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From the beginning the neo-Ismaʿilian sect showed all the characteristics of the ultra Shiʿite bodies: it accepted the ʿalim l-batin, or the principle of allegorical interpretation which is especially associated with Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, the doctrine of incarnation, and of the transmigration of the Imam’s soul. But underneath all this, borrowed from current Shiʿite ideas, it had a strong element of agnosticism, a heritage of the philosophical ideas borrowed from Greek scientists, and developed in certain directions by the Muʿtazilites. As organised by its leader, whose name was Abdullah b. Maymun, it was arranged in seven grades to which members were admitted by successive initiations, and which diverged more and more from orthodox Islam until its final and highest stages were simply agnostic. According to Stanley Lane-Poole “in its inner essence Shiʿism, the religion of the Fatimids is not Mohammedanism at all. It merely took advantage of an old schism in Islam to graft upon it a totally new and largely political movement” (Lane-Poole: Story of Cairo, Lond., 1906, p. 113). In this passage “Shiʿism” is taken as denoting the sect of the “Seveners,” and the “political movement” is simply disaffection towards the Khalifate. Similarly Prof. Nicholson considers that “Filled with a fierce contempt of the Arabs and with a free-thinker’s contempt for Islam, Abdullah b. Maymun conceived the idea of a vast secret society which should be all things to all men, and which, by playing on the strongest passions and tempting the inmost weaknesses of human nature, should unite malcontents of every description in a conspiracy to overthrow the existing régime” (Nicholson: Literary History of the Arabs, pp. 271-272).

Undoubtedly the ideas involved in the Ismaʿilian doctrines were totally subversive of the teachings of Islam, but so were those of the “philosophers,” and in exactly the same way. The views of Ibn Tufayl (d. 531 A.H.) and of Ibn Rushd (Averroes, d. 595 A.H.) were purely Aristotelian in basis, and on this foundation was built up an agnostic-pantheistic superstructure. Ibn Tufayl particularly makes it quite clear that his teaching is not consistent with the Qurʾan which he treats as setting forth a system of doctrines and ritual precepts suitable for the unlearned who ought not to be disturbed in their simple faith, but quite inadequate for the satisfaction of the more intelligent: the mysteries of the universe, revealed through Aristotle and his followers, furnish a sounder religion, but it is expedient that this be reserved for the enlightened and not divulged to the illiterate who are unable to appreciate or understand its bearing. Such teaching is subversive of orthodox Islam, and consciously so: in the case of ʿAbdullah it may, perhaps, be described as a conspiracy against religion. In one sense it was the final product of the rationalism of the Muʿtazilites.

Admittedly the Ismaʿiliya worked as a political conspiracy against the ʿAbbasids, but this was true of every Shiʿite sect: the ʿAbbasids had used the Shiʿites in seating themselves on the throne, and then discarded them. Still it seems that we have no reason to question the perfect sincerity of the Ismaʿilians in their agnostic principles: those principles were the product of the solvent influence of Greek philosophy upon the religion of Islam: Islamic thought was too simple and primitive to be able to adapt itself to that philosophy in its entirety, hence some such position as that of Ibn Tufayl, or of Ibn Rushd, or of the Ismaʿilians, was inevitable. It was equally a necessary result of the time and circumstances that these rationalists tended towards the Shiʿites. In spite of weird superstitions, especially current in Khurasan, the Shiʿites represent the Muslim element most kindly disposed towards freedom of thought. This seems a bold statement to those familiar with Shiʿites of the present day, but it must be noted that the Shiʿites whom the European most frequently meets are either the devotees who have settled in places like Samarra, or those who seem to be more exclusive than the orthodox Muslims, chiefly because they have as yet had much less intercourse with foreigners. In 2-3rd cent. Islam it was the Shiʿite princes who invariably did their best to foster philosophical and scientific research, whilst, after A.H. 232, the orthodox party, as it gets in the ascendent, becomes distinctly reactionary, and tends to repressive persecution.

The most difficult task for us is to appreciate the strong appeal which the doctrines of incarnation and transmigration made to the Persian and Mesopotamian mind. Both these doctrines had figured prominently in pre-Islamic religions in Western Asia; and both recur in most religious movements from the coming of Islam to the present day in that particular area. We may note a few instances to illustrate this, and show incidentally the strong attraction these doctrines had for the Persian mind.

Abu Muslim was the general who more than any other helped to seat the ʿAbbasids on the throne, and suffered death at the hands of the first ʿAbbasid Khalif, who was jealous,—with good cause, it would appear,—of his excessive power. But Abu Muslim had exercised an extraordinary influence over men during life, and was treated as a quasi-divine hero after death, his admirers regarding him as not really dead but as having passed into “concealment,” some other having been miraculously substituted for him at the moment of execution. This resembles the theory which the pre-Islamic Persian teacher Mani held as to Christ. Mani fully accepted Christ as a religious teacher, side by side with Zoroaster and Buddha, but he could not admit the reality of his death, for a material body capable of death was in his view unworthy of one purely good. He supposed, therefore, that at the crucifixion Simon of Cyrene was at the last moment substituted for Christ, and this Persian idea has actually obtained a place in the Qurʾan (cf. Sura 4, 156).

Not long after Abu Muslim we hear of a pseudo-prophet named Bih-afaridh, a Zoroastrian who had travelled in the far East, and afterwards accepted Islam at the hands of two duʿat who were preaching the cult of Abu Muslim. Very little is known of his teaching, but he certainly maintained the doctrine that the Imam is an incarnation of the Deity, and seems to have attached a particularly sacred signification to the numeral seven. This superstitious reverence for particular numbers was a common feature in the pre-Islamic religions of Mesopotamia, and we shall meet it again in the doctrines of the Ismaʿilians.

Another sect, of similarly pre-Islamic origin, was that known as the Rawandiyya from its origin at Rawand near Isfahan. Its members were king-worshippers in the old Persian sense, and a body of them travelled to Hashimiyya, where the Khalifs then had their residence, and tried to acclaim the Khalif al-Mansur as a god. He not only rejected the proffered adoration, but cast the leaders into prison. This was followed by an attempt to attack the palace, the Rawandis considering that, as the prince had disclaimed deity, he could be no valid ruler. For some centuries the sect, strongly disaffected towards the Khalifate, lingered on in Persia and had many sympathisers.

Under the next Khalif al-Mahdi, came the still more serious rebellion of al-Muqannaʿ, the “veiled prophet of Khurasan,” who asserted his own deity. He was killed in A.H. 169, but his followers, as usual, believed that he had not really suffered in person, but had passed into concealment and would in due course return again: they continued to form a distinct sect for some three hundred years.

