Mūsā ibn Muḥammad al-Mubarqaʿ (Arabic: موسى بن محمد المبرقع) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Musa was the son of Muhammad al-Jawad (d. 835) and the younger brother of Ali al-Hadi (d. 868), the ninth and tenth Imams in Twelver Shia. He is known to be a common ancestor of the Ridawi sayyids, who descended from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Ali al-Rida (d. 818), the eighth Imam in Twelver Shia and Musa's grandfather. He was known by the title al-Mubarqaʿ (Arabic: المبرقع) probably because he covered his face with a burqa' (Arabic: بُرقَع, lit. 'veil') to remain anonymous in public. Traditions narrated by him are cited by some Twelver scholars, including al-Kulayni and al-Mufid.
Musa al-Mubarqa' | |
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موسى المبرقع | |
| Born | 829 CE Medina, Arabia |
| Died | 909 CE (aged 80) |
| Resting place | Qom |
| Known for | Ancestor of Ridawi sayyids |
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| Relatives |
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Biography
editMusa al-Mubarqa' was the younger son of Muhammad al-Jawad (d. 835), the ninth Imam in Twelver Shia.[1][2][3] His elder brother Ali al-Hadi (d. 868) succeeded their father al-Jawad as the tenth Imam.[3] Musa had two or four sisters, named variously in the sources.[1] The Twelver theologian al-Mufid (d. 1022) names them as Fatima and Amama, while the biographical source Dala'il al-imama lists them as Khadija, Hakima, and Umm Kulthum. This book is attributed to al-Tabari al-Saghir, the eleventh-century Twelver scholar. The Sunni historian Fakhr Razi (d. 1209) adds Behjat and Barihe to these names, saying that none of them left any descendants.[4] The children of al-Jawad were all born to Samana,[4] a freed slave (umm walad) of Moroccan origin.[5] It is through Ali and Musa that the lineage of al-Jawad continued.[4] In particular, the Ridawi line of sayyids leads to Musa. These are the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Ali al-Rida (d. 818), the eighth Imam in Twelver Shia and Musa's grandfather.[6]
Musa was a small child when his father al-Jawad died in 835 CE at the age of about twenty-five, probably poisoned at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842).[7][1][8] The will attributed to al-Jawad stipulates that his elder son Ali would inherit from him and be responsible for his younger brother Musa and his sisters. This will can be found in Kitab al-Kafi, a collection of Shia traditions compiled by the prominent Twelver traditionist al-Kulayni (d. 941).[2][3] There was also an oral designation (nass) of Ali as the next Imam, delivered to a close confidant by al-Jawad.[9][9] After his death, this testimony was corroborated by a small assembly of Shia notables,[10] and the majority of his followers thus accepted the imamate of Ali,[7][11] who is commonly known by the titles al-Hadi (lit. 'the guide') and al-Naqi (lit. 'the distinguished').[5] A small group also gathered around Musa but soon returned to his brother Ali after the former dissociated himself from them.[3][11] Musa later settled in Qom,[6] a rising Shia center in the modern-day Iran.[12][5] Traditions narrated by him are cited by some Twelver scholars, including al-Kulayni in his al-Kafi, al-Mufid in his al-Ikhtisas, and Shaykh Tusi (d. 1067) in his Tahdhib al-osul.[6] Musa was known by the title al-Mubarqa' (Arabic: المبرقع) probably because he covered his face with a burqa' (Arabic: بُرقَع, lit. 'veil') to remain unidentified in public. He died in Qom in 909 CE and the construction of his current shrine was sponsored by the Safavid king Tahmasp I (r. 1524–1576).[6]
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The zarih that holds his grave -
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Mirror-work inside the shrine -
See also
editFootnotes
edit- ^ a b c Medoff 2016.
- ^ a b Wardrop 1988, p. 16.
- ^ a b c d Madelung 2011.
- ^ a b c Baghestani 2014.
- ^ a b c Momen 1985, p. 43.
- ^ a b c d Wiki Shia contributors 2023.
- ^ a b Daftary 2013, p. 62.
- ^ Madelung 2012.
- ^ a b Modarressi 1993, p. 64.
- ^ Wardrop 1988, pp. 16, 217.
- ^ a b Hussain 1986, p. 48.
- ^ Drechsler 2009.
References
edit- Baghestani, Esmail (2014). "جواد امام" [Jawad, Imam]. Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam (in Persian). Vol. 11. Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation. ISBN 9789644470127.
- Daftary, Farhad (2013). A History of Shi'i Islam. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 9780755608669.
- Drechsler, Andreas (2009). "QOM i. History to the Safavid Period". Encyclopaedia Iranica (Online ed.). ISSN 2330-4804.
- Hussain, Jassim M. (1986). Occultation of the Twelfth Imam: A Historical Background (PDF). Routledge Kegan & Paul. ISBN 9780710301581.
- Madelung, W. (2012). "Muḥammad b. 'Alī al-Riḍā". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (Second ed.). doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_5343. ISBN 9789004161214.
- Madelung, W (2011). "'Alī al-Hādī". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. I/8. pp. 861–2. ISSN 2330-4804.
- Medoff, Louis (2016). "Moḥammad al-Jawād, Abu Ja'far". Encyclopaedia Iranica (Online ed.). ISSN 2330-4804.
- Modarressi, Hossein (1993). Crisis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shi'ite Islam: Abu Ja'Far Ibn Qiba Al-Razi and His Contribution to Imamite Shi'Ite Thought. Darwin Press. ISBN 0878500952.
- Momen, Moojan (1985). An Introduction to Shi'i Islam. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300034998.
- Wardrop, S.F. (1988). Lives of the Imams, Muhammad al-Jawad and 'Ali al-Hadi and the Development of the Shi'ite Organisation (PhD thesis). University of Edinburgh.
- Wiki Shia contributors (2023). "موسی مبرقع" [Musa Mubarraqa]. Wiki Shia (in Persian).