Selected Narrations about the Twelfth Imam volume 2

Section Fifteen

The traditions that indicate he is the sixth descendant of (Imam) Ja`far b. Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq, peace be on him

Comprised of 112 traditions

  1. Kamāl al-dīn[^1]: Narrated to us `Abd al-Wāḥid b. Muḥammad al-`Aṭṭār al-Nīsābūrī, may Allah be satisfied with him, from `Alī b. Muḥammad b. Qutayba al-Nīsābūrī, from Ḥamdān b. Sulaimān, from Muḥammad b. Ismā’īl b. Bazī`, from Ḥayyān al-Sarrāj who said:

I heard al-Sayyid ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥimyarī say, “I used to say things which were exaggerations (al-ghuluw) and I used to believe in the occultation of Muḥammad b. `Alī— ibn al-Ḥanafiyya—and I was deviated like this for a period of time. Then, Allah granted me a great favor through (Imam) al-Ṣādiq Ja`far b. Muḥammad, peace be on him, and saved me from the [hell]fire and guided me to the straight path.

After it was proved to me through the evidence that I saw from him that he is Allah’s proof upon me and upon all the people of his time and that he is the Imam whose obedience is obligatory and who must necessarily be used as a role-model, I asked him, ‘O Son of Allah’s Messenger! Things have been narrated to us from your forefathers, peace be on them, about the occultation and its correctness. Please inform me for whom will it occur?’

He responded, ‘The occultation will occur for my sixth descendant. He is the twelfth of the guiding Imams after the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family. The first of them is Amīr al-Mu’minīn `Alī b. Abī Ṭālib and the last of them is the one who will rise with the truth. He is the remnant of Allah (baqiyyat Allah) on earth and the master of time (Ṣāḥib al-Zamān). By Allah! If he remains occult for the period that Noah remained amongst his people [or on earth], he will not pass away until he appears. He will fill the earth with fairness and justice just as it will be filled with injustice and unfairness.’”

Al-Sayyid says, “When I heard this from my master, al-Ṣādiq Ja`far b. Muḥammad, peace be on him, I repented to Allah, High be His Remembrance, at his hands and wrote a poem which starts like this:

When I saw the people being deviated in religion

By Allah’s [mercy] I followed [Imam] Ja`far, amongst those who were his followers[^2]

The traditions with the following numbers also show the aforementioned concept: 235, 242–308, 558–571, 608, 612, 641, 786–807, 859, 973, 1216, and 1230.

[^1]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 1, pp. 33–34 (Author’s preface); Bishārat al-Muṣṭafā, p. 278, no. 10, and in it is an evident mistake; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 6, p. 145, no. 16.

[^2]: Refer to Kamāl al-dīn, Bishārat al-Mustafa, or al-Ghadīr, vol. 2, p. 246, for the entire poem.