lā yaṣil ilayhi aḥad wa-lā yantafiʿ bihi bashar),...Then it should be said [to those making such

objections]: ‘First, we consider it allowable (nujawwiz) that many of his friends (awliyāʾihi)

and those who profess his Imamate can reach him, and thus benefit from him…”467 Al-Murtaḍā

then maintains that the Shīʿa who do not meet the Imam (lā yalqāhu) still benefit from his

existence because they will hesitate to commit any reprehensible acts (al-qabāʾiḥ) out of fear of

being chastised or reprimanded by the Imam.468

466 Al-Murtaḍā, Rasāʾil al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, 1:283.

467 Sachedina, “A Treatise on the Occultation of the Twelfth Imāmite Imam,” 122 (revised after consulting the original text found in al-Murtaḍā, “Masʾala wajīza fī al-ghayba,” 12; Sachedina calls this treatise Risālat al-ghayba but all other sources refer to it as Masʾala wajīza fī al-ghayba). An almost identical statement is made by al-Murtaḍā in his al-Dhakhīra fī ʿilm al-kalām, 423, in an essay about the proofs of the Imam’s existence.

468 See also al-Murtaḍā, Rasāʾil al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, 3:145. This opinion would be re-expressed by Maytham al-Baḥrānī (d. 699/1299-1300) some three centuries later. See al-Oraibi, “Shīʿī Renaissance,” 155-6, and chapter four of this dissertation. 186

In his al-Shāfī fī al-Imāma, written to controvert the chapters on the imamate in the

contrarian Muʿtazilite theologian Qāḍī al-Quḍāt ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Hamadānī’s (d. 415/1024-

5)469 comprehensive anti-Shīʿī (or more appropriately, anti-Twelver-Shīʿī) polemic and exposition of Muʿtazilī kalām, the Kitāb al-mughnī fī abwāb al-tawḥīd wa-l-ʿadl,470 al-Murtaḍā modulates his position and maintains: “We cannot be certain (lasnā naqṭaʿ) that the Imam will not appear to some of his friends (awliyāʾ) and Shīʿa. In fact, (the Imam appearing to some)

remains a possibility but it is also possible that he will not appear to any of them. Each person

only knows about his own self (laysa yaʿrif kull wāḥid minnā illā ḥāl nafsihi) and it’s not

possible for him to know about anyone else (fa-ammā ḥāl ghayrihi fa-ghayr maʿlūm lahu).” It

is worth noting that al-Murtaḍā’s explanation is not the first he gives in discussing the rationale

for the ghayba. It is not even the second. In fact, he concedes that the main reason he is

mentioning this possibility is to attenuate ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Hamadānī’s argument of why the

Imam does not appear to his followers now that he is no longer facing the same threats to his life that he faced when the ghayba began in the pre-Buyid period. Satisfied with this “solution”

469 On al-Shāfī fī al-imāma, see Zanjānī, “al-Shāfī fī al-imāma,” DMT, 9:499-502; Akhtar, Early Shīʻite Imāmiyyah Thinkers, 187. On ʿAbd al-Jabbār, see Madelung, “ʿAbd al-Jabbār b. Aḥmad,” EIr, 1:116-7; Dhanani, “ʿAbd al-Jabbār,” ER, 1:3-5; and Reynolds, A Muslim Theologian, 41-57.

470 On this work and al-Murtaḍā’s response, see Rosenthal, “ʿAbd al-Jabbār on the Imamate,” 207-18. 187

to an ostensibly insoluble problem, al-Murtaḍā concludes, “Since we deem it possible that (the

Imam) may appear to some of (the Shīʿa), or even all of them, we see no reason to mention the rationale preventing his appearance (al-ʿillā al-māniʿa ʿan al-ẓuhūr).”471

Responding to the same question in his Tanzīh al-anbiyāʾ, al-Murtaḍā is more reticent.472 Posing the question of what difference is there between the Imam’s existence and

nonexistence when no one can reach him and benefit from him while he is in ghayba, he

retorts, “We cannot say with certainty (innā ghayr qāṭiʿīn) that the no one can reach the Imam

or encounter him (yalqāhu) because this matter is unknown and there is no way to be certain

one way or another (fa-hādhā al-amr ghayr maʿlūm wa-lā sabīl ilā al-qaṭʿ ʿalayhi).”473

Nevertheless, “the possibility” that the Imam may appear in person to “some of his friends has

not been ruled out.”474 He then refers to his earlier argument in al-Shāfī fī al-Imāma

emphasizing that that it is not possible to be certain about the matter either way and that “each

of the Imam’s Shīʿa can only answer for himself [whether he has seen the Imam or not]. There

471 Al-Murtaḍā, al-Shāfī fī al-imāma, 1:149.

472 As the title suggests, the central theme of Tanzīh al-anbiyāʾ is the doctrine of ʿiṣma. For general comments about this work, see Bar-Asher, Scripture and Exegesis, 173-9.

473 Al-Murtaḍā, Tanzīh al-anbiyāʾ, 182 > al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 150; Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:855.

474 Al-Murtaḍā, Tanzīh al-anbiyāʾ, 184; Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya to Ithnā-‘ashariyya,” 528; Kohlberg, “Authoritative Scriptures,” 307-8. 188

is no way he can answer for anyone else.”475 Al-Murtaḍā is implying in these statements, in

very subtle terms, that even if someone meets the Imam, it would not be seemly to divulge this

fact to others nor would it be appropriate for others to question the veracity of someone who

has claimed to have seen the Imam. Although he does not cite the last tawqīʿ of the Imam in

any of his works, it appears that he has the critical sentence of the tawqīʿ in mind in these

statements. In other words, certain believers can see the Imam but no one should claim this

publicly.

The final work in which al-Murtaḍā deals with the question is his al-Muqniʿ fī al-

ghayba. Although we do not know when this work was written, it is clear that it is one of his

later works since he refers in it to al-Shāfī fī al-imāma and Tanzīh al-anbiyāʾ. In the

introduction, al-Murtaḍā explains that questions about the ghayba of the Imam of the Age arose

at a meeting with a Buyid minister, requiring him to respond in brief.476 That the explanations offered in al-Muqniʿ fī al-ghayba were held in high esteem by future generations of scholars

and are cited in part or in toto by, among others, al-Ṭūsī in his Kitāb al-ghayba, al-Ṭabrisī in

475 Al-Murtaḍā, Tanzīh al-anbiyāʾ, 184 > al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 151; ʿAlīpūr, Jilvah-hā-yi pinhānī-i imām-i ʿaṣr, 126. The only western scholar I am aware of who has brought attention to this text is Kohlberg, “From Imāmiyya,” 528: “Al-Murtaḍā maintains that it is not impossible for the Imām to appear before one of his adherents, provided the Imām has complete confidence in him.”

476 The wazīr is identified by al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 22:123. 189

his Iʿlām al-warā bi-aʿlām al-hudā, and al-Majlisī in his Biḥār al-anwār, is a tribute to al-

Murtaḍā’s perceived intellectual prowess vis-à-vis defending the doctrine of ghayba.

On the question of seeing the Imam, al-Murtaḍā again poses the hypothetical question encountered above of what the difference is between the Imam existing or not when no one can reach him and benefit from him during his ghayba. He responds, “Before we answer this

question, it must be stated that it cannot be said with certainty (mā yuqṭaʿ) that no one reaches the Imam or encounters him because this matter is hidden from us (hādhā al-amr mughayyab

ʿannā) and steeped in uncertainty.”477 Elsewhere, he asks: “If we accept that the rationale for

(the Imam’s) ghayba from his enemies is that he feared them, then why does he not [at least]

appear to his friends? This rationale does not apply to them, right?” Al-Murtaḍā begins his

response by saying that other ulama (he is referring here to al-Ṣadūq and al-Mufīd) have

already answered this question by arguing that if the Imam appeared to some of his friends,

they might reveal his location or be unable to conceal their joy of seeing the Imam to his

enemies. However, al-Murtaḍā does not find this response convincing. Even if the concern may exist for one or two of the Shīʿa to act unwisely, it does not apply to the overwhelming majority of Shīʿa who would never reveal their encounters with the Imam since they appreciate

477 Al-Murtaḍā, al-Muqniʿ fī al-ghayba, 55-6. 190

the risks that this would pose to the Imam’s life. Al-Murtaḍā elaborates on this point in the book’s addendum (takmīl). He addresses the question of how the believers can benefit from the

Imam when he is concealed. His very telling response follows:

Those loyal to the Imām of the Age, his Shīʿa and the believers in his imamate, benefit from him during his ghaybah, the kind of benefit which - we say - is necessary under an obligation to fulfill one’s religious duties (taklīf); because, knowing that he is among them and believing with certainty in their obligation to obey him, they must revere and fear him upon [intending] to perpetrate evil deeds. They fear his discipline, reproach and punishment. Hence, their fulfillment of duties will increase and their evil deeds will decrease, which is more proper; and this is the rational need for the Imam after all.478

Thus, al-Murtaḍā argues that whereas it is possible for the Imam to appear to his friends

(awliyāʾ) in order to admonish, discipline or educate them, the Imam is never obligated (ghayr

wājib) to do so just as the Shīʿa are not obligated to search for reasons why he does not appear

if he chooses not to.479 Al-Murtaḍā here is essentially arguing that there is no need to see the

Imam. His concealed presence is enough to preclude the Shīʿa from committing heinous acts or

failing to fulfill their religious obligations.

While the arguments advanced by al-Murtaḍā do not amount to volte-face on the

question of seeing the Imam, they do signify a clear discontinuity. Like al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ṣadūq

478 Al-Murtaḍā, al-Muqniʿ fī al-ghayba, 74; translated in Kadhim, “Politics and Theology of Imāmī Shīʿa in Baghdād in the 5th/11th Century,” 176.

479 Al-Murtaḍā, al-Muqniʿ fī al-ghayba, 77. 191

and al-Mufīd before him, al-Murtaḍā does not mention any accounts of encounters with the

Imam during the second ghayba in any of his works. Yet unlike al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ṣadūq and al-

Mufīd who maintained that the Imam cannot be seen (at least not in a wakeful state in the case

of al-Ṣadūq and with the exception of some of his servants in the case al-Mufīd), al-Murtaḍā argued again and again that it is indeed possible for the Imam to appear to his Shīʿa though the question ultimately remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Al-Murtaḍā’s influence over the next generation of Shīʿī scholars is impossible to overestimate. Taking advantage of the greater freedoms afforded to them by the Buyid rulers, many of his students settled in Iran, parts of Iraq and the Levant to promulgate Twelver Shīʿī thought. Three of these students have left works that deal specifically with the question of whether it is possible to see and recognize the Hidden Imam during the Greater Occultation and it is a discussion of their responses to this question that we now turn.

3.6.1. Al-Karājukī

The first student was Abū al-Fatḥ Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. ʿUthmān al-Karājukī (d. 449/1057), a jurist, astronomer, medical doctor and theologian.480 After studying in Baghdad under al-Mufīd

480 The best biography of this scholar is found in al-Karājukī, Kanz al-fawāʾid, 1:11-25 (from the publisher’s introduction). His name is often misspelled al-Karājkī, al-Karājikī, al-Karāchakī or al- Karākji in western sources (where there been little discussion of him), but the correct vocalization is al- 192

and later al-Murtaḍā, al-Karājukī returned to his home in Tripoli on the Lebanese coast where

he taught and served as a jurist. At the time, Tripoli was under Fatimid control and dominated

by Ismāʿīlī scholars. Al-Karājukī’s Kanz al-fawāʾid, an anthology of his writings peppered with

long passages from the works of his teachers is considered a major source for Shīʿī theology.481

The work reflects the intense debates al-Karājukī was undertaking with not only Ismāʿīlī scholars, but also Muʿtazilites, Ashʿarīs, Jews and Christians. Two chapters of this work are devoted to the Hidden Imam and to defending the doctrine of ghayba. Al-Karājukī’s defense

centers around the principle of self-protection: the Imam, as all previous prophets and

messengers who disappeared for a time, was forced into hiding because of the threat posed by

the oppressors who sought to kill him (inna al-sabab fī ghaybat al-imām ikhāfa al-ẓālimīn lahu wa-ṭalabuhum bi-safk damihi).482 In the chapter on the twelfth Imam, after explaining that the

Imam was forced to conceal himself from everyone out of fear for his life, al-Karājukī states:

“Despite this, we cannot say with certainty that no one is able to recognize the Imam or reach

Karājukī, a nisba derived from the name of the town of Karājuk, see al-Zubaydī, Tāj al-ʿarūs, 13:632. For passing references to him, see Akhtar, Early Shīʻite Imāmiyyah Thinkers, 185, 208; Mourad, Early Islam between Myth and History, 198.

481 Al-Karājukī’s Kanz al-fawāʾid is discussed briefly in Kadhim, “Politics and Theology of Imāmī Shīʿa in Baghdād in the 5th/11th Century,” 177.

482 Al-Karājukī, Kanz al-fawāʾid, 1:370. 193

him. In fact, it may be possible that a group of his friends meet him (qad yajūz an yajtamiʿ bihi

ṭāʾifa min awliyāʾihi) while concealing their encounter and keeping it a secret (tastir ijtimāʿahā bihi wa-tukhfīhi).”483 Al-Karājukī continues that since the Imam is in ghayba, those seeking guidance (al-mustarshidūn) must find recourse in “the fuqahāʾ,” pose their questions to them about the Sharia and seek their legal rulings about what is permissible and impermissible since the fuqahāʾ are “the representatives (al-wasāʾiṭ) between the people and the Lord of the Age and the custodians of the laws of the Sharia of Islam.”484 He adds that even though the Imam is concealed and the people cannot recognize him (lā yaʿrifūn shakhṣahu), he is nonetheless among them, following their affairs and apprised of their words and deeds. Should, God forbid, the fuqahāʾ stray from the truth, God will cause the Imam to appear.485 In other words, as long as the Imam remains in ghayba, the believers can rest assured that the fuqahāʾ are not causing the people to go astray even if they are unable to determine his opinion on legal matters in a direct manner.

3.6.2. Al-Ḥalabī

483 Al-Karājukī, Kanz al-fawāʾid, 2:218.

484 Al-Karājukī, Kanz al-fawāʾid, 2:218.

485 Al-Karājukī, Kanz al-fawāʾid, 2:219. 194

Abū al-Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī (374–447/984–1055) studied under al-Mufīd, al-Murtaḍā and al-Ṭūsī in

Baghdad and later served as al-Ṭūsī’s representative in his native Aleppo. A prominent Shīʿī

jurist and theologian, he is referred to as al-Murtaḍā’s successor in scholarship.486 In his Taqrīb

al-maʿārif, al-Ḥalabī reiterates al-Murtaḍā’s opinion: “We cannot say with certainty that the

Imam is concealed from all (of his friends). Rather, it is possible that he appears to many of

them (yajūz ẓuhūruhu li-kathīr minhum). As for those he does not appear to, they still know that he is alive and remain committed to the obligation of obeying him for they fear him,” knowing that the Imam can appear to any observant believer. “In this manner,” al-Ḥalabī

argues, “the Imam’s ghayba is like his appearance” (fa-ghaybabtuhu ʿalā hādhā al-taqdīr ka-

ẓuhūrihi).487

3.6.3. Al-Ṭūsī

The most eminent of al-Murtaḍā’s students was one Muḥammad b. Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī (d. 459 or

460/1066-7), known as Shaykh al-Ṭāʾifa (the Master or Authority of the [Twelver] Shīʿī

486 On al-Ḥalabī, see Kohlberg, “Ḥalabī, Abu’l-Ṣāleḥ [sic],” EIr, 11:580-1; Pakatchi and Umar, “Abū al- Ṣalāḥ al-Ḥalabī,” Encyclopaedia Islamica (online edition); Bābāyī, “Abū al-Ṣalāh Ḥalabī,” 19-27; Stewart, Islamic Legal Orthodoxy, 130.

487 Al-Ḥalabī, Taqrīb al-maʿārif, 444. On this work, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 4:366 (no. 1096). 195

community) or simply al-Shaykh.488 Al-Ṭūsī was originally a student of al-Mufīd and upon the latter’s death, became one of the most prominent pupils of al-Murtaḍā who entrusted him with the task of condensing his aforementioned Kitāb al-shāfī fī al-imāma. The influence al-Ṭūsī

exerted on future generations of scholars can be appreciated by the fact that the school of law

which he founded maintained its supremacy in Shīʿī legal scholarship for the next three

centuries.

Invoking Muʿtazilī principles, al-Ṭūsī argues that God can in no wise be blamed for the

Imam’s ghayba as God is incapable of being unjust or committing an ugly act (qabīḥan). The

Imam is also not responsible for he is simply abiding by the will of God. Rather, the ghayba is

due to (1) the overwhelming number of the Imam’s enemies and (2) the fewness of his helpers

(kathrat al-ʿadū wa-qillat al-nāṣir). He then furnishes traditional proofs for the long life of the

Qāʾim by mentioning that previous prophets have lived for as long as three thousand years.489

488 On him, see Amir-Moezzi, “al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan,” EI², 10:744; Tihrānī, Zindigīnāmah-yi Shaykh Ṭūsī; Ḥusayn Karīmān, “Shaykh Ṭūsī,” DMT, 10:169-72; Marḍiyyah Muḥammad-Zādah, “Shaykh Ṭūsī,” DMT, 10:172-6 [the editor of Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Tashayyuʿ notes that considering his importance, two separate articles have been devoted to him]; Akhtar, Early Shīʻite Imāmiyyah Thinkers, 205-46; Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 44-5; Marcinkowski, “Rapprochement and Fealty during the Buyids and Early Saljuqs: The Life and Times of Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Ṭūsī;” Rāymār, “Shaykh Ṭūsī: The Life and Works of a Shīʿīte [sic] Leader;” Sachedina, Islamic Messianism, 35-8.

489 Al-Ṭūsī, “Masāʾil kalāmiyya,” 99. 196

Like al-Murtaḍā, al-Ṭūsī is hesitant to permit the possibility of encountering the Imam

during the second ghayba. He certainly never affirms this possibility as a matter of doctrine. In his Talkhīṣ al-shāfī,490 al-Ṭūsī asserts that the Shīʿa are not obliged to believe that the Imam is

hidden from all of his friends (lā yajib al-qaṭʿ ʿalā istitārihi ʿan jamīʿ awliyāʾihi).491 Here, he

presents his view by restating the position of al-Murtaḍā: “We cannot be certain that [the

Imam] is hidden from all of his initiates/friends. It suffices to say that (seeing the Imam) is

492 possible (wa-l-tajwīz fī hādhā al-bāb kāfin).” Yet he appears to contradict himself in the same

work stating that the rationale for the Imam not appearing to his friends reverts to the believers

and not to the Imam himself because if he appears to them, they may become so excited that

they inform their friends. Before you know it, the news has reached the Imam’s enemies who

will seek to find and harm him. For this reason, it is more likely that the Imam will remain concealed from everyone (fa-yaʿūd al-amr ilā al-istitār ʿan al-jamīʿ).493

490 On this work, see Rāymār, “Shaykh Ṭūsī: The Life and Works of a Shīʿīte [sic] Leader,” 133-6.

491 Al-Ṭūsī, Talkhīṣ al-shāfī, 4:222.

492 Al-Ṭūsī, Talkhīṣ al-shāfī, 4:217. The same statement is repeated in al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 93.

493 Al-Ṭūsī, Talkhīṣ al-shāfī, 1:94. 197

In his Kitāb al-ghayba, completed in 447/1055-6,494 al-Ṭūsī sought to reconcile the

methods of the rationalists and the Traditionists by defending the doctrine of occultation

through adducing hadiths as well as strictly rational arguments. He states that although the enemies of the Imam have prevented him from appearing and guiding the affairs of the world,

they are not able to hold him back him from appearing to his elite friends, provided he has

complete confidence in their obedience to him.495 He then speculates, “It is possible that (the

Imam) appears to most of (his friends) but each person can only speak for his own self (lit.,

each person only knows of his own state)” (wa-lā yaʿlam kull insān illā ḥāl nafsihi).496 If the

Imam does not appear to someone, it is because the believer has likely been lax in carrying out

his religious obligations.497 In other words, “Whoever the Imam does not appear to must look

within himself and mend his ways (yanbaghī an yurajiʿ nafsahu wa-yuṣliḥ sīratahu) because if

494 On this work, see Muḥammadī, “al-Ghayba,” DMT, 12:146-7; Akhtar, Early Shīʻite Imāmiyyah Thinkers, 231; Tihrānī, Zindigīnāmah-yi Shaykh Ṭūsī, 38; Rāymār, “Shaykh Ṭūsī: The Life and Works of a Shīʿīte [sic] Leader,” 136.

495 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 98.

496 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 99. Persian translation: Ṭūsī, Khūrshīd dar nahān (trans. Jalālī), 157-8; Dhākirī, “Irtibāṭ bā imām-i zamān,” 78. The same response is given in a different work: “While we cannot be certain that all of his friends do not see him [i.e., it is possible that some do see him], each person can only speak for what he himself knows or has seen.” Al-Ṭūsī, “Sharḥ jumal al-ʿilm wa-l- ʿamal lil-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā ʿAlam al-Hudā,” 244-5.

497 Al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 99 > al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 151. 198

God knows that his intention to help the Imam is pure and that he will not revert from that

intention, the Imam will appear to him.”498

Yet al-Ṭūsī, like all of the scholars before him, does not mention a single account of

anyone who encountered or saw the Imam after the death of the last safīr.499 We should view

the guarded opinion proffered by al-Murtaḍā, al-Karājukī, al-Ḥalabī, and al-Ṭūsī in the context of the pressures they and other Shīʿī scholars of the time faced from their debaters, the

Muʿtazilites and other dialecticians, to substantiate the prolonged absence of the Imam with strictly rational proofs. Their willingness to concede the possibility of encounters with the

Imam was likely a strategic way to neutralize the doubts raised by their rationalist interlocutors rather than a doctrinal judgment. In this light, it merits noting that al-Ṭūsī does not make the slightest allusion to the issue of seeing the Imam in his statement of core Imāmī beliefs.500

498 Al-Ṭūsī, al-Iqtiṣād al-hādī ilā ṭarīq al-rashād, 233. On this work, see Rāymār, “Shaykh Ṭūsī: The Life and Works of a Shīʿīte [sic] Leader,” 145.