Another pseudo-prophet of the same type was Babak al-Khurrami, who was executed in A.H. 222 or 223. He also declared himself to be an incarnation of the Divine Spirit, and asserted that the soul within him had already dwelt in his master Jawidan.

We might continue to extend the series very considerably by enumerating the various prophets and sects which reproduce these same general characteristics. The latest example occurs in the Babi movement, which still flourishes and has many converts in this country and in America. The first teacher of the Babists, Mirza ʿAli Muhammad (A.D. 1820-1851) claimed only to be a Mahdi or fore-runner of One who was to come, but his successor, Mirza Husayn ʿAli, declared himself to be the expected One, the incarnation of the Divine Spirit, which is an emanation of the Deity and is fairly equivalent to the Reason, Word, or Spirit of the Plotinian philosophy. In later times this doctrine has rather fallen into the background, perhaps as the result of western influences, but the earlier phase shows a repetition of the traditional Persian position. All these sects show common matter in the doctrines of incarnation, of transmigration, and of an esoteric teaching to be revealed only to the elect. Such were the extremer Shiʿite sects of mediaeval times, and such are their descendants of modern times. Even in Persia to-day, side by side with the more orthodox “Twelvers” of the state church and off-shoots such as the Babists, the latest of a long series of mystical developments from the Shiʿite stock, are the ʿAli Allahis who believe in the deity of the Imam ʿAli, and combine with this belief many elements from the ancient Zoroastrian religion, a survival of the older mediaeval Shiʿism which caused so much trouble to the Khalifate of Baghdad.

In the teaching of most of the Shiʿites it is believed that some deceased Imam was an incarnation of deity, and it is he who, not really dead as men suppose, has passed into concealment, to return again in the fulness of time, when this evil age in which the true Khalifate no longer exists has passed away. Meanwhile there is no valid Khalif or Imam upon earth, but only some Shah or king who acts as vicegerent of the hidden Imam until his return.

This digression serves to show us how strongly Persian thought always has inclined towards the idea of a divine incarnation in the honoured religious teacher, and towards that of transmigration of the soul from one such teacher to his successor. In the 3rd century A.H. probably no sect which did not hold such theories could have obtained a favourable hearing amongst the Persians who found Islam of the Arab type unsatisfying, and every radical religious movement was necessarily compelled to assume at least the externals of Shiʿism.

The Shiʿite party organised by ʿAbdullah is known by various names. It is called Ismaʿilian as representing the party adhering to Ismaʿil, the son of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and his son Muhammad, as against those who continued the succession of the Imamate through Musa; but the name is not strictly accurate as it seems that there was an Ismaʿilian sect proper existing before ʿAbdullah, and that his re-organisation was so drastic that we may regard the continuity as being severed; and it seems certain that some part of the earlier sect continued to exist independent of his reforms. It was, no doubt, its attachment to a deceased or “hidden” Imam which made it a more promising field for the advocates of a speculative philosophy than any sect whose Imam was living and might dissociate himself from the doctrines held. It was also called the Sabʿiya or “Seveners” because it accepted seven Imams, and also because it attached a sacred significance to the numeral seven; there were seven prophets, seven Imams, seven Mahdis, seven grades of initiation (afterwards changed to nine), etc. In many respects Sabʿiya is the most accurate name, but it is open to the same objection as Ismaʿilian. More commonly its members are called Fatimites as recognising Fatimid Imams who claimed descent from ʿAli and Fatima: but this, although convenient because of its frequent use amongst mediaeval Arabic writers, is peculiarly inaccurate. The Ithna ʿashariya or sect of “Twelvers” was equally Fatimite, and so were the Zaydites, indeed these last were the true Fatimites as holding that any person descended from ʿAli and Fatima might be a valid Imam: but common usage allows the use of “Fatimites” for the sect organised by ʿAbdullah. Another name is Batinites or advocates of an allegorical interpretation, but this also applies to other Shiʿite groups. Sometimes they are called Qarmatians, but this name is only applicable to one branch of the sect which originated in the district of Sawad between Basra and Kufa, and should be reserved for that branch which at a later period became alienated from the main Ismaʿilian body.

The new sect carried out its propaganda by means of missionaries (daʿi) on the lines developed by the Hashimites. In this, as in most of its external features, it reproduces the characteristics usual amongst the mediaeval Shiʿites.

The organiser of the sect or masonic fraternity was ʿAbdullah, who is stated to have been the son of one Maymun. Sometimes ʿAbdullah is surnamed al-laddah (“the oculist”), as is done by Abu l-Feda, but more often this surname is given to his father Maymun. Maqrizi, referring to the Fatimids, says, “this family was traced to al-Husayn, the son of ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, but men are divided in the matter between two opinions: some treat it as true, but others deny that they are descendants of the Prophet and treat them as pretenders descended from Daysan the Dualist, who has given his name to the Dualists, and (say) that Daysan had a son whose name was Maymun al-Qaddah, and that he had a sect of extreme views. And Maymun had a son ʿAbdullah, and ʿAbdullah was learned in all the canon law and customs and sects” (Maqrizi, i. 348).

The reference to “Daysan the Dualist” is pure fable. This Daysan appears frequently in Arabic history as the legendary founder of the Zindiqs, a name given to the followers of the pre-Islamic cults of Mesopotamia and Persia, who found it convenient to make external profession of Islam. Thus Masʿudi (Muruj adh-Dhahab, viii. 293) says that “many heresies arose after the publication of the books of Mani, Ibn Daysan, and Marcion, translated from Persian and Pahlawi by ʿAbdullah ibn al-Muqaffaʿ and others.” Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ was a converted Zoroastrian who took a leading part in translating Persian and Syrian works into Arabic under the first two ʿAbbasids, and was generally regarded as privately adhering to his earlier religious views.

