Selected Narrations about the Twelfth Imam volume 2

Section Thirty-Nine

The traditions that indicate in him will be customs (sunan) from the Divine Prophets, one of these customs being occultation

Comprised of twenty-three traditions

  1. Kamāl al-dīn[^1]: Al-Sharīf Abū l-Ḥasan `Alī b. Mūsā b. Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad b. `Abd-Allah b. Mūsā b. Ja`far b. Muḥammad b. `Alī b. al-Ḥusayn b. `Alī b. Abī Ṭālib, peace be on them, from Muḥammad b. Hammām, from Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. al-Naufalī, from Aḥmad b. Hilāl, from `Uthmān b. `Īsā al-Kilābī, from Khālid b. Najīḥ [Najḥ], from Ḥamzat b. Ḥumrān, from his father, from Sa`īd b. Jubair, from the Master of the Worshippers, `Alī b. al-Ḥusayn b. `Alī b. Abī Ṭālib, peace be on him, who said:

In the Qā’im are customs from seven Prophets: A custom from our father Adam, a custom from Noah, a custom from Abraham, a custom from Moses, a custom from Jesus, a custom from Ayyūb (Job), and a custom from Muḥammad, Allah’s blessings be on them all. As for the [custom] from Adam and Noah, it is longevity. As for Abraham, it is concealed birth and solitude. As for Moses, it is fear and occultation. As for Jesus, it is the disagreement amongst the people about him. As for Ayyūb (Job), it is relief after calamity, and as for Muḥammad, it is emergence with the sword.

  1. Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī[^2]: Informed us Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Sa`īd, from Muḥammad b. al-Mufaḍḍal and Sa`dān b. Isḥāq b. Sa`īd, Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn and Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan al-Qaṭawānī, all of them from al-Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb, from Hishām b. Sālim al-Jawālīqī, from Yazīd al-Kunāsī, from Abū Ja`far al-Bāqir, peace be on him, who said: “The Master of this affair will have a similarity with Yūsuf. He will be the son of a dark-skinned slave-maid and Allah will set right his affairs in one night.”

  2. Kamāl al-dīn[^3]: Narrated to us my father [and Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan], may Allah be satisfied with him, from Sa`d b. `Abd-Allah, from al-Mu`allā b. Muḥammad al-Baṣrī, from Muḥammad b. Jumhūr and others, from [Muḥammad] b. Abī `Umair, from `Abd-Allah b. Sinān who said:

I heard (Imam) Abū `Abd-Allah, peace be on him, say, “In the Qā’im, there is a custom from Moses, son of `Imrān, peace be on him.” I asked, “What is the custom from Moses, son of `Imrān?” He replied, “His concealed birth and his occultation from his people.” I asked, “How long was Moses, son of `Imrān, occulted from his nation and his family?” He replied, “Twenty-eight years.”

  1. Kamāl al-dīn[^4]: Narrated to us al-Muẓaffar b. Ja`far b. al-Muẓaffar al-`Alawī, may Allah be satisfied with him, from Ja`far b. Muḥammad b. Mas`ūd, from his father Muḥammad b. Mas`ūd al-`Ayyāshī, from `Alī b. Muḥammad b. Shujā`, from Muḥammad b. `Īsā, from Yūnus, from `Alī b. Abī Ḥamza, from Abū Baṣīr, from (Imam) Abū `Abd-Allah, peace be on him, who said:

In the Master of this affair are customs from the prophets; a custom from Moses, son of `Imrān, a custom from Jesus, a custom from Yūsuf, and a custom from Muḥammad, Allah’s blessings be on them. As for the custom from Moses, son of `Imrān, he will be fearful and watchful. As for the custom from Jesus, it will be said about him what was said about Jesus. As for the custom from Yūsuf, it is the screen that Allah will put between him and the people as a covering; they will see him but will not recognize him. As for the custom from Muḥammad, Allah's blessings be on him and his family, he will guide with his guidance and will follow his ways.