499 The third chapter of al-Ṭūsī’s Kitāb al-ghayba is entitled, “reports of some of those who saw the lord of the [final] age while not recognizing him or recognizing him soon after the fact of having seen him.” This would have been the appropriate place to mention an account of a second occultation encounter with the Imam but none is found. All of the 15 reports mentioned by al-Ṭūsī in this chapter date from the Lesser Occultation.

500 In the section of this work on the twelfth Imam, al-Ṭūsī argues that the Imam will continue to subsist until the end of the Muslim community “because he is a divine grace (luṭf) to the people and God is obliged to act with kindness in every age. If the Imam was not living, then God would have failed in his duty to be kind.” He then adds, “The proof that the Qāʾim, [God’s] Caliph, is alive and present (ḥayy 199

3.7. Conclusion

As we have demonstrated in this chapter, al-Nuʿmānī, al-Ṣadūq and al-Mufīd are

adamant that the door of privileged communication between believers and the Hidden Imam

was closed in perpetuum (with the exception of the Imam appearing in a dream to al-Ṣadūq and

to the servants who are with him at all times in the case of al-Mufīd). Neither of these scholars

ever suggests that seeing the Imam is a possibility for other Shīʿa, including the ulama. The

most important text that reflects this position is the final tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam, declaring

anyone who claims to see him before the end of time a lying impostor.

The door that the tawqīʿ sought to close was partially opened by al-Mufīd and to a

greater extent by al-Murtaḍā and his students. The ghayba of the twelfth Imam had created the

requisite intellectual space for Shīʿī scholars to formulate theology and jurisprudence. Guarded

in their response to their rationalist interlocutors, these scholars moved the issue of contacting

and seeing the Imam from the realm of the non possumus to the realm of the theoretically possible. Permitting the possibility of encounters with the Imam served both a discursive and an apologetic function. It also adumbrated what was to occur in the next two centuries: the

mawjūd) is that there must be an Imam who is protected [by God] from doing wrong (maʿṣūm) at every moment and in every age (kull ānin wa-zamān). And so, it is established that he is living and present in 200

appearance of the earliest stories of contact with the Imam since the death of the last representative, signifying a further move a posse ad esse.

each age (fī kull zamān),” al-Ṭūsī, “al-Iʿtiqādāt,” 107. That seeing the Imam is not mentioned as a proof of his existence is, to say the least, highly suggestive. 201

CHAPTER 4

From the Youth and the Stone to the Opening of the Floodgates

The tacit approval of al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā and al-Ṭūsī for the possibility of seeing the Imam

adumbrated if not fully paved the way for what happened next. In the following two centuries,

accounts of encounters and contact with the Imam during the Greater Occultation, albeit rare

and infrequent, begin to appear in the works of Shīʿī authorities, Quṭb al-Dīn Rāwandī (d.

573/1178), Aḥmad al-Ṭabarsī (d. late 6th/12th cent), and in particular Ibn Ṭāwūs (d. 664/1266) and his student al-Irbilī (d. 692/1292-3 or 693/1293-4), the latter of whom cites al-Murtaḍā’s opinion verbatim to justify his inclusion of two stories of contact with the Imam from his own time.

Until the late 12th century, other than al-Ṣadūq’s dream of the Hidden Imam at the

Kaʿba which we discussed in chapter 3, we have only one other story of a post-Lesser

Occultation encounter with the Imam, though this account cannot be dated with absolute certainty. The encounter described in this account again occurs in a dream and is found in the little known Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. Jarīr b. Rustam al-Ṭabarī al-Āmulī al-Māzandarānī’s 202

(known as al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr; fl. early 5th/early 11th cent.)501 Dalāʾil al-imāma [The Proofs of

the Imamate], a hagiographical collection of mostly miraculous tales seeking to prove the

Imams’ supernatural abilities, similar in tone and substance to parts of al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī’s

Baṣāʾir al-darajāt.502 The account in question is found as the last of five reports in a chapter called, “Knowledge about the companions [i.e., Shīʿa] who saw the Lord of the Age during the

501 According to al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 8:241, the author’s full name is Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Rustam al-Ṭabarī al-Āmulī al-Māzandarānī. The epithet al-Ṣaghīr serves to distinguish him from an earlier Shīʿī scholar with the same name who lived in the first half of the 4th/10th cent., was a contemporary of al- Kulaynī, and the author of al-Mustarshad fī al-imāma (on this work, see chapter 1). Al-Ṭihrānī suggests that al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr was a contemporary of al-Najāshī (d. 450/1058-9) and al-Ṭūsī (d. 460/1067) as he narrates Traditions on the authority of teachers of both of these scholars, but the publisher of the Qum edition of Dalāʾil al-imāma have argued that he belonged to an earlier generation of scholars (that included al-Murtaḍā and al-Raḍī) who were also contemporaries of al-Ṭūsī and al-Najāshī. See the publisher’s introduction, al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 29-37, esp. 31-2. See also al-Ṭabarī al- Ṣaghīr, Nawādir al-muʿjizāt, 35-57 (from the publisher’s introduction). Unlike al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr’s Dalāʾil al-imāma, his Nawādir al-muʿjizāt does not appear in Ibn Ṭāwūs’s list of early Shīʿī books and is not mentioned in Kohlberg’s study of Ibn Ṭāwūs.

502 The copy of Dalāʾil al-imāma that has survived is incomplete. We do not know when Dalāʾil al- imāma was completed but we can infer from internal evidence a terminus post quem of 411/1020-1. See al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 40 (from the publisher’s introduction). Al-Ṭihrānī al-Dharīʿa, 8:244 (no. 1018), points out that Ibn Ṭāwūs was the first Shīʿī scholar to cite from this work. On references to Dalāʾil al-imāma in Ibn Ṭāwūs’s writings, see Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar, 140-1 and al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 42-4 (from the publisher’s introduction). It is surprising that this work has not been closely studied by scholars of early Shīʿī esotericism (for example, I could find only a minor reference to it in Amir-Moezzi’s Le Guide divin, 288 (note 637)). In fact, both Dalāʾil al-imāma and Nawādir al-muʿjizāt deserve detailed studies that are beyond the purview of this dissertation. One of the topoi encountered in this work is peregrinations to mysterious islands and lands controlled by the Imams. For references and discussion, see Sindawi, “The Sea in the Miracles of Šīʿite Imāms,” 458-9, 461, 464, 469; Ghaemmaghami, “To the Abode of the Hidden One: The Green Isle in Shīʿī, Early Shaykhī, and Bābī-Bahāʾī Topography.” 203

ghayba and recognized him.”503 The first four reports mentioned in this chapter are all dated to

the Lesser Occultation. The fifth report appears to describe an event that occurred during the

Greater Occultation though it is not possible to be certain. Al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr writes that he heard this story from Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. Hārūn b. Mūsā al-Tallaʿukbarī (fl. late

4th/10th cent.),504 who heard it from a certain Abū al-Ḥusayn b. Abī al-Baghl al-Kātib, about whom nothing is known, during the lifetime of Abū Manṣūr al-Ṣāliḥān,505 a minister at the

court of the Buyid rulers, Sharaf al-Dawla (r. 350-79/961-89)506 and Bahāʾ al-Dawla (r. 379/989

to 403/1012)507 during the reign of the Abbasid caliph, al-Qādir bi-Allāh (r. 381/991 to

422/1031).508 In the account, al-Baghl al-Kātib, fleeing from Abū Manṣūr al-Ṣāliḥān, seeks

503 Al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 537-53.

504 Little information is known about him though both he and his father are mentioned by al-Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, 79. He himself appears in lists of the students of al-Ṣadūq. See al-Ṣadūq, al-Hidāya (fī al-uṣūl wa-l-furūʿ), 97 (from the editor’s introduction). See also al-Khūʾī, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth wa- tafṣīl ṭabaqāt al-ruwā, 18:336 (no. 11971). Al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 8:242 gives 387/997-8 as his date of death.

505 On him, see al-Bāḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 192 (note 3).

506 On him, see Madelung, “Sharaf al-Dawla,” EI².

507 On him, see Bosworth, “Bahāʾ al-Dawla wa-Ḍiyāʾ al-Milla,” EI².

508 Al-Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar, 418 (note 1), reasons that the person who narrated the account from Abū al-Ḥusayn b. Abī al-Baghl al-Kātib was a contemporary of al-Mufīd and that Abū Manṣūr al- Ṣāliḥān apparently lived in the early period of the Greater Occultation. As a result, Gulpāyigānī records 204

refuge in a cemetery in Baghdad and asks its custodian to lock the gate. During the night, a

young man miraculously enters the cemetery without opening the gate and gives him a prayer

known as Duʿāʾ al-faraj [prayer for the removal of difficulties]509 to recite for divine aid and

assistance (al-ghawth). The next day, al-Ṣāliḥān’s men find and assure him that he will not be

harmed if he comes with them to meet al-Ṣāliḥān. The latter tells him that the previous night,

the Hidden Imam appeared to him in a dream and commanded him “to do good.” Al-Baghl al-

Kātib tells him the Hidden Imam appeared to him as well as a young man and proceeds to tell him about the seeming miracle that transpired in the cemetery.510

the account in the chapter of his work on Greater Occultation encounters while granting the possibility that the events in the story occurred during the Lesser Occultation.

509 A prayer with this name is found in many modern Shīʿī devotional texts though in different forms and attributed to different Imams, e.g., Qummī, Kulliyyāt-i mafātīḥ al-jinān, 47-8; cf. idem, 115-6 (Duʿāʾ-i faraj-i ḥaḍrat-i ḥujja [the Duʿāʾ-i faraj of the Hidden Imam]), which is actually a different prayer than the previous. See also al-Shīrāzī, Kalimat al-Imām al-Mahdī, 281-2. For general information on prayers attributed to various Imams, see Algar, “Doʿā,” EIr, 7:452-6; Amir-Moezzi, “Notes sur la Prière dans le Shīʿisme Imamite;” Turner, “Aspects of Devotional Life in Twelver Shiʻism: The Practice of du‘ā’.”

510 Al-Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr, Dalāʾil al-imāma, 551-3 (no. 525) > al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:304-6 (cited in chapter 15: mā ẓahara min muʿjizātihi wa-fīhi baʿḍ aḥwālihi wa-aḥwāl sufarāʾihi) > al-Ḥāʾirī al- Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 1:360-1 (in the chapter on the Imam’s miracles). It is worth noting that neither al- Majlisī nor al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī include the account in their chapters on encounters with the Imam in the Greater Occultation. On the other hand, Nūrī, al-Najm-i thāqib 2:567-9 (account no. 30), translated the story into Persian and included it in the chapter of his work dealing with accounts of contact with the Imam during the Greater Occultation. The original account in Arabic is also recorded in Ibn Ṭāwūs, Faraj al-mahmūm, 245-7 (on this work, see below); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 88:349-51 (no. 11), 205

The next prominent Shīʿī authority after al-Ṭūsī was Amīn al-Dīn (or Amīn al-Islām)

Abū ʿAlī al-Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṭabrisī (d. 548/1154),511 author of “probably the most widely

used and admired Twelver Imāmī tafsīr.”512 Al-Ṭabrisī continued the work of al-Murtaḍā and his students in incorporating principles of Muʿtazilī kalām to defend the doctrine of ghayba.

And like the scholars before him, he does not mention any accounts of believers who have seen

the Imam during the Greater Occultation. In fact, he does not address the issue of seeing the

Imam during the ghayba at all in his Tāj al-mawālid fī mawālīd al-aʾimma wa-wafayātihim,

while the seven accounts he cites in the chapter of his Iʿlām al-warā bi-aʿlām al-hudā on

sightings of the Imam are all from the Lesser Occultation.513

92:200-1 (no. 33); al-Bāḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 192-5 (no. 82); al-Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, 6:308-10; Faqīh, Liqāʾāt al-ʿulamāʾ bi-l-imām al-ḥujja, 147-9; Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 314-6 (Persian translation). See also al-Hayʾa al-ʿIlmiyya, Muʿjam aḥādīth al-imām al-mahdī, 6: 349-52, where the account is mentioned as one of the miracles (karāmāt) performed by the Hidden Imam after the Lesser Occultation.

511 On him, al-Ṭabrisī, Iʿlam al-warā, 1:16-28 (from the publisher’s introduction); Hamza, Rizvi, with Mayer, eds., An Anthology of Qurʾanic Commentaries, 36-7; Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 45.

512 Hamza, Rizvi, with Mayer, eds., An Anthology of Qurʾanic Commentaries, 36. See also Bar-Asher, “Exegesis ii. In Shiʿism,” EIr, 9:116-9. On his famous commentary, Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, see now Fudge, Qur’ānic Hermeneutics: Al-Ṭabrisi and the Craft of Commentary.

513 Al-Ṭabrisī, Iʿlām al-warā, 2:218-21. In Tāj al-mawālid, 13, al-Ṭabrisī states that no one knows when the ghayba will end and that anyone who appoints a time for the Imam’s appearance is a liar. In the same work, idem, 116-7, he weighs in on a question that would later become a source of great contention: does the Hidden Imam have children and if so, are their lives also prolonged? Al-Ṭabrisī 206

One of al-Ṭabrisī’s sons, Abū ʿAlī al-Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan b. al-Faḍl al-Ṭabrisī (fl. late

6th/12th cent.), however, in a collection of prayers and supplications called Kunūz al-najāḥ,514

mentions a prayer taught by the Hidden Imam in a dream to a certain Abū al-Ḥasan

Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Abī al-Layth (about whom nothing is known) in the Quraysh

cemetery at a time when Abū al-Ḥasan had fled to the cemetery out of fear of being killed.515

avers that according to the hadith of the Imams, it is not prohibited (wa-ghayr mumtaniʿ) that he has children and a family and it is also permitted (jāʾiz) that he will have a family during the days of his rule (ayyām dawalitihi) after he (re)appears though he ultimately concludes that no one can answer this question with certainty. In some later stories of encounters with the Imam popular in the Safavid period, it is suggested that the Imam has children (and great-grandchildren) who rule various islands on the earth that the Imam himself frequents. See Ghaemmaghami, “To the Abode of the Hidden One.” Al- Ṭabrisī’s Iʿlām al-warā bi-aʿlām al-hudā (completed between 511/1117 and 534/1140) is a detailed biography of the Prophet, Fāṭima and the twelve Imam while the much shorter Tāj al-mawālid fī mawālīd al-aʾimma wa-wafayātihim (completed in 509/1115-6), can be considered an abridgement of the latter (even though it was completed earlier).

514 This work has never been published and I do not know of any extant manuscripts in North America; however, Amir-Moezzi has consulted a manuscript of this work, identifying it as [s.l. [Iran], 1318/1900] in his “Contribution à la Typologie,” 128 (note 68). Al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 18:175-6, states that this work was compiled by Amīn al-Dīn al-Ṭabrisī’s son, but adds that Ibn Ṭāwūs has said explicitly in his Muhaj al-daʿawāt wa-manhaj al-ʿibādāt (on this work and its author, see below) that the author is al- Ṭabrisī senior, the exegete. On Kunūz al-najāḥ, see also Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 233-4 (no. 320).

515 Amir-Moezzi found this prayer in the above-mentioned manuscript of the Kunūz al-najāḥ, 46-7 (see Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 128 (Récit de Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Abî l-Layth (VI/XII siècle)). The earliest work I found this account in is al-Mashhadī (d. 610/1213-4), al-Mazār al- kabīr, 591. Al-Mashhadī includes the account and the prayer it contains in the section of his work on supplications to recite as one is entering the sirdāb in Samarra. He does not mention the source, saying only that the prayer has been narrated on the authority of the Imam. The account is also mentioned in Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:554 (no. 24) (citing an unidentified ms. of Kunūz al-najāḥ at his disposal as his 207

The story of this prayer bears an uncanny resemblance to the story mentioned earlier from al-

Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr’s Dalāʾil al-imāma and may in fact be a copy though the prayer taught by the

Imam in this account is different.

4.1. The Mysterious Youth

The earliest account of an encounter with the Imam in a wakeful state that we can

definitively place in the Greater Occultation is the story of the youth and the Black Stone of the

Kaʿba, recorded in the chapter on the miracles of the twelfth Imam in Quṭb al-Dīn Saʿīd b.

Hibat Allāh al-Rāwandī’s516 (d. 573/1178) al-Kharāʾij wa-l-jarāʾiḥ, also known as Kitāb al- muʿjizāt.517 This account is narrated on the authority of the Shīʿī Traditionist and jurist, Abū al-

source); al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 94-5 (here as opposed to Najm-i thāqib, Nūrī does not mention that the prayer was taught to Abū al-Layth in a dream); al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 2:44 (no. 28) (citing Nūrī’s Jannat al-maʾwā as his source); Qummī, Kulliyyāt-i mafātīḥ al-jinān, 45-6 (where three words not found in earlier versions are added to the end of the prayer), 531-2 [for a very similar prayer, see idem, 115-6]; al-Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar, 519-20 (no. 2).

516 On him, see Kohlberg, “Rāvandi, Qoṭb-al-Din Saʿid,” EIr (online edition); Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 45.

517 On this work, see Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 215 (no. 260). Similar to al- Ṭabarī al-Ṣaghīr’s Dalāʾil al-imāma, al-Kharāʾij wa-l-jarāʾiḥ is a collection of miracles attributed to the Prophet and the Imams. The title refers to the supernatural acts that proceeded from (kharaja) or were achieved (jaraḥa; cf. Qur’an 6:60) by the Prophet and Imams as proofs of their stations. Al-Rāwandī also compiled a collection of tales about the Prophets called Qaṣaṣ (or Qiṣaṣ) al-anbiyāʾ which contains a short chapter on the twelfth Imam though he does not broach the issue of contact with the Imam in this chapter other than to cite stories about the miraculous nature of his birth. For a summary of some of these stories, see Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 265-9. 208

Qāsim Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. Qūlawayh (d. 368/978-9 or 369/979-80), a disciple of al-Kulaynī and a teacher of al-Mufīd.518 Al-Rāwandī does not mention the final tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam

in this work and makes no attempt to reconcile this account with the “lying impostors”

sentence of the tawqīʿ.

A brief summary of the story follows: According to Ibn Qūlawayh, after the Black

Stone of the Kaʿba was returned by the Ismāʿīlī Qarāmiṭa in 339/950-1,519 that is, some eight

years after the passing of the last safīr and the start of the Greater Occultation, no one was

capable of setting it back in its place. Suddenly, Ibn Qūlawayh witnessed a comely, brown-

skinned youth520 appear and in a spectacular feat of derring-do, miraculously yet quietly set the

518 On him, see McDermott, “Ebn Qūlawayh, Abu’l-Qāsem Jaʿfar,” EIr, 8:47.

519 Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:58 and other later authorities give the year as 337/948-9 but historical sources confirm that the Qarāmiṭa returned the Black Stone in 339/951 after having stolen it in 317/930. See, for example, Ibn al-Athīr (d. 630/1232-3), al-Kāmil fī al-tārīkh, 8:486. The discrepancy between 337 and 339 is perhaps due to how close the words sabʿ and tisʿ appear when written. The unprecedented theft of the Stone by the forces of the Qarmaṭī leader Abū Ṭāhir sent shock waves throughout the Muslim world and was clearly meant as an apocalyptic act to usher the end of the era of the Sharia if not the end of the Islamic dispensation, a central Qarmaṭī objective. See Hajnal, “Some Aspects of the External Relations of the Qarāmiṭa in Baḥrayn,” 235. For detailed study of the theft and return of the Black Stone, see Halm, The Empire of the Mahdi, 250-64 and 380-5. See also Madelung, “The Fatimids and the Qarmaṭīs of Baḥrayn,” 21, 37-9; Wensinck and J. Jomier, “Kaʿba,” EI²; Amir Arjomand, “Islamic Apocalypticism in the Classical Period,” 272.

520 According to Shīʿī Traditions, the Qāʾim is miraculously kept by God in the form of a young man throughout his ghayba and he will appear “as a robust youth in the form/body of someone who is his in early thirties at the time of his ẓuhūr” (annahu yakūn ʿind ẓuhūrihi shābban qawiyyan fī ṣūrat ibn nayyif 209

Black Stone in the al-rukn al-aswad in a vivid typological refiguration of the famous account

mentioned in the sīra of the Prophet setting the same Black Stone in its place as a youth in

Mecca.521 Phantom-like, the mysterious lad disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. Since

Shīʿī lore maintains that only a Prophet or Imam can set the Black Stone in its place,522 the

narrator concludes that he has just encountered the Hidden Imam.523

wa-thalāthīn sana), al-Murtaḍā[/al-Mufīd], al-Fuṣūl al-mukhtāra, 319. For some of these Traditions, see al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī, Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, 189; al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al-anwār al-muḍīʾa [fī dhikr al-qāʾim al- ḥujja], 319-22; al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 2:311-4; al-Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar fī al-imām al- thānī ʿashar, 284-5. For a discussion of this leitmotif, see al-Ṭūsī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 112; Amīnī, “Kitāb-i ghaybat-i Shaykh Ṭūsī,” 483; Modarressi, Crisis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shi‘ite Islam, 95-6. The Imam often appears as a youth iridescent in beauty in the encounter stories. See Ghaemmaghami, “Numinous Vision, Messianic Encounters: Typological Representations in a Version of the Prophet's ḥadīth al-ruʾyā and in Visions and Dreams of the Hidden Imam,” esp. 56-8.

521 [Ibn Isḥāq], The Life of Muḥammad (trans. Guillaume), 86; al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 4:217 (no. 3). The account of course bears a noticeable resemblance to the episode of the Sword in the Stone featured in the epic poem Merlin.

522 According to Muḥammad al-Ṣadr, Tārīkh al-ghayba al-kubrā, 121, there are no known hadiths to support this notion though he adds that according to tradition, only prophets (e.g. Abraham, Muḥammad) or Imams (e.g. Zayn al-Ābidīn) have placed the Black Stone in its place.