It will be noted that Zindiqism is mentioned as propagated by Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, and is traced to Ibn Daysan amongst others, and this is precisely the same as the one whom Maqrizi names as the reputed progenitor of Maymun. Evidently the charge which lay at the bottom of this latter statement originally meant that Maymun was a Zindiq, and so could be described as a follower of Ibn Daysan, not that he actually was Ibn Daysan’s son, which would be an absurd anachronism. For the name Ibn Daysan refers to a perfectly genuine historical person: the Ibn Daysan of the Arabic writers was the Bar Daisan of Syriac literature, a convert from paganism to Christianity who died about A.D. 222, and whose followers formed an important sect at Edessa for several centuries, though in Muslim times he appears as a semi-legendary character. We possess a work probably written by one of his pupils called “A treatise on Fate” in the Christian writers, from which two lengthy extracts appear in Eusebius: Praep. Evangel. vi. 9, one of which is cited also in Clementine Recognitions ix., but is headed “Book of the Laws of Countries” in the Syriac text discovered by Cureton, and published by him in 1855. Various references are made to Bar Daisan in Euschius, Epiphanius, and other Church Fathers, as well as in the dialogues ascribed to Adamantius, but our best information as to his teaching is to be obtained from Moses bar Kepha (Patrol. Syr., I., ii. 513-5), whose summary is fully endorsed by the controversial essays of St. Ephraim, who settled at Edessa in 363 when the Bar-daisanites were a real force there. Bar Daisan’s doctrine, which is a kind of Christianized Zoroastrianism, is described by Prof. Burkitt in his introduction to Mitchell’s edition of St. Ephraim’s Prose Refutations.

Marcion represents an earlier and more definitely Christian system which at one time had a very wide extension, and probably was the medium through which Bar Daisan learned Christianity. It was a kind of dualistic system with two powers, the Good God and the Evil One. The Evil One was the creator whom the Jews worshipped as God, and the Good God sent his Son on earth to save men from this delusion: as in Zoroastrianism the two rival powers maintain an unceasing strife until the day of judgment when the good God will be finally victorious. From St. Ephraim we learn that the Marcionites long retained their hold in Northern Mesopotamia side by side with the Bar-daisanites.

Mani shows very much these same views in a Zoroastrian setting, but with a strong element of Marcionite Christianity. Mani’s work came some twenty years later than Bar Daisan, and he, in his early days, had been a disciple of the Mandeans, the Gnostic sect which Justin Martyr calls “the baptists” βαπτισταί (Justin M. Dial. 80) from their frequent ablutions, who were settled in the marsh land between Basra and Wasit on the lower Euphrates. All three, Bar Daisan, Marcion, and Mani, draw largely from the same source the eclectic mixture of old Babylonian religion, of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity, which developed in the lower Euphrates valley, though Marcion claimed to be, and no doubt believed himself, an orthodox member of the Catholic Church, whilst Mani was no less confident in regarding himself as a Zoroastrian. The whole of the different religious ideas of the Euphrates valley were welded together by an element of Greek philosophy of the neo-Pythagorean type, which seems to have filtered in through the Jews who were settled there in force, and had shared in the common life of the Hellenistic world at the time when the neo-Pythagorean school was taking form, and showing marked sympathy towards the various forms of Eastern religious speculation. All this kind of eclectic speculation, half religious and half philosophical, lived on, and was still alive in the third cent. of the Hijra; indeed, it had spread and formed a new centre at Harran, quite distinct in its character, but obviously drawing from the same sources, and, moreover, it quickened into new life when the speculations of the neo-Platonic school were introduced through a Syriac medium. Traditionally all this type of thought prevalent in Mesopotamia was connected with the names of Marcion, Mani, and Bar Daisan, though probably very few Muslims had any clear idea of the respective parts these three characters had played, but simply cited them as heresiarchs of exceptional notoriety.

But Maymun was without doubt a real character. Abu l-Feda refers to him as a native of Qaraj or Ispahan, who professed to be a Shiʿite, but was really a Zindiq, i.e., a follower of the heresies of Marcion, Bar Daisan, and Mani, or else a materialist (Abu l-Feda, Annales Moslem., ii. 311). Used in this sense “materialist” means an Aristotelian, i.e., one who believed in the eternity of matter and so did not accept the Qurʾanic teaching of creation ex nihilo. Ibn Khaldun states that Maymun migrated to Jerusalem with a number of his disciples and became well known as a magician, fortune teller, astrologist, and alchemist (cf. Quatremère: Journ. Asiatique, Aug., 1836). The Fatimid advocates, as represented by the Druze writers, fully admit the descent of the Fatimids from Maymun, but claim that he was of the family of ʿAli (cf. De Sacy: Chrestom., ii., note 3 on page 95), which seems as though Maymun’s position as an ancestor of Abdullah’s family was beyond question.

In the passage already quoted Maqrizi describes ʿAbdullah as “learned in all the canon law and customs and sects,” so that it seems that he, the fortune teller’s son, was credited with being the original teacher and founder of the sect. Perhaps Maymun himself was the founder of a minor off-shoot of the Ismaʿilian body,—we hear of followers who went with him to Jerusalem,—and ʿAbdullah succeeded him as head of this group but, himself a student of philosophy like so many other Shiʿites, and participating in rationalistic opinions, used his position to form a kind of free-masonry, in which he developed more fully the principles already indicated by Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and so made the Aristotelian and neo-Platonic teaching somewhat modified in a Persian guise, the “hidden meaning” of the Qurʾan. Probably he too was responsible for the efficient organizing of the sect, although its missionary propaganda was, as has been noted, reproduced from that of the Hashimites. He is said to have been the author of a book called al-Mizan, “the balance” (Abulfeda: Ann. Mus., ii. 310). According to Nuwairi, who used the history of Abu l-Hasan b. ʿAli Akhu-Muhsin, himself a descendant of Ismaʿil b. Jaʿfar and a contemporary of the chief activity of the Ismaʿilian sect, ʿAbdullah assumed Shiʿite views, not because he wanted to get men to recognise the Imamate of Ismaʿil or his son Muhammad, but simply as a device to attract adherents: such was Akhu-Muhsin’s view, no doubt a prejudiced one, but of some weight as undoubtedly the judgment of many contemporaries. It is, however, quite as probable that the ʿAlid theories were derived from the existing sect of which Maymun had been head, and were left unaltered by his son when he took it in hand.

