The Tawussite Shia (attributed to ʿAjlan ibn Tawus) were a Shia group who were a section of the supporters of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq who denied admitting that he died. They believed that he was the Awaited Mahdi and that he was alive and did not die.[1]
After the death of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, the defeat of Muhammad ibn Abdallah An-Nafs Az-Zakiyya, the triumph of the Abbasids, and the popularity of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, reports became widespread on his Mahdism.[2] Al-Nubakhti reports that: “Some Shiites (i.e. Tawussites) have reported (falsely) from Imam Sadiq that he said: ‘If you see my head rolling to you from the mountain, you should not believe that, for I am your Sahib (Mahdi)’” and: “If anyone informs you that he nursed me, washed my body (after death) and shrouded me, do not believe him, I am your companion (Sahib) and the companion of the sword.”[3]
Among the Tawussites was Aban ibn Uthman al-Ahmar, who was considered by Shia scholar al-Kashi to have been one of the men of Ijma (consensus), i.e. one of the supposed closest people to Imam Sadiq.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Firaq al-Shi’ah (The Shi'ah Groups), by Abu Muhammad al-Hasan bin Musa al-Nubakhti, pg.67, and Al-Maqalat wa al-Firaq, by Sa'ad Ibn Abdillah al-Ash'ari al-Qummi (d. 301), pg.79
- ^ Kitab al-Kafi: Al-Raudah, by Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni, pg.290
- ^ Firaq al-Shi’ah (The Shi'ah Groups), by Abu Muhammad al-Hasan bin Musa al-Nubakhti, pg.67
- ^ Ikhtiyar Ma’rifah al-Rijal, by Al-Kashi