523 Al-Rāwandī, al-Kharāʾij wa-l-jarāʾiḥ, 1:475-8 (no. 18). Also cited in al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma1, 2:999-1000; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:58-9 (no. 41); al-Bāḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 201-3 (no. 85); al- Baḥrānī, Madīnat al-maʿājiz, 8:154-6; al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 1:346-7; al-Iṣfahānī, Mikyāl al- makārim, 1:166-7 (no. 426); al-Shāhrūdī, al-Imām al-Mahdī wa-ẓuhūruhu, 141-2; ʿĀshūr, Mawsūʿat ahl al-bayt, 19:65. Persian translations: Ardabīlī, Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa, 2:970-1; Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī fī maʿrīfat al-mahdī, 625-7; Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 338-9; ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 312-4 (no. 19), who records the account in the chapter of his work on accounts of those who saw the Hidden Imam during the Lesser Occultation or close to it; Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:674-5 (account no. 53), who records the account in the chapter of his work on accounts of those who met the Imam during the Greater 210

Serious questions surround the provenance of this story. Of the twenty-five works attributed to Ibn Qūlawayh, only his Kāmil (or Kamāl) al-ziyārāt (or al-ziyāra), the earliest

extant work on the rewards bestowed upon those who visit the tombs of the Prophet and the

Occultation; Nūrī-Ṭabarsī2, Kifāyat al-muwaḥḥidīn, 2:815-6; Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 796-8, where the translator mistakenly records the date of the account as 307/919-20. A partial English translation is found in Dewji, Imame Zaman Hazrat Mehdi (Lakha trans.), 133-4. Nūrī-Ṭabarsī2, Kifāyat al-muwaḥḥidīn, 2:854, contends that the Qarāmiṭā’s theft of the Black Stone and destruction of the Kaʿba fulfilled one of the portents of the Imam’s appearance. He likely has in mind a well-known hadith stating that the Qāʾim will destroy the Kaʿba when he appears. It merits observing that the Black Stone has a close association with the Qāʾim in an early Shīʿī hadith. According to a hadith attributed to al- Ṣādiq, the primordial covenant (see Qur’an 7:172) was entered into at the Black Stone. When the Qāʾim appears, Gabriel will descend to earth in the form of a bird, become the first creature to pledge allegiance to the Qāʾim at the Black Stone, serve as the Qāʾim’s proof and guide to the Qāʾim and witness those who pledge fealty to him, in a mythic reenactment of the primordial covenant. Al-Ṣadūq, ʿIlal al-sharāʾiʿ, 2:429-30 > Ḥ. al-Ḥillī (d. after 802/1399-1400), Mukhtaṣar baṣāʾir al-darajāt, 490-1 (no. 585); al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:279 (no. 2); al-Jazāʾirī, Riyāḍ al-abrār fī manāqib al-aʾimma al- aṭhār, 3:177 (no. 225). See also al-Ṣadūq, ʿIlal al-sharāʾiʿ, 2:423-4 (no. 5) > Ḥ. al-Ḥillī, Mukhtaṣar baṣāʾir al-darajāt, 488 (no. 583); al-Majlisī, Rawḍat al-muttaqīn fī sharḥ man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh, 4:6; al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Tafṣīl wasāʾil al-Shīʿa ilā taḥṣīl masāʾil al-sharīʿa, 13:319 (no. 17840). (Cf. according to a hagiographical account first mentioned in al-Rāwandī’s al-Kharāʾij wa-l-jarāʾiḥ, green angels descended to earth on the night of the twelfth Imam’s birth and instructed Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī to protect the infant. Al-ʿAskarī identified one of the birds as Gabriel. See al-Rāwandī, al-Kharāʾij wa-l-jarāʾiḥ, 1:456 > al-Baḥrānī, Madīnat al-maʿājiz, 8:33; al-Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 2:67). A different hadith states that Gabriel will appear at the time of the Imam’s ẓuhūr in the form of a giant white bird, an image that perhaps is meant to remind us of the giant cosmic cock/white rooster who serves as the Prophet’s friend and stands before the Throne of God in many Traditions, see Tottoli, “At Cock-Crow: Some Muslim Traditions about the Rooster”; Omidsalar, “Cock. ii. In Persian Literature and Folklore,” EIr, 5:878-82. He will place one foot on the Kaʿba and the other on the city of Jerusalem, i.e., the holiest sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and cry out the beginning of the first verse of Sūrat al-Naḥl: “The amr of God has come so seek not [any longer] to hasten it!” al-Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, 608 (no. 18); al-Aḥsāʾī, Kitāb al-rajʿa, 94. As we mentioned in chapter 1, the amr of God is often defined in Shīʿī sources as the Qāʾim and/or his amr or qiyām. 211

Imams has survived.524 However, the story of the youth and the Black Stone is not mentioned

in this work. Even more importantly, some two centuries separate Ibn Qūlawayh and al-

Rāwandī, yet no scholar prior to al-Rāwandī (including any of Ibn Qūlawayh’s students such as

al-Mufīd) makes the slightest allusion to this account. Since al-Rāwandī has not provided a

formal isnād (saying only that he is narrating the account on the authority of Ibn Qūlawayh),

we have no way of learning his source.

In the same period, a contemporary of al-Rāwandī, Abū Manṣūr Aḥmad al-Ṭabarsī (d. late 6th/12th cent.; not to be mistaken with his more famous contemporary, the aforementioned

Qur’an exegete, Amīn al-Dīn al-Ṭabrisī)525 claimed that some two centuries earlier, al-Mufīd

524 McDermott, “Ebn Qūlawayh, Abu’l-Qāsem Jaʿfar,” EIr, 8:47. . On Kāmil al-ziyārāt, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 17:255 (no. 139); Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 211 (no. 253); Nakash, “The Visitation of the Shrines of the Imams and the Shiʻi Mujtahids in the Early Twentieth Century,” 155

525 On him, see Kohlberg, “al-Ṭabarsī (al-Ṭabrisī),” EI², 10:39; Ḥusayn Karīmān, “Ṭabarsī, Abū Manṣūr Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib,” DMT, 10:472-3. As observed in these articles, virtually nothing is known about the life of this scholar and thus Kohlberg’s ambiguity about the correct transliteration of his nisba. If he was born in the village of Ṭabris (the Arabicized form of Tafrish) between Kāshān and Iṣfahān, then his nisba is al-Ṭabrisī. If however he was born in the north Iranian region of Ṭabaristān (Tapuria), his nisba would be al-Ṭabarsī. On this problem, see the first paragraph of Kohlberg, “al-Ṭabrisī (Ṭabarsī), Amīn al-Dīn,” EI², 10:40. Cf. Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 113 (note 8): whose statement, “Lecture conventionnelle: « Ṭabarsī » ; mais il s’agit en fait de la forme arabisée du nom de la ville iranienne de Tafresh, non loin de Qumm, la lecture correcte est donc « Ṭabrisī »,” needs to be corrected. Since he is buried in a shrine near Bārfurūsh in Ṭabaristān, it would be safe to presume that the correct vocalization of his name is in fact al-Ṭabarsī. Halm, Shiʻism, 60, gives his date of death as 599/1202 though he does not provide a source. 212

had been in contact with the Hidden Imam by furnishing two short letters from the Imam

addressed to al-Mufīd with no chain of transmission in his anti-Sunnī polemical work al-Iḥtijāj

ʿalā ahl al-lajāj.526 In an attempt to prove both the Hidden Imam’s existence to the opponents of

the Shīʿa as well as the fact that he directly communicates with some of the Shīʿī ulama, al-

Ṭabarsī alleged that al-Mufīd received these letters from the “Sacred Precinct” (al-nāḥiyya al- muqaddasa) of the Hidden Imam in the year 410/1019, drawing obvious parallels to the

tawqīʿāt furnished by the representatives and agents during the Lesser Occultation.527 However, al-Ṭabarsī neither identifies his sources nor provides an isnād for this or any of the other

reports or hadiths he has cited (with the exception of the tafsīr ascribed to Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī

discussed in chapter 1), maintaining in his introduction that he sees no need to cite asānīd

526 On this work, see Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 187-8 (no. 187). As pointed out by Kohlberg elsewhere, this work was very popular in the Safavid period, when it was twice translated into Persian, likely due to its anti-Sunnī and polemical tone, Kohlberg, “al-Ṭabarsī (al-Ṭabrisī),” EI², 10:39.

527 Al-Ṭabarsī, al-Iḥtijāj, 2:495-9. The two letters are repeated and translated into Persian by Nūrī in the chapter of his Najm-i thāqib on contact with the Imam during the Greater Occultation. Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:660-5 (account no. 50), 2:666-72 (account no. 51). The letters are also cited in al-Shīrāzī, Kalimat al-Imām al-Mahdī, 136-50. Nūrī mentions a report cited by Yūsuf al-Baḥrānī saying that al- Mufīd received three letters, one of which has not survived. Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:670. The three letters theory has gained popularity and is alluded to in many biographical entries about al-Mufīd. See, for example, al-Mufīd, Awāʾil al-maqālāt, pānzdah (of the editorial introduction). Madelung, “Mufīd, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad,” EI², was the first western scholar to take notice of the two letters, though he does not point out that they are not cited in any works prior to al-Ṭabarsī and are almost certainly of later origin. 213

because there is consensus (al-ijmāʿ) and agreement about their authenticity.528 In one of these

letters, al-Mufīd is addressed with the honorific epithet, al-Shaykh al-Mufīd. It was likely based on this letter that a student of al-Rāwandī, al-Ṭabrisī and al-Ṭabarsī, Zayn al-Dīn Muḥammad b.

ʿAlī b. Shahrāshūb (d. 588/1192), called “the most illustrious Imami scholar of the 12th century,”529 claimed in his Maʿālim al-ʿulamāʾ, a biblio-biographical lexicon of prominent Shīʿī

scholars (combining features of both rijāl and fihrist works), that the epithet al-Mufīd was

given to him by the Hidden Imam (wa-laqqabahu bi-l-shaykh al-Mufīd ṣāḥibu al-zamān),530 a

528 Al-Ṭabarsī, al-Iḥtijāj, 1:14.

529 Amir-Moezzi, “Ebn Šahrāšūb,” EIr, 8:53-4; Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 45. Ibn Shahrāshūb’s most well-known work, Manāqib āl Abī Ṭālib, originally had a chapter on the twelfth Imam which may have included some accounts of encounters with the Imam but has not survived. See Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 251 and Amir-Moezzi, “Ebn Šahrāšūb,” EIr, 8:53-4, who notes that the section on the twelfth Imam is missing from every accessible surviving copy of this text, including a manuscript dated 777/1375-6. It is however unlikely that this work contained any accounts of meetings with the Imam from the Greater Occultation (other than perhaps the story of the youth and the Black Stone which was likely transmitted to Ibn Shahrāshūb by al-Rāwandī) since none of Ibn Shahrāshūb’s students (who presumably had access to his complete work) transmit any such accounts on his authority. A third work of Ibn Shahrāshūb which may contained encounter stories, the Mathālib al-nawāṣib, likewise an anti-Sunnī polemic, has never been published though two manuscripts in private collections are pointed out by al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 19:76 (no. 409) and one manuscript at the Nāṣiriyyah Library in Lucknow by Amir-Moezzi, “Ebn Šahrāšūb,” EIr, 8:53-4.

530 Ibn Shahrāshūb, Maʿālim al-ʿulamāʾ, 148, where he adds that he has provided more information about how al-Mufīd received this epithet from the Hidden Imam in his Manāqib āl Abī Ṭālib (on this work, see the previous note). Repeated in (Āl Āqā) (d. 1269/1852-3), Tanbīh al-ghāfilīn, 91. Sources from the Safavid and Qajar periods claim that a poem eulogizing al-Mufīd was left on his grave by the Hidden Imam. See Shūshtarī, Majālis al-muʾminīn, 477. Nūrī mentions this report as an example of an encounter with the Hidden Imam, al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 73 (account no. 25); Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 214

point that has been challenged by prominent twentieth century grand ayatollah Abū al-Qāsim

al-Khūʾī (d. 1412/1992).531

Moreover, none of the works written by al-Mufīd, his prolific students (e.g. al-Murtaḍā, al-Ṭūsī, al-Najāshī, al-Karājukī, Abū Yaʿlā al-Jaʿfarī) or anyone else prior to al-Ṭabarsī makes the slightest reference to these letters. Future generations of scholars cited from these letters without questioning them and one scholar from the late nineteenth century went so far as to claim that all of the ulama have accepted them.532 However, a number of modern scholars have

cast doubts on their veracity. Baḥr al-ʿUlūm al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī (d. 1212/1797), about whom numerous stories of encounters with the Imam circulate (see the beginning of the introduction of this dissertation and below), states ironically that these letters amount to “a claim that the

Imam can be seen – something which has been summarily rejected during the Greater

2:673 (account no. 52). Also cited in al-Ḥalawājī, al-Qiṣaṣ al-bāhira, 243. On Maʿālim al-ʿulamāʾ, see Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 236-7 (no. 326).

531 Al-Khūʾī, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth wa-tafṣīl ṭabaqāt al-ruwā, 18:220, where he pointed out that al- Mufīd was called al-Mufīd by his contemporaries al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār and the Arab linguist ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā al-Rummānī (d. 384/994) well before the letters said to have been received from the Hidden Imam.

532 See Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:671. Among the scholars who have accepted them are Waḥīd Bihbihānī (d. 1205/1791) (cited in Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:671) and Bihbihānī’s grandson, Maḥmūd b. Āqā Muḥammad ʿAlī (d. 1269/1852-3), who refers to the letters in praising al-Mufīd but states mistakenly that the letters were sent by the Imam during the Lesser Occultation. (Āl Āqā), Tanbīh al-ghāfilīn, 89. The letters continue to be cited by contemporary Shīʿī scholars and in books about the Hidden Imam. See for example, al-Qurashī, Ḥayāt al-Imām al-Mahdī, 75-81, 134. 215

Occultation” (daʿwāhu al-mushāhada al-manfiyya baʿd al-ghayba al-kubrā).533 The same

assessment is echoed more recently by al-Khūʾī: “It is not possible to be certain about the

authenticity of these tawqīʿāt that are said to have been sent from the Sacred Precincts [of the

Hidden Imam] because al-Mufīd was born seven or nine years after the Greater Occultation and

we do not know how they reached al-Mufīd.”534 Al-Khūʾī’s point about the year of al-Mufīd’s birth is an implicit reference to the “lying impostors” passage of the final tawqīʿ of the Hidden

Imam to the fourth safīr. That is to say, according to al-Khūʾī, since al-Mufīd was born and lived after the end of the Lesser Occultation, he could not have been in contact with the Imam

since the tawqīʿ prohibits such contact.

Other than the story of the youth and the Black Stone and the letters sent to al-Mufīd,

stories of contact with the Imam during the Greater Occultation remained very infrequent at

this time. It merits noting that all other Twelver Shīʿī scholars who lived in the more than a

century that separates al-Ṭūsī and al-Rāwandī and Ibn Shahrāshūb and who wrote works which

include sections or chapters on the Hidden Imam and which have survived and been published

do not broach the topic of encountering him during the Greater Occultation. These include the

533 Al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Rijāl al-Sayyid Baḥr al-ʿUlūm (al-maʿrūf bi-l-fawāʾid al-rijāliyya), 3:320.

534 Al-Khūʾī, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth wa-tafṣīl ṭabaqāt al-ruwā, 18:220. See also al-Kātib, Taṭawwur al- fikr al-siyāsī al-Shīʿī min al-shūrā ilā wilāyat al-faqīh, 346-7. 216

following works which were consulted for this study: Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb’s (fl. late

5th/11th cent.) ʿUyūn al-muʿjizāt535; Mutāqil b. ʿAṭiyya’s (d. 505/1111-2) Muḥāwala ḥawl al-

imāma wa-l-khilāfa (also called Muʾtamar ʿulamāʾ Baghdād fī al-imāma wa-l-khilāfa)536;

Muḥammad b. al-Fattāl al-Nisābūrī’s (d. 508/1114-5)’s Rawḍat al-wāʿiẓīn wa-baṣīrat al- muttaʿiẓīn537; and Ibn Ḥamza al-Ṭūsī’s (d. 585/1189-90 or 588/1192-3) al-Thāqib fī al-

manāqib.538 All of these works adduce accounts of the twelfth Imam’s birth, reports of those

who saw him during the Lesser Occultation, and tawqīʿāt issued by the Imam to the sufarāʾ as

“proofs” (dalāʾil) of his existence. However, we do not find any stories of sightings or contact

with the Hidden Imam during the Greater Occultation in these works. It would be safe to

presume that if such stories existed or were in circulation at this time, we would expect to find

them cited in these apologetic works.

4.2. The Miracle Worker

535 Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. ʿUyūn al-muʿjizāt. On this work, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 15:383-5 (no. 2390).

536 Ibn ʿAṭiyya, Muʾtamar ʿulamāʾ Baghdād fī al-imāma wa-l-khilāfa. On this work, see al-Rafāʿī, Muʿjam mā kutiba ʿan al-rasūl wa-ahl baytihi, 6:323-4 (no. 15868).

537 Al-Nisābūrī, Rawḍat al-wāʿiẓīn. On this work, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 11:305 (no. 1815).

538 Ibn Ḥamza al-Ṭūsī, al-Thāqib fī al-manāqib. On this work, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 5:4. 217

The person who deserves more credit than any other scholar for popularizing the theme of encounters with the Imam is the eminent and adroit Iraqi Shīʿī scholar, ʿAlī Raḍī al-Dīn, known as Ibn Ṭāwūs (d. 664/1266).539 Hagiographical sources often point to Ibn Ṭāwūs’s propensity for asceticism, for having been given the greatest name of God (ism Allāh al-aʿẓam), and for being in contact with the Hidden Imam.540 In fact, he is known to posterity as ṣāḥib al- karāmāt (the miracle worker) for his exceptional spiritual prowess.541 In this section, we will consider every statement found in his writings about the issue of contacting the Hidden Imam.

In one of his earliest surviving works, al-Ṭarāʾif fī maʿrifat madhāhib al-ṭawāʾif, a polemical anti-Sunnī work which appeared under a pseudonym (suggesting that Ibn Ṭāwūs was practicing taqiyya) and likely written circa 633/1236,542 Ibn Ṭāwūs furnishes the same arguments to prove the existence of the Hidden Imam and justify the Imam’s ghayba as found in earlier apologias such as al-Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-dīn. His main argument is based on the notion of fear, viz. the Imam was forced to enter ghayba under threat of being killed. Ibn Ṭāwūs refers

539 On him, see Kohlberg, “Ebn Ṭāwūs,” EIr, 7:55-8; Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 3-24; Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 314.

540 See Rafīʿī, Imām-i zamān va Sayyid bin Ṭāwūs, 133-5, 174-268.

541 See Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 14; Javādī (ed.), “Ibn Ṭāwūs, Sayyid Raḍī al- Dīn ʿAlī b. Mūsā,” DMT, 1:345: “it has been mentioned that (Ibn Ṭāwūs) met the Hidden Imam.”

542 On this work, see Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 57-9 (no. 51). 218

to the final tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam to the last safīr but intentionally - and brazenly - distorts

the text by omitting the sentence declaring anyone who claims to see the Imam a lying

impostor: “When the matter [of the sifāra] reached ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Samurī, he said that

the Mahdī informed him that he would [soon] pass away, revealed the day of his death to him,

and instructed him not to appoint anyone else [as a safīr] because the complete ghayba had come when the believers would be tested, for such is God’s method carried into effect of old.”543 Upon omitting the “lying impostor” sentence, Ibn Ṭāwūs maintains: “After (al-

Samurī’s death), many Shīʿa and non-Shīʿa met the Mahdī” (wa-la-qad laqiya al-mahdī khalq

kathīr baʿda dhālika min shīʿatihi wa-ghayrihim)544 and he furnished proofs (al-dalāʾil) to

establish his identity to these people.” Who were these “many Shīʿa and non-Shīʿa” who

encountered the Imam after the death of the fourth safīr? We are left to wonder since Ibn

Ṭāwūs does not cite a single account in this work. He then asserts that that “even if (the Imam) is not visible today to all of his Shīʿa, it is not impossible for a group of them to encounter him, benefit from his words and deeds and conceal (this fact from others).”545

543 Ibn Ṭāwūs, al-Ṭarāʾif fī maʿrifat madhāhib al-ṭawāʾif, 1:184.

544 Partial Persian translation in Rafīʿī, Imām-i zamān va Sayyid bin Ṭāwūs, 131-2.

545 Ibn Ṭāwūs, al-Ṭarāʾif fī maʿrifat madhāhib al-ṭawāʾif, 1:184-5. Persian translation: ʿAlīpūr, Jilvah-hā- yi pinhānī-i imām-i ʿaṣr, 128. 219

Elsewhere, in his Muhaj al-daʿawāt wa-manhaj al-ʿibādāt, Ibn Ṭāwūs claims that he

himself heard the voice of the Hidden Imam. He reports that on 13 Dhū al-Qaʿda 638/2 June

1241, while praying in the underground cellar (al-sirdāb) in Samarra,546 he heard the Imam

recite a short prayer sotto voce.547 It is worth noting that he explicitly avoids mentioning that he

546 Al-sirdāb is the subterranean water well in Samarra into which, according to some reports, the Hidden Imam initially hid at the start of the ghayba. See Donaldson, The Shi’ite Religion, 233; Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 161-2. By the late 5th/11th century, it was already a place of pilgrimage for the Shīʿa. See Amir Arjomand, “Islamic Apocalypticism in the Classical Period,” 271. The well- known Moroccan explorer Ibn Baṭūṭa (d. 779/1368-9) recounts in his travelogue that he observed Shīʿa in Samarra waiting for the Mahdī to emerge from a well (almost certainly a reference to the sirdāb). They likewise kept a horse tied nearby ready for him to use as soon as he appeared. See Shamīsā, Farhang-i talmīḥāt, 566; cf. Ourghi, Schiitischer Messianismus, 257-8; Bashir, Fazlallah Astarabadi and the Hurufis, 13; García-Arenal, Messianism and Puritanical Reform (trans. Beagles), 341; Babayan, Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs, 302. A shrine with a turquoise dome has been built over the sirdāb and is adjacent to the shrines of Imams al-Naqī (d. 254/868) and al-ʿAskarī. All three shrines are important sites of pilgrimage for the Shīʿa and constitute part of the “sublime thresholds” (al-ʿatabāt al- ʿāliyāt) [=the Shīʿī shrine cities of Najaf, Karbalā, Kāẓimayn and Samarra], though surprisingly, the sirdāb is not mentioned in Algar, “ʿAtabāt,” EIr, 2:902-4. In anti-Shīʿī polemical works written by Sunnī scholars, the Shīʿī belief that the twelfth Imam is concealed in the sirdāb is often a subject of ridicule (see the comments by al-Irbilī below).