In order to make proselytes, ʿAbdullah’s missionaries used to propose obscure questions about the Qurʾan and the doctrines of traditional Islam, with the object of showing that as generally held these doctrines were contrary to reason, and so required an explanation. The revelation of Islam, they said, was difficult, and hence there was much diversity of opinion and many sects and schools of thought, all of which caused an infinite amount of disedification and much trouble. The reason of these diverse opinions is that each man follows his own private judgment and forms his own conjectures, with the result that many end in utter unbelief. But God would not give a revelation full of such obscurity and ambiguity as the only guidance for men. It must be that there is some available guidance, some authoritative teacher who can explain the doctrine so that it may be both clear and certain, and such an infallible teacher implies an Imam. The daʿi then gave illustrations of the obscurities and difficulties which men are not able to understand by the light of their own reason. The pilgrims at Mecca throw stones and run between the two hills, Safa and Merwa,—what is the purpose and meaning of this? Why is it that a woman who has omitted a fast and prayer because prevented by reasons of personal impurity is required to fast afterwards to make up for her omission, but is not required to make up for the omitted prayer? Why did God take six days to create the world when he could quite well have created it in an hour? What does the Qurʾan mean when he refers in a figurative manner to the “way”? What is the meaning of the reference to the two angels who write and take note?—why cannot we see them? What really are the torments of hell? What mean the words “and over them on that day eight shall bear up the throne of thy Lord”? (Qur., 69, 17). What is Iblis?—Who are Yajuj and Majuj (Qur., 18, 93), and Harut and Marut (Qur., 2, 96)? Why have there been created seven heavens, and seven earths, and why are there seven verses in the Fatha? and many similar questions all designed to show that the Qurʾan is full of references to things which are not explained and need explaining, but to which the orthodox teachers are unable to give an explanation. All these are the conventional arguments which are commonly employed to prove that revelation is incomplete without an authorised teacher.

They then continued to ask other questions which throw a curious light on the kind of problems which interested the Muslims of the day, or which could be thought as deserving of attention. Why have men ten fingers and ten toes?—why are four fingers on each hand divided into three phalanges, whilst the thumbs have only two each?—why has the face seven openings?—why are there twelve dorsal vertebrae and seven cervical vertebrae? etc., constantly suggesting some mystic meaning as lying under particular numbers. They cited “on earth are signs of men of firm belief, and also in your own selves; will ye not then consider them?” (Qur., 51, 20-21): “God setteth forth these similitudes to men that haply they may reflect” (Qur., 14, 30), and “we will shew them our signs in (different) countries and among themselves, until it become plain to them that it is the truth.”

These suggestions produced doubt in the minds of many hearers, and gave the impression that the missionary had thought more deeply on the problems of religion than the ordinary teachers; and so the hearers were induced to ask the daʿi to instruct them and reveal the answers to some of the problems he proposed. Forthwith he would begin a discourse dealing with some of these questions, and then suddenly check himself: the religion of God is too precious to be disclosed to those who are not worthy and who may, perhaps, treat it with contempt: God has always required a pledge of those to whom he has disclosed his mysteries. Thus we read, “And remember that we have entered into covenant with the prophets and with thee, and with Noah, and Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus the son of Mary; and we formed with them a strict covenant” (Qur., 33, 7), and again “some there were among the faithful who made good what they had promised to God” (id., 23),—“O believers, be faithful to your engagements” (Qur., 5, 1),—“be faithful in the covenant of God when ye have covenanted, and break not your oaths after ye have pledged them: for now ye have made God to stand surety for you” (Qur., 16, 93), and many similar passages. “So now,” the daʿi said, “pledge yourself, putting your right hand in mine, and promise me with the most inviolable oaths and assurances that you will not betray our secret, that you will assist no-one against us, that you are laying no snare for us, that you will use the truth only in speaking with us, and that you will not join any of our enemies against us.” By this means they discovered how far the would-be proselyte was ready to be submissive and obedient, and accustomed him to act in absolute conformity with his superiors. If the proselyte readily took this pledge, the missionary next said, “Give us now an offering from your goods and first fruits which shall be a preliminary to the disclosure which we are about to make to you of our doctrine, and a pledge which you will give for it.” By this they tested how far the proselyte was prepared to make sacrifices to join the sect, and how far he could be trusted to be a loyal and devoted member. Thus the proselyte was admitted to the First Grade which consisted of those who accepted the principle that the Qurʾan has both an external literal sense and an inner esoteric meaning which needs the help of an interpreter. The inner meaning was termed batin, or iman, “faith,” as distinguished from the external islam, and this distinction was justified by the words of Qur. 40, 14. “The Arabs of the desert say, ‘we believe.’ Say: ‘Ye believe not, but rather say, ‘we profess Islam’; for the faith has not yet found its way into your hearts.’”

The Second Grade. When the disciple had fully adopted the ideas taught in the first grade, and was convinced that men have fallen into error by accepting the traditional teachings of Islam, the daʿi used the ordinary arguments to persuade them that there was need of an authoritative teacher, and without such a teacher men are unable to please God or obey His laws. Great stress was laid upon the unreliability of private judgment and the need of guidance and authoritative teaching.

Third Grade. The daʿi next proceeds to point who can be accepted as the desired teacher and infallible guide, the Imam of Islam. There have been seven such Imams, as worthy of reverence by their religious characters as by their number, for the most important things in the universe, such as the planets, the heavens (Qur. 2, 29; 67, 3), the earths (id. 65, 12, of Bukhari Sahih 59, 2) are invariably in sevens. He then enumerates the seven Imams, the first six being ʿAli to Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, the seventh al-Kaʾim, “the chief,” whom some understand to be Jaʿfar’s son Ismaʿil, others his grandson Muhammad, whilst others again regard these two as but one. He next endeavoured to show that the other Shiʿites, who regard Musa as the seventh Imam, cannot be correct as they do not limit the Imams to the sacred number seven, but continue until twelve are reckoned in all. He then was accustomed to speak against the character of Musa, the son of Jaʿfar, asserting that Ismaʿil had deep knowledge of secret things, whilst Musa possessed no such supernatural enlightenment: he told anecdotes which placed Musa in an unfavourable light, and even attributed to him grave sins, so that it was impossible to regard him as the true Imam. Moreover it was agreed that, since Husayn, the Imamate can only be passed by direct succession, so it is not possible that it could be taken from one and given to his brother. The Ismaʿilians alone have inherited the accurate knowledge of secret mysteries bequeathed by Jaʿfar as-Sadiq to his son Ismaʿil.

Fourth Grade. In this grade instruction was given in the history of God’s revelation. The age of the world is divided into seven stages, each under the guidance of a prophet whose teaching surpassed that of his predecessors and abrogated it. Between each pair there were but “silent” guides who did not add to nor alter the revelation of the prophet who inaugurated that age. Each of these seven prophets had a coadjutor who was his authorised exponent to mankind at large. These seven prophets and coadjutors were—

 (i.) Adam, with coadjutor Seth.

 (ii.) Noah, with coadjutor Shem.

 (iii.) Abraham, with coadjutor Ismaʿil.

 (iv.) Moses, with coadjutor, at first Aaron, then Joshua.

