The Tradition of Mufaddal and the Doctrine of the Raj'a Evidences of Ghuluww in the Eschatology of Twelver Shi'Ism

British Institute of Persian Studies

The "Tradition of Mufaḍḍal" and the Doctrine of the Rajʿa: Evidence of "Ghuluww" in theEschatology of Twelver Shiʿism?Author(s): Colin P. TurnerReviewed work(s):Source: Iran, Vol. 44 (2006), pp. 175-195Published by: British Institute of Persian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4300708 .Accessed: 02/02/2012 12:12

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THE "TRADITION OF MUFADDAL" AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE RAJ'A: EVIDENCE OF GHULUWW IN THE ESCHATOLOGY OF

TWELVER SHI'ISM?

By Colin P. Turner Durham University

"That the raj]a will certainly occur is one of the fundamental beliefs of the Shi'ite faith and one upon

which there is complete consensus."'

1. INTRODUCTION

Of all the epiphenomena attending the reappearance (zuhir) of the Mahdi in the Twelver Shi'ite eschatological schema, arguably the most contentious yet least discussed is that of the raj'a-the return to earth of the Prophet, the other eleven Imams and an undisclosed number of Shi'ite faithful, together with a group of their enemies. According to Shi'ite Traditions, this re- emergence will be effected in order for the Imams of the 'Alid line to exact retribution from all of those deemed to have violated their rights or oppressed them in the past. The revenge of the Imams on their opponents is, the Traditions aver, the key to our understanding of the Mahdist mission, for the Shi'ite notion of justice can never be realised, and aspirations for the utopian end- times imamate of the "House of 'Ali" can never be fulfilled, while the sins of the enemies go unpunished.

Despite the fact that the twin doctrines of the occultation (ghayba) and reappearance (zuh7r) of the Hidden Imam have in recent years played such a prominent part in the psycho-dynamics underpinning certain strands of Shi'ite political thought, the doctrinal status of the raj'a itself remains unclear. There are many possible reasons for this. One is the lack of consensus which appears to exist on the part of contemporary Shi'ite jurists with regard to either the authenticity of the narrations which underpin it or the credibility of the fantastic events which they purport to foretell. Another is the sensitivity of much of the material involved, particularly with regard to the punitive measures which the Imams are to take against the perceived usurpers of the caliphate, Aba Bakr and 'Umar. A third reason concerns quite possibly the extent to which the raj'a narratives are

embedded in the soteriological mythos of the Mahdi, and the fact that to cast doubt on the raj'a would be to call into question the veracity of the zuhir of the Hidden Imam in general.

It is the contention of this writer that the general doctrine of the raj'a-including the twin notions of the ghayba and zuhir of the Hidden Imam-is for the most part a secondary importation into Shi'ism, introduced in the second and third centuries A.H. by adherents of one or more of the various anarcho-mystical sects known as the ghulat. To throw light on the issue, the present article looks at the longest and arguably most contentious raj'a narrative of them all-the so-called "Tradition of Mufaddal"?and analyses it both against a backdrop of the evolution of ghuluww and in the context of various developments in Twelver Shi'ism itself, with particular reference to the socio-politics of the late Safavid period. A number of important questions will be raised along the way. From where do the raj'a narratives originate and what influenced those who narrated them? How, if such narratives were of dubious provenance, did they come to be ascribed to the Imams? Arguably the most pressing question of all is how and why, despite their authors having been deemed unreliable or extremist by earlier Shi'ite authorities, the raj'a narratives were able not only to find their way into otherwise orthodox works of Tradition such as the monumental Bihar al-anwdr of 'Allama Majlisi, but also to receive the scholarly blessing of later writers and, as a result, be accepted as a central element of official doctrine concerning the reappearance of the Hidden Imam?

2. THE RAJ'A: ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION

Before looking directly at the "Tradition of Mufaddal", a brief overview of the origins and evolution of the doctrine in Twelver Shi'ism is necessary.

176 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES

Although the points of convergence between Mahdism and a number of soteriological myths from

pre-Islamic religions are so numerous that they suggest a common source, it is beyond the scope of this article to enter into a discussion on the extra-Islamic origins of the notion of raj'a. That the Arabs of Medina at the time of Muhammad would have been aufait with the concept of messianic return by dint of their dealings with the Jews is clear enough. This finds confirmation, perhaps, in the behaviour of certain followers who, upon hearing of the death of Muhammad himself, claimed that the Prophet had not died and would one day return to the fold in order to complete his mission.2 Thirty odd years later, the death of 'Ali had similar repercussions, and

Shi'ite historians tell how a group of his supporters believed that he had not died but had instead gone into occultation.3 Such a belief should be understood in the context of the shock and frustration which 'Ali's followers felt following his sudden departure, particularly after the hopes they had invested in his imamate.

Indeed, the growth of Mahdist messianism among the early Imamis, and the concomitant development of the doctrine of raj'a, was a result of the inability of 'Ali and his progeny to fulfil the aspirations of their increas-

ingly voluble and, at times, militant supporters-their "party" or shiTa. However, it was with the death of

jHusayn b. 'Ali that the seed of Imami messianism found its most fertile soil, and it is in the aftermath of Karbala that the idiosyncratically Shi'ite doctrine of the occulted Imam and the return of the soteriological hero has its

origins. As hopes for the restoration of what they perceived to be the true Imamate receded, and as the

aspirations of the followers of the Imams were stymied by Umayyad and Abbasid rulers alike, the Imami faithful focused their emotional energies on the promise of future victory, investing their faith in a number of key figures-scions of the "house of'Ali"--and splitting up into numerous sects and sub-sects in the process.

Consequently, the first three centuries of Imami

history was witness to a string of "pseudo-Mahdis", each embodying the aspirations of a particular Shi'ite group or sub-sect. The first political manifestation of the Mahdist ideal allegedly foretold in Prophetic Traditions came with the claims made on behalf of Muhammad b.

IHanafiyya, who was believed to be living in occultation somewhere in the mountains of Radwa and who would

return in the future to fill the earth with justice and restore the Imamate to its rightful owners.4 Others awaited the return ofMuhammad b. 'Abdallah b. Hasan,

also held to be in concealment, while the Nw~iwsiyya believed that Ja'far al-Sadiq did not die but was in occultation, to return at some later date as the Mahdi of the "House of 'Ali"; the Waqifiyya held similar views concerning Ja'far's son, Mais al-Kazim.5 Later, the Muhammadiyya would forward similar claims for the son of the Tenth Imam, 'Ali al-Naqi, while certain Imams believed that although the Eleventh Imam, Hasan al-'Askari, had indeed died, he would rise up once more in the future as the promised qd'im of the ahl al-bayt.6 The most developed of the doctrines of occultation and reappearance is, of course, that of the Twelvers, the reappearance (zuhiir) of whose Hidden Imam, Muhammad b. Hasan al-'Askari, forms the central pillar of the raj'a narrative.

3. THE RAJ'A IN TWELVER TRADITIONS

The locus classicus for the Twelver exposition of the raj'a is 'Allama Muhammad Baqir Majlisi's Bihar al- anwar, where it forms an adjunct to his exposition of the doctrines of ghayba, intizar and zuhi7r.7 Majlisi presents 163 raj'a narrations in two sections: 162 relatively short narrations covering general aspects of the "return", taken mostly from a number of traditional sources;8 and the so-called "Tradition of Mufaddal", which, at some forty pages long, is one of the longest narrations in the entire Bihar.9

The Traditions in the first section of Majlisi's chapter on the raj'a consist of Koranic verses said to allude to the return of the Imams;10 supplications prescribed for those who wish to "return" themselves as followers of the Imams; and Traditions which simply affirm the necessity and certainty of the raj'a in principle. The picture which emerges from them is not always clear, and Majlisi appears to ignore or disregard the problematic nature of many of the narratives, the provenance of which is never discussed.

Several Traditions assert that the first Imam to emerge from the grave during the parousia of the Mahdi will be IHusayn b. 'Ali." He will be accompanied by the same seventy-two companions and family members who were slaughtered alongside him at Karbala. The Mahdi will give I;Iusayn the signet ring of kingship and will then die, whereupon HIusayn will wash and bury him.12

.Husayn will then set about taking revenge on his

enemies, aided by hosts of angels who, apparently too late to help him at Karbala, have been weeping over his

THE "TRADITION OF MUFADDAL" AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE RAJ'A 177

martyrdom ever since.13 Another Tradition mentions that IHusayn will be accompanied not by seventy-two companions but by 75,000 well-armed combatants.'4

Shortly afterwards, 'Ali, accompanied by 30,000 Kufans, will return to seek revenge on Mu'awiya; this

army will be augmented by a force of Shi'ites numbering 70,000. The armies of 'Ali and Mu'awiya will meet again in what appears to be a re-run of the Battle of Siffin. This time, however, there will be no arbitration, and Mu'awiya's forces will be obliterated

completely. At some point after this, the Prophet Muhammad will also return to earth; he will become sultan of the whole world, and the Imams will be his commanders and governors. The Muhammadan message will be taken to all people, and Muhammad will not have to hide his mission as he did initially in Mecca. God will give the dominion of the whole of the cosmos, from the day of its creation to the day of

Judgement, to the Prophet and the Imams.15

According to another Tradition, the Imams will come back to life in this world mainly in order to exact retribution from their enemies, who will also be returned. After taking revenge, the Imams will live for

thirty months and then die all together on the same

night, their hearts satisfied that they have righted the

wrongs perpetrated against them. Their enemies, however, will be destined for the tortures of hellfire.'6

The period of thirty months mentioned in this Tradition is at odds with the other narratives, for elsewhere it is stated that while the Mahdi will rule for

only nineteen years, one member of the Prophet's household will reign for 309 years, the same length of time as that spent by the "Sleepers in the Cave" (ahl al-

kahj).'7 Another Tradition claims that Muhammad's second stay on earth will last for 50,000 years, while the end-times caliphate of'Ali will last 44,000 years.18 The

discrepancies between these narrations receive no comment from Majlisi.

The raj'a narrators also seem to be in disagreement over exactly who will return. One Tradition asserts that when the Mahdi reappears, God will revive a group of Shi'ites with their swords and lead them to him.19 Another claims that anyone who dies before the raj'a as a believer in the Imam will reside with the Imams in heaven until the return of the Mahdi, at which point God will bring them back to earth and despatch them to the Mahdi's side.20 Elsewhere we read that any believer who has been slain will return in order to die a natural

death; any believer who has died a natural death will

return in order to be slain and thus achieve martyrdom.21 Shi'ite believers are encouraged to pray that they be included among those returning to earth in the Mahdi's

entourage, and the supplication known as Du'v-i 'ahd is

appended to the raj'a Traditions for this purpose.

