إبطال إمامة عبداللّه بن جعفر

[1] The Murjiʾa were a sect in early Islam whose adherents professed a nuanced variety of beliefs all under the umbrella of the theological position that judgement of a person’s state of belief ought to be deferred to Allāh عز وجل, with good works having little and less to do with whether or not someone is a true believer (contrary to the Imāmī position) but it would not be entirely true to dismiss the Murjiʾa as having held that good works had nothing to do with true belief at all. The Imam is describing ʿAbd Allāh as “a little Murjiʾi” to suggest that he had latent inclinations towards the sect that put him at odds with Imāmī orthodoxy, making him unsuitable for the Imamate from the get-go.