 (v.) Jesus, with coadjutor Simon Sifa (Cephas).

 (vi.) Muhammad, with coadjutor ʿAli.

 (vii.) al-Kaʾim, with coadjutor ʿAbdullah.

Thus the seventh prophet al-Kaʾim, i.e., Ismaʿil or his son Muhammad, has abrogated the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad, and has given a new revelation. At this point, therefore, the convert was entirely separated from orthodox Islam which accepts Muhammad as the “seal of the prophets,” that is to say, the final completer of revelation, and was taught to regard his religion as obsolete.

Fifth Grade. In this grade it was taught that the traditional practices of the religion of Islam were merely temporary, a concession to the uninstructed multitude who could not yet understand the spiritual principles of iman: they were useful as an educative influence with the ignorant, but the Qurʾanic precepts on which some of them were based had an esoteric meaning quite other than their literal form, whilst the traditional rules which had added so much detail to the laws of the Qurʾan were baseless and negligible. The disciple was taught to replace the external precepts of Islam by inner convictions. If he was a Persian he was reproached with the servile submission which the Persians had rendered to an Arab Khalif: if he were an Arab he was instructed that the privileges of the Arabs have now been transferred to the Persians. In addition to this he was taught certain principles of geometry and the properties of numbers, all applied in a mystical manner to the claims of the Imamate. He was further informed that each prophet had twelve hujjaj corresponding to the twelve signs of the zodiac, to the twelve months of the year, to the twelve tribes of Israel, and to the twelve nugabaʾ whom Muhammad chose from the ansar or “helpers” at Madina. These numerals “seven” and “twelve” which have been shown to possess sacred meanings, were now cited to explain why men have twelve dorsal vertebrae, seven cervical vertebrae, etc. It is as well to note that when these teachings were first put forth the other Shiʿites who followed Musa and his successors had not yet made up the number of twelve Imams.

Sixth Grade. The missionary did not admit the postulant to this grade until he was perfectly assured as to his discretion and secrecy. In it the teaching that the ritual precepts of Islam as generally understood, were abrogated, was carried to its logical conclusion, and the convert was instructed to abandon the observance of prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and all the other external practices of religion; or at least to observe them only in so far as they served as a bond of social usage or as expedient as a concession to their uninstructed companions. At the same time the teacher professed the utmost veneration for the men who had established these practices, and for the wisdom which had led them to do so. The daʿi then described to his pupil the doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and other philosophers, and exhorted them not to follow the traditions of religion which have been passed down as mere hear-say, but to test them by the methods of philosophy and to accept only those things which are endorsed by reason. Changing his former attitude, he then began to criticize the Imams unfavourably, and to contrast them with the philosophers to their disadvantage.

Seventh Grade. Some of the missionaries were not themselves instructed in the doctrines of the highest grades, and only a select number were able to initiate converts into this seventh stage. This serves as the probable explanation of some events in the history of the sect which appear strange at first sight such, for example, as the estrangement of the most faithful and successful missionary Abu ʿAbdullah who, no doubt, revolted when he found the difference between the actual beliefs of the Mahdi ʿUbayd allah, and the doctrine which he himself had learned and taught. In initiating a disciple into this highest grade the daʿi first pointed out that there are in this world always correlatives, of which one is the cause, the other the result, as giver and recipient, teacher and taught, etc. Thus the Qurʾan tells us of God that “when he decreeth a thing he only saith ‘be’ and it ‘is’” (Qur., 3, 42), in which God, the First Cause, is the greater, the thing created only derives its being from him: and again, “all things have we created after a fixed decree” (Qur., 54, 49), and again, “he who is God in the heavens is God in earth also” (Qur., 43, 84). Hence, following a teaching of the philosophers, it is clear that from a Being who is only One, only one thing can proceed: but the world contains many things, so it cannot be the work of the One, but needs at least two Beings. Moreover, creation is not the bringing into being that which did not previously exist, but only the arrangement and disposing of things. At bottom this was intended to be a statement of the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of matter, and shows striking resemblances with the speculations of the Muʿtazilites. Thus Abu Hudhayl (d. circ. 226) held that before the creation the world existed, but in a state of perfect quiescence; creation was the introduction of change and movement, and this theory, in one modification or another, recurs in all the speculations of the later Muʿtazilites. Very similar is the teaching of al-Farabi (d. 339), who was himself a member of the Ismaʿilian sect, and held that the world proceeded from God in an instant of the immeasurable eternity which preceded time, but remained at rest until at creation God introduced movement and so produced time and change.

Such was the teaching of the seven grades which formed the original constitution of the sect. Later on two higher grades were added which, for the sake of completeness, we may consider here although they were no part of the original scheme.

Eighth Grade. In this the disciple learned that there are two Principles, the original and primary Cause, without name or attribute, the pre-existent (as-sabiq) who seems to be very much the same as “the first God” of Plotinus, and a Second proceeding from this First Cause, due to a thought in the pre-existent, i.e., as an emanation, just as the spoken word proceeds from the thought in the mind of the speaker. Of the pre-existent nothing can be stated but what is negative. The “Second” seems to be very similar to the Reason or Active Intelligence as defined by the philosophers on the basis of Alexander of Aphrodisias’ explanation of the teaching in Aristotle’s de Anima; not, as in the Zoroastrian system, a rival power, but an emanation which is an intermediary between the unknowable God and man. The true prophet, the daʿi declared, is shown, not by working miracles which impress the vulgar, but by the establishment of political institutions which equip a stable and well disposed government, and by the teaching of spiritual doctrines which give an explanation of the phenomena of nature. Then, as Nuwairi and Maqrizi state, the Qurʾan, the resurrection, the end of the world, the last judgment, and such like doctrines of Islam are explained away as having allegorical meanings: according to the batinite doctrine, all these things signify only the revolutions of the planets and of the universe in regular rotation, or the production and destruction of things according to the arrangement and combination of elements, as explained in the teachings of the philosophers.

Ninth Grade. In this grade the disciple was taught the doctrines of the philosophers and what they have stated about the heavens, the stars, the soul, the intelligence, and other like things: in all he was made grades which were a later addition were more definitely based on the teachings of the Greek philosophers which had been popularised in the Muslim world. At the same time the disciple learned that Abraham, Moses, and the other prophets were only founders of legal and social systems; they had received their learning from Plato, and the other philosophers who consequently are more important than the prophets commonly revered. He was especially taught to abhor the Arabs because they had been responsible for slaying Husayn, for which crime they were deprived of all rights to the Khalifate and Imamate, which were transferred to the Persians.