4. THE "TRADITION OF MUFADDAL"

But it is the "Tradition of Mufaddal" which is the most contentious of all the raj'a narrations. Allegedly transmitted from Ja'far al-Sadiq by his disciple Mufakddal b. 'Umar, the forty-page narrative reflects the almost maniacal sense of oppression and desire for

revenge that characterised early Shi'ite messianism. We shall reserve judgement about the provenance of this Tradition until we have re-examined it in the context of both the development of ghuluww and the career of

Mufaddal b. 'Umar himself. An abridged translation of the Tradition now follows:

When the Mahdi finally does reappear he will put an end to all schisms and sectarian discord: all religions will become one. That religion will be Islam, just as the religion of Abraham and the other apostles was Islam.22

When the Mahdi first appears, no-one will be able to see him. During his occultation, he will have lived in the company of angels and those amongst the jinn who believe, but he will rise alone. He will reappear first in Mecca, wearing the clothes of the Prophet, a yellow turban and patched sandals. He will be carrying the

Prophet's staff and shepherding a thin goat. He will

approach the Ka'ba in this manner and no-one will

recognise him. He will enter the Ka'ba and stay there until nightfall. Then, under cover of darkness, the

archangels Gabriel and Michael will descend upon him, with other angels and celestial beings in their retinue. Gabriel will put himself at the Mahdi's

disposal. The Mahdi will touch Gabriel's cheek with his hand and thank God that the divine promise concerning his return has been fulfilled.

The Mahdi will then stand between the rukn and the

maqcm and cry: "O nobles and those who are close to me! O you who have been preserved on earth in order to hasten to my aid! Come forward now and obey me!" These helpers will then flock to him from east


and west, some from their places of worship and others from their beds, all galvanised by the Mahdi's call. Pillars of light will appear in the sky, so bright that everyone on earth will see them. This light will render the believers ecstatic, even though at this point they are still unaware of the Mahdi's return. By morning, all [of the believers] will be assembled with the Mahdi: their number will be 313, the same number as that of the Prophet's soldiers at the Battle of Badr. At this point,

.Husayn b. 'Ali will also return, together

with 12,000 Shi'ites.

Any pledge of allegiance to any ruler before the return of the Mahdi is tantamount to unbelief (kufr) and

hypocrisy. God will curse anyone who pledges such

allegiance, which must be given to the Mahdi alone. The Mahdi will sit with his back to the wall of the

Ka'ba, light emanating from his hands, and receive

allegiance. Gabriel will be the first to kiss his hand, followed by the angels and the jinn. The inhabitants of Mecca will wonder what is happening, but will still not recognise the Mahdi or those who are in his

company.

At sunrise, a voice will be heard calling out from the east. Audible to everyone on earth, in clear Arabic it will cry, "O people of earth! This is the Mahdi, from the family of Muhammad." The voice will then call out the names of the Prophet and the other Imams. The caller will invite the people to pledge allegiance to the Mahdi so that they may find true salvation; should

they desist, they will perish. All of the angels and the

jinn will kiss the Mahdi's hand and promise to obey him. All of the people on earth will have heard the cry and will discuss the event with one another.

Then, as the sun begins to set, a voice will call out from the west, "O people of earth! Your lord, 'Uthman b. al-'Anbasa, the Umayyad, has risen in Palestine. Go to him and pledge allegiance, so that you may be saved." All of those who have pledged allegiance to the Mahdi will refute the caller, saying, "We have

heard, but we will not obey!" However, those who have doubts concerning the Mahdi will be led astray.

The Mahdi will then lean against the Ka'ba and say, "Whoever wishes to see Adam and Seth, know that I am they; whoever wishes to see Abraham and

Ishmael, know that I am they; whoever wishes to see

Muhammad and 'Ali, know that I am they... I am

Hasan and I am IHusayn ... I am all of the Immaculate Imams. Accept my invitation and hasten to me so that I may inform you about anything you wish. Anyone who has read the holy scriptures and divine scrolls will hear them from my lips." The Mahdi will then recite all of the divine scriptures in their original forms, before they were distorted.

Presently, the Mahdi will appoint a deputy to rule over

Mecca, while he himself moves on to Medina. But before he leaves he will demolish the Ka'ba and rebuild it as it was during the time of Abraham. He will also rebuild the "sacred mosque" (masjid al-

haram). All traces of former tyranny, embodied in the form of mosques and palaces, will be destroyed.

The Mahdi's deputy in Mecca will be slaughtered by the inhabitants of the city. In response, the Mahdi will

despatch an army of jinn, instructing them to kill

everyone there save for the true believers; consequently only one in a thousand of the Meccan population shall remain.

The Mahdi will then take up residence in Kufa, where all believers will then be assembled. All of the people of the world will wish that they could reside there, so sacred will be its soil. Kdfa will grow to such an extent that its outskirts will envelop Karbala, which at this time will be the gathering place for angels and believers. Karbala will be so elevated in God's esteem that any believer who stands in that city and asks God for sustenance will be provided with a thousand times more than the whole world. All of the towns and cities once vied with each other for the title of most

auspicious place on earth. For example, the Ka'ba used to think that it was better than Karbala, but God sent a revelation in which He ordered the Ka'ba to

keep quiet, saying that since it was home to the shrine of Imam IHusayn, Karbala was the best place on earth. It was from there that the Prophet made his ascension

(mi'rdj) and blessings and goodness will be found there until the rise of the Imam.

In Medina, the position of the Mahdi will be so exalted that the believers will rejoice and the unbelievers will moan with dismay. The Mahdi will approach the grave of the Prophet. "Is this my ancestor's grave?" he will ask. The people will say that it is. "And who are those


who are buried alongside him?" the Mahdi will ask. The people will reply that two of the Prophet's companions (Abi Bakr and 'Umar) are interred

adjoining the Prophet's shrine. "Who are they?" the Mahdi will ask. "And how is it that from among all

people it is these two who are buried here?" Those

present will reply, "O Mahdi, they were the caliphs and fathers-in-law of the Prophet."

The Mahdi will then give orders for the graves of Aba Bakr and 'Umar to be opened and their remains to be exhumed. When the two caliphs are disinterred it becomes clear that their flesh has remained

uncorrupted from centuries of death; they are still as fresh as the day they died. The Mahdi will ask, "Does

anyone know these men?", to which the people will

reply, "Yes, we know them by their attributes; they were among the Prophet's closest companions." The

Mahdi will then ask, "Do any of you have any doubts

concerning these two?" The people will reply that they have no doubts whatsoever, at which point the Mahdi will rebury the corpses.

Three days later, the Mahdi will order the bodies of

Aba Bakr and 'Umar to be exhumed once more.

Again, the corpses are seen to be fresh and unsullied

by decay. The devotees of AbO Bakr and 'Umar will

rejoice, taking this to be a miraculous sign of the

caliphs' righteousness. "We are proud of our loyalty and devotion to these two men!" they will say.

At which point one of the Mahdi's followers will call

out, "All those who love these two men, stand to one side!" The assembled crowd will then split into two

groups. The Mahdi will then address the group loyal to the two caliphs and command them to recant and

express hatred towards them. The devotees of Abti Bakr and 'Umar will say, "O Mahdi! Before we knew how you felt about these two caliphs, we did not hate them. And now that we see-through the miracle of their uncorrupted flesh-that God holds them in such

high esteem, how can we show enmity towards them?"

By God's leave, the Mahdi will then summon a

swirling black wind to descend on the devotees ofAbti Bakr and 'Umar and destroy them. He will then command his men to bring the bodies of the two

companions down from the tree on which they have

been hanging according to his previous orders. Then,

by God's leave, he will bring Abu Bakr and 'Umar back to life, before giving orders for everyone to reassemble.

The Mahdi will then give the people a detailed account of the two caliphs' lives and deeds. He will

give an account of the slaying of Abel by Cain; the trial of Abraham by fire; the casting of Joseph into the

well; the punishment of Jonah in the belly of the great fish; the murder of John the Baptist; the crucifixion of

Jesus; the torture of Jirjis23 and Daniel; the wounds of Salman al-Farsi; the incident in which the door of 'Ali was burnt down by an angry mob, injuring Fatima and

causing her to miscarry; the poisoning of Imam

IHasan; the martyrdom of Husayn and his followers and children. All of these incidents will be blamed by the Mahdi on AbO Bakr and 'Umar. Indeed, all of the blood spilled unlawfully from the very beginning of

time; all rapes of innocent women; all sins and vices; all acts of treachery, oppression and injustice; all acts of wrongdoing from the time of Adam until the rise of the Mahdi-all of these will be blamed on Abu Bakr and 'Umar. The case against them will be proven and

they will confess to their crimes.

At this point the Mahdi will invite anyone who has been wronged by Abi Bakr and 'Umar to come forward and exact retribution. This will take place. The two Companions will be strung up on a tree,

whereupon the Mahdi will command a fire to rise up out of the ground. The flames will consume the tree and the two Companions along with it.

The Mahdi will then command the wind to scatter the ashes of AbO Bakr and 'Umar over the sea. But this will not be the end for them, for on the day of resurrection all believers will assemble with the "Fourteen"

(Muhammad, 'Ali, Fatima and the other eleven

Imams) to take further revenge from the two

companions. They will be put to death and revived a thousand times a day, and their tortures will never cease.

The Mahdi will then move on to Baghdad, which will be the most accursed city on God's earth. Corruption and insurrection will have destroyed the city and it will be deserted. Woe unto Baghdad and her people! All of the tortures visited on men since the beginning


of creation will descend on Baghdad. Woe betide

anyone living there! The people of Baghdad will be the most corrupt on earth: they will have known such decadence and ease that they will imagine it is heaven

on earth. Lies, vices, depravity, drunkenness, adultery and murder will be such that God will destroy the city by means of its own wrongdoing. God will unleash armies on it from all directions and Baghdad will be flattened and crushed.

At this point a Hasanid sayyid will rise in Daylam and invite people to join the Mahdi. Men of strong faith will rise from Talaqan on swift horses. Bearing

weapons, they will cut a swathe through Persia, killing

every tyrant who tries to prevent them, until they reach

Kafa, where they will take up residence. The Hasanid sayyid will meet the Mahdi and pledge allegiance to him. Only the Zaydis among the people will refuse to kiss the Imam's hand: they will reject the return of the Mahdi as sorcery. The Mahdi will advise them to think

again, but they will refuse. Finally, he will be forced to

slay them.

The Mahdi will then prepare to fight the Sufyani in Damascus: the latter will be captured and beheaded on a rock. Husayn b. 'Ali, with 12,000 trusted companions and seventy-two of his fellow martyrs from Karbala, will then appear. This will be a "return of light" (raj'a niriyya). 'Ali too will reappear and erect a tent, one

pole of which will be in Najaf, one in Medina, one in Mecca and one on the hill of Safa, near Mecca. The heavens and the earth will be illuminated and the secrets of all men revealed. Nursing mothers will flee in terror from their offspring. The Prophet and his

companions and all of those who believed in his

prophethood will return to earth. Also, all of those who refused to believe in him and who opposed him will be returned so that revenge may be exacted on them.

