Читать книгу A Short History of the Fatimid Khalifate онлайн

12 страница из 57

But, as we have already noted, some of the Shiʿites did not accept Jaʿfar’s transference of the Imamate from his son Ismaʿil to his second son Musa, but recognised Ismaʿil still as heir. Ismaʿil died in 145 whilst his father was still alive, leaving a son named Muhammad. Although Ismaʿil’s body was publicly shown before its burial at al-Bakiʿ, many persisted in believing that he was not dead, and asserted that he had been seen in Basra after his supposed funeral; others admitted his death, but believed that his Imamate had passed to his son Muhammad; others again believed that his soul had migrated to Muhammad, so that they were in reality one person. These adherents of Ismaʿil, or of his son Muhammad, or of Ismaʿil-Muhammad, formed the sect known as the Ismaʿilians or the Sabʿiya, i.e., “seveners,” accepting the six Imams to Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and adding his son or grandson as the seventh and last.

These “seveners” seem to have been a comparatively minor sect of the extremer Shiʿites. Some members of the sect are still to be found in the neighbourhood of Bombay and Surat. But, about 250 this comparatively obscure sect was taken in hand and organised by a singularly able leader, and became for a time one of the most powerful forces in Islam.