Maqrizi says that the members of ʿAbdullah sect who attained to the highest grade became muʿattil and ibahi (Maq. i. 348). Strictly speaking the former term denotes one who denies that the universe has a creator, and therefore implies that the initiated held the doctrine common to most of the Arabic “philosophers” of the eternity of matter. This teaching was one of the leading charges brought by the orthodox Muslims against Aristotle. The second term seems to mean “one who admits as (or makes) allowable,” and implies what would be described as antinomianism. Maqrizi continues that the initiated “did not any longer recognize any moral law, nor expect either punishment or future reward” (id.). The historian Nuwayri gives the same account of the Qarmatian branch of the Ismaʿilian sect. Such antinomianism is not at all unknown amongst Muslim devotees: thus Maqrizi (ii. 432) in another passage refers to the Qalandariya darwishes as a type of Sufis who disregard fasting and prayer, and have no reluctance to use any form of self-indulgence, saying that it is sufficient that their hearts are at peace with God. These darwishes were of Persian origin and appeared in Syria in the 7th cent. A.H., but their order had its beginning in the 5th cent. Antinomian ideas appear with the later Murjiʿites of the 2nd cent., and are represented in the doctrines of Jahm b. Safwan, who was put to death about 131, and was, characteristically enough, a Persian convert in rebellion against the Arab Khalif. Amongst these Murjiʿites we find the doctrine to assume the system of those who believed in the eternity of matter. Thus it will be seen the two highest taqiya or “concealment,” which afterwards became common amongst the Shiʿites, the doctrine, namely, that profession of faith means only the confession of the soul to God, it being allowable that the true believer outwardly conforms to any religion.

Nuwayri also gives the form of contract proposed to a convert at the time of his initiation. This appears in two parts, to each of which the convert gives assent. They may be summarised thus:

(1) A promise before God, and before his Apostle, his prophets, angels, and envoys, to inviolable secrecy as to all the convert knows about the missionary, about the representative of the Imam in the district where he lives, as well as regarding all other members of the sect. A pledge to accept all the orthodox teachings of Islam, and to observe all its rites, both matters which, as we have seen, were required of the lower grades and disregarded by the higher ones.

(2) A pledge to loyalty towards the missionaries and the Imam, and the invocation of the curse of Iblis if this pledge is broken. “If you have any reservation, in will or thought, this oath nevertheless has full binding force upon you, and God will take no satisfaction other than the complete fulfilment of all it contains and of the agreements made between you and me.”

This oath, it will be observed, is intended for those initiated into the first grade, and so conforms to the idea of orthodox Islam, though including the Shiʿite doctrine of an Imam, but covers all that is to be taught later with a veil of secrecy. The plan was to adapt the earlier teaching to the beliefs and capacity of the proselytes, and this method is further illustrated by the kitab as-siyasa or “book of policy,” a manual for the guidance of the duʿat, which Nuwayri describes on the authority of Abu l-Hasan.

According to this the teacher is told to emphasize his zeal for Shiʿite theories if he has to deal with a Shiʿite, to express sympathy with ʿAli and his two sons, and repugnance towards the Arabs who put them to death. If he has to deal with a Sabian, emphasis was laid on the reverence paid to the numeral seven. If his conversation was with a Zoroastrian, his principles are at the basis very similar to those of the Ismaʿilians, and with him the daʿi may commence at the fourth grade. If his business is with a Jew, he should explain that the Mahdi Muhammad b. Ismaʿil is the Messiah expected by the Jews and speak much against the Muslims and Christians, especially about their erroneous beliefs as to the unique birth of Christ, making it plain that Joseph the carpenter was undoubtedly his father. With Christians, on the contrary, it is advised to speak ill of the Muslims and Jews, explaining that the Ismaʿilians recognise the Christian creed, but giving it an allegorical interpretation, and showing that the Paraclete is yet to come, and is the true Imam to whom they are invited to come. In dealing with dualists or Manichaeans the daʿi may begin at the sixth grade of initiation, or if the convert seems worthy of confidence, the whole doctrine may be revealed at once. With one of the “philosophers” who, in true Muslim fashion, are treated as a distinct sect, emphasis is to be laid on the fact that the essential points of the Ismaʿilian faith are based on the teachings of philosophy, and the sect agrees with them in everything concerning the prophets and the eternity of the world; but some of the philosophers differ from the Ismaʿilians in admitting a Being who rules the world, though confessing that he is unknown. With “dualists,” i.e., Muslims of the sect so called (cf. De Sacy: Druses, p. lxviii., note 3), victory is sure; it is only necessary to dwell on the doctrine of the pre-existing and the second. With orthodox Sunnis the missionary is to speak with respect of the early Khalifs, avoid eulogies upon ʿAli and his sons, even mentioning some things about them which call for disapproval: great pains should be taken to secure Sunni adherents as they form most useful defenders. When dealing with a Shiʿite who accepts Musa, the son of Jaʿfar, and his descendants, great care is necessary: the daʿi should dwell on the moral laws of Islam, but explain the sacred associations of the number seven. With some it is impossible to venture further and show that the religion of Muhammad is now abrogated, with others it is possible even to show that the ritual laws of the Qurʾan are obsolete, with a few he may proceed to admit that the Kaʾim is really dead, that he comes back to the world only in a spiritual manner, and explain allegorically the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Each is to be dealt with according to his beliefs, and care must be taken not to offend his religious prejudices. The daʿi is advised to study the history of ancient legislators, their adventures, systems and sects, so as to have a fund of illustration which will arrest the attention of their pupils.