Then, all of the Imams will reappear and line up in front of the Prophet in order to complain of the

oppression they have suffered in their previous earthly existence. They will say: "We have been cursed,

accused, threatened, imprisoned, poisoned and

oppressed." The Prophet, weeping bitterly, will say: "O my children! I have indeed suffered more than

you." One by one the Imams will step forward to

recount their tragedies. Fatima will be the first to plead for justice. She will vilify Abti Bakr and 'Umar on

account of their usurpation of the caliphate, their

wrongful appropriation of her inherited land at Fadak, and their forced entry into 'Ali's house.24 'Ali himself

will then step forward and make similar complaints, and this will continue until all of the Imams have

pleaded for justice and demanded revenge for all of

the oppression and torture they have received from

their enemies during their first lives. Finally, the Mahdi will step forward to complain about all of those who did not believe in his reappearance.

Having heard their pleas for justice, the Prophet will turn to the Imams and say: "I thank God that He has

kept His promise to us and made us inheritors of the earth. We can live in any part of Heaven that we choose. How good is the reward of those who perform deeds of righteousness! God's succour and victory are at hand." He will then recite the Koranic verse which

describes this victory, a victory which comes to wash

away all sins. The Mahdi will then return to Kifa

where golden locusts will fall from the sky. He will then destroy the mosque erected by Yazid after the

martyrdom of Husayn at Karbala, before laying waste to all other mosques built by and for tyrants.

Finally, in the codicil to the Tradition, Mufaddal asks

al-Sadiq to explain what he means about the victory which will wash away all sins. After all, what sins could the Prophet possibly have had? Al-Sadiq explains that the Prophet once asked God to make him

responsible for all of the sins of the shi'a of 'Ali. God

granted this request and placed the burden of the sins of all Shi'ites on the Prophet's shoulders and then

immediately forgave him. However, al-Sadiq warns

Mufaddal that this must not be made public, lest

ordinary Shi'ites become lax in their actions and thus

deprive themselves of Muhammad's intercession and the mercy of the Almighty. [End of narration]

Structurally and conceptually, the "Tradition of

Mufaddal" stands apart from the vast majority of Imami narrations which deal with the reappearance of the Mahdi and the return of the Imams. Its length militates against our including it among the traditional Shi'ite hadtth material, most of which comprises relatively short reports which record the acta and dicta of the Imams, and while its themes and motifs are not entirely incongruous with those which characterise a good deal of Shi'ite end-times literature, there is a vehemence in


the anti-Sunni invective which distinguishes it even from its sister narratives.25 Its provenance is, of course, in doubt, and its ascription to Ja'far al-Sadiq almost

certainly the work of later polemicists. Mufahddal's part in the production of the text is, however, unclear; more will be said about him shortly.

It is with much greater confidence that we can

identify the Mufaddal narrative as a work which embodies the beliefs and aspirations of the "extremists", bearing as it does many of the hallmarks of early Kufan ghuluww. Our analysis of the Tradition will focus on four distinctive characteristics which suggest a ghali origin for at least certain parts of the text. These are:

i. The superhuman nature of the Imams. While all Imami Traditions ascribe qualities to the Imams which separate them from the commonalty, the

ghulat tend to describe the Imams in terms that border on the superhuman. The raj'a narratives in

general include descriptions of the Imams in which they are elevated to the position of

demiurges, and the "Tradition of Mufaddal" is no

exception.

ii. The quasi-christological nature of the Imams. A hallmark of early Kufan ghuluww was the belief in the docetic death of the Imams-Husayn in

particular-and the notion that atonement for sin could be realised through the intercession of the Imam. For the early Kufans, this intercession was tied up inextricably with the martyrdom of

Husayn, who became in one sense the "Christ that Islam never had". The "Tradition of Mufaddal" reflects this, even though the interces-

sory burden here is placed first and foremost on Muhammad himself.

iii. Anti-Sunnism. The early Kufan ghuldt were renowned for their hostility towards the caliphs AbiI Bakr and 'Umar. The "Tradition of

Mufaddal" reflects this most strikingly.

iv. The "imamocentricity" of the soteriological drama. The common thread linking all early ghulat groups was the desire to avenge the martyrdom of IHusayn. As such, messianic aspirations were focused on the return of an Imam, or Imams, who would exact retribution from their enemies and reclaim their God-given

rights as leaders of the Muslim community. Consequently, the raj'a is an opportunity for the establishment of justice for the Imams, while the salvation of the commonalty becomes a

peripheral concern. Again, the Mufaddal narrative reflects the "imamocentric" nature of the Shi'ite eschaton.

To be able to judge whether the "Tradition of

Mufaddal" does indeed reflect the teachings of the

ghuldt, it is appropriate at this point to throw some light on the evolution of ghuluww and the role in its

propagation-if any-played by Mufaddal b. 'Umar. We shall then return to the narration and assess it in the

light of our findings.

5. WHAT IS GHULUWWAND WHO WERE THE GHULA TP

The ghuldt (sing. ghdli) may be defined in general as those who are nominally Muslim but who ascribe to doctrines deemed heretical enough to place them outside the pale of Muslim orthodoxy. The overlay of Muslim civilisation on an area in the Middle East of late antiquity which was home to a number of rich traditions meant that a veritable smorgasbord of religious expressions- Zoroastrianism, Mazdaism, Manichaeism, Judaism and various forms of Gnostic Christianity-was thrown into

juxtaposition with Islam. Inevitably, with time, elements from these various traditions were adopted by some Muslims, with doctrines such as tashbih (anthropomor- phism with regard to God), tandsukh (metempsychosis) and hultil (divine incarnation in man) finding favour

among various groups and communities virtually from the advent of Islam itself.

Traditionally, however, it is with Shi'ism in

particular that ghuluww has been associated. Its most salient feature in this respect has been the extreme veneration of the Imams-'Ali in particular-which has often manifested itself in the attribution of divine powers to the Imams and their progeny. While extremist sentiments regarding 'Ali may have existed during his own lifetime, the main catalyst for the rapid development of extremist tendencies occurred with the killing of IIusayn at Karbala and the succession crisis which ensued. With the advent of the Kaysaniyya, who believed that Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya was the Mahdi of the "House of'Ali", a series of sects, sub-sects


and movements sprang up which merged the gnostic with the messianic, gradually evolving into a whole host of anarcho-mystical sects known as the ghulat. Gradually, to the beliefs already enumerated were added notions such as ghayba (occultation), raj'a (return), tafivid (delegation of divine powers to other than God) and badd~ (alteration of the divine will).

For the ghuldt, the Imams embodied not only their

political aspirations but their conception of the Godhead itself, and it is from this point onwards that the "House of 'Ali" takes on a superhuman, almost demiurgic quality. That each of the Imams in turn would become the focus of messianic expectation is therefore not

surprising, although it seems that they were always careful to distance themselves from the ghali groups who tended to accrete around them.

It was during the lifetime of the Sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq, that the extremist groups relevant to the current discussion were active. The most important of these was the group founded by the Kafan merchant Abu 'l-Khattab al-Asadi, whose followers-the

Khattabiyya - proclaimed his prophecy and deified al-

Sadiq. Among the followers of the Khattabiyya and its offshoots are a number of famous individuals whose names are prominent in the chains of transmission of a considerable number of Traditions narrated on his

authority in the classical compilations of Shi'ite hadith.26 Mufaddal b. 'Umar, the narrator of the curious "Tradition of Mufaddal", is one of them.

6. THE ROLE OF MUFADDAL B. 'UMAR

Given that the enigmatic Ktifan money changer Mufaddal b. 'Umar al-Ju'fi (d. c. 790) is one of the most prolific narrators of Shi'ite Traditions, the paucity of information on his life and career is dismaying. Of the material that he narrated-for the most part from the Fifth and Sixth Imams, Muhammad Baqir and Jacfar al-

Sadiq-we have plenty, and in the chains of transmission of those narrations concerning the return of the Hidden Imam his presence approaches ubiquity. Of Mufaddal the man, however, we know next to nothing.

Apart, it would seem, from his dubious reliability as a transmitter of Imami narrations. For a cursory study of the early biographical sources would tend to suggest that his place in the Twelver rogues' gallery ofghulat is more or less beyond doubt: Ibn Dawaid records him as "ideo- logically corrupt" (frsid al-madhhab) and generally

untrustworthy as a transmitter of Imami narrations (muidtarib al-riwaya), while al-Ghada'iri describes Mufaddal as "extremely unreliable" (4daifjiddan) and an "extremist in matters of religion" (ghdli al-madhhab).27 Western writers tend to confirm the views of the rijdl specialists. Andrew Newman quite rightly points out that Mufaddal is "universally decried in the later

biographies", while Tamir and Khalifa have no qualms about locating him firmly in the camp of the extremists, claiming that both Mufaddal and his master, Ja'far al-

Sadiq, were progenitors of the Batiniyya, a conclusion

they base on the ascription to al-Sadiq of the mysterious Kitdb al-Haft, which we shall discuss shortly.28

However, al-Kashshi's account in his Rijdl reveals that there is more to Mufaddal than meets the eye, and suggests that appraisals of him have tended in the past to be two-dimensional. What Kashshi's anecdotes imply is that at some point during his discipleship, the erstwhile loyal and thoroughly devoted Mufaddal became estranged from al-Sadiq and gravitated towards the teachings of Abu 'l-Khattab al-Asadi, the founder of the

Khattatbiyya.29 As Madelung points out, Abu 'l-Khattab was initially encouraged in his endeavours by al-Sadiq, but was later disowned by him on account of his growing extremism. Consequently, the Khattabiyya splintered into a number of sub-sects, such as the Baziqhiyya, who claimed that al-Khattab was a prophet sent by al-Sadiq; the 'Umayriyya, who deified al-Sadiq and devised rites of worship in his honour; and the

Mu'ammariyya, who believed that when the Divine

light was transferred to al-Sadiq, the latter became an

angel, and that the man now claiming to be al-Sadiq was

actually an impostor.30 All of these groups believed that the Divine light (n7r ildht) was present in the bodies of the Imams, who are by virtue of this effulgence semi- divine. The Khattabiyya and its offshoots were also antinomian, believing that they were above the letter of the law, and that the practical religious ordinances outlined in the Koran were directed at specific individuals rather than the commonalty.

One such sub-group was the Mufaddaliyya, so-called on account of their alleged adherence to Mufaddal b.

'Umar.31 The beliefs of this group, and the involvement of Mufaddal in its founding or activities, remain unclear. Madelung contends that the Mufaddaliyya, like other sub-groups of the Khattabiyya, deified al-Sadiq, but that the Mufaddaliyya later became distinguished by their repudiation of Abu 'l-Khattab; Mufaddal later recanted, however, and towards the end of his career became a


trusted companion to the seventh Shi'ite Imam, Muss al- Kazim.32 TSmir and Khalifa also refer to a brief period in Mufaddal's career in which his involvement with the

Khatt-biyya led to his being disowned by al-Sadiq. However, they point to Mufahddal's possible involvement with those who championed the imamate of Isma'il b.