547 Ibn Ṭāwūs, Muhaj al-daʿawāt wa-manhaj al-ʿibādāt, 296; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:61 (no. 50); al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 127-9 (no. 55); al-Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar, 417 (no. 6). Persian translation: Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 339. Another collection of prayers attributed to Ibn Ṭāwūs which has not survived, his Kitāb ighāthat al-dāʿī wa-iʿānat al-sāʿī, is said to have contained a number of prayers ascribed to the Hidden Imam. See Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 35-6. In his earliest work, Miṣbāḥ al-zāʾir wa-janāḥ al-musāfir, Ibn Ṭāwūs included a visitation prayer (ziyāra) for the twelfth Imam with the words, “O God! Show us the blessed face of your Friend (wajh waliyyika al- maymūn) while we are alive and after [our] death…,” cited in al-Mashhadī (d. 610/1213-4), al-Mazār al-kabīr, 658; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 53:95 (citing Miṣbāḥ al-zāʾir as his source); al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 2:299. On Miṣbāḥ al-zāʾir, which incidentally contains a prayer of visitation for the 220

saw the Imam here, saying only that he heard the Imam’s voice. Is the final tawqīʿ of the Imam

in the front of his mind here? After all, the tawqīʿ declares anyone who claims to have seen the

Imam a liar and not anyone who has only heard his voice.

Elsewhere, in his Kashf al-maḥajja li-thamarat al-muhja, completed in 649/1251-2 and

dedicated to his sons Muḥammad and ʿAlī,548 Ibn Ṭāwūs recalls being approached one day by a

fellow believer (whose identity is not revealed) overcome with doubt (shubha) about the

ghayba. This believer had read the various defenses of the Imam’s occultation but remained

unconvinced. He lamented to Ibn Ṭāwūs: “Why doesn’t [the Imam] just meet one of his Shīʿa

and resolve the conflicts and differences that have arisen among them with respect to religious

doctrines and laws?” Rather than answer the question directly, Ibn Ṭāwūs says that God is

more powerful than the Imam in dispelling the source of contention among Muslims and yet

has chosen not to intervene for a wisdom that is known to Him alone. The same explanation

can be applied to why the Imam does not appear to quell their differences.549 In other words, if

resting-places of the sufarāʾ, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 21:107 (no. 4155); Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 46-8.

548 On Kashf al-maḥajja li-thamarat al-muhja, see Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 41-2 (no. 24). In the Safavid period, the celebrated scholar al-Fayḍ al-Kāshānī abridged and commented on this work in a book called Tashīl al-sabīl bi-l-ḥujja fī intikhāb kashf al-maḥajja li-thamarat al-muhja.

549 Ibn Ṭāwūs, Kashf al-maḥajja li-thamarat al-muhja, 150-1. 221

the Imam wanted, he could appear to some or all of his followers but he chooses not to. One

would guess from this answer that Ibn Ṭāwūs is averse to the notion of seeing the Imam.

However, on the next page, in entrusting his son Muḥammad to the Hidden Imam and

instructing him to always place the Imam’s needs before his own, Ibn Ṭāwūs mentions that he himself dreamt of the Imam in several places (or shrines) (raʾaynāhu fī ʿiddat maqāmāt fī

manāmāt). In these dreams, the Imam answered his prayers and confirmed and blessed his family.550 His statement later in the same work that, “The path to your Imam is open (al-ṭarīq

maftūḥa ilā imāmika) to whoever God wishes to shower His loving kindness upon or treat

favorably,”551 should likely be understood in this context: receiving guidance and confirmation

from the Imam in dreams.

In two other works, Ibn Ṭāwūs speaks of sightings of the Imam in a wakeful state but in

each case, the person who has seen the Imam is not named. In his Faraj al-mahmūm fī maʿrifat

550 Ibn Ṭāwūs, Kashf al-maḥajja li-thamarat al-muhja, 151; al-Kāshānī, Tashīl al-sabīl bi-l-ḥujja fī intikhāb kashf al-maḥajja li-thamarat al-muhja, 56. Cf. al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 130, who reproduces the passage from Kashf al-maḥajja but has munājāt (prayers = while praying) in place of manāmāt.

551 Ibn Ṭāwūs, Kashf al-maḥajja li-thamarat al-muhja, 154; al-Kāshānī, Tashīl al-sabīl, 57; al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 131. Persian translation: Rafīʿī, Imām-i zamān va Sayyid bin Ṭāwūs, 131. 222

al-ḥalāl wa-l-ḥarām min ʿilm al-nujūm, completed in 650/1252,552 Ibn Ṭāwūs speaks of an

anonymous contemporary who saw the Hidden Imam while awake inside the Shrine of the

seventh Imam in Iraq:

In my own time, I have met people who told me that they have seen the Mahdī. Some of them carried brief messages and letters from him (fa-fīhim man ḥamalū ʿanhu riqāʿ an wa-rasāʾil) in reply to requests that were made to him. One of these individuals is a person whose words I know to be true yet would not allow me to disclose his name. He told me that he had asked God to grant him the favor of seeing the Mahdī (qad saʾala Allāh taʿālā an yatafaḍḍal ʿalayhi bi-mushāhadat al-mahdī). He then dreamt that he would see him at a time that he specified (fa-raʾā fī manāmihi annahu shāhiduhu fī

waqtin ashāra ilayhi). He told me that when the time that had been specified arrived, he was visiting the shrine of Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓim. He heard a voice which he had heard before when visiting the shrine of Imam al-Jawād.553 He refrained from troubling the man [whose voice he had heard], entered the shrine and stood at the feet of our master, Imam al-Kāẓim. He came out of the shrine and saw the person whom he believed to be the Mahdī with a companion (rafīq) by his side. He saw him but out of respect, refrained from saying a word (wa-shāhadahu wa-lam yukhāṭibhu fī shayʾ li-wujūb al- taʾdīb bayna yadayhi).554

552 On this work, see Matar, “The Faraj al-Mahmūm of Ibn Ṭāwūs: A Thirteenth Century Work on Astrology and Astrologers;” Matar, “Dreams and Dream Interpretation in the Faraj al-Mahmūm of Ibn Ṭāwūs;” Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 10, 32-3 (no. 10).

553 The shrines of Mūsā al-Kāẓim and his grandson, Muḥammad al-Taqī al-Jawād (d. 218/834), the seventh and ninth Imams respectively, are adjacent to one another and lie in the town of Kāẓimayn (originally called al-Mashhad al-Kāẓimī) three miles west of Baghdad. See Streck and Dixon, “Kāẓimayn,” EI², 4:854-6. Incidentally, Streck and Dixon mention that the earliest evidence of pilgrimage to these shrines dates from the 7th/13th century, citing as their source the Arab biographer Ibn Khallikān’s (d. 681/1282) Wafayāt [al-aʿyān wa-anbāʾ al-zamān], completed in 672/1274 (see Fück, “Ibn Khallikān,” EI², 3:833). The above account by Ibn Ṭāwūs slightly precedes Ibn Khallikān.

554 A manuscript of this work is reproduced in an appendix to Matar’s unpublished dissertation, “The Faraj al-Mahmūm of Ibn Ṭāwūs.” This passage is found in fol. no. 175. The passage is repeated in al- 223

Elsewhere in his al-Muwāsaʿa wa-l-muḍāyaqa (also known as Risāla fī al-muḍāyaqa fī

fawāt al-ṣalā), completed on 18 Rabīʿ 661/1 March 1263,555 Ibn Ṭāwūs states: “I heard from

someone whose name I will not mention that he contacted our master [the Hidden Imam] (wa-

samiʿtu mimman lā usammīhi muwāṣila baynahu wa-bayna mawlānā), but if I were to describe

this matter in detail, it would fill the pages of several books, proving from beginning to end

that (our master) exists, is alive and is performing miracles.”556

Until Ibn Ṭāwūs, scholars had spoken of the possibility of seeing the Imam during the

Greater Occultation. With Ibn Ṭāwūs, encountering the Imam leaves the realm of possibility and enters the realm of actuality. However, we should note that although Ibn Ṭāwūs himself

Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:53. For Persian translation, see Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:528 (no. 13); Rafīʿī, Imām-i zamān va Sayyid bin Ṭāwūs, 132. For a previous attempt at an English translation which unfortunately is not accurate, see Matar, “The Faraj al-Mahmūm of Ibn Ṭāwūs,” 346-7.

555 Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 53. Cf. Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 129, who gives the date as 641/1243.

556 This passage is quoted in al-Astarābādī (d. 1033/1623-4 or 1036/1626-7), al-Fawāʾid al-madaniyya, 91; Persian translation: Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:527 (account no. 12). Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 129, saw this account in the margins of a 1321/1904 ms. of al-Astarābādī’s al-Fawāʾid al- madaniyya. The ms. of al-Astarābādī’s al-Fawāʾid al-madaniyya which Amir-Moezzi consulted was not accessible to me but al-Fawāʾid al-madaniyya has since been published (in 1424/2003) and was consulted by me. Amir-Moezzi added that the encounter took place “un état de contemplation profonde” and that the Hidden Imam “celui-ci lui révéla de hautes connaissances secrètes qui le plongèrent dan un état extatique.” Neither of these sentences is found in the published edition of al-Fawāʾid al-madaniyya or in Nūrī’s Persian translation of the account completed in 1302/1885. 224

claimed to have seen the Imam in dreams (like al-Ṣadūq), he is careful to never explicitly say

that he has seen the Imam while awake or in person. Here, comments by both contemporary

academics557 and Shīʿī ulama558 need to be modulated. In fact, the earliest work in which we

find a story of Ibn Ṭāwūs having encountered the Hidden Imam in a wakeful state is found

more than a century after his death.559 It is likely that in the trustworthy believer in both of the

above accounts whose name Ibn Ṭāwūs does not reveal is none other than himself and was

understood as such by his interlocutors. Perhaps for political reasons or perhaps in an attempt

remain faithful to the final tawqīʿ of the Imam, Ibn Ṭāwūs chose to relate and obfuscate the

encounter in the third-person.

At a time of great turmoil, in face of the cataclysm that was the Mongol invasion and

the imminent fall of the Abbasid empire, Ibn Ṭāwūs believed like many of his contemporaries

557 E.g., Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 94, who states (sans source) that Ibn Ṭāwūs “claimed to have met the Hidden Imam” without qualifying that this encounter took place in a dream. Cf. Matar, “The Faraj al-Mahmūm of Ibn Ṭāwūs,” 28, who says that Ibn Ṭāwūs saw the Imam in a dream during a journey to the shrine of ʿAlī in Najaf in 641/1263, but strangely references Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 94, who again does not mention that the encounter took place in a dream (nor does he add that it occurred during a journey to the shrine of ʿAlī).

558 E.g., al-Mūsawī, al-Liqāʾ al-mahdawī, 141, who states that no other scholar has met the Hidden Imam as often as Ibn Ṭāwūs.

559 See al-Nīlī, al-Sulṭān al-mufarrij, 57-61 (no. 10) (on this work, see below). This account was subsequently cited by al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:75-7, and other scholars after him. 225

that the end times were at hand. Interpreting a hadith attributed to al-Ṣādiq to mean that after

the Abbasid empire falls, a just and honest person from the descendants of the ahl al-bayt

would lead the Muslim community and herald the coming of the Qāʾim, one night (12 Rabīʿ

662/13 January 1264), “the thought occurred to (him) and (he) immediately knew” (ghalaba

ẓannī wa-ʿaraftu) that the one whose appearance al-Ṣādiq had heralded was none other than he

on account of his being descended from both Imams Ḥasan and Ḥusayn and the fact that the

Mongol ruler had appointed him the chief (naqīb) of the ʿAlids, the titular head of the Shīʿa of

Baghdad.560 It is thus of no minor significance to find that Ibn Ṭāwūs believed that he had

attained the days of the Imam’s complete appearance (udrik ayyām ẓuhūrihi al-kāmil). He

writes that “these, God willing, are the days of the appearance of those suns [i.e., the rajʿa of

the Prophet and the Imams], a time when all pain and suffering will end” (fa-hādhā awān ẓuhūr

tilka al-shumūs wa-zawāl al-ḍurr wa-l-buʾs).561

Ibn Ṭāwūs’s influence on future scholars who have written about the issue of encounters

with the Imam is evident, beginning with his student, the prominent Iraqi Traditionist, jurist

560 See Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 12; Halm, Shiʻism, 63.

561 Ibn Ṭāwūs, Kashf al-maḥajja li-thamarat al-muhja, 154. 226

and poet Bahāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā b. Abī al-Fatḥ al-Irbilī (d. 692/1292-3 or 693/1293-4).562 Al-

Irbilī’s most famous work, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma (completed in 682/1283-4), is a massive two volume biography of the Prophet and the twelve Imams.563 The final chapter of this work, dedicated to the twelfth Imam, includes several accounts of sightings of and contact with the Hidden Imam from the Lesser Occultation. Here, al-Irbilī takes great exception to Sunnīs who claim that the Shīʿa believe the Imam is hiding in an underground chamber

(sirdāb) in Samarra. He maintains that the Shīʿa have never claimed that the Imam is

permanently in the sirdāb but rather believe that “he comes and goes and travels around the

earth, [entering peoples’] homes and tents, accompanied by [his] servants (khadam), entourage

562 On the author, see Qurbānī-Zarrīn, “Bahāʾ al-Dīn Irbilī,” DJI (online edition); Javādī (ed.), “Irbilī,” DMT, 2:54-5. Algar, “Imam Musa al-Kazim and Sufi Tradition,” 5, mistakenly identifies the author as a Sunnī, perhaps because al-Irbilī transmitted hadiths from Sunnī sources in his Kashf al-ghumma, including most prominently from the Syrian Shāfiʿī jurist Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-Ganjī al- Shāfiʿī (d. 658/1260), a Sunnī scholar who sympathized strongly with ʿAlī, as demonstrated in his Kifāyat al-ṭālib fī manāqib ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, and who supported the Shīʿī belief that the Hidden Imam was the Mahdī, as can be seen in his oft-published and oft-cited (in Shīʿī apologetic literature) Kitāb al- bayān fī akhbār ṣāḥib al-zamān in which he cited Sunnī Traditions to prove the Mahdīship of the twelfth Imam [on these works, see Madelung, “al-Mahdī,” EI², 5:1236; Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 218 (no. 268)].

563 See al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 18:47-8 (no. 619), who gives the title as Kashf al-ghumma ʿan maʿrifat aḥwāl al-aʾimma wa-ahl bayt al-ʿiṣma. A popular work, Kashf al-ghumma was translated into Persian in the Safavid period and both the original and the translation have been published numerous times in recent years. 227

(ḥasham), camels, horses, and so forth.”564 In addition, and more significantly for our purposes,

al-Irbilī records two stories of encounters with the Imam that have occurred near his own time

(qiṣṣatayn qaruba ʿahduhumā min zamānī) which he heard from “a group of trustworthy

brethren” (jamāʿa min thiqāt ikhwānī): 1) the story of a certain Ismāʿīl b. al-Ḥasan al-Hirqilī

from al-Ḥilla which appears to have been transmitted to him by Ibn Ṭāwūs who features

prominently in the story565; and 2) the account of the father of a certain al-Bāqī b. ʿAṭwa al-

ʿAlawī al-Ḥusaynī who al-Irbilī appears to have heard directly from al-Bāqī before confirming

its veracity with others.566 In both accounts, a mysterious stranger heals a thought-to-be

incurable disease, disappears and is believed to have been the Hidden Imam. After recounting

these two stories, al-Irbilī adds that he knows of many accounts of Shīʿa who lost their way en

route to Mecca, were saved from sure death by the Hidden Imam and returned to their home or

564 Al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma1, 2:991.

565 Al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma1, 2:991-4 > al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:61-3 (no. 51); al-Baḥrānī, Bahjat al-naẓar, 199-202; al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 1:396-400. Persian translation: Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 629-33; ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 478-83; Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:485-91 (no. 5); Nūrī-Ṭabarsī2, Kifāyat al-muwaḥḥidīn fī ʿaqāyid al-dīn, 2:819; al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 2:5-8 (no. 2). For English translation, see Dewji, Imame Zaman Hazrat Mehdi (Lakha trans.), 144-7. The story is referred to in Kohlberg, “Authoritative Scripture,” 309 (note 75); Kohlberg, A Medieval Muslim Scholar at Work, 8 (no. 45).

566 Al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma1, 2:994-5 > al-Baḥrānī, Bahjat al-naẓar, 202; al- Baḥrānī, Ḥilyat al-abrār fī aḥwāl Muḥammad wa-ālihi al-aṭhār, 6:507; al-Shaftī, Kitāb al-ghayba, 1:402- 3; al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 2:5 (no. 1). Persian translation: ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 484. 228

caravan. He then says that he does not wish to drag out the issue; otherwise, he would mention

some of these accounts. Instead, the two accounts that have occurred close to his own time are

sufficient, suggesting that the stories of believers having been saved en route to Mecca are from

the Lesser Occultation.567 The third and only other Greater occultation account that al-Irbilī

cites is the aforementioned story of the youth and the Black Stone.568

In contrast to his teacher Ibn Ṭāwūs who as we saw distorted the final tawqīʿ of the

Imam, al-Irbilī attempts to reconcile the final tawqīʿ with the view expressed by authorities

such as al-Murtaḍā and al-Ṭabrisī that we cannot be certain about whether it is possible to see

the Imam during the Greater Occultation: “As I see it, if someone does see the Imam, he knows

not to claim to have seen him or encountered him publicly for anyone who claims to have seen

him is a liar. In this way, there is no contradiction [between the final tawqīʿ and the stories of

those who have seen the Imam during the Greater Occultation] but God knows best.” (wa-

lladhī arāhu annahu in kāna yarāhu aḥadun fa-qad ʿulima minhum annahum lā yaddaʿūna

ruʾyatahu wa-mushāhadatahu wa-inna alladhī yaddaʿīhā kadhdhābun fa-lā munāqaḍa idhan wa-

567 Al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma1, 2:995. Partial Persian translation in Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 634. Also cited in al-Baḥrānī, Bahjat al-naẓar, 198-9; Kūrānī, Ḥawl ruʾyat al-mahdī al-muntaẓar, 49-50.

568 Al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma1, 2:999-1000. He transmits the account from al- Rāwandī. 229

Allāh aʿlam).569 In other words, if someone sees the Imam and does not tell anyone that he has

seen him, it is perfectly acceptable. This position was advanced in a more subtle manner in the

works of al-Murtaḍā and al-Ṭūsī as we saw in chapter 3. Al-Irbilī in fact cites verbatim the position of al-Murtaḍā and al-Ṭūsī that each person can only known about his own to justify his inclusion of encounter narratives from the Greater Occultation.570 He, however, makes no

attempt to resolve the tension between the solution that he has advanced and the two stories he

just mentioned of individuals who were healed by the Imam and who obviously told others

about it.

A contemporary of both Ibn Ṭāwūs and al-Irbilī, Kamāl al-Dīn Maytham al-Baḥrānī (d. after 681/1280), an associate of Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (d. 672/1274), teacher of ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī

(on whom, see below) and author of an important commentary on the Nahj al-balāgha,571 who

569 Al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma2, 3:347. The text of al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma1, 2:1031 is defective as it is missing the conjunction in in the protasis in kāna yarāhu aḥad.

570 Al-Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma fī maʿrifat al-aʾimma1, 2:1034. This reason would be repeated by other scholars who have mentioned Greater Occultation accounts, e.g., al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 51:196; al- Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 150-1. It is also mentioned in al-Ṭabrisī, Iʿlām al-warā, 2:303.

571 On him, see Mavani, “Doctrine of Imamate in Twelver Shiʻism,” 221-45 (Ch. 6: Kamāl al-Dīn Maytham b. ‘Alī b. Maytham al-Baḥrānī: Multiple Approaches to the Study of Imamate); Oraibi, “Shīʿī Renaissance;” Oraibi, “Rationalism in the School of Bahrain,” 331-43; Corbin, History of Islamic Philosophy, 320-1; Lawson, “Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy,” 128. His famous commentary on the Nahj al-balāgha is referred to in Nasr, “Shiʻism and Sufism: Their Relationship in Essence and in History,” 230

is credited with having led the Shīʿī renaissance in post-Mongol Bahrain, stipulated: “We reject the notion that the Hidden Imam cannot appear to his friends (awliyāʾihi). He does appear to

them and they take legal rulings (aḥkām) from him. In fact, legal rulings, answers to [legal and

theological] questions (masāʾil) and other things have come to them from him in the form of prayers and letters as is well known among the Twelver Shīʿa.”572 Al-Baḥrānī does not provide a single example to support this statement which leaves us asking, what is he referring to? He likely has in mind the aforementioned letters to al-Mufīd, however these letters do not contain any legal rulings on behalf of the Imam. As a sign of how controversial the question remained, with his next breath, al-Baḥrānī backtracks and concedes that there are those who believe that that the Imam does not appear to any of his awliyāʾ, even if they are worthy of the favor (wa-in

kānū fī ghāyat al-ṣalāḥ wa-l-maḥabba wa-l-ḥajja ilayhi). However, he contends that if the Imam

chooses not to appear to anyone, it is due to one of two reasons:

First, man, no matter how virtuous he/she is, is inclined to desperately acquire some kind of social recognition. If the Imam appears to somebody who might, for instance, be

238. He should not be mistaken with his teacher, ʿAlī. b. Sulaymān Kamāl al-Dīn (or Jamāl al-Dīn) Baḥrānī (fl. late 7th/13th cent.), one of the scholars often credited with bridging the divide between tashayyuʿ and taṣawwuf in the post-Mongol invasion period; on the latter, see Madelung, “Baḥrānī, Jamāl al-Dīn (also Kamāl al-Dīn),” EIr, 3:529.