Such was the system formed by ʿAbdullah, probably somewhere before A.H. 250, and by him grafted on the already existing sect of Shiʿites, which upheld the claims of Ismaʿil, the son of Jaʿfar. In the reign of Maʾmun (A.H. 198-218) ʿAbdullah had joined the revolt of Ishaq b. Ibrahim at Karkh and Ispahan, and formed a close friendship with the wealthy Muhammad b. Husayn b. Jihan-Bakhtar ad-Didan, a Persian prominent for his intense hatred of the Arabs, and it was he who first supplied ʿAbdullah with funds to begin his propaganda (cf. Quatremère in Journ. Asiat., Aug., 1836). It is not easy to form any clear scheme of the chronology of the sect in its early days, nor to follow the details of its history: conspiracies and secret societies do not leave much in the way of documentary evidence of their first formation. That ʿAbdullah was associated with a rebellion in the reign of Maʾmun is hardly likely; it seems rather that Muhammad b. Husayn ad-Didan (Dandan, or Zaydan) was so associated, and he afterwards befriended ʿAbdullah. This Muhammad was secretary to Ahmad ibn ʿAbdu l-ʿAziz ibn Abi Dolaf, who became prince of Karaj in A.H. 265. No doubt ʿAbdullah was a younger contemporary, assisted by the old anti-Arab agitator. Certainly ʿAbdullah was established at Basra, whither he had removed from Persia, before 261 (Fihrist, 187), lodging there with the family of ʿAgil ibn Abi Talib. Thence he went to Syria, presumably finding suspicion aroused at Basra, and made his headquarters at Salamiya in the territory of Emessa (Maq. i., 348-9: ii., 11), and from there sent out missionaries who preached the claims of Muhammad b. Ismaʿil b. Jaʿfar as the “concealed” Imam, and of ʿAbdullah himself as the Mahdi or “guide,” who was to prepare men for the Imam’s return to earth (Maq. i., 348). At Salamiya he had a son named Ahmad, and when he died Ahmad succeeded him as head of the sect.

Ahmad, like his father, sent out missionaries, and one of these was instrumental in founding the important branch known as the Qarmatians, a branch so important and prominent that some, e.g., Jamal ad-Din, have regarded the Ismaʿilians as their off-shoot. The fact seems to be that there were at first members of one body, then circumstances gave the Qarmatians a political opening in Syria and ʿIraq, and, in a position of independence, they developed their doctrines more openly than the rest of the sect and, being drawn from the peasant class, these assumed a grosser form: whilst the other or parent community found a career in Africa but, as they became there a ruling minority with a subject majority of orthodox type, they were induced to observe some semblance of orthodoxy.

ʿAbdullah was succeeded as head of the Ismaʿilian sect by his son Ahmad. According to the Fihrist he was succeeded first by his son Muhammad, then by a second son Ahmad, the latter being also described as the son of Muhammad, and so grandson of ʿAbdullah (Fihrist, p. 137). This Ahmad may be the one who was at Basra for some time, then at Kufa, whence in 266 or thereabouts he sent missionaries to Yemen; possibly he was the Ahmad al-Qaiyal who wrote a book on the Imamate, which was refuted by Razi (d. 320).

After Ahmad came his son Husayn, who died not long afterwards, leaving a son named Saʿid, who subsequently took the name of ʿUbayd Allah, and was the Mahdi who established the Fatimid State in North Africa, dying in A.H. 323 (= A.D. 934). That he was originally called Saʿid is generally admitted, but he appears variously as Saʿid son of Husayn son of Ahmad, and Saʿid son of Ahmad, and Saʿid son of Abu Shalaghlagh. The explanation given for these different names is that Ahmad had two sons, of whom the elder, Husayn, died whilst Saʿid was still young, and the son was adopted by his uncle Muhammad, the second son of Ahmad, who was also known as Abu Shalaghlagh.

There is a story that Saʿid or ʿUbayd Allah was the son of an obscure Jewish smith, whose widow was married to Husayn, son of Ahmad, and that he was adopted by his step-father. This is one of the three forms of what we may call the “Jewish legend,” the attempt to trace the Fatimid dynasty to a Jewish source. These three attempts are: (i.) that Maymun b. Daysan the oculist was a Jew; (ii.) that ʿUbayd Allah was really the son of a Jewish smith; and (iii.) that he was killed in prison at Sijilmassa, and afterwards personated by a Jewish slave. Probably the “Jewish legend” was associated with the fact that the renegade Jew, Ibn Killis, was the one who encouraged the Fatimids to invade Egypt and did most to organise their government there, and with the undoubted favouritism which the early Fatimids showed the Jews.

A new development in the teaching of the sect took place under Husayn, or possibly commenced under his father Ahmad. ʿAbdullah had been content to describe himself as the “Mahdi” or guide, who was to lead men to the Imam, who was Ismaʿil, or his son Muhammad; he made no claim to be himself a descendant of the Imam. Probably it was a later theory that the Imam was “concealed” only in the sense that he had to hide himself from the ʿAbbasid Khalif. Later still, when a Fatimid Khalif was actually ruling in Cairo, the claim to descent from ʿAli through ʿAbdullah and his family became a matter of heated controversy.

Historians differ very much as to how far the Fatimids succeeded in proving their ʿAlid descent, and contemporary opinion was quite as varied. Abu l-Hasan Muhammad Masawi, commonly known as Radi, born at Baghdad in 359 and dying in 406, was himself an undoubted descendant of Husayn the son of ʿAli, and was official keeper of the records of ʿAlid genealogy. As Abu l-Feda notes (Ann. Mosl., ii. 309) he, in one of his poems, fully admits the legitimate descent of the Fatimids of Egypt from ʿAli, and the actual passage is extant (cf. Diwan of Radi, Beirut, p. 972): but in 402 this same Radi joined with other ʿAlids and certain canonists in a proclamation denouncing the Fatimids and declaring their claimed genealogy as baseless. It is natural to suppose that in this he was actuated by fear or complaisance, and this difficulty meets us throughout; the whole question was so much a matter of current political controversy that it was practically impossible to get anything like an unbiassed opinion. Maqrizi, the leading Egyptian authority of a later age, was strongly pro-Fatimid, but he claims the noble rank of sayyid on the ground of descent from ʿAli through the Fatimids, and so is prejudiced in their favour. He argues that the ʿAlid descent of the Fatimids was never attacked by the acknowledged ʿAlids who then existed in considerable numbers (Maq. i., 349), an argument which is far from being true.

Elsewhere Maqrizi defends the Fatimid claims by saying that the ʿAlids were always suspected by the ʿAbbasid Khalifs, and so “they had no resort but to conceal themselves and were scarcely known, so that Muhammad b. Ismaʿil, the Imam ancestor of ʿUbayd Allah, was called the ‘concealed’” (Maq. i., 349). But this tells the other way: it admits that the ʿAlid genealogy was not well known: and the mere fact that ʿAbdullah was sought for by the Khalif simply shows that his pretensions were known to be dangerous, as a Mahdi with a body of followers would necessarily be, and is no proof of the validity of the descent afterwards claimed by ʿAbdullah’s descendants. The obscurity of the ʿAlid genealogy afterwards favoured the Fatimid claims, but it does not seem that that claim was part of their original programme. The first idea was to support the claims of the vanished Imam, claims selected in all probability because of the convenient fact that he had vanished, and to represent ʿAbdullah and his descendants simply as Mahdis, viceroys to guide and direct the people of Islam until the day came for the concealed Imam to be revealed again.

