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A
little over two years ago I published a piece on this blog arguing
that the Twelfth Imam of the Ithna Ashari Shi’ah sect is a
fictional character for whom there is no solid historical evidence of
existence. This is extremely problematic for the Twelvers given that
belief in this twelfth Imam is one of the most fundamental doctrines
of their sect. In fact, it is their defining feature which
differentiates them from the other sects of the Shi’ah and the
Imamiyah. Just to recap, the arguments I put forward in that article
were:
The
splitting of the followers of the Eleventh Imam at his death into
numerous factions, the majority of which altogether denied that the
Eleventh Imam had a son, or those that affirmed a son for him
differed regarding critical details.
Confusion
as to the alleged identity of the Twelfth Imam’s mother. Since the
Eleventh Imam never married, the Twelvers claim he took a concubine
who birthed for him this mysterious Twelfth Imam. However, there are
so many contradictory reports in their literature regarding the
details of this concubine, including her very name.
The
Twelvers claim there was no sign of pregnancy in the mother of the
Twelfth Imam throughout the duration of her pregnancy. This
especially casts doubt on the birth of a child to the Eleventh Imam.
In
this second part I shall elaborate further on each of these three
points, and also present some additional arguments which cast serious
doubt on the existence of the Twelfth Imam.
As
for the factions that emerged at the death of the Eleventh Imam –
Hasan al-Zaki – al-Nawbakhti, himself a Twelver, has described them
in some detail. He writes that the community split into fourteen
distinct groups, but only writes concerning thirteen of them:
1. A
group which denied a son being born to the Eleventh Imam. They
believed there must always be a living Imam in the world, and so
denied the death of the Eleventh Imam, instead saying that the
Eleventh Imam is the one who went into occultation and that he is
the awaited Mahdi.
2. A
group, like the previous one, denied a son for the Eleventh Imam.
They also agreed with the first group that there must always be a
living Imam in the world, but they acknowledged that the Eleventh
Imam died. They resolved this problem by believing the Eleventh Imam
was raised back to life shortly after his death, went into
occultation, and that he is the Mahdi, in keeping with a linguistic
interpretation of the title al-Qa’im which means “the one who is
resurrected”.
3. A
group, like the previous two, which denied a son for the Eleventh
Imam. But they acknowledged the death of the Eleventh Imam but said
he designated his younger brother Ja’far his successor.
4. A
group which not only denied a son for the Eleventh Imam, but said
that the Eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Zaki, could not have been an Imam
since he died without a son to succeed him. They claimed that the
true Eleventh Imam was therefore Ja’far, who was designated by the
Tenth Imam, Ali al-Naqi, to succeed him.
5. Like
the previous four groups, this group also denied a son being born to
Hasan al-Askari. They believe that the Tenth Imam – Ali al-Naqi –
designated his eldest son Muhammad to succeed him as the Eleventh
Imam, although he apparently died in his father’s lifetime. It
therefore seems that they denied the death of this Muhammad, and
that they believe he is the Mahdi.
6. This
is the first of the groups so far which believe the Eleventh Imam
had a son, who was named Muhammad, whom his father declared his
successor. They believe he was born several years before his
father’s death, and that he went into occultation.
7. This
is the second group which affirms a son, named Muhammad, for the
Eleventh Imam, and he went into occultation, but differ from the
previous group in that they say he was born eight months after the
Eleventh Imam died, and they outright deny that a son was born to
the Eleventh Imam which he was alive.
8. This
is the sixth group which denies the Eleventh Imam had a son, because
of the lack of evidence for such a claim. Nawbakhti gives no further
details about this group.
9. This
is the seventh group which denies the Eleventh Imam had a son. They
believe the Eleventh Imam died and the Imamate has therefore ceased
as a living institution. But they believe, if Allah wills, He will
send the Mahdi sometime in the future who will be from the family of
the Prophet.
