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Muhammad al-Taqi
Abu al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Isma'il (Arabic: أَبُو ٱلْحُسَيْن أَحْمَد ٱبْن عَبْد ٱللَّٰه ٱبْن مُحَمَّد ٱبْن إسْماعِيل, romanized: Abū al-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl; c. 790–840), commonly known as Muhammad al-Taqi (Arabic: مُحَمَّد ٱلْتَقِيّ, romanized: Muḥammad al-Taqī, lit. 'Muhammad the pious'), was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the ninth of the Isma'ili Imams, succeeding his father, Ahmad al-Wafi (d. 828). Like his father, he lived primarily in Salamiyah, and Abd Allah ibn Maymun al-Qaddah, the chief missionary (da'i), continued to serve as the hijab (lit. 'cover') for him. Known by the title Ṣāḥib al-Rasāʾil (lit. 'lord of the epistles'), al-Taqi is said to have prepared with his followers an encyclopedic text called the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity (Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-ṣafā). He died in 840 in Salamiyah and was succeeded by his son al-Husayn. With the death of Ja'far al-Sadiq in 148/765, Isma'il (d. 158/775) and Muhammad (d. 197/813), the gravity of persecutions of the Abbasids had considerably increased. The Isma'ili Imams were impelled to thicken their hiding, therefore, the first dawr al-satr came into force from 197/813 to 268/882, wherein the Imams were known as al-a'imma al-masturin (lit. 'the concealed Imams'). The concealment ended with the establishment of the Fatimid caliphate (r. 909–1171). Historical backgroundWith the death of Ja'far al-Sadiq in 148/765, Isma'il (d. 158/775) and Muhammad (d. 197/813), the gravity of persecutions of the Abbasids had considerably increased.[1][2] The Isma'ili Imams were impelled to thicken their hiding, therefore, the first dawr al-satr ('period of concealment')[a] came into force from 197/813 to 268/882, wherein the Imams were known as al-a'imma al-masturin (lit. 'the concealed Imams').[1][4][5] During this time, the living Imam's identity was hidden for protection and the community continued to operate under the authority of Muhammad ibn Isma'il.[6] According to later tradition, these were Abd Allah (the 8th Imam), Ahmad (the 9th Imam) and al-Husayn (the 10th Imam).[7][8] Among the later Isma'ili historians, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Naysaburi, the author of Istitār al-Imām, compiled under the Fatimid Imam–Caliph al-Aziz Billah (r. 975–995) seems first to have mentioned the names of the three 'hidden' Imams.[8] Modern historian of the Fatimid period, Shainool Jiwa, explains that during dawr al-satr (765–909 CE) Isma'ili doctrine had spread as far as from Yemen to Ifriqiya (modern-day Tunisia and eastern Algeria), with its most prominent adherents being the Kutama Berbers of North Africa.[9] LifeAhmad ibn Abd Allah was born in 174/790.[10] He succeeded his father as second head of the Isma'ili dawah (lit. 'mission') and, like him, lived as a merchant in Salamiyah in Syria.[11][12] His hujjat was Abd Allah ibn Maymun al-Qaddah, the chief missionary (da'i), continued to serve as the hijab (lit. 'cover') for him.[13][10][14] Al-Taqi lived, probably, at the close of the second and opening of the third century of the Muslim era.[15] He had the reputation of being profoundly learned.[16] Al-Taqi was known as an eminent Hashimite trader, making the people to flock at his residence.[10][17][16] It suspected the Syrian governor, who communicated its report to the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833), who issued order to arrest al-Taqi, but the latter had quitted Salamiyah in advance for few years.[10][17] In addition to spreading his message via his da'is, al-Taqi actively engaged in the sociophilosophical concerns in his time.[18] According to the 10-th century Arab scholar Ibn al-Nadim (d. 995), al-Taqi sent the da'i al-Husayn al-Ahwazi to the environs (sawād) of Kufa.[11][19] The latter converted Hamdan Qarmat and founded the "Qarmatian" sect of Iraq.[11][20][19] The anti-Isma'ili writer Akhu Muhsin (d. 965) claimed that al-Taqi directed the da'i Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i to the Maghreb in 279/892–93 and thus laid the foundation for later Fatimid power there.[11] Sectarian literature attributes to him the publication of the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity (Rasā'il Ikhwān al-ṣafā'), on account of which he is known as Ṣāḥib al-Rasāʿil (lit. 'lord of the epistles').[21][22][23] It is furthermore reported by some Isma'ili sources that the authorship of the Rasāʿil may even date back to the times of the Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq himself, passing by the contributions of his three Imamate hidden successors.[23] The title represents the work as that of the "Sincere Brethren" or "Brethren of Purity", a society that flourished in Basra: debating on literature, religion, philosophy and science.[16][24] In this work, pre-Islamic wisdom, such as Hellenistic philosophy and Babylonian astrology, was presented along with Isma'ili ideas.[18] The Epistles were secretly prepared in a cave, and when sufficient numbers were produced, they were simultaneously placed in the leading mosques of the Abbasid lands.[18][24][23] In the forty-fourth tract there is a statement concerning Jesus (Isa) which is unique in Muslim literature.[25] The publication of the Rasā'il served to stir up agitation against the Isma'iliyya; al-Taqi, therefore, took the precaution to move about, always in the dress of a merchant, between Daylam, Kufa and Askar Mukram, his father's home.[26][11]
According to the Isma'ili tradition, caliph al-Ma'mun was eager to discover the source of Rasāʿil Ikhwān al-ṣafā' and gathered a group of scholars to discuss the text; a representative of al-Taqi, popularly referred to as Da'i al-Tirmidhi, participated in these discussions.[18][17] al-Ma'mun pretended to have completely accepted Isma'ili doctrine and expressed the desire to meet with al-Taqi, and said, "I am an ardent lover of the Imam [al-Taqi]. I cherish a desire to hand over my caliphate to the Imam when I behold him and will serve him wholeheartedly."[17] Al-Tirmidhi was not sure of the sincerity of this request, however, to protect al-Taqi, said that he himself was the Imam.[18] Al-Ma'mun quickly had al-Tirmidhi beheaded.[28][29][18] Al-Taqi is reported to have died in 225/840 in Salamiyah after bequeathing the office of Imamate to his son, al-Husayn surnamed, Abd Allah al-Radi.[30][22][26] His another son, Muhammad Abu'l-Shalaghlagh, surnamed Sa'id al-Khayr, whose posterity were living in Salamiyah and killed at the hands of the Qarmatians in 290/902.[30] See alsoFootnotesReferences
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