572 Al-Baḥrānī, al-Najā fī al-qiyāma, 50-1. On this work, see al-Oraibi, “Shīʿī Renaissance,” 54; Mavani, “Doctrine of Imamate in Twelver Shiʻism,” 227. 231

poor, he may boast about it and cannot help divulging this secret to people close to him like his brother, son or wife. A secret between more than two people would inevitably circulate, and would result in social disorder and corruption (fasād). Second, in order for him to prove his identity, the Imam has to show his loyal subject some saintly miracles (karāmāt). When the latter doubts them, he would seek the help of others; and if the enemies of the Imam might be among them, he would thus betray the Imam to his enemies.573

573 Translated as such in al-Oraibi, “Shīʿī Renaissance,” 157. It merits noting in this connection that although al-Irbilī and al-Baḥrānī seem to both affirm the possibility of seeing the Imam during the Greater Occultation, their more famous student, the celebrated scholar, Ḥasan b. Yūsuf b. ʿAlī b. Muṭahhar, known as ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī (d. 726/1325) [on whom, see Jafri, “al-Ḥillī (1),” EI², 3:390; Schmidtke, “Ḥelli, Ḥasan b. Yusof b. Moṭahhar,” EIr, 12:164-9], perhaps the most important figure in the development of Shīʿī fiqh, adopted the position of the early Traditionists. Although later hagiographical sources claim that al-Ḥillī twice encountered the Hidden Imam (see below), he himself in his Nahj al-mustarshidīn fī uṣūl al-dīn maintained, “The (Hidden) Imam has concealed himself for either a reason known only to God or because he fears for his life both from his enemies and his friends. He thus does not appear to anyone, publicly or privately (fa-lā yaẓhar ʿāmman wa-lā khāṣṣan).” [This passage from al-Ḥillī’s Nahj al-mustarshidīn is available to us in al-Miqdād al-Ḥillī’s (d. 826/1423) commentary, Irshād al-ṭālibīn ilā nahj al-mustarshidīn, 377. Cooper has provided a different translation: “He does not appear in public or privately because of fear for his life from his enemies, and of fear for his friends,” al-Ḥillī, “ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī on Imamate and Ijithād, Translated and edited by John Cooper,” 242]. Moreover, al-Ḥillī chose not to address the issue of encountering the Imam in any form in the section of his highly influential summary of Shīʿī beliefs and doctrines. Al-Ḥillī, al-Bâbu ’l-Ḥâdî ‘Ashar: A Treatise on the Principles of Shîʻite Theology (trans. Miller), 78 [for a revised translation of his creed, see Watt, Islamic Creeds, 103-4]. This work is al-Ḥillī’s most popular theological work. See Schmidtke, “Ḥelli, Ḥasan b. Yusof b. Moṭahhar,” EIr, 12:164-9. Jafri, “al-Ḥillī (1),” EI², 3:390, notes that it has “superseded every other [Shīʿī creed] in modern times.” The comments by al-Miqdād b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Suyūrī al-Ḥillī (d. 826/1423), known as al-Fāḍil al-Miqdād, about the twelfth Imam in his commentary of al-Ḥillī’s creed which are more involved, also avoid the issue of contact with the Imam, though he does maintain that all of the Imams have performed miracles, referring readers to al- Rāwandī’s al-Kharāʾij wa-l-jarāʾiḥ. See al-Ḥillī, al-Bâbu ’l-Ḥâdî ‘Ashar (trans. Miller), 80-1. On al- Miqdād al-Ḥillī, a well-known scholar and jurist and one of the most prominent students of al-Shahīd al- Awwal, see McAuliffe, “Legal Exegesis: Christians as a Case Study,” 69-71 (section titled, al-Miqdād al-Ḥillī); Dihkhudā, Lughatnāmih, s.v. ‘Fāḍil-i Miqdād’; Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 49; Karajī, “Fāḍil-i Miqdād: Parchamdār-i pazhūhish.” 232

4.3. The Oceans of Light and the Opening of the Floodgates

Stories of encounters with the Hidden Imam remained few in the next centuries.574

However, in the late Safavid period, the initial reticence to affirm continuous contact with the

574 The only work we know of that is a collection of such stories pre-al-Majlisī is Iraqi scholar Bahāʾ al- Dīn ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Nīlī al-Najafī’s (fl. late 8th-early 9th/late 14th/early 15th cent.; d. after 803/1400-1) al-Sulṭān al-mufarrij ʿan ahl al-īmān (fīman raʾā ṣāḥib al-zamān). On the author, a student of Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn al-Ḥillī (d. 771/1369-70; son of the famous al-ʿAllamā al-Ḥillī), see al-Nīlī, al- Sulṭān al-mufarrij, 6-17 (from the editor’s introduction); al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al-anwār al-muḍīʾa, 11-43 (from the publisher’s introduction); Dihkhudā, Lughatnāmih, s.v. ‘ʿAlī Nīlī’. His nisba al-Nīlī is derived not from the River Nile bur rather from the Iraqi town of al-Nīl situated on the Euphrates river between Baghdad and Kufah. See Dihkhudā, Lughatnāmih, s.v. ‘Nīl’. Al-Sulṭān al-mufarrij has not survived (al- Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 12:217-8 (no. 1439)), but it was recently (1426/2005-6) reassembled from the stories that are quoted from it in al-Majlisī’s Biḥār al-anwār and al-Nūrī’s Jannat al-maʾwā. The work is mostly stories of encounters with the Imam from the Lesser Occultation but the first six accounts are all stories the author heard from his contemporaries. Each of these short accounts contains the record of a healing miracle performed by the Imam. For example, account no. 6 tells the story of a Shīʿī who tussled with a rival Sunnī. Just when it seemed the Shīʿī was about to lose, a stranger (who turned out to be the Hidden Imam) appeared, killed the Sunnī and miraculously healed a wound suffered by the Shīʿī during the vigorous fight, al-Nīlī, al-Sulṭān al-mufarrij, 37-50.

Al-Nīlī also devoted a chapter of a different work which has survived, his Muntakhab al-anwār al- muḍīʾa [fī dhikr al-qāʾim al-ḥujja ʿalayhi al-salām] to “those who saw (the Imam).” This chapter includes fourteen accounts, all of which are found in earlier works that deal with sightings of the Imam during the Lesser Occultation, al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al-anwār al-muḍīʾa, 251-95. The chapter ends with a list of the names of those who served as the Imam’s deputies in various regions during the Lesser Occultation, cited from al-Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-dīn. Al-Nīlī next responds to those who claim that these are all isolated accounts (akhbār āḥād) which may as well be unfounded fables and superstitions (bi- manzilat al-ḥikāyāt wa-l-khurāfāt) that do not prove that the Imam exists. Al-Nīlī’s response is very telling. In answering this assertion, he appeals to the power of deduction (al-istidlāl). He says that just as the recognition of God, the Prophet and the previous Imams are not conditioned on actually seeing them, one can recognize and believe in the Hidden Imam without seeing him for “the Imamate and seeing (the Imam) are not mutually exclusive. Rather, each one is sufficient in and of itself” (fa-l-imāma 233

Hidden Imam gave way to an effort to begin collecting the accounts, chiefly by the well-known

scholar Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī (d. 1111/1699-1700).575

Al-Majlisī himself does not cite many accounts of encounters with the Hidden Imam

during the Greater Occultation in his works, showing again that such stories continued to be uncommon. For example, he could only find six accounts of encounters with the Hidden Imam to include in a chapter of the volume of his Biḥār al-anwār [Oceans of light] devoted to the

ghayba of the Hidden Imam and completed in Rajab 1078/1667-8.576 The chapter is titled,

wa-ruʾya lā yatawaqqaf aḥaduhumā ʿalā al-ākhar bal kull wāḥid thābit ʿalā ḥidatihi), al-Nīlī, Muntakhab al-anwār al-muḍīʾa, 299. In other words, al-Nīlī is arguing that it is not necessary for the Imam to be seen though it is not impossible either.

575 On him, see Mahdavī, Zindigīnāmah-yi ʿAllāmah Majlisī; Ṭārimī, ʿAllāmah-yi Majlisī; Kohlberg, “Majlisī, al-,” ER, 8:5623; Hairi, “Madjlisī, Mullā Muḥammad Bāḳir,” EI², 5:1086; Brunner, Majlesi, Moḥammad-Bāqer,” EIr (online edition).

576 Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 53:197. On Biḥār al-anwār, see Pampus, “Die theologische Enzyklopädie Biḥār al-Anwār des Muḥammad Bāqir al-Mağlisī (1037–1110 A.H. = 1627–1699 AD);” Kohlberg, “Beḥār al-anwār,” EIr, 4:90-93; Ṭārimī, “Biḥār al-anwār,” DJI (online edition). The volume on the ghayba of the Hidden Imam was translated into Persian in 1260/1844 by Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥasan b. Muḥammad Valī Bīk Afshār Bukshāvalī Urūmiyyih-ʾī (d. after 1260/1844), al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 16:76 (no. 383 under Kitāb al-ghayba). On Urūmiyyih-ʾī, see Masjid-i Muqaddas-i Jamkarān, Introduction to Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyih-ʾī), 1:17-8. This translation was published in the Qājār period and then again in 1329/1911 in Tehran and more recently in Qum in 1418/1997. In the introduction, Urūmiyyih-ʾī dedicates the translation to Muḥammad Shāh, Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyih-ʾī), 1:20-1. The same volume on the ghayba of the Hidden Imam was re-translated into Persian by ʿAlī Davānī. See Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī). 234

“Rare (nādir) are the accounts of those who have seen (the Hidden Imam) during the Greater

Occultation close to our time.”577

However, al-Majlisī’s most significant and far-reaching contribution to the subject was

his attempt to negotiate the palpable epistemological tension between the “lying impostors”

passage of the final tawqīʿ and the few stories of encounters with the Imam during the Greater

Occultation. Al-Majlisī concluded that the final tawqīʿ did not intend to seal the possibility of seeing the Imam and receiving guidance from him. Rather, the underlying rationale behind the

tawqīʿ was to abolish the institution of sifāra with the death of the fourth representative, and

thus negate the appearance of any future special intermediary between the Imam and the

faithful who knew his location and could contact him at any time. The trusted and pious

believers, i.e. the ulama who by now constituted the general representatives (al-nuwwāb al-

ʿāmma) of the Imam, could see him, al-Majlisī argued, so as long as they did not advance any

577 For a translation of accounts mentioned in this chapter, see Ghaemmaghami, “Numinous Vision, Messianic Encounters.” The bulk of the chapter is dedicated to the story of the Green Island in the White Sea. Al-Majlisī prefaces the story with these comments: “I found a treatise famously known (risāla mushtahira) as the story of the Green Island in the White Sea and decided to include it [in this volume] as it is the story of someone who saw (the Hidden Imam) and because it contains has many strange things (al-gharāʾib). I chose to place it in a separate chapter because I could not find (the account) [mentioned in] any credible sources.” Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:159; Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 131 (note 79). On the story of the Green Island and information about its provenance, see now Ghaemmaghami, “To the Abode of the Hidden One.” 235

simultaneous claims to being the Imam’s authorized intermediary, a position that was reserved

for the sufarāʾ, who were cast as the Imam’s special representatives (al-nuwwāb al-khāṣṣa).578

Al-Majlisī concluded: “Perhaps (laʿalla) the last tawqīʿ concerns those who claim to be the

Imam’s representative [and] to convey information to the Shīʿa [from the Imam], as was the case with the [four] sufarāʾ. For if this were not the case, (the final tawqīʿ ) would contradict

the stories of those who have seen (the Hidden Imam during the Greater Occultation).”579 After translating the last tawqīʿ in his last completed work, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn dar uṣūl va furūʿ-i iʿtiqādāt

578 On distinction between al-niyāba al-ʿāmma (general representation) and al-niyāba al-khāṣṣa (special representation) developed during the Safavid period, see Abisaab, Converting Persia: Religion and Power in the Safavid Empire, index, s.v. ‘niyaba’; Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam, 140, 142; Amanat, Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shiʻism, 50, 155, 190; Algar, “Iran ix (2.3). Shiʿism in Iran Since the Safavids,” EIr, 8:456-74.

579 Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:151. Persian translation: Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Urūmiyyah- ʾī), 1:746; Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 929. We should mention here that over a century before al-Majlisī, al-Muqaddas al-Ardabīlī (on whom, see below) also negotiated the tension between the final tawqīʿ and the stories of Greater Occultation accounts, two of which he mentions in his Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa. After translating the final tawqīʿ of the Imam, al-Ardabīlī states: “We have reconciled (tawfīq) [the tension] between hadiths like (the final tawqīʿ) and the reports of those who have seen the Qāʾim during the Greater Occultation in our book, [al-]Naṣṣ [al-]jalī fī imāmat mawlānā ʿAlī. Whoever wishes to know more about this issue should consult that book.” Ardabīlī, Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa, 2:990. Unfortunately, his al-Naṣṣ al-jalī fī imāmat mawlānā ʿAlī (on which, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 24:172 (no. 893), has not survived. Moreover, the editor of Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa (see Ardabīlī, Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa, 2:990, note 2) has pointed out that the above sentence is missing from an early manuscript of a different work that has cited extensively from Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa (including the passages that comes directly before and directly after the above sentence), suggesting that this sentence may be a post-al-Majlisī interpolation. 236

[The truth of certitude (Qur’an 56:95, 69:51) concerning the roots and branches of faith], an

extensive Persian summary of the main tenets and doctrines of Shīʿī Islam,580 al-Majlisī makes the same argument and adds, “Many trustworthy people (thiqāt) have narrated that they have

seen (the Imam) during the Greater Occultation without having recognized him at the moment

(of seeing him). Therefore, it is possible that the intention (murād) of this hadith [i.e., the final

tawqīʿ] is that if they claim to have seen him and simultaneously recognized him, they are

lying; conversely, if they claim to be (the Imam’s) representative (niyābat) by virtue of having

seen (the Imam), they are [likewise] lying.”581

Al-Majlisī also weighs in on the question in commenting on the famous hadith of the

sun and the clouds mentioned in chapter 1 of our study: “The sun can partially emerge from the

clouds and when it does, one person may see it while another does not. In the same way, during

the days of his ghayba, (the Imam) may appear to some people and not to others” (fa-kadhālik

580 Ḥaqq al-yaqīn was completed one year before his passing and is said to have been the cause of the conversion of 70,000 Sunnīs to Shīʿī Islam though it is stringently anti-Sunnī (a characteristic feature of all of al-Majlisī’s works). See Hairi, “Madjlisi, Mulla Muḥammad Bāqir,” EI², 5:1087; Brunner, “Majlesi, Moḥammad-Bāqer,” EIr (online edition), both of whom are citing a report from a late 13th/19th century work, the Qiṣaṣ al-ʿulamāʾ (completed in 1290/1873-4) by Muḥammad b. Sulaymān Tunikābunī (d. 1302/1885). I have not been able to find an earlier reference to this mass-conversion claim. 237

yumkin an yaẓhar fī ayyām ghaybatihi li-baʿḍ al-khalq dūn baʿḍ).582 He translates the same

explanation in Ḥaqq al-yaqīn but then refers to two of the hadiths we discussed in chapter 2:

“Imam al-Ṣādiq said that the Qāʾim will have two ghaybas, one short and the other long. He

said that during his [first] ghayba, only the select among his Shīʿa (khavāṣṣ-i shīʿiyān-i ū)

would know his location, while during the second ghayba, only the privileged elite

(makhṣūṣān) and the mawālī of (the Imam) would know his location. And in a different hadith,

it has been mentioned that thirty of (the Imam’s) privileged elite (sī nafar az makhṣūṣān) are

perpetually in his service, i.e., when one dies, another takes his place.”583

Al-Majlisī’s opinion has served as the established position on the “lying impostors” sentence of the final tawqīʿ since his time and is cited in virtually every work after him that

includes encounter stories or deals with questions surrounding the ghayba.584 Yet not everyone is convinced. In the early 13th/19th century, Shaykh Jaʿfar al-Najafī, known as Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ

581 Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 316. For a different translation, see Amir-Arjomand, The Shadow of God, 162. On al-Majlisī’s decision to write several of his works in Persian, see Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 116.

582 Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:94; Kūrānī, Ḥawl ruʾyat al-mahdī al-muntaẓār, 54; al-Shāhrūdī, al- Imām al-Mahdī wa-ẓuhūruh, 176; Kohlberg, “Authoritative Scriptures,” 308-9.

583 Majlisī, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn, 345-6.

584 See the addendum to this chapter. 238

(d. 1227/1812), the polemical champion of the Uṣūlī school and archenemy of Mīrzā

Muḥammad Akhbārī (d. 1232/1816-7), the leading exponent of the Akhbārī cause in the late

18th/early 19th century,585 openly called into the question the veracity all of the encounter

accounts from the Greater Occultation, many of which had been cited in works of Akhbārī

scholars.586 In his al-Ḥaqq al-mubīn fī taṣwīb al-mujtahidīn wa-takhṭiʾat juhhāl al-akhbāriyyin

[The conspicuous truth in vindicating the mujtahids (i.e., the Uṣūlīs) and refuting the ignorant

among the Akhbārīs], Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ blasts Shīʿī scholars before him – and in particular,

“unenlightened” Akhbārīs – for, inter alia, their indiscriminate use of hadiths and uncritical

reliance on strange stories and narrations.587 To make his point, he adduces the story of the

585 On Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ and his role in opposing the Akhbārīs, see Algar, “Kāšef al-ḡeṭāʾ,” EIr (online edition); Madelung, “Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ,” EI², 4:703; Halm, Shiʻism, 97; Kohlberg, “Aspects of Akhbari Thought in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” 152; Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 135-6, 191. On the Akhbārī-Uṣūlī divide, see Kohlberg, “Aḵbārīya,” EIr, 1:716-8; and now, Gleave, “Akhbāriyya and Uṣūliyya,” EI³ (online edition); Litvak, “Iraq xi. Shiʿite Seminaries in Iraq,” EIr, 13:588-99. On Muḥammad al-Akhbārī, see Algar, “Aḵbārī, Mīrzā Moḥammad,” EIr, 1:716.

586 See, e.g., al-Kāshānī (d. ca. 1091/1680), Nawādir al-akhbār, 300-5 (no. 2); al-ʿĀmilī (d. 1104/1693), Ithbāt al-hudā, 5:335-6 (no. 159); H. al-Baḥrānī (d. 1107/1695-96 or 1109/1697-98), Tabṣirat al-walī (see Appendix I); al-Jazāʾirī (d. 1112/1701), Riyāḍ al-abrār fī manāqib al-aʾimma al-aṭhār, 3:135-45; Y. al-Baḥrānī (d. 1186/1773), Kashkūl al-Baḥrānī aw anīs al-musāfir wa-jalīs al-khāṭir, 98-108

587 On this work, see Algar, “Kāšef al-ḡeṭāʾ,” EIr (online edition); Rajabī, ʿUlamā-yi mujāhid, 381; al- Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 7:37-8 (no. 190), who points out that Mīrzā Muḥammad al-Akhbārī promptly wrote a response to al-Ḥaqq al-mubīn called al-Ṣayḥa bi-l-ḥaqq ʿalā man alḥada wa-tazandaqa (The cry for truth against he who abandoned his faith and became a heretic) which does not appear to have survived. 239

Green Island, which as we mentioned was recorded by al-Majlisī in the Biḥār al-anwār. He

accuses al-Majlisī and other Akhbārī and Akhbārī-leaning scholars who have transmitted these

stories of having found them in unreliable sources filled with fabricated tales and useless

fables. Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ is unable to suppress his incredulity at what he considers an overly lax

attitude on part of these scholars toward the final tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam and other hadiths which he does not identify but by which he almost certainly has in mind the hadiths discussed in chapter 1 of our study: “It’s as if they have never seen the hadiths affirming that no one can see [the Imam] during the Greater Occultation (wa-ka-annahu lam yara al-akhbār al-dālla ʿalā

ʿadam wuqūʿ al-ruʾya min aḥadin baʿd al-ghayba al-kubrā) and refuse to follow the words of the

ulama who have affirmed this (to be the truth) (wa-lā tatbaʿ kalimāt al-ʿulamāʾ al-dālla ʿalā

dhālik).”588 In the same connection, Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ rebukes Akhbārī scholars for their

“ludicrous accounts (al-aqwāl al-ʿajība) and bizarre fabrications (al-muzakhrafāt al-gharība) that

588 Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ, al-Ḥaqq al-mubīn fī taṣwīb al-mujtahidīn wa-takhṭiʾat [juhhāl] al-akhbāriyyin, fol. 87 (the word juhhāl has been removed from the title in identifying this manuscript on the website of Kitābkhānah-yi dīgītāl); cited by Muḥammad-ʿAlī Qāḍī Ṭabāṭabāʾī (d. 1358AS/1979) in the margins of al-Jazāʾirī, al-Anwār, 2:64 (note 1). Persian translation cited in Dhākirī, “Irtibāṭ bā imām-i zamān,” 96; Ṭabasī, “Jazīrah-yi khaḍrā.” See also Amir-Moezzi, “Contribution à la Typologie,” 131 (note 80). Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ’s criticism of the Akhbārī commitment to selcouth reports foreshadowed the criticism of Khomeini and other Uṣūlī jurists some two centuries later who invoked the term Akhbārī “only as a pejorative label to designate the apolitical, ‘stagnant,’ and ‘superstitious’ orientation of those clerics who [did] not subscribe to the politicized and ideological Islam of the militant ‘ulamā’…” Amir Arjomand, “Ideological Revolution in Shiʻism,” 196. 240

not even an ignoramus would dream of publishing, let alone the sane of mind.”589 A contemporary of Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ, the Bahraini hadith scholar Muḥammad Āl ʿAbd al-Jabbār (d. after 1250/1834-5) adopted a more sober tone while arguing in his Hady al-ʿuqūl ilā aḥādīth al-

uṣūl [Guiding the minds of men to the traditions [of the ahl al-bayt] concerning the principles

(of religion)] that stories of reputed contact with the Imam during the Greater Occultation are

not consistent with the doctrine of the Imam’s concealment (yunāfī al-ghayba) and can in no

way be substantiated by rational or traditional proofs.590 As our study has shown, this position

restates the view of the early Traditionists, al-Nuʿmānī and al-Ṣadūq.

Despite these few voices of protest, it is clear that al-Majlisī’s interpretation of the final

tawqīʿ opened once and for all the flood gates.591 It was tantamount to a carte blanche for

589 Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ, al-Ḥaqq al-mubīn, fol. 88.

590 Āl ʿAbd al-Jabbār, Hady al-ʿuqūl ilā aḥādīth al-uṣūl, 9:113. On Āl ʿAbd al-Jabbār, a student of Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī and al-Waḥīd al-Bihbihānī, see idem, 1:1-22 (from the publisher’s introduction).