Ja'far as the reason for his estrangement from al-Sadiq.33 That Mufaddal clearly did undergo some mid-life

ideological crisis which turned him away from the mainstream teachings of al-Sadiq and into the arms of the Khattabiyya-and possibly even the proto- Isma'iliyya-may be inferred from the anecdotal evidence provided by al-Kashshi. The seventeen narrations which make up the entry for Mufakddal in al- Kashshi's Rijdl span three clear divisions in his career: his discipleship under Ja'far al-Sadiq; the Khattabiyya "interlude"; and his return to the fold as boon

companion of Misa al-Kazim. The views on his character and behaviour as

reported by al-Kashshi, through various narrators, tend to reflect this periodisation. As a trusted student of al-

Sadiq, Mufahddal clearly enjoyed the high regard of his master:

Ja'far al-Sadiq asked Muhammad b. Kathir al-Thaqafi, "What is your opinion of Mufahddal?" The latter

replied, "What can I say about him? Even if I saw him

wearing priestly robes and a crucifix, I would believe him to be on the right path, especially after what I have heard about him from you." Ja'far said, "May God have mercy on him, but Hujr b. Zacida and 'Amir b. Jazd'a came to me and cursed him in front of me. I told them to refrain from this on account of my love for

[Mufaddal], but they did not accept. I asked them to desist for my sake, but they refused. May Allah not

forgive them! If they respect me, they will respect [Mufaddal] because of me."34

Indeed, Mufaddal was apparently so close to al-Sadiq that the latter looked upon him as a "second father".35 Thus when the Khattabiyya heresy began to take root and al-Sadiq's followers suggested to the Imam that he

appoint a representative to answer their religious questions and dispel their doubts, he chose Mufaddal, on the grounds that "he does not say anything false about God or about 'Ali."36

It appears, however, that it was not long before

Mufalddal himself gravitated towards the Khatt~abiyya, a move which outraged the followers of al-Sadiq, who

complained bitterly to the Imam about his representative's apparent crisis of faith. In narratives which clearly pertain to this middle period of his life, Mufahddal is

portrayed variously as an upholder of heretical doctrines

concerning Ja'far al-Sadiq; an antinomian libertine who consorts with scoundrels and pigeon-fanciers; and a fabricator of Traditions for financial gain.37 That al-Sadiq himself repudiated Mufahddal is clear from at least two accounts in which the Imam denounces his former

disciple as an "infidel" (kifir) and an "associationist"

(mushrik), although al-Kashshi implies that the Imam was at first reluctant to do so.38 It appears that the Imam's denunciation of Mufaddal was down not so much to rumours of his disciple's libertinism as to Mufaddal's alleged support for the claims surrounding Ismacil and the connection which it is claimed that he had with Ismalil's son, Muhammad. One narration recounts how the exasperated Imam sent one of his companions to warn Mufaddal that he must sever his ties with IsmX'il; another has al-Sadiq confronting Mufaddal in person, saying: "O infidel! O associationist! What do you want with my son? Do you want to kill him?"39

Finally, al-Kashshi includes a narration which confirms Mufaddal's eventual return to the fold:

It was said that when Abu 'l-Hasan [i.e. Mnsa al-

Kazim] heard about Mufaddal's death, he said: "May God have mercy on him! He was like a second father to me, and now he is at rest."40

Mufaddal emerges from al-Kashshi's anecdotes as a flawed but eminently credible character whose devotion to the Imams of the 'Alid line was punctured by a short

ideological crisis which pushed him briefly into the ambit of the Khattabiyya and other sub-sects of the

ghulat. That there is ample of evidence of ghuluww in

many of the Traditions with which he is said to be involved appears beyond doubt, although the question of attribution and authenticity will always remain, as we shall see shortly. To explore this further, we need to look at a number of other Traditions narrated by Mufaddal, particularly those ascribed to Ja'far al-Sadiq.

7. TRADITIONS NARRATED BY MUFADDAL B. 'UMAR

There are hundreds of Traditions narrated by Mufaddal b. 'Umar on behalf of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh


Shi'ite Imams, although it is for his connection to al-

Sadiq for which he is most famous. A number of narrations transmitted by Mufaddal appear in al-Saffar's seminal Basa'ir al-darajdt, a compilation of Imami Traditions which focus primarily on the near-other-

worldly nature of'Ali and his successors, and the work which more than any other established the notion of the miraculous knowledge ('ilm) of the Imam. As Newman

shows, the inclusion, inter alios, of Mufaddal in this

compilation shows that traditionists of the period often

accepted as reliable the narrations of those who would later be excoriated as extremists by the Shi'ite orthodoxy.41 And as we have already seen, narrations transmitted by Mufaddal also feature prominently in works detailing the events of the ghayba, the period of

intizdr and, more importantly from our point of view, the zuhi7r of the Mahdi and the raj'a of the Imams.

It will not have escaped the reader's attention that the two main foci of Mufaddal's narrations, namely the miraculous knowledge and attributes of the Imams, together with their return to earth in the raj'a, are

subjects that were first broached by the messianic ghuldt of Ktifa. The "Tradition of Mufaddal" which appears in the Bihdr includes both of these themes, which would

suggest-if indeed its chain of transmission is authentic-that its narrator, Mufaddal b. 'Umar, did indeed merit the pejorative ghdli al-madhhab given to him by al-Ghadd'iri.

Yet the existence of two other Traditions in the

Bihd.r, both claimed to have been narrated by Mufaddal

from Ja'far al-Sadiq, suggests that any appraisal of the Kufan money-changer that is based solely on the raj'a narratives will tell only one side of his story.

The first of these Traditions is, rather confusingly, also known as the "Tradition of Mufahddal", although it has appeared in printed editions as Tawhid al- Mufaddal, or "Mufaddal's Treatise on Divine Unity". Covering almost a hundred pages of the third volume of Majilisi's Bihar al-anwdr,

the Tradition is in the form of lengthy sermon given by Ja'far al-Sadiq in response to the

queries of a self-confessed atheist, one Ibn 'Ali 'Awja, concerning the existence of God.42 In four "sessions" or

discourses (majlis), al-Sadiq expounds on the necessity of God's existence as dictated by the order, harmony and wisdom evident in the creation of humankind, the animal kingdom, the cosmic environment in which they find themselves, and in the presence of "natural disasters". Employing the general approach of the kaldm cosmological argument, together with what seems to be

an inchoate form of the anthropic principle, the Tawhid al-Mufaddal is a standard work of Mu'tazilite-Imami theology, with nothing to suggest an origin anything but orthodox.

The second Tradition is the shorter al-Ihlilaja or "The Tradition of the Myrobalan Fruit", which also

appears in the third volume of the Bihdr.43 This Tradition is in the form of a debate between al-Sadiq and an Indian .tabib or druggist-cum-physician who, while

pounding myrobalan one day in order to mix some

concoction, came to the conclusion that the world of matter was eternal and that there was no room for the idea of a Creator. Again, the author employs the standard methods of Mu'tazilite-Imami theological reasoning, and there is nothing in either the

methodology or the conclusion that would lead us to

argue that it is the work of a heterodox Shi'ite sect. The attribution of these two Traditions to al-Sadiq

and, more importantly, the identification of al-Mufaddal as their narrator, raises some interesting issues. While it is not inconceivable that these theological pieces may have originated in some form with al-Sadiq, the

linguistic style and tenor of both Traditions suggest that

they stem from a later period; their similarity to the sermons of the Nahj al-baldgha, attributed traditionally to Imam 'Ali but most probably in part the work of later

scholars, would tend to suggest that they date from the late fourth or early fifth century A.H. The problem with the idea of "back-projected" fabrication in this case, however, is one of timing. For if the Tawhid al-

Mufaddal and the Treatise on the Myrobalan Fruit were attributed to al-Sadiq in order that they might gain credibility, why would the fabricator include the name of Mufaddal b. 'Umar in the chain of transmission, given that by the end of the fourth century, Mufaddal had been

exposed by at least two rijdl scholars as an unreliable extremist? This suggests an earlier date for the pieces, possibly no later than the end of the third century A.H. and certainly well before Mufaddal's posthumous but

very public disgrace at the hands of the heresiographers and the rij'l experts, thus allowing the fabricator to trade on both the good name of al-Sadiq and the reliability of

his narratorpar excellence, Mufa-ddal b. 'Umar. The fact that, linguistically, the Traditions appear to be a fifth century concoction could be attributed to the eisegetical interpolations of later editors, possibly including Majlisi himself.

A third, weaker alternative is to assume that the Traditions and their chains of transmission are authentic,


in which case they would represent the first brick of a

theological edifice that has remained intact until the

present day, thus locating Mufaddal firmly within the matrix of al-Sadiq's loyal and, more importantly, ideo-

logically orthodox supporters. Whether authentic or a later work attributed to al-Sadiq via Mufaddal, the existence of these Traditions may be adduced to propose that Mufaddal's ghuluww was not all-embracing, and that in all likelihood he was responsible for the transmission of as much "orthodox" Imami material as he was of Traditions later deemed extreme.

8. MUFADDAL AND THE KITAB AL-HAFT WA 'L-AZILLA

The raj'a narratives aside, what appears to be the most

convincing evidence for Mufaddal's heterodox tendencies can be found in an obscure treatise entitled Kitdb al-Haft wa 'l-azilla ("The Book of Heptads and

Shadows"), which is allegedly the Kifan's written record of question and answer sessions conducted with his master, al-Sadiq.44 Unlike other material claimed to have been narrated from al-Sadiq by Mufaddal, the Kitab al-Haft does not appear in any of the standard

Shi'ite works. According to its editors, Famir and Khalifa, the sole manuscript upon which the printed edition is based was located originally in an

Ism.'ili library in the Syrian town of Masyaf, where it was

apparently held in considerable esteem by Syrian Ismalilis. A cursory study, however, reveals that its links with the IsmRailis are peripheral, and that the treatise does indeed reflect the beliefs and ideas of certain Kilfan extremist groups that existed on the fringes of Shi'ism in the second and third centuries A.H.

However, the subject matter of al-Haft differs con-

siderably from the material we find in the raj'a narratives, a departure which reflects to an extent the two main components of ghuluww-messianism and

gnosticism-which were ever present in ghali thought but which were not always expressed in the same narration. While the raj'a narratives would have

appealed to the aspirations of those mainstream Shi'ites who looked to the return of the Imams in order to realise a political goal, as well as to the messianic apocalypts who were largely responsible for transmitting them, the

Kitdb al-Haft would have appealed only to those whom Bayhom-Daou calls the "gnostic ghuladt"--namely, those on the periphery of Shi'ism who, over and above

promulgating the soteriological myth of the raj'a, looked to the miraculous creation and knowledge of the Imams in order to make sense of their universe.45 In short, while the raj'a narratives embody the political aspirations of the ghulat, works such as the Kitab al-

Haft represent, for want of a better term, the ghali theology which underpins them.