  1. Al-Imāma wa l-tabṣira[^5]: `Abd-Allah b. Ja`far al-Ḥimyarī, from Muḥammad b. `Īsā, from Sulaimān b. Dāwūd, from Abū Baṣīr, from Abū Ja`far, peace be on him, who said:

In the master of this affair, there are four customs from four Prophets: a custom from Moses, a custom from Jesus, a custom from Yūsuf, and a custom from Muḥammad, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family. As for the custom from Moses, he will be fearful and watchful. As for the custom from Yūsuf, it is imprisonment. As for the custom from Jesus, it will be said, “He has died,” but he would be alive. As for the custom from Muḥammad, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, it is the sword.

  1. Ithbāt al-waṣiyya[^6]: Al-Ḥimyarī, from Muḥammad b. `Īsā, from Sulaimān b. Dāwūd, from Abū Naṣr [or Abū Baṣīr], from (Imam) Abū Ja`far, peace be on him, who said:

In the Master of this affair, there are four customs from four Prophets: A custom from Moses [which is] his occultation; a custom from Jesus concerning his fear and his watchfulness regarding the Jews and them saying that he has died, whilst he hadn’t died, [and them saying] he has been killed, whilst he hadn’t been killed; a custom from Yūsuf concerning his handsomeness and his generosity; and a custom from Muḥammad, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, is the sword with which he will emerge.

The following traditions also establish the above concept: 69, 249, 286, 540, 553, 557, 564, 575, 620, 626, 628, 632, 641, 642, 644, 645, and 650.

[^1]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 1, chap. 31, p. 321, no. 3; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 3, chap. 32, sect. 5, p. 466, no. 124, with slight variations; I`lām al-warā, chap. 2, sect. 2, which says, “Customs from six Prophets” instead of “From seven Prophets.” It also says: “A custom from Noah” instead of “A custom from our father Adam, a custom from Noah”; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 13, p. 217, no. 4.

[^2]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 10, p. 163, no. 3; Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 1, chap. 32, p. 329, no. 12; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 13, p. 218, no. 8; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 3, chap. 32, sect. 5, p. 469, no. 135, citing Kamāl al-dīn with the wording: “In the master of this affair is a custom from Yūsuf [the son of a slave-maid], Allah will set right his affairs in a single night.” The author of Biḥār al-anwār writes: “His saying, ‘the son of a black slave-maid’ apparently contradicts the numerous narrations that mention the attributes of his mother, peace be on him, except if mother is interpreted as his grandmother.” I say: This sentence does not exist in the copy of the Persian translation of Kamāl al-dīn nor in the Najaf edition printed in the year 1389 AH, p. 320. See vol. 1, p. 445. This is in addition to the fact that his similarity with Yūsuf was in occultation and imprisonment. It is probable that something has been added to the tradition and Allah knows the best.

[^3]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, chap. 33, p. 340, no. 18; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 13, p. 216, no. 2; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 3, chap. 32, sect. 5, pp. 471–472, no. 147.

[^4]: Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, chap. 33, p. 350, no. 46; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 13, pp. 223–224, no. 10, which says: “custom from the prophets”; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 3, chap. 32, sect. 5, p. 474, no. 159.

[^5]: Al-Imāma wa l-tabṣira, pp. 93–94, no. 84; Ghaybat al-Shaykh, p. 424, no. 408, which says: “And as for the custom from Yūsuf, peace be on him, it is occultation” and on p. 60, no. 57, he has mentioned “imprisonment” which probably refers to occultation; Ithbāt al-hudāt, vol. 3, chap. 32, sect. 12, p. 499, no. 277, and chap. 32, sect. 5, p. 460, no. 101; Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 51, chap. 13, pp. 216–217, no. 3; Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 1, chap. 6, pp. 152–153, no. 16, which says: “and imprisonment,” and also vol. 1, chap. 32, pp. 326–327, no. 6, which says: “confinement.”

[^6]: Ithbāt al-waṣiyya (first edition), p. 202.