اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ ، وَعَلَى أَزْوَاجِهِ وَذُرِّيَّتِهِ
، كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ، وَبَارِكْ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى أَزْوَاجِهِ
وَذُرِّيَّتِهِ ، كَمَا بَارَكْتَ عَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ، إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ
I have mentioned in passing previously on this blog
the great Imam of the Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ blessed progeny, sayyidina Muhammad b. Abd
Allah known as “Nafs al-Zakiya” (radi Allahu anh), and his armed
uprising against the hated Abbasid ruler “al-Mansur” in Medina, 762 CE, in
which the Imam was tragically martyred. Yet there were extremist Shi’ites who
refused to believe that the Imam Nafs al-Zakiya was killed, and asserted that
he had gone into occultation and would return (raj’a) before Judgment
Day. Interestingly, this claim of an occultation for Imam Nafs al-Zakiya
preceded the Twelver Shi’ite assertion that their fictional “Twelfth Imam” went
into occultation a little over a century afterwards, in 874 CE. The
heresiographer, Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, mentions a faction of the Jarudiya
Zaydiya who “awaited Muhammad ibn-‘Abdallah ibn-al-Hasan ibn-‘Ali
ibn-abi-Talib. They would not believe that he had been slain, or that he died,
but claimed that he was the expected Mahdi who would come to reign over the
world. This group joined with the Muhammadiyah from the Imamiyah in looking for
Muhammad ibn-‘Abdallah ibn-al-Hasan ibn-‘Ali as the expected Imam.” (Moslem
Schisms and Sects p.44)
Regarding this sect, the Muhammadiya, he explains
later that they are attributed to the heretic al-Mughira b. Sa’id al-Ijli, the mawla
of Khalid b. Abd Allah al-Qasri. They believe that the Imam, Nafs al-Zakiya,
was not killed but is at Mt. Hajir in the district of Najd until he is
commanded to return, and that he is the expected Mahdi. (ibid p.62-63)
Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari likewise wrote about this
sect, the Mughiriya, and how they believe that the Imam, Nafs al-Zakiya, is the
Mahdi, and that he is alive, stationed on the mountain of al-Hajir (Maqalat
al-Islamiyin p.96).
The Shi’ite heresiographer, al-Nawbakhti, mentions
these doctrines of this sect too, whom he says were a faction of the companions
of Imam Abu Ja’far (Muhammad al-Baqir). (Firaq al-Shi’a p.74)
*Note: Regarding Mughira, "He started out, so far as the evidence allows us to judge, as a proponent of the Imamate of al-Baqir. At some point after his rejection by that Imam - which may have been precipitated by his declaring the Imam a god - he proclaimed the Imamate of al-Nafs al-Zakiyya and may even have declared him to be the Mahdi...Mughira must also have declared himself to be a prophet of the Mahdi al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. This means that Mughira probably claimed to be both the rightful Imam and a prophet: the Mughiriyya after his death were characterized, in part, by their recognition of his prophetic Imamate. The evidence, then, suggests that Mughira began as a follower of the Imam al-Baqir, switched allegiance to the Imamate of al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, and ended his career claiming the Imamate for himself as a prophet of the Mahdi al-Nafs al-Zakiyya." (Wasserstrom, Steven. The Moving Finger Writes: Mughira B. Sa'id's Islamic Gnosis and the Myths of Its Rejection p.15)
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