Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq

Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq, surnamed al-Dibaj ("the handsome"),[1] the younger full brother of Musa al-Kadhim,[2] and son of Ja'far al-Sadiq appeared in Mecca in the year 200 A.H. / 815 C.E. claiming that he was the Awaited Mahdi. He believed in a Zaydi Shia type of Imamate[3] and declared himself as the Caliph of the Muslims and took the oath of allegiance from them and was called the Leader of the faithful. He was recognized as the Imam by a small group of followers. His followers became denominated as the Shumaytiyya (Sumaytiyya) after their leader Yahya ibn Abi’l-Shumayt (al-Sumayt).[4] However, his revolt against the Caliph al-Ma'mun proved unsuccessful in the very same year it started (i.e. 815 C.E.).[5] He ended his revolt by abdicating and publicly confessing his error and was then banished from the Hejaz and the Tihamah. [6]

Al-Dibaj died in 203 A.H. / 818 C.E.,[7] and was buried near Bastam, Iran.[8] The Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun himself was present until the burial was over and said the final prayer on the bier.

Descendants

Ismail & Jafar

They were present at the cemetery, attending to the funeral and burial ceremonies of their father Muhammad bin Ja'far.

Yahyah

According to Al-Ma'mun, Yahyah was somewhere in Egypt at the time of his father's death. It is possible he was opposed to the Abbasid caliphate.

Ali

Known as Al-Harisi. He had settled permanently in Shiraz since the exile of his father's family from Medina. Seven generations of his descendants lived and multiplied in Shiraz and some are known to have accompanied armies of Mahmud of Ghazni to India.

Al-Qasim

Al-Dibaj had a son named al-Qasim, who in turn had three children: Umm Kulthum (d.868), Abdallah (d.875) and Yahya (d.877).[9] Al-Qasim and his family went to live in Egypt after the failure of Al-Dibaj’s revolt and were among the first Alid families to resettle in Egypt.[10]

Legacy and Tomb

Al-Dibaj's followers, the Shumaytiyya or Sumaytiyya, believed that the Imamate would remain with his family and that the Mahdi would come from among his family.[11]

Muhammad al-Dibaj was buried in Jurjan, Iran[12] (near Bastam, Iran) and his grave soon became a site of pilgrimage and known as "qabr al-da'i" (Grave of the Da'i/Missionary).[13] In 900 CE, Muhammad ibn Zayd, the Zaydi ruler of Tabaristan, was killed in battle by the Sunni Samanids and subsequently beheaded. His head was sent to the Samanid court located in Bukhara while his "headless torso (badan)" was sent to Jurjan to be buried in Muhammad al-Dibaj's burial site.[14][15][16] According to the historian Al-Qummi, in 984 AD, a "a proper structure (turba) [on the burial site of Dibaj and Muhammad ibn Zayd's body] was erected only on the orders of the Buyid wazīr al-Ṣāḥib".[17]

See also

References
  • Al-Maqalat wa al-Firaq, by Sa'ad Ibn Abdillah al-Ash'ari al-Qummi (d. 301), pg.80

Notes
  1. An Introduction to Shi’i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi’ism: The Shumayliyya or Sumaytiyya, by Moojan Momen
  2. The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines, By Farhad Daftary, pg.94
  3. An Introduction to Shi’i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi’ism: The Shumayliyya or Sumaytiyya, by Moojan Momen
  4. The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines, By Farhad Daftary, pg.94
  5. A short history of the Ismailis: traditions of a Muslim community, By Farhad Daftary, pg.35
  6. Ibn Khaldūn, Kitābu l-ʻibār wa Diwānu l-Mubtada' wa l-Ħabar fī tarikhi l-ʻarab wa l-Barbar wa man ʻĀsarahum min Đawī Ash-Sha'n l-Akbār, vol. 3, p. 244
  7. The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines, By Farhad Daftary, pg.94
  8. Bloom, Jonathan M.; Blair, Sheila S., eds. (2009). "Bistam". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture. 1. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 291.
  9. Muqarnas, Volume 3: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture, By Oleg Grabar, pg.56
  10. Muqarnas, Volume 3: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture, By Oleg Grabar, pg.41, 43
  11. An Introduction to Shi’i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi’ism: The Shumayliyya or Sumaytiyya, by Moojan Momen
  12. Al-Bukhārī, Sirr al-Silsila, p. 27
  13. Ta⁠ʾrīkh Jurjān (Beirut, 1981), p. 360
  14. Al-Bukhārī, Sirr al-Silsila, p. 27
  15. Madelung (1993), pp. 595–597
  16. https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17407/1/SI_108_01_1-15.pdf
  17. Al-Qummī, Tārīkh-i Qum (Tehran, 1982), pp. 223-224; Leisten, Architektur für Tote, p. 33
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