Similar to what Halm cites as the earliest known work of the ghali tradition, the Umm al-Kitab or "Foundational Text", the sixty-seven abwab of the Kitab

al-Haft contain the body of esoteric knowledge allegedly vouchsafed to Mufaddal by al-Sadiq. Here, we read of the creation of man and the universe from the

primordial world of shadows (azilla)-pre-existing souls which, owing to their refusal to believe in God, are cast down and which create, out of their fall, the heavens and earth in which they dwell. The world painted by the

Kitab al-Haft is a world in which the Imam is an embodiment of God's light or spirit, and can even effect a kind of demiurgic intervention between God and the rest of creation. It is a world in which the divine light is transmitted from one Imam to the next, or from an Imam to his trusted disciples, who are then considered semi- divine in their own right. It is also a world in which

metempsychosis (tandsukh) is a common occurrence, and where men can be metamorphosed into beasts as

punishment through the miraculous power of the Imam.46

The semi-divine nature of the Imam finds its most elaborate expression in the author's account of the Imam

IHusayn, who, as we have already seen, is central to

ghali concerns. Here, the author is at pains to stress the docetic nature of Husayn's "martyrdom", stressing that it was a likeness of Husayn that was slain on the battlefield of Karbald, while the real IHusayn-the embodiment of the prophet Ismail before him-was raised up to God:

.Iusayn was so elevated in God's esteem that He

would never have allowed him to be slaughtered by infidels. The killing of Husayn was an illusion that

only the infidels could see, for .Husayn

was like Jesus...47

The identification of al-Haft as a work of the ghulat is unproblematic, although its precise origins remain unclear. Notwithstanding the claim that the book is held in high esteem by the Syrian Ismwiliyya, the Kitab al- Haft is clearly not an Isma'ili work. As Madelung points


out, the doctrines of the Ismwiliyya which emerged towards the end of the third century have little in common with the teachings of the Khattabiyya, whose ideas permeate the text, and that texts which did eventually find acceptance as IsmTili literature are in actual fact grafted on from other traditions. The Umm al-Kitcb, revered by the IsmWilis of Badakshan is one such example; the Kitab al-Haft appears to be another.

Furthermore, according to Madelung, the teachings of the "Pentadists" (al-Mukhammisa),48 which are evident in the Umm al-Kitab, formed the doctrinal basis of the Nusayriyya, who believe that Abu 'l-Khattab, Mufaddal b. 'Umar and Mufaddal's son, Muhammad, are the "gateways" (abwjb) to

al-.Sadiq, Musi al-Kazim

and 'Ali b. Musa al-Rida respectively. The identification of al-Haft as a Nusayri work with origins in one of the obscure offshoots of the Khattabiyya would thus appear to be sound.

Whether al-Sadiq was indeed the source of al-Haft, as Tamir and Khalifa seem to believe, does not concern us here. Our arguments have from the outset been predicated on the assumption of doctrinal "orthodoxy" on the part of al-Sadiq as defined by classical and contemporary Twelver Shi'ite scholars. Tamir and Khalifa's suggestion that al-Sadiq was the founding father of the Batiniyya,49 and that he hid his true orientation under the cloak of taqiyya, is a fascinating one that would repay further consideration and research. However, it must not delay us here.

The question which concerns us here is whether or not Mufaddal was responsible for al-Haft, either as the originator of the text or as narrator from al-Sadiq. The response to this must be that we simply do not know for sure. While al-Haft is certainly representative of the kind of teachings that Mufaddal would have come across during the ideological crisis which pushed him into the ambit of the ghulat, it is impossible to say whether he is the source. The question of attribution is always a difficult one, particularly where the works of the early Shi'ites are concerned, and what applies to Mufaddal's possible role in the production of the Tawhid and the Treatise of the Myrobalan Fruit also applies, mutatis mutandis, to his role in the production of al- Haft.

However, such considerations do not prevent T~imir and Khalifa from linking Mufadhdal to the work, or Halm from attributing it instead to the Kufan ghali, Muhammad b. Sinan.5so Halm's ascription appears to be based on an entry in the Rijal of Najashi which credits

Muhammad b. Sinan with the authorship of a certain Kitib al-Azilla.51 Whether or not this is the same book is impossible to say. Muhammad b. Sinan was a Kufan ghali and a coeval of Mufaddal; they often appear together as transmitters of Traditions ascribed to al- Sadiq and it is possible that they were both followers of Abu 'l-Khattab at some point. But there is nothing to suggest that Muhammad b. Sinan rather than Mufaddal was responsible for al-Haft, although clearly more research is needed.52

9. THE RAJCA NARRATIVE RE-EXAMINED

Having looked at the evolution of ghuluww and the career of Mufaddal b. 'Umar, we are now in a better position to re-examine the raj'a narratives in general, and the "Tradition of Mufaddal" in particular, with a view to gauging the influence of ghali thought on the doctrine of the return of the Imams according to the four criteria mentioned earlier.

i. The miraculous nature of the Imams in the raj'a

The Imams who reappear during the raj'a are characterised first and foremost by superhuman longevity. This applies not only to the Mahdi, who will have lived in occultation "in the company of angels" for over a thousand years, but also to a number of the other Imams who reappear: a second stay on earth of 50,000 years is posited for the returning Prophet, while 'Ali's caliphate will be only six thousand years shorter.

The Mahdi himself will reign but briefly, but he is arguably the most otherworldly of all the returning Imams. The Mahdi is prophetic in the Muhammadan sense of the word, for not only does his return precede that of Muhammad, but he also enjoys all of the accou- trements of prophethood, including the ability to perform evidentiary miracles: Gabriel will be at his service and the angels in his employ; thejinn will be put to work at his command; fire and wind will do his bidding, and so on.

Furthermore, besides sharing in the "Muhammadan light", the Mahdi also declares himself to be the embodiment of not only the other Imams but also all of the messengers and apostles of old. This is reminiscent of the passage in al-Haft in which the author claims that the Imam Husayn was the embodiment of Ismacil, Jesus


and all of the prophets before him.53 Here, the Mahdi becomes a composite of all of the saints, apostles and imams before him, and would make the reappearance of Muhammad and the other Imams redundant if it were it not for the need for justice to be seen to be done by both the Imams and their enemies.

Yet if the Prophet, the Mahdi and Imam Husayn appear otherworldly in the raj'a narratives, Imam 'Ali is

positively demiurgic. Included among the raj'a Traditions of Haqq al-yaqin is a long narration in which 'Ali claims that he and the other Imams are indeed the "names of God" (asm&-i husnd) and repositories of Divine knowledge:

I am the slave of God and the brother of the Prophet of God; I am the trusted friend of God, the storehouse of Divine knowledge and the treasury of His secrets; I am the veil (hfijb) of God and the face of God to which all must turn if they wish to see Him; I am the

bridge to God and the "scales" of God...I am the one who will decide who enters heaven and hell: the rewards of heaven are mine to bestow and the

punishments of hell mine to mete out. I am the one who will appear framed in the disc of the sun at the end of time... I am the Lord of the "return", and the one to whom God has bequeathed His knowledge and His greatest name...54

That the origin of this narration is Saffar's Basd'ir al- darajdt, repository par excellence of ghalt Traditions, should, like Majlisi's endorsement of the source as sound, come as no surprise.

ii. The quasi-christological nature of the raj'a actors

The shared features that link Shicism to aspects of Judaeo-Christian history and tradition in general, and to Catholicism in particular, are not few, and have long been the subject of debate and speculation. While

superficial parallels abound--the twelve Imams of the House of 'Ali and the twelve disciples of Christ, for example, or the seventy-two companions of

.Husayn at

Karbala and the seventy-two followers of Christ sent out by him to preach-it is at the doctrinal level that linkages become more significant. Nowhere is this clearer than in the general Shi'ite concept of redemptive suffering, elements of which are evident in most of the lengthier intizdr and raj'a narratives, including the

"Tradition of Mufaddal". The readiness of the Imams to bear witness (shahada) to the fact that the Muslim

community had been led astray after the death of the

Prophet by unsuitable and illegitimate leaders, and to suffer, if need be, on behalf of their shiTa, is the key to the concept of martyrdom in Shi'ism, and martyrdom is linked inextricably to the notion of intercession

(shafa'a). As Ayoub points out:

This intercession is the direct reward of the sufferings of the entire family of the Prophet, and of Husayn especially, as his status could only be attained through martyrdom. Redemption in Shi'i piety must be understood in the context of intercession.55

The redemptive power of the suffering endured by the Imams is such that ordinary Shi'ites who share in the sorrows of the "House of 'Ali", and who themselves are indirect participants in that suffering on account of the tribulations of intizdr, may benefit-and indeed achieve

salvation-by means of intercession.56 That there is a

parallel here to be drawn between the suffering of the Imams and the crucifixion of Christ is clear, given that the persecution, death and resurrection of Christ are

examples of redemptive suffering par excellence in the Christian tradition, with the salvation of man linked

inextricably with the suffering of Christ.

Naturally, orthodox Shi'ite teaching-in keeping with the Koranic approach to the Jesus story-rejects the notion that Christ was sacrificed for the sake of human salvation and, along with their Sunni co-religion- ists, deny that he was actually crucified at all. Instead, they believe in a quasi-docetic theory of substitution, claiming that it was a "likeness" of Christ that was nailed to the cross, while Jesus himself was "taken up" by God and preserved until his return to earth at the end of time. Shi'ite tradition holds that this return will occur in conjunction with the reappearance of the Mahdi, behind whom Christ will pray, presumably as a gesture of obedience to the Imam but also as a sign of the

primacy of Islam over Christianity.57 However, while the second coming of Christ

receives no mention in the "Traditional of Mufaddal", there is a quasi-christological subtext to the narrative that sets it apart from other Shi'ite narrations on the return of the Imams and helps us to locate it within the general matrix of ghulat teachings on the raj'a. This comes in the form of a kind of substitutionary atonement worked out on the Prophet himself, who, as the codicil


to the "Tradition of Mufaddal" confirms, will take upon himself all of the sins of the Shi'ites so that, in forgiving him, God can forgive them. In fact, it could be said that from the "Tradition of Mufaddal" there emerges a

Christ-figure that is a composite of the three main actors in the drama of the raj'a: IHusayn as the martyr undergoing docetic death on behalf of the Shi'ite community; the Mahdi, whose "occultation" is

analogous to the ascension of Christ and whose zuh.ir

is the equivalent of Christ's parousia; and Muhammad, who will take on the sins of the whole world and then atone for them. The idea of docetic death, martyrdom, atonement and parousia are all features of early Kifan

ghuluww as discussed earlier in the context of the Kitab

al-Haft, leaving little doubt that the Mufaddal narrative stems from a similar cosmological tradition.

iii. The vilification ofAbi7 Bakr and 'Umar

As the pejorative epithet rdfidi suggests, a characteristic feature of many of the early Kaifan Shi'ite sects and sub- sects was their often extreme anti-Sunni positions, particularly among those groups who would later be identified by the emerging Twelver orthodoxy as ahl al-

ghuluww.58 As the "Tradition of Mufaddal" clearly demonstrates, the penalties meted out to Abi Bakr and 'Umar by the returning Mahdi embody a level of

contempt towards the two caliphs far exceeding anything one encounters in orthodox Shi'ite works, and thus places the narrative squarely in the ghuldt tradition.59 Again, a parallel can be drawn between this narrative and the work erroneously attributed to him, the Kitab al-Haft, where various enemies of the ahl al-bayt are portrayed as belonging to the "party of Iblis" or, as

punishment for their perceived transgressions, are transformed through metempsychosis into various sub- human and animal forms; the ram sacrificed in place of the prophet Ishmael, for example, is said to have been the embodiment of the spirit of the caliph 'Umar, while Ishmael is the embodiment of the slaughtered Imam

HIusayn.60 Traces of the proto- Shi'ite belief in

punishment through metempsychosis also filtered through into old Persian legends, with one story portraying the caliph 'Umar as an owl, and another depicting the murderer of Husayn b. 'Ali as a four-eyed dog, destined to roam the earth forever in search of water, presumably as a punishment for withholding water from the family of

.Husayn at Karbala.61

This is, of course, not to say that hostility to the first two caliphs is conspicuous by its absence from the

scholarly output of the mainstream Twelver Shi'ite muhaddithin. That later compendia of Traditions do indeed include narrations which can be construed as anti- Sunni in tone is perhaps understandable, particularly when one bears in mind that opposition to the perceived usurpation of 'Alid rights by the first three "Rightly- Guided" caliphs is fundamental to all Shi'ite groups in

general. However, nothing in the major canon of Shi'ite hadith material approaches the severity of the stance vis- a-vis Abu Bakr and 'Umar adopted by the author of the "Tradition of Mufaddal".