591 Beginning with two of al-Majlisī’s contemporaries, Mīr Lawḥī (fl. 11th/17th cent) and Hāshim al- Baḥrānī (d. 1107/1695-96 or 1109/1697-98), both of whom wrote works after the completion of volume 13 of al-Majlisī’s Biḥār al-anwār that refer to accounts of meetings with the Imam during the Greater Occultation. See the Appendix of this dissertation for their works. In addition, one of al-Majlisī’s most gifted students, Abū al-Ḥasan al-ʿĀmilī al-Iṣfahānī (d. ca. 1139/1726-27), is said to have recorded several accounts of Greater Occultation encounters in his Ḍiyāʾ al-ʿālamīn fī al-imāma and maintained that there are many “credible reports” (al-manqūlāt al-muʿtabara) of those who near his own time who have seen the Hidden Imam. His words are cited by al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 95; Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:694; and Kūrānī, Ḥawl ruʾyat al-mahdī al-muntaẓār, 55 (via Nūrī). The volume of Ḍiyāʾ al-ʿālamīn fī al-imāma that mentions these accounts has never been published though three manuscripts in Najaf and 241

scholars who cited (and continue to cite) his explanation to justify their work to compile, codify

and publish collections of accounts of encounters with the Imam during the Greater

Occultation, in particular as a means of responding to competing notions of authority advanced

by “heterodox” movements, as patently illustrated in the collections of the late 19th century

polemicist Maytham al-ʿIrāqī (d. 1306/1888-9, 1308/1890-1 or 1310/1892-3), the sedulous

Traditionist Nūrī (d. 1320/1902) – the author of two collections of stories of encounters with

the Hidden Imam during the Greater Occultation – and the latter’s prolific students.592

In addition to “proving (the) weighty matter of the Imam’s existence and the fact that he appears from time to time to meet with his most pious disciples,”593 such collections have

Karbalāʾ have been identified by al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 15:124. On al-ʿĀmilī al-Iṣfahānī, see Corbin, “ʿĀmelī Eṣfahānī,” EIr, 1:931-2; Lawson, “Akhbārī Shīʿī Approaches to tafsīr,” 195-201; Amir-Moezzi, “al-ʿĀmilī al-Iṣfahānī, Abū al-Ḥasan,” EI³ (online edition).

592 See Ghaemmaghami, “Seeing the Proof: A Consideration of the Contributions of Mīrzā Ḥusayn al- Nūrī to the Study of the Shīʿī Motif of Encountering the Occulted Imam;” Ghaemmaghami, “The Abode of Peace: Maḥmūd b. Jaʿfar Maythamī (d. 1310/1893) and the Phenomenon of Encounters with the Hidden Imam;” and now, Ghaemmaghami, “Arresting the Eschaton: Mīrzā Ḥusayn Ṭabarsī Nūrī (d. 1320/1902) and the Bābī and Bahāʾī Religions.” On the collections of ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, al-Nūrī and al- Nūrī’s students, see also the Appendix of this dissertation.

593 Al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 11. In his Najm-i thāqib, 574, Nūrī writes that “the main purpose of recording these stories is to prove the blessed existence of the Imam, [demonstrate] that he lives among the people, and [show] how his existence benefits them.” In speaking about these works near the end of his life, he proudly boasted: “We elucidated the possibility of seeing (the Hidden Imam) during the Greater Occultation in a conclusive manner in our work, Jannat al-maʾwā, and in our book, al-Najm-i 242

drawn believers closer to the Imam and strengthened the authority and charisma of the ulama.

Moreover, the narratives compiled by these scholars have often served a polemical agenda to prove the continued existence of the Hidden Imam to three groups of ‘opponents’: the “weak”

followers of the Imam who entertained doubts about his existence; the unbelievers in the Imam

(viz., non-Shīʿī Muslims and non-Muslims); and any group that sought to challenge the authority of the ulama (e.g., Ṣūfī orders) or rupture the eschatological tension caused by the

ghayba.

The modern collections of encounter narratives by these scholars suddenly feature over

hundreds of stories of prominent ulama who have met the Imam throughout the Greater

Occultation. It is of no minor note that one of al-Nūrī’s collections has been conveniently

appended to the volume of al-Majlisī’s Biḥār al-anwār that deals with the life, occultation and

return of the Hidden Imam (vol. 13 of the lithograph = vols. 51-3 of printed edition), giving the impression that such encounters have always been a part of the story of the Hidden

Imam.594 In some of these accounts, the Imam no longer simply cures seemingly incurable

thāqib. We mentioned so many proofs and evidences [i.e., encounter stories] that not a trace of doubt exists about (this matter).” Nūrī, Khātimat mustadrak al-wasāʾil, 3:229.

594 Al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār (lithograph, colophon dated 1304/1886 and 1305/1888), 13:fols. 251-93; al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 53:199-336. 243

ailments or helps groups of Shīʿa threatened by highwaymen as some of the earlier stories

relate. Rather, he is re-transformed or most aptly re-turned into the source of religious

knowledge for his representatives, the ulama. We can mention here four representative

examples from the many that exist:

(1) ʿAllama al-Ḥillī (d. 726/1325): As alluded to earlier, two accounts of al-Ḥillī’s

encounters with the Hidden Imam are transmitted in later sources. The first is an account of a

stranger who accompanied al-Ḥillī from Ḥilla to Karbala. Al-Ḥillī posed a number of legal

questions to him, all of which he ably answered. The stranger went so far as to mention a

hadith that al-Ḥillī was unaware of, giving him the book, page number and line where it was

found (al-Ḥillī, it is said, later found the hadith in the exact location the stranger mentioned).

Al-Ḥillī then asked him whether or not the Imam could be seen during the Greater Occultation

(showing once again, the centrality of this question). Just then, his whip fell to the ground. The stranger picked it up and as he handed it to al-Ḥillī, revealed himself to be the Hidden Imam and immediately disappeared.595 The second is an account in which an unnamed Sunnī scholar

595 See Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 176-7, who gives as his source, Muḥammad b. al-Amīr al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī al-Ḥāʾirī’s (d. 1242/1826) Mafātīḥ al-uṣūl wa-manāhil al-fiqh (on this work, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 21:300 (no. 5173), who claims to have seen the account in al-Ḥillī’s own handwriting on the margins of one of al-Ḥillī’s books [we have no way of verifying this]; Ishtihārdī, “Guzarī bar zindigī-i ʿAllāmah Ḥillī,” 22-4; ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 506-9 (from Tunikābunī’s (d. 1302/1885) Qiṣaṣ 244

had written a polemical book against the Shīʿa. Dissimulating his faith, al-Ḥillī was able to beguile him into borrowing the book for one night in order to copy it so that he might write a response. Al-Ḥillī, however, fell asleep midway through the night. The Imam appeared

(whether in a dream or while he was awake, the text is not clear) and told al-Ḥillī that he himself would copy the book, a task which would have taken al-Ḥillī almost a year to complete on his own. When al-Ḥillī awoke in the morning, the book had been fully copied.596

al-ʿulamāʾ); Jaʿfarī, Dīdār dar ʿaṣr-i ghaybat 313-4 (from Tunikābunī); al-Mūsawī, al-Liqāʾ al-mahdawī, 144 (from Tunikābunī). William M. Miller (d. 1993), an American Presbyterian missionary in Iran, mentions this account in the introduction to his 1928 translation of al-Ḥillī’s creedal statement. See al- Ḥillī, al-Bâbu ’l-Ḥâdî ‘Ashar: A Treatise on the Principles of Shîʻite Theology (trans. Miller), xiii-xiv. Cf. a similar story related about Muḥammad Taqī al-Majlisī (d. 1070/1659-60). It is said that on a journey to Karbala, al-Majlisī met two strangers on horses. As they travelled together, the two men posed questions about religious matters to al-Majlisī. Al-Majlisī then learned that the two men were none other than Imam Ḥusayn and the Hidden Imam. See Babayan, Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs, 426, 463; Rahnema, Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics, 175.

596 See al-Shūshtarī, Majālis al-muʾminīn, 1:573 > al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 69-70 (no. 22), who concludes that the encounter took place in a dream; Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 346-7 (no. 15); Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 179-80; Dhākirī, “Irtibāṭ bā imām-i zamān,” 101; al-Mūsawī, al-Arbaʿūn fī al-Mahdī wa-qiṣṣat al-jazīra al-khaḍrāʾ, 42; Ishtihārdī, “Guzarī bar zindigī-i ʿAllāmah Ḥillī,” 24-5; ʿAlīpūr, Jilvah-hā-yi pinhānī-i imām-i ʿaṣr, 130-1 (from al-Shūshtarī’s Majālis al-muʾminīn); Faqīh, Liqāʾāt al-ʿulamāʾ bi-l-imām al-ḥujja, 224-5; Faqīh, Manāmāt al-ʿulamāʾ wa-l-ṣāliḥīn, 130-1; al-Mūsawī, al-Liqāʾ al-mahdawī, 242-3; Kohlberg, “Authoritative Scripture,” 309. Cf. Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 347 (no. 15), where he also cites a different version of this story from the Kashkūl of a certain ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al- Māzandarānī, a contemporary of al-Majlisī. In Māzandarānī’s version, the stranger who assists al-Ḥillī in copying the book is simply described as someone resembling the people of Ḥijāz. There is no mention or allusion to the stranger being the Hidden Imam; Arabic translation: al-Mūsawī, al-Liqāʾ al- mahdawī, 243. 245

(2) Al-Muḥaqqiq Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ardabīlī, known as al-Muqaddas al-Ardabīlī

(d. 993/1585),597 a scholarly giant of the Safavid period from Najaf who “developed his own

special and independent legal method which gave rise to a distinct and significant school.”598

He is reported to have experienced a number of visions of the Hidden Imam from whom he

received solutions to theological and legal problems (masāʾil ʿilmiyya). In one account, he was

followed in the middle of the night by one of his students to the Masjid al-Kūfa. The student saw and heard him pose questions to a stranger at the mosque’s miḥrāb. When the same student

later confronted him about what he had seen, al-Ardabīlī revealed, on condition that the student not mention what he shared with anyone while he was still alive, that the stranger was none other than the Hidden Imam.599

597 On al-Ardabīlī, see Madelung, “Ardabīlī,” EIr, 2:368-70; Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 311.

598 Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 51.

599 Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:694-6 (account no. 63), citing from al-ʿĀmilī al-Iṣfahānī’s Ḍiyāʾ al-ʿālamīn who is citing from al-Jazāʾirī’s (d. 1112/1700-1) (a student of al-Majlisī) al-Anwār al-nuʿmāniyya. [The earliest source for this account is al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 52:174-6 > Y. al-Baḥrānī, Kashkūl, 108- 9]. In the same pages, Nūrī provides a second version of the story from a different source that is very similar to the first version. The original account is also cited in Ardabīlī, Ḥadīqat al-Shīʿa2, dāl (from the publisher’s introduction); ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 497-9 (no. 9; Persian translation of Biḥār al- anwār); al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 2:42-3 (from Biḥār al-anwār); Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 72; ʿAlīpūr, Jilvah-hā-yi pinhānī-i imām-i ʿaṣr, 131-3 (from al-Anwār al-nuʿmāniyya); Kūrānī, Ḥawl ruʾyat al-mahdī al-muntaẓar, 51; al-Mūsawī, al-Liqāʾ al-mahdawī, 144; al-Jahramī, Riʿāyat al- 246

(3) Muḥammad Mahdī b. Murtaḍā al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī, known as Baḥr al-ʿUlūm (d.

1212/1797), when asked by Mīrzā Abū al-Qāsim al-Qummī (d. 1231/1816), author of the influential fiqh work, al-Qawānīn al-muḥkama fī al-uṣūl,600 about how he became so

knowledgeable, responded that he would tell him on condition that he did not divulge the secret

to anyone and proceeded to credit an encounter with the Imam who transferred “knowledge,

holiness, inspiration and learning” (al-ʿilm wa-l-qudsiyya wa-l-waḥy wa-l-faḍl) to his heart by embracing him inside the Masjid al-Kūfa.601

(4) Murtaḍā al-Anṣārī (d. 1281/1864), the first universally recognized source of

emulation (marjiʿ al-taqlīd) and the founder of a new school of Shīʿī law still dominant today,602

Imām al-Mahdī lil-marājiʿ wa-l-ʿulamāʾ al-aʿlām, 75-6; Faqīh, Karāmāt al-Imām al-Mahdī, 110 (citing Abṭaḥī’s al-Liqāʾ, 146 as his source); Amir-Moezzi, “Visions d’Imams,” 103.

600 On al-Mīrzā al-Qummī, al-Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 2:411-3.

601 Faqīh, Karāmāt al-Imām al-Mahdī, 109-10 (citing Abṭaḥī’s al-Liqāʾ, 146, as his source). As Amir- Moezzi, “Visions d’Imams,” 103, has noted about him, “l’immensité de sa science et ses nombreux pouvoirs miraculeux étaient, selon ces sources en grande partie dus à ses expériences de contacts suprasensibles avec les imams [especially, the Hidden Imam].” On other accounts of Baḥr al-ʿUlūm’s encounters with the Imam, see Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:727 (no. 74); al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 51-2 (no. 10) > al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 2:23-4 (no. 12); al-Jahramī, Riʿāyat al-Imām al-Mahdī lil- marājiʿ wa-l-ʿulamāʾ al-aʿlām, 90; ʿAlī, Baḥr al-ʿUlūm, 82-6; al-Mūsawī, al-Arbaʿūn fī al-Mahdī wa- qiṣṣat al-jazīra al-khaḍrāʾ, 28, 29, 63-4, 126, 185-6, 27; Faqīh, Karāmāt al-Imām al-Mahdī, 81-2.

602 On him, see Murata, “Anṣārī, Shaikh Mortażā b. Moḥammad Amīn,” in EIr, 2:102–103; Modarressi, An Introduction to Shīʻī Law, 57; Momen, An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam, 311. On the function of the source of emulation, the supreme Shīʿī jurist, see Calmard, “Mardjaʿ-i Taḳlīd,” EI²; Kazemi-Moussavi, 247

who according to an account transmitted by a student, would leave his home in Najaf in the

middle of the night, and meet the Imam at his home (the location of which only he knew).

When confronted by his student one night who was following him, al-Anṣārī revealed that

whenever he is faced with a theological or legal question that he cannot resolve, he visits the

home of the Hidden Imam and poses his question to him. Like al-Ardabīlī, al-Anṣārī makes the students swear an oath to keep what he has told him a secret so long as al-Anṣārī is alive.603

4.4. Conclusion

It is difficult to read such accounts without recalling that such direct recourse to the

Hidden Imam (including knowing his location) is precisely what is attributed to the sufarāʾ and

wukalāʾ during the Lesser Occultation – and had not been witnessed since their time. As we

have seen, in the earliest Greater Occultation accounts, the Imam was portrayed predominantly

as a consoler, healer, helper-in-peril and miracle worker. The first of these accounts, the story

of the youth and the Black Stone, is said to have occurred some ten years after the death of the

“The Establishment of the Position of Marja‘iyyat-i Taqlid in the Twelver-Shi‘i Community;” Kazemi- Moussavi, “The Institutionalization of Marja‘-i Taqlīd in the Nineteenth Century Shī‘ite Community.”

603 ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 511-2 (no. 17), himself a student of al-Anṣārī, who says he heard the account from another student, Mīrzā Ḥasan Āshtiyānī. See also Anṣārī-Ahwāz, Zindigānī va shakhṣiyyat-i Shaykh Anṣārī, 106-7; Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 177-8; ʿAlīpūr, Jilvah-hā- yi pinhānī-i imām-i ʿaṣr, 134-5; al-Mūsawī, al-Arbaʿūn fī al-Mahdī wa-qiṣṣat al-jazīra al-khaḍrāʾ, 30-1 (from Ḥasan Abṭaḥī’s al-Kamālāt al-rūḥiyya); Faqīh, Liqāʾāt al-ʿulamāʾ bi-l-imām al-ḥujja, 145-6. 248

last safīr and the start of the Greater Occultation in what we argue is an attempt to portray the

Greater Occultation as a natural and uncomplicated extension of the Lesser Occultation. Not

enough is known about Shīʿī Islam in the late Abbasid period to draw conclusions as to why

this is when such accounts begin to appear, especially in the works of Ibn Ṭāwūs. The fall of

Abbasid caliphate must certainly have provided the requisite space to foreground the Hidden

Imam and emphasize his authority and temporal presence. It is also clear from the various

messianic movements that appeared after the fall of Baghdad that the Mongol invasion deeply

heightened messianic susceptibilities. In this light, it is possible to read Ibn Ṭāwūs’s attempts to

accentuate encounters with the Imam as a way of preparing his readers for what he perceived to

be the Imam’s imminent return. In any case, as we have shown, it is only beginning in the

Safavid period that the accounts become more embellished and the Imam is in effect

transformed from being primarily a miracle worker to a teacher, scholar and recourse for the

ulama strengthening their influence as the Imam’s “general representatives.”

4.5. Addendum

Let us recall that the Safavid scholar, al-Majlisī interpreted the “lying impostors”

sentence of the final tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam is applying only those who both claim to have see the Imam and claim to be his exclusive representative (like the four sufarāʾ from the Lesser 249

Occultation). Al-Majlisī’s interpretation of this sentence has served as the established position

on the issue as evidenced by the fact that it is cited by numerous scholars after him. To

illustrate this point, we will mention here ten prominent scholars who have embraced and/or

enhanced his intepretation of the final tawqīʿ in their writings about the Hidden Imam:

(1) The scholar and Qur’an commentator ʿAbd Allāh al-Shubbar (d. 1242/1826-7), who cited al-Majlisī’s explanation almost verbatim to validate stories from the Greater Occultation of “large numbers of pious and trustworthy scholars of the past and present” who have met the

Hidden Imam.604

(2/3) Maḥmūd ʿIrāqī-Maythamī (d. 1306/1888-9, 1308/1890-1 or 1310/1892-3) and Nūrī

(d. 1320/1902), both of whom quote al-Majlisī’s explanation verbatim in chapters of their collections devoted to reconciling the final tawqīʿ and hadiths stating that the Hidden Imam cannot be seen with stories in their collections of those who have encountered him during the

Greater Occultation.605

604 Al-Shubbar, al-Anwār lil-ʿAllāma fī sharḥ ziyārat [sic] al-jāmiʿa, 36. Al-Shubbar, however, does not refer to any of the Greater Occultation encounter stories in the chapter on the twelfth Imam in his extensive exposition of core Shīʿī doctrines and beliefs, see Shubbar, Ḥaqq al-yaqīn fī maʿrifat uṣūl al- dīn, 283-91. On the author, see the introduction to his Qur’an commentary, al-Shubbar, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm, 56-7.

605 ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 193; Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2:852; al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 146. See below, Appendix, for descriptions of these works. 250

(4) The celebrated Lebanese scholar and Shīʿī biographer Muḥsin al-Amīn (d.

1377/1957-8), who while conceding that “there are hadiths that establish the impossibility of

seeing [the Imam] (dālla ʿalā ʿadam imkān al-ruʾya) during the Greater Occultation,” argued that the way to reconcile these hadiths with the accounts describing encounters with the Imam is to declare as unbelievers anyone who claims to have both seen the Imam and “to deliver

information on his behalf as the [four] representatives did [during the Lesser Occultation]”

(wa-īṣāl al-akhbār min jānibihi ʿalā mithāl al-sufarāʾ).606

(5) Mujtabā Qazvīnī-Khurāsānī (d. 1386/1967), who maintained that the final tawqīʿ

sought not only to prevent harmful innovations and heretical teachings (bidʿat-hā) from being introduced into Shīʿī Islam but also to comminate and anathematize anyone who claims to be the Imam’s special representative during the Greater Occultation “like the Ṣūfī poles, the

Shaykhī fourth pillars (rukn-i rābiʿ-i shaykhiyyah), as well as those who claim to be the Mahdī

(himself).” He then decried the fact that “this blessed narration” issued by “the source of

inspiration and the dawning-place of revelation (maʿdin-i vaḥy va maṭlaʿ-i tanzīl)” has not been

606 Al-Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 2:71, also cited in Kūrānī, Ḥawl ruʾyat al-mahdī al-muntaẓār, 57-8. On al- Amīn’s monumental dictionary of prominent Shīʿī figures and scholars, see Ende, “Aʿyān al-Šīʿa,” EIr, 3:130-1. 251

studied, reflected on and accepted by all of the Shīʿa for if it had, such claimants who divided the Shīʿī community and caused great suffering to the Shīʿa would never have appeared.607

(6) ʿAlī Davānī (d. 1427/2007), who asserted that the tawqīʿ anathematizes anyone who

claims to be the Imam’s representative or the Imam himself, giving the example of Sayyid ʿAlī

Muḥammad Shīrāzī, the Bāb; otherwise, it is entirely possible for pious and righteous Shīʿa and the devoted friends (dūstān-i khāliṣ) of the Imam to see him during the Greater Occultation but

choose to not tell anyone.608 Davānī then argued that eminent scholars like al-Murtaḍā, al-Ṭūsī

and Baḥr al-ʿUlūm al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī have all affirmed that “the Shīʿī ulama do not believe that the

Imam of the Age cannot appear to his righteous friends (dūstān-i pāksirisht). On the contrary, it

is certainly possible for them to see the Imam and either recognize or not recognize him. All of

our great scholars like al-Kulaynī and al-Ṣadūq have narrated stories of such encounters in their

works.”609

607 Qazvīnī-Khurāsānī, Bayān al-furqān, 902, also cited in Majlisī, Mahdīʿi mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 928 (no. 1). On the Shaykhī doctrine of the Fourth Pillar, see Amir-Moezzi, “An Absence filled with Presences,” 40-52.

608 Davānī’s explanation is added to his translation of al-Majlisī’s explanation. See Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 929 (note 1), 943 (note 1).

609 Majlisī, Mahdī-i mawʿūd (trans. Davānī), 943 (note 1). 252

(7) The prolific Iraqi scholar Bāqir Sharīf al-Qurashī (d. 1433/2012), who argued that

there are many ways to reconcile the tension between the final tawqīʿ and the well-attested

(tawātur) stories transmitted by “many people from among the greatest and most righteous Shīʿī

ulama” who have definitely (min al-maqṭūʿ) seen the Imam. However, he mentions only one, which he considered the best (ajwad) explanation (al-tawjīh): anyone who claims to have seen

the Imam and likewise claims to be the Imam’s representative (safīr/nāʾib) is a lying

impostor.610 Elsewhere, al-Qurashī avers that during the Greater Occultation, “the great jurists

(al-fuqahāʾ al-ʿiẓām) became the sources of emulation (marjiʿiyya) and adopted [the position of]

the most great representation (al-niyāba al-ʿuẓmā) from the eagerly awaited Imam. During (the

Greater Occultation), the Imam has had numerous encounters and corresponded often with

prominent ulama” (kānat lil-imām ʿiddat iltiqāʾāt wa-murāsalāt maʿa ʿuyūn al-ʿulamāʾ).611 Only

one such scholar is named by him: al-Mufīd, who as we mentioned in chapter 3, is alleged to

have received two short letters from the Hidden Imam.