After the Fatimid claims had been laid before the world the ʿAbbasids brought forward many calumnies (Maq. i., 349). The strongly anti-Fatimid Ibn Khallikan relates a story that when the first Fatimid Khalif to enter Egypt, al-Moʿizz, came to Cairo, the jurist, Abu Muhammad ibn Tabataba, came to meet him, supported by a number of undoubted members of ʿAli’s family, and asked to see his credentials. Al-Moʿizz then drew his sword and cried, “Here is my pedigree”: and scattering gold amongst the by-standers added, “And this is my proof.” The story is an improbable legend, and even Ibn Khallikan rejects it on the ground that when al-Moʿizz entered Cairo, Abu Muhammad the jurist (d. 348) had been many years in his grave (Ibn Khall. iii., 366).

The weakest part of the Fatimid claim, as we have remarked, lies in the great diversity of forms the claim takes in different writers. When ʿUbayd Allah or Saʿid, ʿAbdullah’s great-grandson, established himself in Africa, the genealogy began to call for serious attention, and came to be examined, not by uncritical members of the sect, but by all the historians and genealogists of the Muslim world. It then appeared in no less than nine divergent forms.

(1) Traced through Jaʿfar as-Sadiq the sixth Imam, then through his son Ismaʿil, his son Muhammad “the concealed,” then Jaʿfar al-Musaddiq—Muhammad al-Habib—and then ʿUbayd Allah. Thus Maqrizi and Ibn Khaldun. According to this ʿAbdullah and Ahmad do not appear in the descent at all.

(2) Traced through Jaʿfar to Muhammad “the concealed” as in the preceding, then ʿAbdullah ar-Rida (the accepted of God),—Ahmad al-Wafi (the perfect),—al-Husayn at-Taki (the pious),—and ʿUbayd Allah the Mahdi. This appears in Ibn Khallikan and Ibn Khaldun, and seems to have been more or less the official version. According to this ʿAbdullah, the father of Ahmad, was the son of Mohammad “the concealed,” not of Maymun. Similarly the pro-Fatimid author of the Dastur al-Munajjimin (MS. of M. Schefer, cited by de Goeje, Qarmates, pp. 8-9), who says that Muhammad b. Ismaʿil took refuge in India; he had six sons, Jaʿfar, Ismaʿil, Ahmad, Husayn, ʿAli, and ʿAbdu r-Rahman, but does not mention ʿAbdullah nor say which of these sons was the Imam: he then refers to the three “mysterious ones” as succeeding Muhammad. Tabari (iii., 2218, 12) says that Muhammad b. Ismaʿil had no son named ʿAbdullah.

(3) As before, but Maymun as son of Muhammad “the concealed,” then ʿAbdullah—Muhammad—Ubayd Allah; thus in Abu l-Feda. Maymun is made the son of the seventh Imam (which is impossible), and the Mahdi is represented as ʿAbdullah’s grandson (see below).

(4) Ismaʿil, son of Jaʿfar,—Muhammad “the concealed,”—Ismaʿil,—Ahmad,—Ubayd Allah. This also occurs in Abu l-Feda, and in ʿUbayd Allah’s “Genealogy of the ʿAlids” (MS. Leiden, 686—cited by de Goeje, Qarmates, p. 9) Muhammad had three sons, Ismaʿil II, Jaʿfar, and Yahya; Ismaʿil had a son named Ahmad, who dwelt in the Maghrab.

(5) Ismaʿil—Muhammad “the concealed,”—Ismaʿil II,—Muhammad,—Ahmad,—ʿAbdullah,—Muhammad,—Husayn,—Ahmad or ʿAbdullah,—Ubayd Allah the Mahdi. This is the genealogy given in the sacred books of the Druses, and rests on the theory that there must have been seven “concealed Imams” intervening between Jaʿfar as-Sadiq and the Mahdi. It is merely an instance of the mystic value attached to the sacred numeral. Like (3) it gives Muhammad for Ahmad which is a permissible variant.

(6) The five preceding genealogies are distinctively Ismaʿilian in character, but there are others which show adaptations of the “Twelvers” accounts, and these cannot be much more than later attempts to connect the Fatimid line with that recognised by the other Shiʿites. First we have the idea that the descent from Jaʿfar as-Sadiq was through Musa, not Ismaʿil, then following the next three Imams ʿAli ar-Rida—Muhammad al-Jawad—ʿAli al-Hadi (see above)—al-Hasan al-Askari—Ubayd Allah the Mahdi. According to this the Fatimite Mahdi in Africa was the son of the eleventh Imam of the “Twelvers,” and thus replaced Muhammad al-Muntazar.

(7) The same line as the preceding, but admitting Muhammad al-Muntazar as twelfth Imam who “disappeared” in 260, and asserting that ʿUbayd Allah who appeared in North Africa was this same Muhammad emerging from concealment, after an interval of 29 years.

(8) The same line as far as ʿAli al-Hadi, then Husayn, presumably a brother of Hasan al-Askari, and ʿUbayd Allah as son of this Husayn. This is given by Ibn Khallikan on the authority of a reference in Ibn al-Athir. All these three last genealogies must be dismissed as later suggestions since it is clear that the Ismaʿilian sect rejected the Imams of the “Twelvers” after Jaʿfar as-Sadiq: but it may be that Ahmad’s first claim was simply to be an ʿAlid, and not necessarily the son of the house of Ismaʿil.

(9) Finally we have another theory, mentioned by Ibn Khallikan, that the Mahdi was descended from Hasan, a brother of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and so an ʿAlid but not an Imam, and from this Hasan came ʿAbdullah, Ahmad, Hasan, and then ʿAli or ʿUbayd Allah the Mahdi. Back to ʿAbdullah this was the generally asserted genealogy of the Mahdi’s family, but Hasan, the brother of Jaʿfar, replaces Maymun.

The chief point is that there were so many alternative forms of the genealogy, and close scrutiny shows very weak points in every one of them. To the fully initiated this was a very small matter, as no importance was attached to the claim to the Imamate or to the descent from ʿAli at all. No doubt all these pedigrees served their purpose in dealing with the different types of proselytes, and their very diversity tends to prove that they were actually accepted and circulated in a sect which adapted its teachings to suit the opinions of the different classes with which it came into contact. It was not until the Fatimids became a political power that any need was felt to bring these various genealogies into any kind of agreement, and then, no doubt, the variant forms circulated by the different missionaries were a source of embarrassment.