Majlisi, for his part, appears to have no problem in

accepting the allegations levelled against Abi Bakr and 'Umar by the narrator of the Mufaddal narrative.

Despite Majlisi's teachings on the centrality of divine

justice, the serious theological implications of the events foretold in the account are not registered. That the imputation of the sins of all eternity to Abu Bakr and 'Umar calls into question the whole Koranic thesis of personal responsibility seems not to occur to the

'Allama, while what amounts in practice to the vicarious atonement of Muhammad for the sins of all devoted Shi'ite-again an apparent violation, one would assume, of a number of Koranic principles-is accepted without question. Nor, on a slightly more

superficial note, does it occur to Majlisi to question whether someone with such seemingly ineluctable

enmity towards 'Umar would have attributed a Tradition of this nature to the first Shi'ite Imam to be descended from the first caliph.62

Majlisi attempts to justify the diabolification of the first two caliphs in the Mufaddal Tradition through a series of terse interpolations in the Bihdr narrative and a

considerably lengthier appraisal of the caliphs' careers in his Persian Haqq al-yaqin.63 In the Bihdr, Majlisi says that the main reason for the attribution of all sins to Aba Bakr and 'Umar is that they deprived 'AlI of his right to the caliphate. As a result, all of the succeeding Imams were deprived of their rights too, a situation which culminated in the rise of tyrannical rulers such as the

Umayyads and the 'Abbasids and the perpetuation of injustice and oppression until the eventual reappearance of the Mahdi. The tyranny of usurpatory rulers is, in turn, the root cause of the infidelity of all unbelievers and the vice of all sinners. Had 'All been able to secure his rights, unbelief would have eventually been extirpated and no-one would have gone astray. The


reason that unbelief was able to take root was that Abui Bakr and 'Umar had already laid the foundations of

tyranny and oppression, and these had sullied the hearts of the people. The sins of all men are attributable to the first two caliphs, opines Majlisi, because they voiced no

objection to the wrongdoings of men like themselves. And he who does not object to the sins of others is as

good as guilty of them himself.64 Indeed, concludes

Majlisi, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the evil spirits of Abu Bakr and 'Umar actually participate in the sins of ordinary men, just as the pure spirits of the Imams are present in the righteous deeds of the prophets.65 Majlisi's conclusion here is little short of an endorsement for belief in metempsychosis, and as such would not look out of place in the Kitab al-Haft, or, indeed, any ghili text.

In the Haqq al-yaqTn, Majlisi devotes over a hundred and thirty pages to what he constantly reminds us is but a "brief exposition" of the flaws and wrongdoings of Abu Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthman, often adducing various Sunni sources-almost always unreferenced-in

support of his arguments. The main crime of Abi Bakr

is, as one might expect, the suffering he inflicted on the "House of 'Ali" when he usurped the caliphate-a role for which he was never suited, Majlist avers, on account of the fact that the Prophet had never entrusted any matter of importance to him. He also stands accused of

depriving Fatima of her inheritance at Fadak; for giving incorrect rulings when administering the shari'a; and for

making sure that 'Umar succeeded him, among other

things.66 'Umar, for his part, fares considerably worse than

Abu Bakr in Majlisi's appraisal, who considers the second caliph to have been the eminence grise whose machinations brought the first caliph to power. 'Umar, claims Majlisi, was complicit in all of the wrongdoings perpetrated by Abu Bakr, whom he had been grooming for the caliphate for years. Majlisi cites the "pen and ink" affair as proof of 'Umar's treachery: the dying Prophet had asked for writing materials in order that his nomination of 'Ali as successor might be recorded for posterity, but 'Umar dismissed his request as delirium. Then, when the Prophet died, 'Umar started the rumour that Muhammad was not dead but would soon return, simply to give Abui Bakr enough time to return to Medina to claim the caliphate and deprive 'Ali of his rights. Other wrongdoings attributed to 'Umar include his ruling that the practice of temporary marriage be discontinued; his inequitable division of

the bayt al-mal; and his lack of knowledge on issues of

jurisprudence.67 In the main, the charges (mata'in) levelled by Majlisi

against the three caliphs are unremarkable, and Majlisi adds little to the classical Shi'ite litany of grievances against them. It is the alacrity with which Majlisi construes each of their perceived misdemeanours as

embodying either unbelief (kufr) or hypocrisy (nifaq) which prompts one to draw parallels between his discourse and the strident anti-Sunnism of the ghuldt, particularly as it is manifest in the "Tradition of Mufaddal".

iv. The imamocentricity of the raj'a

Finally, there is what can only be described as a relentless imamocentricity about the raj'a narratives that

distinguishes them from all other eschatological traditions in Islam. For unlike the myth of the Mahdi communicated through the hadith of the ahl al-sunna, which posits a future saviour who will restore peace and

justice to a world filled with chaos and tyranny, the sote-

riological focus of the Shi'ite raj'a as portrayed by Mufaddal is on the Shi'ites alone, for whom justice is

predicated solely on the restoration of the rights of the "House of 'Ali" to temporal rule. Since the oppression suffered by the Shi'ites throughout history is held to be a corollary of the oppression suffered by the Imams, justice will obtain only when the Imams are seen by their devotees to take revenge on their oppressors and secure their God-given rights.

The key word is, of course, revenge: revenge for the

usurpation of the caliphate of 'Ali; revenge for the mis- treatment of Fatima and the poisoning of Hasan; and, most crucially, revenge for the killing of Husayn. The

burning desire to avenge HI.usayn's

death at Karbala is

arguably the foundation stone of Ktifan ghali messianism and is omnipresent in the raj'a narratives.68 The "Tradition of Mufaddal" portrays an oppressed and embittered faith community whose history is marked out

by events in the lives of their oppressed saviour-saints: the minor occultation; the major occultation; the "tribulation" or intizdr which must be endured indefinitely; and the return to earth of a soteriological "holy family" whose reappearance must be awaited with patience. The Twelver Shi'ites live in a world filled with signs and symbols of the end of history in what Jacob Neusner calls "paradigmatic time", according to a model which


...obliterates distinctions between past, present, and future, between here and now and then and there. The

past participates in the present, the present recapitu- lates the past, and the future finds itself determined, predetermined really, within the same free-standing structure comprised by God's way of telling time.69

Like Rabbinic Judaism, and nascent Christianity, Twelver Shi'ism constructed an entirely new way to think about times past and to keep all time-past, present and future-within a single framework. The model that was constructed consists of selected events which form a pattern that imposes order and meaning on the chaos of what happens, be it in the past, present or future. Thus usurpation of the caliphate of 'Ali, the

martyrdom of IHusayn and the promise of salvation

through the return of the Mahdi are the paradigms upon which this other-than-historical method of viewing time is constructed.

In the raj'a narratives, however, the salvation of the

many is contingent upon the salvation of the few: the

Shi'ite faithful cannot be at peace until their enemies have been seen to be punished-on earth-and their

soteriological heroes avenged. That the raj'a thus undermines the objective of the resurrection and

judgement as adumbrated by the Koran is clear; this is

compounded by the tendency of narrator after narrator to reinterpret the resurrection verses and present them as allusions not to the salvation of mankind in general but of the Imams in particular. In short, history is their story, and the drama of the raj'a its fitting climax.70

10. MAJLISI AND THE RAJ'A

Muhammad Baqir MajlisT (1037-1110 A.H.), prolific collector of Traditions and architect of the popularisa- tion of Twelver Shi'ism in the late Safavid period,71 has often come under attack for his presentation of narrations such as the "Tradition of Mufaddal", not least

by those for whom such material is considered beyond the pale doctrinally.72 Those generous to Majlisi-such as his biographer 'Ali Dawani, for example73-are content to conclude that his main purpose seems to have been to record all the information in his possession without necessarily expressing any opinion on its authenticity or value, and that one should in this case accept that some of his narrations will be less reliable than others: he has, to his credit, provided a mass of

information, and it remains for astute scholars to

distinguish between the sound and the weak. Nevertheless, the fact remains that while a lot of the

material in the Bihdr does indeed appear without comment, Majlisi clearly feels the need to interpolate whenever the need arises, most tellingly in the context of those narrations which, with hindsight, are the most contentious. With regard to the "end times" Traditions which fill several of the 110 volumes of the Bihdr, his contribution comes in the form of an official sanction for the doctrine of "the return" as foretold in the raj'a narratives, with apparently no concern over the issue of

authorship or authenticity. In the context of the "Tradition of Mufahddal", this

apparent oversight seems particularly confusing. Why, when the Ottoman threat had subsided, would Majlisi have been so eager to champion the anti-Sunnism of the

Mufaddal narrative? And why, when the Safavid dynasty was by Majlisi's time well established, would he find mileage in supporting a Tradition that embodied the militant messianism of those who considered themselves to have been disenfranchised by one

usurpatory dynasty after another? One possible answer to the first question may emerge

from our understanding of the relativity of the notion of extremism. Traditionally, the definitional fluidity of the term ghuluww has been such that views on its nature, scope and significance have differed-often dramatical-

ly-from one author to the next, according to

perspective. If modem scholars with the benefit of

hindsight can differ quite substantially on what constitutes ghuluww, we should not expect consistency and unanimity from scholars operating at a time when the demarcation line between the orthodox and the heterodox was still, in certain doctrinal areas at least, far from clear. Majlisi's inclusion of narrators considered by earlier scholars-al-Kashshi, for instance-to be ghali al-madhhab may have been out of genuine belief that, at least as far as their vilification of the caliphs was concerned, their madhhab was sound and their views were not ghali in the slightest. After all, Majlisi's theology bears none of the hallmarks of the gnostic cosmology that informed the worldview of the anti- Sunni ghulat in second-century Ktifa; consequently it is possible that he rejected what he personally considered beyond the pale-as he did, notoriously, with Sufism- and included what he believed to be acceptable.