(8) Contemporary scholar Ḥabīb Ṭāhirī, who concedes that “some” reject the stories of encounters with the Imam based on hadiths (rivāyāt) that state that whoever claims to have seen

610 Al-Qurashī, Ḥayāt al-imām al-mahdī, 130-1, 134.

611 Al-Qurashī, Ḥayāt al-imām al-mahdī, 133-4. 253

the Imam or encountered him should be declared a liar. Who are they? He does not say

explicitly but does mention that we are living at a time when “the enemies of the Imam claim

that [these stories] are lies.”612 Ṭāhirī responds to these naysayers by first arguing that it is not hadiths plural, but rather one hadith, that declares all those who claim to have seen the Imam to be frauds: the last tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam. He then argues that the key word in the final

tawqīʿ is “impostor” (muftir) which suggests that the tawqīʿ does not intend to condemn

everyone who has encountered the Imam as liars but rather only those who have both seen him

and claim to be his exclusive representative.613 Responding to the question of why the Imam

did not appoint specific ulama as his special representatives during the Greater Occultation as

he did during the Lesser Occultation with the sufarāʾ, Ṭāhirī reasons that it is because “the enemies of the Imam” would attempt to apprehend and torture such representatives in order to

612 Ṭāhirī, Sīmā-yi āftāb: Sayrī dar zindigī-i ḥaḍrat-i mahdī, 308. Ṭāhirī is currently the chair of the Department of Islamic Propagation at the Islamic Development Organization, an institution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. See: http://www.ido.ir/n.aspx?n=13910424353 (accessed 19 July 2012). The “enemies of the Imam” is code among Shīʿī clerics in Iran for Israel, the United States, and their “agents.”

613 Ṭāhirī, Sīmā-yi āftāb: Sayrī dar zindigī-i ḥaḍrat-i mahdī, 309. 254

force them to show them the Imam’s location (so that they might kill him); and if they refused,

the enemies would incarcerate them for life. 614

(9) Contemporary Najaf based scholar ʿAlī al-Sabzavārī, son and student of Grand

Ayatollah ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Sabzavārī (d. 1414/1993), who argues that the final tawqīʿ

“established the position of general representation (al-niyāba al-ʿāmma) for the fuqahāʾ and the mujtahids.”615 Al-Sabzavārī goes on to say that the ulama who have been favored with meeting

the Hidden Imam have attained a level of spiritual maturity (al-kamāl), truthfulness (al-ṣidq), and loyalty (al-wafāʾ) that others can attest to, citing the examples of al-Muqaddas al-Ardabīlī and Baḥr al-ʿUlūm al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī.616 He maintains that the ulama who saw the Imam were ordered to keep their encounters with him a secret (maʾmūr bi-l-kitmān) so long as they lived.

It was their students and close associates who revealed that they had met the Imam after they died.617

(10) Contemporary Grand Ayatollah Luṭf Allāh Gulpāyigānī, who after repeating al-

Majlisī’s interpretation of the tawqīʿ, adduces the many “famous, well-authenticated stories” of

614 Ṭāhirī, Sīmā-yi āftāb: Sayrī dar zindigī-i ḥaḍrat-i mahdī, 219.

615 Al-Sabzavārī, ʿUmr al-Imām al-Mahdī, 68.

616 Al-Sabzavārī, ʿUmr al-Imām al-Mahdī, 65-6.

617 Al-Sabzavārī, ʿUmr al-Imām al-Mahdī, 65. 255

ulama who have met the Imam as proof that the tawqīʿ did not intend to reject the possibility of

seeing the Imam during the Greater Occultation.618 He goes so far as to aver that “an intelligent

person would never entertain any doubt about the soundness” of these stories. Gulpāyigānī speculates that perhaps the intent of the tawqīʿ is to reject anyone who claims that he has the

ability to see the Imam at will, i.e., to meet the Imam whenever he wishes. Another possibility

he considers is that the tawqīʿ intends to say that those who see the Imam must not divulge the

secret of their encounter. However, Gulpāyigānī leave open the possibility that certain

individuals are capable of seeing the Imam at will but even these people should never express

publicly that they have this power; otherwise, according to his reading of the tawqīʿ, they must

be denounced as liars.619 Elsewhere, Gulpāyigānī asserts that alongside hadiths ascribed to the

previous Imams foretelling the ghayba of the Qāʾim, the stories of encounters with the Hidden

Imam constitute the greatest proof of his existence.620

618 Gulpāyigānī, Imāmat va mahdaviyyat, 2:475; Gulpāyigānī, Pāsukh-i dah pursish, 64-5.

619 Gulpāyigānī, Imāmat va mahdaviyyat, 2:475; Gulpāyigānī, Pāsukh-i dah pursish, 65.

620 Gulpāyigānī, Imāmat va mahdaviyyat, 2:45-6. Other scholars in recent years who have repeated al- Majlisī’s explanation, though not always given him credit, include: al-Shīrāzī, Kalimat al-Imām al- Mahdī, 203 (note 2); al-Mūsawī, al-Arbaʿūn fī al-Mahdī, 13; al-ʿAṭṭār, “Muqaddimat al-muḥaqqiq,” 22; al-Shāhrūdī, al-Imām al-Mahdī wa-ẓuhūruh, 176 (note 1); Āl ʿUṣfūr, Ẓāhirat al-ghayba wa-daʿwā al- sifāra fī ẓill imāmat al-mahdī al-muntaẓar, 20 (of the appendix); Khādimī-Shīrāzī, Tuḥfah-yi imām mahdī, 138-40; Ayatollah Khalīl Kamarahʾī (d. 1363AS/1984), Davāzdahumīn imām va falsafah-yi ghabat-i Mahdī, sīn-ḥāʾ, who states that the final tawqīʿ of the Imam ended the function of exclusive 256

General Conclusion

In late 2003, Ayatollah ʿAlī Mishkīnī (d. 2007) met the Hidden Imam. In the course of the

weekly sermon in Qum on 11 June 2004, Mishkīnī, the first chairman of the Islamic Republic

of Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts and one of the most influential ulama in the country’s

clerical oligarchy, described how seven months earlier, he saw the Hidden Imam as angels

presented him with a list of the names and addresses of each member of the new parliament.

The Imam proceeded to sign the list, sealing it with his stamp of approval.621 Ayatollah

Mishkīnī’s statement came on the heels of a parliamentary election pocked with controversy. In

the run-up to the election, most reformist candidates had been disqualified by a peremptory ban

representation (niyābat-i khāṣṣah). Thereafter, whoever claims to be the special representative of the Imam or based on that claim (yā bar ṭibq-i ān), alleges to have seen the Imam is a liar and an impostor; and Ayatollah Muḥsin Arakī (b. 1956), who “No one has the power to see Imam Mahdi in latter’s Ghaybet [i.e., the Greater Occultation]. Ghaybet itself means being inaccessible/invisible to the people at large. However it is the privilege of the Imam that when and where he deems necessary he meets his representative(s) to clarify/explain any ideological or jurisprudential issue, which is beyond the perception of an ordinary human being. Therefore it is not acceptable if one claims of seeing the Imam, but the possibility cannot be ruled out about someone’s contact with the Imam. There are people who have the blessing of having an audience with the imam, which is usually mentioned in the authentic Shia books on ideology.” Araki, Ideological & Jurisprudential Frontiers of Islam (Part I) (trans. Shīrāzī), 28-9. Arākī is a prominent Iraqi-born Shīʿī scholar, prolific and influential writer, and politician. He is a former member of the Assembly of Experts in Iran, previously served as Ayatollah Khamenei’s personal representative in London, and currently serves as the Secretary-General of the International Organization for Islamic Rapprochement. 257

issued by twelve jurists that compose Iran’s supreme legislative body, the Guardian Council.

The implication of Mishkīnī’s claim was not lost on many: having encountered the Hidden

Imam, he had been privy to the Imam’s will: only allies of the clerical conservatives could

serve in parliament. To those in tune with the beat of Iran’s hierocracy, Ayatollah Mishkīnī’s

claim of a tête-à-tête with the Imam came as no surprise. What may have been surprising is the

fact he chose to disclose it publicly. In a recent ethnographic study based on extensive field

research, Swedish anthropologist David Thurfjell has observed that while Iran’s supreme

leader, Ayatollah ʿAlī Khāminiʾī, has never publicly made such a claim, many Shīʿa firmly

believe that “he has direct contact with the hidden Imam. Stories verifying such notions are not

uncommon in the community…One such story relates an incident when Khāmene’i was

overheard talking to a mysterious stranger who was supposedly [the] Imam Mahdi himself.”622

621 See Barzugar, “Namāyandigān-i majlis: muntakhabān-i mardum yā manṣūbīn-i imām-i zamān?” (Members of Parliament: Elected by the People or Appointed by the Imam of the Age?).

622 Thurfjell, Living Shi’ism: Instances of Ritualisation among Islamist Men in Contemporary Iran, 163. Not surprising, there are also numerous reports in circulation of Ayatollah Khomeini (d. 1989) having met the Hidden Imam and several ulama close to him have said publicly that Khomeini’s decisions and actions were inspired by the Hidden Imam, see Kūrānī, al-Karamāt al-ghaybiyya lil-imām al-Khumaynī, 82. Such stories are surprisingly seldom cited in scholarship about Khomeini and the source of his charisma. For example, in 1973-4, while he was in prison, Ayatollah Ḥāʾirī-Shīrāzī claimed to have dreamt of Khomeini delivering a sermon. A man entered while he was speaking and Khomeini cried out that the man was the Hidden Imam and asked him for assistance. The next day, Ḥāʾirī-Shīrāzī began to receive better treatment from the prison guards and later learned that the night of his dream, Khomeini 258

To offer a more recent example, in June 2009, prominent cleric Ayatollah Abū al-Qāsim

Khazʿalī, a former member of the same powerful Guardian Council, told his son, Mahdī

Khazʿalī, that he received a letter from “the Sacred Precinct” of the Hidden Imam

commissioning him to defend Maḥmūd Aḥmadīnizhād in the controversial 2009 presidential

election.623

***

The intellectual history of Twelver Shīʿī Islam during the ghayba of the final Imam is a history of attempts to deal with the abrupt loss of the divine guide. It is a history of both attempts to

rationalize why he does not reappear and paradoxically, of attempts to exploit his absence and

the requisite intellectual space it has created for the ulama to ensure the tradition’s survival. Let

us recall that unlike the Imams who preceded him – and distinct from some of the central

figures of other religious traditions who appear in dreams to their followers – the Twelfth

had prayed to the Hidden Imam for his protection, idem, 73-4. Another cleric, a certain Shaykh Māzandariyān who did not trust Khomeini and refused to attend his classes in Qum dreamt of the Hidden Imam whispering things to Khomeini and remarked that they were the same height. He awoke with a realization of the station of Khomeini in the eyes of the Hidden Imam, idem, 75-8. Yet another reports speaks of Khomeini disappearing and reappearing again like the Hidden Imam, idem, 55. The recordings of Khomeini’s talks that were smuggled into Iran during his exile by his “representatives” and circulated among people can likewise be compared to the tawqīʿāt of the Hidden Imam from the Lesser Occultation. 259

Imam is believed by his partisans to be alive in every sense of the word: he is substantively, spiritually and physically present in the world; present and yet concealed. A person reading the above anecdotes from recent Iranian history might assume that the Shīʿa have always maintained that their Imam has been in direct contact with certain of his leading votaries, in particular from among the ulama, throughout the ghayba. This dissertation has hopefully made a small contribution to rethinking this and other suppositions, exploring the invention of a tradition,624 and contributing to a better understanding of the role of the Hidden Imam in the history of Islamic thought. Let us conclude by reviewing the major findings of this work:

In the foregoing pages, we have attempted to elucidate the development of the question of encountering the Imam in the Greater Occultation, focusing primarily, though not solely, on the first three and a half centuries of this period. By way of background, we began our study by examining the works of hadith and tafsīr that have survived from the period that came to be known as the Lesser Occultation (or shortly thereafter), exploring their implications for the doctrine of ghayba and the question of contacting the Hidden Imam. Here, we isolated,

623 See Mahdī Khazʿalī’s personal website: http://www.drkhazali.com/articles-and-mails/572-1388-03- 28-18-48-48.html# (Accessed 18 June 2009).

624 I am alluding here to Hobsbawm’s influential thesis that many of what communities call ancient ‘traditions’ are more often than not quite recent in origin. See Hobsbawm, “Introduction: Inventing Traditions.” 260

contextualized and analyzed the hadiths that concern this issue. It was shown that the

overwhelming majority of the hadiths affirm that not even his closest followers can see the

Imam during his ghayba, while a small number suggest that he can be seen but never

recognized.

In the next chapter, we focused exclusively on three hadiths adduced by Shīʿī scholars as traditional proofs to lend credence to their position that some believers can in fact see and recognize the Imam during the Greater Occultation, thus justifying scripturally the stories of those who have met him. Our most important finding was that all three hadiths appear to have emanated from the Wāqifī followers of Mūsā al-Kāẓim and were later absorbed into Twlever

sources and brought into line with fledgling dogmas about the ghayba of the twelfth Imam. Our

investigation focused on the semantic multivalency of the word mawlā in two of these hadiths.

We suggested that although a number of interpretations are plausible, evidence is stacked in favor of either client or servant as the primary (though not only) connotation of the word in

these hadiths, with the latter being the preferred gloss of most Shīʿī scholars.

In the following chapter, we demonstrated the shift in position between naql-oriented

scholars who argued that the door to the Hidden Imam was closed practically in perpetuum and

the ʿaql-oriented scholars that followed who moved the issue of contacting and seeing the Imam 261

from the realm of the non possumus to the realm of the theoretically possible. The most

important text that reflects the position of the former is the final tawqīʿ of the Hidden Imam

declaring anyone who claims to see him before the end of time “a lying impostor.” The

significance of the Imam’s last putative letter can scarcely be overemphasized but surprisingly

it has not received the attention it deserves from scholars. We argued that the decision to

disallow any possibility of seeing the Imam in a wakeful state was a reflection of existing

historical and political exigencies, arguing that it is difficult if not impossible to discern in the

writings of the Twelver Shīʿī scholars from this period an implicit if not at times explicit

dialogue with the rival Ismāʿīlī Shīʿa who posed the greatest political and military challenge to

the Buyid confederacy. The decision to sunder all contact with the Imam during and introduce

the notion of a second ghayba was made as Twelver Shīʿī scholars framed the nascent Twelver

Shīʿī community as a non-Ismāʿīlī and politically non-threatening alternative to Shīʿī Islam.

The door that the final tawqīʿ sought to close was partially opened by the rationalist-

leaning scholars who followed. Through interrogating the nuances of their philosophical and

theological speculations vis-à-vis the ghayba, we explored how the act of permitting the

possibility of encounters with the Imam on the part of the rationalist scholars may have served both a discursive and an apologetic function. Our findings, moreover, challenged the work of 262

earlier researchers who have tended to assume that stories of encounters with the Imam in a

wakeful state were transmitted even in the first century of the Greater Occultation. It was

shown that none of the scholars from this period, even those who permitted the possiblity of

some to see the Imam, transmit any accounts of anyone who has in fact seen him in person

while awake.

In the final chapter, we presented the earliest accounts of encounters with the Imam

from the Greater Occultation, foreshadowed as they were by rationalist scholars of the previous

chapter. Though they appear some two centuries after the start of the Greater Occultation, these accounts are said to have occurred in the first decades of the Greater Occultation in what may be construed as an attempt to portray the Greater Occultation as a natural and uncomplicated extension of the Lesser Occultation. We discovered that the accounts were quite rare at this stage. It was only later during the Safavid and Qajar periods that the number of accounts rose exponentially, the stories became more embellished and the Imam was in effect transformed from being primarily a miracle worker to a doctrinal and legal teacher of the ulama, buttressing their newly defined station as his “general representatives.”

It is hoped that through the analysis offered in this dissertation, we have taken a modest

but important step towards understanding the Sitz im Leben of some of the accounts, the 263

significance of the question of encountering the Imam and what it teaches us about the nature and dynamic of authority in Shīʿī Islam in light of its doctrinal modalities.

264

Appendix: Compilations of Encounter Stories

What follows is an annotated bibliography of the compilations of accounts of encounters with the Hidden Imam and other key works that emphasize such stories mentioned by Āqā Buzurg al-Ṭihrānī (d. 1389/1970) in his comprehensive bibliography of Shīʿī works, al-Dharīʿa ilā taṣānīf al-shīʿa625:

al-ʿAbqarī al-ḥisān fī aḥwāl (var., tawārīkh) ṣāḥib al-zamān [The peerless chief of the doers of good concerning the circumstances (var., chronicles) of the lord of the [final] age] (Persian) by

ʿAlī-Akbar al-Nahāwandī (b. 1280/1863-4, d. 19 Rabīʿ al-Thānī 1369/1950),626 a student of Nūrī

(d. 1320/1902).627 Only the first section of the second volume of this five volume work, called

al-Yāqūt al-aḥmar fīman raʾā al-ḥujja al-muntaẓar, [The red ruby concerning those who have

625 On al-Ṭihrānī, see Algar, “Āqā (or Āḡā) Bozorg Tehrānī,” EIr, 2:169–70. On his al-Dharīʿa, see Kohlberg, al-Ḏarīʿa elā Taṣānīf al-Šīʿa, EIr, 7:35-6.

626 On this work, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 15:215-6 (no. 1419). The only western scholar I am aware who has mentioned this work is Corbin, Histoire de la philosophie islamique, 108 [= Corbin, History of Islamic Philosophy, 69], where he calls it “al-Kitâb al-’abqarî [sic]” and Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4:303-4 (note 2), where he calls it, “al-Kitâb al-ʿabqarî al-hossan [sic] fi ithbât Mawlânâ Sâhib al- zamân.”

627 Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr: Ḥikāyāt-i ʿabqarī al-ḥisān fī aḥwāl mawlānā ṣāḥib al-zamān, 16 (from the editor’s introduction). On Nahāvandī, see Miṣbāḥ, “Ḥājj Shaykh ʿAlī-Akbar Nahāvandī: Āyat-i balāghat.” 265

seen the eagerly awaited Proof (of God)] dealing with contact with the Hidden Imam has been published. In the recent edition, the book is composed of seven chapters: 1) Encounters with

the Hidden Imam, in a wakeful state, during which the person has seen and simultaneously

recognized the Imam (80 accounts); 2) Encounters with the Hidden Imam, in a wakeful state,

during which the person sees the Imam but only later realizes this fact (109 accounts); 3)

Mushāhadāt va mukāshafāt [sightnings and unveilings] concerning people who saw the Imam

in a state between wakefulness and sleep (16 accounts; 4) Veridical dreams (29 accounts); 5)

Vestiges of the Hidden Imam concerning accounts of those who saw the light of the Imam,

heard his voice, or inhaled his fragrance. This chapter also includes the tawqīʿāt of the Imam

and accounts of miracles performed by him (52 accounts); 6) Accounts of those who prayed to

the Hidden Imam to intercede for them (tavassulāt) and whose prayers were answered (19

accounts); 7) Accounts of those who met the servants, the four representatives (sufarāʾ) or

deputies (wukalāʾ) of the Imam (47 accounts – all from the Lesser Occultation).

The book’s editor, Sayyid Javād Muʿallim, maintains that there are so many stories of

people who have seen the Imam that the matter is no longer in need of being proven.628 He stresses that anyone can see the Imam irrespective of his learning or piety, despite the fact that

628 Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 13 (from the intro. by Muʿallim). 266

most of the stories deal with scholars and students of knowledge.629 According to Muʿallim, the

accounts serve to prove that the Imam “truly is among us” (ān ḥaḍrat vāqiʿan dar bayn-i mā hastand).630 Stories of prominent ulama encountering the Imam are included throughout the

work though a source is never cited for any of the accounts.631 A report is also related of the author’s scribe, a certain Muḥammad-ʿAlī Ḥāʾirī, seeing the Hidden Imam.632

Badāʾiʿ al-kalām fīman fāza bi-liqāʾ al-imām ʿalayh al-salām [Wondrous words concerning

those who attained the presence of the Imam] (Arabic?) by Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. al-

Ḥusayn b. Murtaḍā al-Yazdī al-Ḥāʾirī al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī (d. ca. 1313/1895-6).633 According to al-

Ṭihrānī, the author mentioned this book in a list of his works published at the end of his

629 Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 14 (from the intro. by Muʿallim).

630 Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 18 (from the intro. by Muʿallim).

631 E.g., Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (pp. 366-9); Muqaddas al-Ardabīlī (72); ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī (176-7, 179-80); al-Shahīd al-Thānī (179); al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī (360); Murtaḍā al-Anṣārī (177-8); Āqā Najafī Iṣfahānī (178- 9); ʿAlī al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī (192-3).

632 Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 359.

633 Al-Qazwīnī, al-Imām al-mahdī min al-mahd ilā al-ẓuhūr, 254, lists the title of the book as Badāʾiʿ al- kalām fīman ijtamaʿ bi-l-imām. Al-Qazwīnī’s introduction is plagiarized by al-Ibrāhīmī, Iʿraf imām zamānika 83-4. 267

Akhbār al-awāʾil, published in 1312/1894-5.634 According to al-Amīnī, a section of this work

was published in Bombay in 1308/1890-1 and featured an exordium (taqrīẓ) by Nūrī.635

Bahjat al-awliyāʾ fīman fāza bi-liqāʾ al-ḥujja [The delight of the friends of God concerning

those who attained the presence of the Proof (of God)] (Persian) by Muḥammad Taqī b. Mīrzā

Kāẓim b. Mīrzā ʿAzīz Allāh b. al-Mawlā Muḥammad Taqī al-Majlisī al-Iṣfahānī, known as al-

Almāsī (b. 1089/1678-9, d. 1159/1746-7), a maternal grandson of Muḥammad Bāqir al-

Majlisī.636 According to al-Ṭihrānī, this work was mentioned in the work of one of al-Almāsī’s students. It has never been published and no manuscripts are known to exist.637

634 Al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 3:65 (no. 190).

635 Al-Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 9:254

636 Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 415.