10. This
is the eighth group which denies the Eleventh Imam – Hasan bin Ali
al-Naqi – had a son. They say that the Tenth Imam designated his
son Muhammad his successor, though he died in his father’s
lifetime. But while he was alive, this Muhammad intended that his
younger brother Ja’far should succeed him. This was disclosed to a
servant of the Tenth Imam named Nafis, who announced and supported
the Imamate of Ja’far after Hasan al-Askari died. This sect has an
actual name, the Nafisiyyah. They believe Ja’far bin Ali is the
Qa’im, the Mahdi, and say he is the most superior person after the
Prophet himself.
11. This
group is unsure and non-committal on the question of whether the
Eleventh Imam had a son. They affirm that the Eleventh Imam died and
that the world cannot remain without a living Imam. Therefore, they
say that the Twelfth Imam is unknown, he could either be the son of
the Eleventh Imam or he could be one of the brothers of the Eleventh
Imam.
12. This
is the group which Nawbakhti identifies as his Twelvers – the
Ithna Asharis that persist till this day.
13. This
is the ninth group which denies the Eleventh Imam had a son. They
believe the Eleventh Imam died and the Imamate was transferred to
his brother Ja’far.
From
our Sunni sources, the heresiographer, Ibn Abd al-Karim
al-Shahrastani, likewise mentions the splitting of the followers of
the Eleventh Imam after his death, and describes eleven such groups,
which mostly correspond to Nawbakhti’s list:
identical
to Nawbakhti’s description of the first group
identical
to Nawbakhti’s description of the second group
identical
to Nawbakhti’s description of the third group
identical
to Nawbakhti’s description of the fourth group
identical
to Nawbakhti’s description of the fifth group. Al-Shahrastani adds
that they recognize the Imamate of the Tenth Imam’s son Muhammad
because he had children, so we can assume the believed the Imamate
was transferred to the sons of this Muhammad.
Identical
to Nawbakhti’s description of the sixth group. Al-Shahrastani
explains that they believe the alleged son of the Eleventh Imam,
named Muhammad, was born two years before his father died.
Identical
to Nawbakhti’s description of the seventh group
identical
to Nawbakhti’s description of the ninth group.
A
group which affirmed the existence of a son for the Eleventh Imam,
but are unsure about any of his details, including whether he was
born before or after his father’s death. They believe this Twelfth
Imam went into occultation.
Identical
to Nawbakhti’s description of the eleventh group
A
group which is unsure about the entire affair, for example, if the
Eleventh Imam had a son or not.
In
summary, of the thirteen factions mentioned by al-Nawbakhti, nine of
them outright denied that the Eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari, had a
son. And in al-Shahrastani’s list of eleven factions, seven
outright denied that the Eleventh Imam had a son.
As
for those factions that affirm a son for the Eleventh Imam, they
differ as to when he was born, either before or after the Eleventh
Imam’s death.
Then
there are a few factions which were unsure on the question of a son
being born to the Eleventh Imam. Based on this, we cannot help but
conclude that the idea of the Eleventh Imam having a son is a myth,
otherwise there wouldn’t have been so many factions, independent of
each other, from among his original followers who would deny it. And
those factions which do claim he had a son have contradictory
accounts, some say he was born several years before his father died,
while others say he was born eight months after his father died.
The
second pillar of my argument is the confusion over the identity of
the Twelfth Imam’s alleged mother. There are at least eight
different names that have been narrated in Twelver literature for the
concubine of the Eleventh Imam who bore him a son: Narjis, Sawsan,
Saqīl, Rayhāna,
Malīka, Hukayma, Maryam, Khumt.
Though some Twelver apologists suggest these are all different names
of the same woman, their narrations invalidate this argument. Some
suggest the concubine was a Roman princess, the granddaughter of one
of the Caesars, and also a descendant of Jesus’s chief disciple,
Simeon Peter, while others say she was a black woman, a Nubian from
the northern region of Sudan.