Failing this, it is would not be unreasonable to read certain political motives into Majlisi's endorsement of


the anti-Sunnism inherent in the raj'a narratives. In actual fact it is not at all clear that the threat posed by the recrudescent Sunnism which culminated in the Shah

Isma'il II interlude had completely subsided, even by Majlisi's time, in which case the propagandistic value of the raj'a narratives would have been considerable.74

If Majlisi appears more than eager to pass comment on the diabolification of Abfi Bakr and 'Umar in the Mufaddal narrative, he is less than forthcoming on what, in the context of his own socio-political situation, was arguably the most contentious assertion made by the anonymous apocalypt, namely that any allegiance pledged to a ruler before the reappearance of the Hidden Imam is tantamount to an act of unbelief (kufr). Kulayni includes a similar Tradition attributed to Ja'far al-Sadiq in al-Kafi:

Any flag that is raised [by a ruler] before the rise of the Mahdi will have been raised by an idol (taghi7t), and those who obey [this ruler] will have obeyed other than God.75

From Majlisi's interpolations in the text of the Bihdr narrative it is clear that for him, the despotism of all rulers before the advent of the Mahdi is a corollary of the sins of the first two caliphs: had they been ready to uphold justice and render to 'Ali what was rightfully his, justice would have prevailed and despotism would never have taken root. However, from the day that the caliphate was usurped until the reappearance of the Mahdi, all temporal rulers were destined to be tyrants and the Shi'ite faithful, like their Imams before them, to be oppressed.

Yet the idea of a continuum of tyranny and injustice, while totally congruous with the twin principles of

intizar and raj'a, sits uncomfortably alongside Majlisi's unquestioning acceptance of the legitimacy of Safavid kingship and the lavish praise that he showers on its rulers as defenders of the Islamic faith.76 Majlisi attempts to solve the problem of legitimacy through an eisegetical sleight-of-hand: interpreting certain symbols and motifs of the raj'a narratives as alluding to the Safavid dynasty, he elevates his royal masters to major players in the drama of the Twelver eschaton. The introduction to his Chahardah hadith, a tract on the rise of the Mahdi, is illuminating in this regard:

It is obvious to all men of discernment that it is the exalted Safavid dynasty which we must thank for the continued existence of the glorious religion of their

illustrious forefathers in this land; all believers are indebted to them on this account. It is because of [the Safavid dynasty] that I was able to bring together the Traditions of the Immaculate Imams as the Bihar al- anwar. And it was while I was engaged in this work that I discovered two Traditions in which the Imams predicted the rise of this exalted rule and gave to all

Shi'ites the good news that this glorious dynasty would be joined (ittisJl) in time to the government of the Hidden Imam...77

The first Tradition claimed by Majlisi to foretell the rise of the Safavids talks of the Mahdist rising in Khurasan, and a man "from our line" emerging from Gilan to join him, with the "flags of the Turks" flying in support. According to Majlisi, the "man from our line" is none other than Shah Ismdil I.78 In the second, "a people in the East" rise up in order to claim their rights to the caliphate but are unable to do so until the Mahdi reappears.79 Ignoring the fact that the Safavids rose from Azerbaijan, Majlisi claims that the Tradition refers to the rise and rule of the Safavid dynasty, which will precede and indeed precipitate the rule and the rise of the Mahdi.80 Furthermore, in his Persian translation of the Tradition, included in the Chahardah hadith, "the man from our line" appears as "a king shall rise from among us", thus incorporating the Safavids into the "last days" scenario, sacralising their role and giving their rule a veneer of inevitability. The inter-dependence of Shah and shaykh was clearly not lost on Majlisi, and any Traditions that could be used to bolster one would auto-

matically bolster the other. In championing the raj'a, Majlisi was indirectly strengthening his own position and, by virtue of their role as interpreters of the Imami Traditions, the position of the 'ulamd as de jure guardians of the Twelver faith.

In short, Majlisi, wittingly or otherwise, incorporat- ed into his work a number of narratives of highly dubious provenance bearing all the hallmarks of second- century ghuluww. Had the inclusion of such material been an act of oversight, or for illustrative or didactic purposes alone, Majlisi's position would have been

unproblematic. However, the fact that he not only comments favourably on such narratives but actually augments them with lengthy interpolations of a similar tenor cannot but lead to the conclusion that he himself was, at least as far as the raj'a narratives are concerned,

ghali al-madhhab according to the criteria employed by al-KashshI.


11. SUMMATION AND CONCLUSIONS

The "Tradition of Mufaddal" is one of a number of Twelver narrations which are purported to foretell the events of the raj'a, the return to earth of the Imams of the "House of 'Ali" during the parousia of the Mahdi at the end of time. Belief in the raj'a has traditionally been considered part and parcel of belief in the Twelver

Shi'ite imamate, and Traditions relating to this theme can be found in many works of classical Shi'ite scholarship, including the canonical "four books" of Twelver Shi'ite hadith and a number of works of

jurisprudence and exegesis. With the current growth of militant messianism in world religions in general, the notion of the soteriological hero has arguably greater immediacy than at any point, and nowhere is this felt more keenly than among the Twelver Shi'ite community, for whom the continued occultation of the Hidden Imam has socio-political connotations of considerable import.

While it is impossible to say with complete confidence that Mufaddal is the source of the views

expressed in the Tradition which bears his name, we have no problem in ascribing the narration to him, particularly in the light of his brief sojourn in the ghulat camp, from which period this curio may well stem.

Furthermore, it would appear that most, if not all, of the narrations on the raj'a included in the major compendia of Twelver Traditions bear the hallmarks of second- and

third-century Kifan ghuluww. This is compounded by the fact that many of the figures who transmitted the

raj'a narratives were considered unreliable, mendacious or religiously corrupt by later Twelver authorities.

Mufaddal b. 'Umar, the likely source of the Tradition which famously bears his name, is one such figure. Despite this, contemporary Twelver scholars are almost without exception silent on the issue of the provenance of the raj'a narratives and its precise doctrinal status, and the return of the Imams at the end of time remains a

potent and popular theme in contemporary Twelver

theological, devotional and, more recently, socio-

political literature. The accusations of ghuluww levelled against them

by later scholars notwithstanding, Mufaddal b. 'Umar and his Ktifan coevals have retained an important place for themselves in the history of Shi'ite Traditions. For while much of the material narrated through their mediation exhibits, even to the relatively untrained eye, features and characteristics that would seem to put them

beyond the pale of modem Twelver Shi'ism, and which, it may be argued, deserves the retrospective branding of "extremism", there are many Traditions narrated by them which are most certainly construable as "orthodox". Indeed, it may be argued that to discard all of the Traditions narrated by them simply on the

grounds that they were later identified as ghulat would be to undermine the very foundations of Shi'ite Tradition and law.

The inability, or unwillingness, of later and contem-

porary Shi'ite scholars to make some definitive announcement on the authenticity and value of material transmitted by narrators known to be ghali al-madhhab

may stem from an innate reluctance on their part to risk the baby being thrown out with the bathwater. For while to pronounce Mufaddal's raj'a narratives unsound while

championing his Tawhid or the Treatise on the

Myrobalan Fruit is perfectly acceptable to a Shi'ite scholar who is fully aware of the situation attending Mufaddal's life and career, it may not be acceptable to the generality of the Shi'ite faithful, who are not given kindly to mixed messages concerning their scholars. This perhaps goes some way to explaining why few

contemporary Shi'ite scholars are ready to reject Mufaddal and his raj'a narrative out of hand, preferring to classify belief in the return of the Imams as "optional" and leaving the issue of authenticity to the individual.81

More important, however, is the danger that a

rejection of the raj'a narratives would pose for the

soteriology of Twelver Shi'ism in general. For while a

disambiguation of the raj'a narratives would indeed be

welcome, the return of the Imams is linked so inextrica-

bly with the return of the Mahdi, both from the point of view of concept and shared chains of transmission, that to question one would, inevitably perhaps, be to

question the other. And given the socio-political importance of the Mahdi for the guardians and

gatekeepers of Twelver Shi'ism-the culam--the chances of such questions being asked in the near future remain slim.

Notes

SAllama Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, Haqq al-yaqin (Isfahan, 2001), p. 351.

2 Ibid., pp. 244-45. Majlisi's account singles out 'Umar as the instigator of the rumour that Muhammad had not died. He also maintains that this was a ploy to buy time for Aba


Bakr in order that the latter might return to Medina to lay claim to the caliphate.

3 Muhammad IHasan al-Nawbakhti, Firaq al-shi'a , ed. H. Ritter (Istanbul, 1931), p. 22.

4 For examples of the Prophetic Traditions on the Mahdi in

Sunni collections, see Muhammad b. 'Isa al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Tirmidhi (Cairo, 1356 A.H.), vol. IV, pp. 505-6. For an account of the Mahdist claims surrounding Ibn al-

Hanafiyya, see Jassim M. Hussein, The Occultation of the

Twelfth Imam (Tehran, n.d.), p. 13. 5 On the Jar•diyya, see Nawbakhti, Firaq, p. 62; for the

Ndwusiyya and the Waqifiyya, see ibid., pp. 67, 80-83. See also Hussein, op. cit., p. 3.

6 For the Mahdist claims of the Muhammadiyya, see M.

Karim Khurasani, Tanbihat al-jaliya ft kashf asrar al-

batiniyya (Najaf, 1972) pp. 41-42. For the claims

concerning the Eleventh Imam, see Nawbakhti, op. cit.,

pp. 96-97; and Hussein, op. cit., p. 14. 7 'Allama Majlisi, Bihar al-anwar, (Beirut, 1404 A.H.). The

whole of Volume LIII of the I10-volume Bihdr is given over to the occultation of the Hidden Imam, the "period of

expectation" (intizar) of the Shi'ites and the reappearance of the Mahdi.

8 Majlisi, Bihdr, vol. LIII, pp. 39-144. Majlisi uses approx- imately thirty-one different classical works as sources of the 163 raj'a Traditions in his collection. Of these

Traditions, over a quarter are from al-Saffar's Basd'ir al-

darajat, narrated mostly by Kufan followers of the Fifth

and Sixth Imams known or suspected to be ghali such as

Zurara, Abii Basir, Muhammad b. Sinan and Mufaddal b.

'Umar himself (See below, n. 25). Also included among these are three Traditions narrated by Abu 'l-Khattab, founder of the heretical Khattabiyya.

9 Ibid., vol. LIII, pp. 1-39. 10 Examples of Koranic verses presented in the Bihar as

alluding to raj'a include 50:41-42; 43:4; 10:45; 79:6; 80:17-23 and 36:52.