637 Al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 3:160 (no. 567). Al-Qazwīnī, al-Imām al-mahdī min al-mahd ilā al-ẓuhūr, 254, lists the title of the book as al-Bahja fīman fāza bi-liqāʾ al-ḥujja. An account from this work about a unnamed believer from Baghdād (alive in 1136/1723-4) stranded on an island who sees a giant snake killed by a rabbit, encounters a group of people and realizes after being transported back to his home that one of them was the Hidden Imam is recorded by the prominent compiler of encounter stories, Mīrzā Ḥusayn Nūrī (d. 1320/1902) via Nūr al-ʿuyūn, a work written by one of al-Almāsī’s students, suggesting that Nūrī himself did not have access to the book, al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 108-10 (no. 45) [Persian translation: Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 415-7 (no. 38)]; al-Ḥāʾirī al-Yazdī, Ilzām al-nāṣib, 2:41-2 (no. 26), who gives the title of the book as Bahjat al-awliyāʾ fī dhikr man raʾāhu fī al-ghayba al-kubrā. 268

Bughyat al-ṭālib fīman raʾā al-imām al-ghāʾib ʿalayh al-salām [The object of the seeker’s desire

concerning those who have seen the Hidden Imam] (Persian) by Muḥammad Bāqir al-Birjandī

al-Qāʾinī (b. 1276/1859-60, d. 1352/1933-4). This work was printed in Mashhad in 1342/1923-

4.638 According to Mahdīpūr, this initial printing was 185 pages and a copy of the work in the

handwriting of the author is available in the library of Ayatollah Marʿashī-Najafī (in Qum).

Another manuscript exists presumably in the same library under the title Tadhkirat al-ṭālib. The

author was a student of Mīrzā-yi Shīrāzī and Nūrī among others.639 According to al-Ṭihrānī,

this work mentions or makes uses of an anti-Bābī polemic call al-Radd ʿalā al-bābiyya (about

which nothing more is known) by Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Khūsufī al-Qāʾinī, another student of Mīrzā-yi Shīrāzī.640

Dār al-salām fī man fāza bi-salām al-Imām [The abode of peace concerning those who attained

the peace of the Imam] (Persian) by Maḥmūd b. Jaʿfar al-Maythamī al-ʿIrāqī (known as ʿIrāqī-

638 Al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 3:133 (no. 449).

639 Mahdīpūr, Kitāb-nāmah-yi ḥaḍrat-i mahdī, 1:175 (no. 398).

640 Al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 10:189 (no. 453). 269

Maythamī) (b. 1240/1825 in Tehran; d. 1306/1888-9, 1308/1890-1 or 1310/1892-3 in Najaf).641

The author is often referred to in Shīʿī biographical sources as “Ṣāḥib-i Dār al-Salām” (the

Author of Dār al-salām).642 Completed by ʿIrāqī-Maythamī in 1301/1884, Dār al-salām was published two years later in lithograph form in Tehran by the official state printing house with the blessing of Nāṣir al-Dīn Shah and the imperial court and a generous initial printing of 1,000 copies. It was first typeset in Tehran in 1333AS/1954. Recently, an abridged form of the book has been published under the title Ruʾyā-yi nūr [Visions of the Light]643 and the monograph

itself has been repeatedly published, most recently in 2008 by the prolific press of the Jamkarān

Mosque outside Qum.644 In recent printings, the title of the book appears as Dār al-salām dar

aḥvālāt-i ḥaḍrat-i mahdī va ʿalāʾim-i ẓuhūr va kisānī kih dar khwāb yā bīdārī bih maḥḍar-i ān

ḥaḍrat-i mubārak sharafyāb shudih-and [The abode of peace concerning the Mahdī, the portents of his advent, and [the accounts of] those who were honored to attain his presence in dreams or

641 On this work, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 8:20-1 (no. 18); Mahdavī, Zindigīnāmah-yi ʿAllāmah Majlisī, 2:284. An 1886 lithograph copy of the book is available at Princeton University (call number: 2465.4985.328q) under the title Dār al-salām al-mushtamil ʿalā dhikr man fāza bi-salām (344 fols.).

642 On the author, see al-Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, 10:103; Ghaemmaghami, “The Abode of Peace: Maḥmūd b. Jaʿfar Maythamī (d. 1310/1893) and the Phenomenon of Encounters with the Hidden Imam.”

643 ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Ruʾyā-yi nūr: Shāmil-i dāstānhā-yī jālib va shinīdanī az kitāb-i dār al-salām.

644 ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām1. 270

while awake]. Many of the stories recounted in Dār al-salām are reproduced in virtually all

subsequent books that take up the theme of encounters with the Imam.

Dār al-salām is composed of 6 parts. The first three are short and devoted to restating

popular apologetic themes in ghayba works such as rationalizing the need for an infallible

guide in every age. Parts 5 and 6 are the largest sections of the book, entitled: “The possibility

of seeing the Imam during the ghayba.” In the beginning of this section, ʿIrāqī-Maythamī provides a Persian translation of two accounts: the story of the Green Island in the White Sea and the story of five islands ruled by sons of the Hidden Imam.645 He divides the remaining

accounts between those who saw the Imam while awake and those who saw him in dreams and

visions.646 In the category of those who saw the Imam while awake, he introduces a further

taxonomy of those who recognized the Imam while seeing him and those who recognized him

after having seen him. The accounts in this section are mainly of eminent ulama from the

Safavid and Qajar periods such as al-Ardabīlī and Baḥr al-ʿUlūm Ṭabāṭabāʾī. In addition, ʿIrāqī-

Maythamī is the first person to provide a now famous account of his teacher, Murtaḍā al-

Anṣārī, having encountered the Hidden Imam in Najaf (see chapter 4 of this dissertation). This

645 ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 448-62, 464-72.

646 ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, Dār al-salām, 474-85. 271

account has been repeated in virtually all subsequent biographical works on al-Anṣārī and strengthened his reputation as a pious jurist who enjoyed near access to the Hidden Imam.

Perhaps most significant of all, ʿIrāqī-Maythamī provides two accounts of himself having encountered the Imam. In one report, he looks back at a time when he was deeply disturbed by a number of ulama who had strayed from the path of the Imams (munḥarif shudand) and died

clinging to corrupt beliefs (ʿaqāʾid-i fāsidah) – a reference to ulama, branded as heretics by

ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, who became inclined to the Shaykhī school and the Bābī religion, including at

least one of ʿIrāqī-Maythamī’s colleagues from his time as a student of al-Anṣārī.647 Troubled by this trend, he claimed to have experienced a vision of the Hidden Imam one night in a mosque in Najaf. As the Imam was leaving the mosque, ʿIrāqī-Maythamī threw himself at his feet weeping. He begged to know: “What will happen to me?” The Imam gently helped him to his feet and responded in Persian: “I won’t leave without you (bī-tū nimīravam).” ʿIrāqī-

Maythamī interpretation of this dream is worth noting. He understands the Imam’s words to

647 See Ghaemmaghami, “The Abode of Peace: Maḥmūd b. Jaʿfar Maythamī (d. 1310/1893) and the Phenomenon of Encounters with the Hidden Imam.” ʿIrāqī-Maythamī also wrote an anti-Shaykhī polemic called Kifāyat al-rāshidīn fī al-radd ʿalā jamāʿa min al-mubdiʿīn, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 18:91-2 (no. 825). 272

mean that the he will not enter Paradise without ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, perhaps suggesting that

ʿIrāqī-Maythamī will live to witness the Imam’s appearance before dying with him.648

Hidāyat al-anām fīman laqiya al-ḥujja fī al-manām [Guidance to humanity concerning those

who met the Proof (of God) in dreams] (Persian) by Ḥusayn b. Naṣr Allāh b. Ṣādiq al-Mūsawī

al-Ḥusaynī al-ʿArab Bāghī al-Urūmī or Ḥusayn Urūmiyyah-ʾī, known as ʿArab Bāghī.

According to al-Ṭihrānī, this work was completed on 6 May 1913 and printed in Tabriz the

following year. It is composed of 183 pages and includes 40 accounts of dreams and visions of

the Hidden Imam.649 Al-Ṭihrānī notes that this work was appended to al-Urūmī’s al-Tuḥfa al-

mahdawiyya fī aḥwāl al-imām al-mahdī which was completed in 1330/1911-2 and printed in

Tabriz in 1335/1916-7.650 No copies are known to exist in Europe or North America.

648 The two accounts are also cited in Nahāvandī, Barakāt-i ḥaḍrat-i valī-i ʿaṣr, 393-4. Another collection of encounter stories attributed to ʿIrāqī-Maythamī, though no not mentioned by al-Ṭihrānī in al-Dharīʿa, is Tadhkirat al-ṭālib fīman raʾā al-imām al-ghāʾib. This work has never been published and I know of no extant manuscripts but it is mentioned in passing in the following works: al-Qazwīnī, al-Imām al-mahdī min al-mahd ilā al-ẓuhūr, 254; al-Zanjānī al-Najafī, ʿAqāʾid al-imāmiyya al-ithnā ʿashariyya, 1:248; Ṭayyib, Kalim al-ṭayyib dar taqrīr-i ʿaqāyid-i islām, 537; al-Gulpāyigānī, Muntakhab al-athar, 381.

649 Al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 25:174 (no. 114). There appears to be a manuscript available in Qum. See: http://books.masoumeh.com/html/7/20/13.php.

650 Al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 25:174 (no. 114); 3:475 (no. 1748), where al-Ṭihrānī calls the book, al-Tuḥfa al-mahdiyya. Of the work’s twelve chapters, chapter eleven includes accounts of 40 individuals who encountered the Hidden Imam (fāzū bi-ziyāratihi). 273

Jannat al-maʾwā fī dhikr man fāza bi-liqāʾ al-ḥujja aw muʿjazātihi fī al-ghayba al-kubrā

(Arabic) [The garden of refuge concerning those who attained the presence of the Proof (of

God or witnessed) his miracles during the greater occultation], by Nūrī (d. 1320/1902),

completed on 13 Shawwāl 1302/26 July 1885.651 This work includes 59 accounts not mentioned

by al-Majlisī in his Biḥār al-anwār.652 Nūrī in fact hoped that his work would serve as an addendum to the volume of Biḥār al-anwār that is devoted to the Hidden Imam in order to

“prove (the) weighty matter” of the Imam’s appearance, from time to time, to meet with his

most pious disciples.” He prayed that these stories could serve “as a means [for the faithful] to

draw closer to (the Imam).”653

651 See al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 5:159-60 (no. 675). The most comprehensive biography of Nūrī by Yāsīn al-Mūsawī is found in al-Nūrī, al-Najm-i thāqib fī aḥwāl al-imām al-ḥujja al-ghāʾib (trans. al-Mūsawī), 1: 5–112. The best available biography in a Western language is found in Brunner, Die Schia und die Koranfälschung, 39–42.

652 On this work, see E. Kohlberg, “Behar al-Anwar,” in EIr, 4:90-3.

653 Al-Nūrī, Jannat al-maʾwā, 11. Jannat al-maʾwā continues to be regularly published as an addendum to the volume of al-Majlisī’s Biḥār al-anwār on the Hidden Imam. See al-Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 53:199–336. 274

Kashf al-ḥaqq (Arbaʿīn-i Khātūnābādī) [Unveiling the truth (forty hadiths collected by

Khātūnābādī)] (Persian).654 The author, Mīr Muḥammad Ṣādiq b. al-Mīr Muḥammad Riḍā al-

Khātūnābādī al-Iṣfahānī (b. 1207/1792-3, d. Rajab 1272/1856), from the well-known

Khātūnābād family of scholars, was a prominent scholar and Imam Jumʿa in Isfahan for 32

years.655 The work was written after a debate with the young Mīrzā ʿAlī Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī

(known as the Bāb) at the home of the governor of Isfahan, Muʿtamid al-Dawlah Manūchihr

Khān (d. 1263/1847), and in the presence of many eminent ulama from Isfahan. According to the publisher, the work was written “both to benefit the elite (khavāṣṣ, i.e., the educated) and to

prevent the general public (ʿavāmm-i mardum) from falling blindly into the well of

waywardness and misguidedness (chāh-i ḍalālat va ghavāyat) and instead recognize the [true]

Guardian of the Age and the Proof (of God) for our time [i.e., the Hidden Imam].”656 Although

Khātūnābādī never mentions the Bāb by name, he explains in the introduction that he is

writings this treatise “to guide the confused and the deviant” (dar hidāyat-i mutashavvishīn va munḥarifīn). He bemoans the fact that “some of the ignorant who believe themselves to be

654 On this work, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 18:32 (no. 537).

655 He should not be mistaken with the more well-known Mīr Sayyid Muḥammad Khātūnābādī (d. 1291/1874-5) who was one of the scholars that issued a fatwa against the British when British forces occupied the port of Būshihr in 1273/1856-7. On the latter, see Rajabī, ʿUlamā-yi mujāhid, 184. 275

learned” have obfuscated matters about the Imam, confused and perturbed the masses, and led

them to stray away from the path of the Imam and adopt corrupt beliefs.657 To prove the

Imam’s existence, Khātūnābādī mentions several stories of those who have seen him.658

Kifāyat al-muhtadī fī maʿrīfat al-mahdī ʿalayh al-salām [That which suffices the rightly guided in knowing/recognizing the Mahdī, peace be upon him] (Persian) by Muḥammad Hādī ibn

Muḥammad Mīr Lawḥī Sabzavārī (fl. 11th/17th cent).659 This important work was only

recently published for the first time in 1384AS/2005-6.660 The following year, an Arabic

translation was published in Najaf.661 Also known as Arbaʿīn-i Mīr Lawḥī,662 it is a Persian

656 Khātūnābādī, Kashf al-ḥaqq, 5.

657 Khātūnābādī, Kashf al-ḥaqq, 9. In contrast, Bābī and Bahāʾī sources speak favorably of Khātūnābādī. He served as the Bāb’s host in Iṣfahān for forty days. See Balyuzi, The Báb, 113; Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, 257. Moreover, when some seventy prominent ulama condemned the Bāb as a heretic and issued his death sentence, Khātūnābādī declined to endorse their verdict. See [Zarandī], The Dawn- Breakers (trans. Shoghi Effendi), 209.

658 Khātūnābādī, Kashf al-ḥaqq, 67-80, 85-94.

659 On the author, see Hairi, “Mīr Lawḥī,” EI²; Turner, Islam without Allah, 212-3; Turner, “Still Waiting for the Imam,” 45-7.

660 Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī.

661 Al-Iṣfahānī, Mukhtaṣar kifāyat al-muhtadī.

662 Iṣfahānī, Introduction to Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 112. 276

translation and commentary of forty hadiths on the twelfth Imam, 25 of which are transmitted

from Ithbāt al-rajʿa, a work ascribed to Faḍl b. Shādhān al-Nīshābūrī (d. 260/873).663 In the

introduction, Mīr-Lawḥī states that he began writing Kifāyat al-muhtadī after seeing a dream of

either the Prophet or the Imam on 14 Shaʿbān 1081/27 December 1670.664 The book was

completed two years later.665 The chapter on hadith no. 37 (a hadith ascribed to al-Ṣādiq which

says that all the miracles where were performed by the Prophets and their successors (al- awṣiyāʾ) will also be performed by the Qāʾim) is the longest chapter of the work on the theme

of encounters with the Imam and miracles performed by him.666

On encounters during the Greater Occultation, in particular, Mīr Lawḥī states, “There

have been many Shīʿa and mawālī who have attained his presence during the Greater

Occultation.” He refers readers to the three works we have discussed in this dissertation (al-

Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-dīn, al-Rāwandī’s al-Kharāʾij, and al-Irbilī’s Kashf al-ghumma) as well as al-

663 Iṣfahānī, Introduction to Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 132. Cf. al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 16:78 (no. 395), who seems to regard al-Nīshābūrī’s books, al-Ghayba and Ithbāt al-rajʿa, as in fact one and the same book which were in the possession of Mīr-Lawḥī but had not survived in recent times. See also Amīnī, “Kitāb-i ghaybat-i Shaykh Ṭūsī,” 472. On Faḍl b. Shādhān, see chapter 2 above.

664 Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 427. The text is ambiguous about whether he saw the Prophet or the Hidden Imam though it is likely the latter considering that the dream took place on the eve of the Imam’s putative birth.

665 On the work, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 18:101-2 (no. 867). 277

Fuṣūl al-muhimma.667 Regarding the final tawqīʿ of the Imam, he states simply, “What has been

mentioned in the hadith, ‘And whoever claims to have seen (me) before the appearance of al-

Sufyānī and the Cry is a liar,’ does not contradict these accounts (bā īn akhbār munāfāt

nadārad).” Mīr Lawḥī directs readers to his work, Riyāḍ al-muʾminīn, for a more detailed explanation of the issue.668 In this chapter, Mīr-Lawḥī states that an unnamed Shīʿī scholar has

stated in a work on the virtues of the Imams that there are so many stories of the Hidden Imam

meeting his followers, healing the sick and succoring the helpless that were they all to be

collected, it would be a great book (kitābī ʿaẓīm mīshavad).669 He then cites two such accounts from this unnamed author transmitted from al-Irbilī’s Kashf al-ghumma: the story of Ismāʿīl al-

666 Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 585-641.

667 This is a reference to al-Fuṣūl al-muhimma l-maʿrifat al-aʾimma al-ithnī -ʿashar wa-faḍlihim wa- maʿrifat awlādihim wa-naslihim by al-Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. al-Ṣabbāgh al-Mālikī al- Makkī (d. 855/1451-2), a Sunnī scholar from the Maghrib whose testimony in support of the Twelfth Imam being the Mahdī is referred to often by Shīʿī apologists. See Madelung, “al-Mahdī,” EI². On al- Fuṣūl al-muhimma, see al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 16:246 (no. 978). This work has been published but there are no accounts of encounters during the Greater Occultation mentioned in the chapter on the twelfth Imam (Ibn al-Ṣabbāgh, al-Fuṣūl al-muhimma, 2:1095-1136).

668 The full title of this work is Riyāḍ al-muʾminīn wa-ḥadāʾiq al-muttaqīn, but it does not appear to have survived. See Sharīʿat–Mūsawī Iṣfahānī, introduction to Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 106-12; al- Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 11:329 (no. 2011). According to Hairi, Mīr-Lawḥī wrote this work in his youth. Hairi, “Mir Lawḥī, EI².

669 Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 628. 278

Hirqilī and the account of the father of a certain al-Bāqī b. ʿAṭwa al-ʿAlawī al-Ḥusaynī.670 The only other Greater Occultation account cited in this chapter is the story of youth and the Black

Stone (see above, chapter 4 for this account).671 Mīr-Lawḥī adds, “I know a sick person who has seen the Imam repeatedly (mukarrar ān ḥaḍrat rā dīdah). At one point, he suffered from a terminal illness but the Imam cured him completely.”672 Mīr-Lawḥī next refers to the hadith that the Imam attends the pilgrimage each year where the people see him but are unable to recognize him. It appears that he understands this hadith as applying to the Greater Occultation as well. He also cites the story of Fāris al-Adīb (see above, chapter 3 for this account) though he does not opine whether this account is from the Lesser or Greater Occultation. With the exception of the three accounts referred to above, all of the remaining accounts mentioned in this chapter are from the Lesser Occultation. It is thus odd to see Mīr-Lawḥī mention at this point that “most of the stories that have been mentioned took place during the Greater

Occultation (va ḥikāyātī kih madhkūr shud akthar dar ghaybat-i kubrā būd).”673

670 Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 629-34.

671 Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 625-7.

672 Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 634.

673 Sabzavārī, Kifāyat al-muhtadī, 637. 279

al-Najm al-thāqib fī aḥwāl al-imām al-ghāʾib [The Piercing Star concerning the Circumstances of the Hidden Imam] (Persian), by Nūrī, completed shortly after Jannat al-maʾwā on 14 Dhū al-

Qaʿda 1302/25 August 1885.674 Featuring one hundred stories about contact with the Hidden

Imam during the Greater Occultation, al-Najm al-thāqib is Nūrī’s magnum opus on the Hidden

Imam and the most frequently published of his writings. According to al-Nūrī, his master,

Mīrzā-yi Shīrāzī, urged him to write al-Najm al-thāqib, stamping his seal of approval on the manuscript and asserting that no other work on the Hidden Imam rivals it.675 Nūrī maintains that “the main purpose of recording these stories is to prove the blessed existence of the Imam,

[demonstrate] that he lives among the people, and [show] how his existence benefits them.”676

That the work was written in Persian betrays a desire on the part of Nūrī (and/or Shīrāzī) to make the stories available to the educated public in Nūrī’s native land. This work has been translated into Arabic twice.

674 Al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 24:69 (no. 352). See a recent edition with Persianized title: Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib dar aḥvāl-i imām-i ghāʾib.

675 Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 2; al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 24:69.

676 Nūrī, Najm-i thāqib, 574. 280

Tabṣirat al-walī fīman raʾā al-qāʾim al-mahdī (Arabic) by Hāshim b. Sulaymān al-Bāḥrānī (d.

1107/1695-96 or 1109/1697-98).677 Completed in 1099/1688, this work contains 67 accounts of

encounters with the Imam, most of which are from the Lesser Occultation.678 Al-Baḥrānī states in the introduction that it “occurred to [him]” (khaṭara bi-bālī) to compile the reports of those

who had seen or hear the Imam’s voice during the lifetime of his father, Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī and then during “the first and second occultation,” adding that there are numerous (kathīr) such

accounts “in dependable books and reliable works” (fī al-kutub al-muʿtamada wa-l-āthār al-

musnada).679

677 On the author, see Tabrīziyān, al-ʿAllāma al-Sayyid Hāshim al-Baḥrānī, 17-87; al-Bāḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, dāl-nūn (the book’s introduction); Madelung, “Baḥrāni, Hāšem,” EIr, 3:528-9; Lawson, “Akhbārī Shīʿī approaches to tafsīr,” 187.

678 Al-Bāḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī fīman raʾā al-qāʾim al-mahdī. The comment by al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 3:326 (no. 1192), repeated by Madelung, “Baḥrāni, Hāšem,” EIr, 3:529, that the work includes accounts of “about 76 persons who saw the Twelfth Imam down to the year 664/1265-66” (al-Ṭihrānī,; Madelung,) is incorrect since he includes the story of the Green Island in the White Sea which is clearly much later. For information about manuscripts, abridgements and translations, see Tabrīziyān, al- ʿAllāma al-Sayyid Hāshim al-Baḥrānī, 111-4.

679 Al-Bāḥrānī, Tabṣirat al-walī, 4. 281

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