11 Majlisi, Bihdr, vol. LIII, p. 44. 12 Ibid., pp. 114-15. 13 Ibid., p. 106. 14 Ibid., pp. 106-7. 15 Ibid., pp. 74-75. 16 Ibid.,p.44. 17 Ibid., p. 103. 18 Ibid., p. 104. 19 Ibid., p. 93. 20 Ibid., p. 97. It is not clear whether the believers in the

Imam will have any say in whether they are suddenly plucked from heaven and sent back to earth. According to

one modem writer, the raj'a of ordinary Shi'ite believers will be a matter of personal choice. See 'Ali-Rida Rijali Tihrani, Sad pursash wa pasukh p~irdmin-i Imdm-i Zamdn

(Tehran, 1997), pp. 262-63. 21 Majlisi, Bihdr, vol. LIII, p. 71. 22 See Koran 22:78. 23 In certain Muslim communities, the mystical Koranic

figure known as Khidr is often associated with St. George, who is revered under the name "Jirjis" by Christians living in Muslim societies, particularly in the Levant. The inclusion of Jirjis, together with Daniel and Salman al- Farsi is one possible indication of Tradition's ghali origins.

24 Fadak was a tract of land near Khaybar seized during the battle there and given as booty to Muhammad. Upon the

Prophet's death, the land became the cause of a dispute between Muhammad's daughter, Fatima, and the caliph Abu Bakr. The Shi'a believe that Fadak had been inherited

by Fatima but was being withheld from her by the caliph. See Majlisi, Haqq al-yaqin, pp. 206-22.

25 This suggests, of course, that any ascription of Imami Traditions to the ghuldt must be informed by the realisation that ghuluww is not monolithic, and that there are many shades and degrees of pro-Imami "extremism",

particularly where its stance vis-a-vis Sunnism and the first two caliphs is concerned.

26 Three examples immediately spring to mind: Zurara b.

A'yan; Muhammad b. Muslim al-Ta'iff; and Abu Basir

Layth al-Muradi. Zurara has always posed a problem for

Shi'ite scholars, for while he is one of the most prolific narrators of Traditions from al-Baqir and al-Sadiq, the Imams are reputed to have pronounced takfir on him.

According to al-Kashshi, had it not been for Zurara, the Traditions of Muhammad al-Baqir would never have survived (for Zurara's biography, see al-Kashshi, Rijdl, pp. 133-60). Muhammad b. Muslim, who claimed to have heard 30,000 Traditions from al-Baqir and 16,000 from al-

Sadiq, is also accepted by the majority of the Twelver scholars as a reliable narrator despite apparently having been cursed by al-Sadiq (see al-Kashshi, op. cit., pp. 161-69 ); Abi Basir is another extremely prolific Ktifan narrator and along with Zurara is credited with preserving the legacy of both al-Baqir and al-Sadiq, despite being considered untrustworthy by biographers such as al-

Ghada'iri (see ibid., pp. 169-74). 27 Ibn Dawid al-Hilli, al-Rij/l (Tehran, 1383 A.H.), pp.

518-19; Ahmad b. Husayn al- Ghad•'iri, al-Rijal (Qum, 1364 A.H.),vol. VI, p. 164.

28 Andrew Newman, The Formative Period of Twelver Shi'ism (Richmond, 2000), pp. 64-65; 'Arif Tamir and


Father 'Abduh Khalifa [eds.], Kitib al-Haft wa 'l-azilla (Beirut, 1960), pp. 20-23.

29 For an overview of the teachings of this sect, see W.

Madelung, art. "Khattabiyya" in EI2. 30 Ibid. 31 Tamir and Khalifa, op. cit., p. 21. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Muhammad b. 'Umar al-Kashshi, Ikhtiydr ma'rifat al-rijdl,

abridged by Muhammad b. Hasan b. 'Ali al-Tisi (Mashhad, 1969), pp. 321-22.

35 Ibid., pp. 322-23. 36 Ibid., pp. 327-28. 37 Ibid., pp. 326-27. 38 Two of al-Sadiq's companions complained to him that

Mufaddal was consorting with gamblers, drinkers and

libertines, and persuaded the Imam to write a letter to

Mufaddal, chastising him for his excesses and inviting back to the fold of true belief. The Imam wrote something, sealed it and gave it to the companions to take to Mufaddal. The latter, upon opening it, found that al-Sadiq had merely written him a shopping list, although whether he revealed this to the companions is unclear. See al-Kashshi, op. cit.,

p. 326. 39 Ibid,. pp. 321-23. 40 Ibid., p. 321. 41 Newman, op. cit., p. 84. 42 Majlisi, Bihdr, vol. III, pp. 57-151. 43 Ibid., pp. 152-98. The myrobalan or Indian gall nut

(terminalia reticulata) is a tree found in many parts of India. Its fruit, which has is said to have restorative

properties, is among the combination of three herbs or

"triphala" of Ayurvedic mecine. It is used in asthma, sore

throat, vomiting, eye diseases and problems affecting the heart.

44 An alternative meaning of al-haft is "depression", as in a hollow or hole in the ground where rain may gather. However, "heptad" would seem to be a more appropriate choice, given the book's indirect links to the Isma'iliyya.

45 Tamima Bayhom-Daou, "The second-century Si'ite Gulat: were they really Gnostic?", in Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies V (2003), pp. 15-17.

46 Tamir and Khalifa, op. cit., pp. 73-74.

47 Ibid., p. 79. On docetism in the context of the death of

Husayn b. 'Ali, see also D.K. Crowe, "The death of al-

I.usayn b. 'Ali and early Shi'i views of the Imamate", in Al-

Serdt XII (1986), pp. 82-110. 48 Al-Mukhammisa is a term used to describe a number of

disparate ghali groups who deified Muhammad, 'Ali,

Fatima, H.jasan

and Husayn, and who believed in

metempsychosis. See Madelung, art. "Mukhammisa", in

EI2. 49 Tamir and Khalifa, op. cit., p. 21. 50 Heinz Halm, Shi'ism (Edinburgh, 1991), p. 157. On

Muhammad b. Sinan (died c. 220/835), see al-Kashshi, op. cit., pp. 506-9. One of al-Kashshi's narrators describes Sinan as "a well-known liar".

51 Ahmad b. 'Ali al-Najdshi, Rijdl al-Najashi (Qum, 1407

A.H.), p. 328. 52 Indeed, there is much to suggest that al-Haft is a much later

fabrication. The faltering grammar and often garbled syntax of the text suggest a non-Arabic provenance; this is

supported by the fact that in the manuscript, all instances of

tad marbizta actually appear as td mamdiida, which would

suggest a Persian or Persianate provenance for this piece. I am indebted to Fahad Alenezi of the University of Durham for his observations in this regard.

53 Tamir and Khalifa, op. cit., pp. 79-80. 54 Majlisi, Haqq al-yaqin, pp. 353-55. 55 Mahmoud Ayoub, Redemptive Suffering in Islam (The

Hague, 1978), p. 15. 56 The key role of the Imams as intercessors helps to explain

not only the centrality of martyrdom to the Twelver mindset but also the phenomenon of ziydra and the numerous intercessory supplications and petitionary prayers that one finds in Shi'ite devotional literature. A

popular example is the du'd-i tawassul, for which, see

Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi, Kulliyyat-i mafttihh al-jindn (Tehran, n.d.), pp. 231-36.

57 Muhammad b. Ibr-ahim al-Nu'mani, al-Ghayba (Tehran, 1397 A.H.), p. 57. One of the narrators of the Tradition was

Ibr-ahim b. Ishaq al-Nahawandi (d. 286/899). Considered unreliable and "religiously suspect" by Ibn Dawad, Nahawandi appears as narrator of a number of the occultation Traditions collated by Nu'mAni. See Ibn Ddawad

al-Hilli, al-Rijal (Tehran, 1383 A.H.), p. 415.

58 See E. Kohlberg, art. "al-Rafida", in EI2. 59 By "orthodox Shi'ite works" here is meant the canonical

"four books" (al-kutub al-arba'a) of Shi'ite hadith and

"eight works" (al-'ulum al-thamaniya) of rijal, the authors of which have become, by default, the unofficial arbiters of what is orthodox in Twelver Shi'ism.

60 Tamir and Khalifa, op. cit., p. 79. 61 H. Masse, Croyances et coutumes persanes (Paris, 1938),

pp. 185-86. 62 Ja'far al-S~adiq's mother, Farwa bint al-Qa~sim, was the

great-granddaughter ofAba Bakr. 63 Majlisi, HIaqq al-yaqin, pp. 170-292.


64 Majlisi, Bihar, vol. LIII, p. 37. 65 Ibid. 66 For Majlisi's accusations against Abu Bakr, see Haqq al-

yaqin, pp. 170-234. 67 Ibid., pp. 234-73. 68 Few of the raj'a narratives recorded in the Bihdr or Haqq

al-yaqtn fail to mention that the main objective of the Imams' return is to take revenge on their enemies. See

Majlisi, H.aqq

al-yaqin, pp. 360-72. 69 Jacob Neusner, "Paradigmatic versus historical thinking:

the case of Rabbinic Judaism", in History and Theory XXXVI, no. 3 (1997) pp. 354-55.

70 For examples of Koranic verses reinterpreted as allusions to rajca rather than resurrection, see Colin Turner, Islam Without Allah? The Rise of Religious Externalism in

Safavid Iran (Richmond, 2000), pp. 220-22.

71 A discussion of Majlisi's life, works and place in Shi'ite history is beyond the scope of this article. The reader is referred to Turner, op. cit., pp. 148-86.

72 'Ali Shari'ati was apparently motivated by what he saw as the superstition, obscurantism and sectarian hostility evident in Majlisi's Bihar to write his iconoclastic

Tashayyu'-i 'alawi wa tashayyu'i- safawi (Tehran, 1974). See Turner, op. cit., pp. 232-38.

73 'Ali Dawani, Mahdi-i maw'iad (Tehran, 1972), p. 90. 74 On the Sunnism of Shah Isma'il II and his supporters, see

Shaykh 'AbdallAh Afandi al-Isfahani, Riyd4 al-'ulamd

(Qum, 1401 A.H.), vol. IV, p. 32; and Iskandar Munshi, Tarikh-i 'dlam-drd, tr. R.M. Savory (Boulder, Colorado, 1978), vol. I, pp. 237-46.

75 Muhammad b. Ya'qUb Kulayni, al-Kafi (Tehran, 1986), vol. VIII, p. 295. The first narrator recorded in the chain of transmission of this Tradition is Abi Basir, an alleged member of the ghuldt. See above, n. 25.

76 For Majlisi's stance vis-a-vis temporal authority in general, and Safavid kingship in particular, see Turner, op. cit., pp. 208-15.

77 Muhammad Taqi Danishpazhih (ed.), Fihrist-i

kitdbkhdna-i ihdd'i-i dqd-i Mishkdt bi kitdbkhdna-i danishgdh-i Tihran (Tehran, 1960), vol. III, pp. 1212-13.

78 Majlisi, Bihdir, vol. LII, pp. 236-37. 79 Ibid., p. 243. 80 Ibid. 81 I am indebted to HIujjat al-Islmrn Muhammad Mukhtari,

University of Durham, for his help in throwing light on the ambivalence shown by authorities both classical and modem towards the issue of authenticity in the context of the raj'a.

Documents

The Tradition of Mufaddal and the Doctrine of the Raj'a Evidences of Ghuluww in the Eschatology of Twelver Shi'Ism