Refutation of ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar’s Claim to the Imamate

Al-Imāma wa’l-Tabṣira min al-Ḥayra|Volume 1|Book 2|Chapter 15

Refutation of ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar’s Claim to the Imamate

وعنه، عن محمّد بن الحسين، عن وهيب بن حفص، عن أبي بصير، قال: كنت عند أبي عبداللّه عليه السلام، جالساً بمنى، فسألته عن مسألة، وعبداللّه جالس عنده، فقال أبو عبداللّه عليه السلام: يا أبا بصير، هيه الآن. فلمّا قام عبداللّه، قال أبو عبداللّه عليه السلام: تسألني، وعبداللّه جالس؟! فقال أبو بصير: وما لعبداللّه؟ قال: مرجئ صغير.

And from him, from Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn, from Wuhayb b. Ḥafṣ, from Abī Baṣīr, who said: “I was with Abī ʿAbd Allāh , sitting at Minā, whereupon I asked him about an issue while ʿAbd Allāh was sitting with him. So, Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: “O’ Abā Baṣīr, not now.” When ʿAbd Allāh stood up (and left), Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: “You would ask me a question while ʿAbd Allāh is sitting?,” to which I replied: “And what is the matter with ʿAbd Allāh?” He said: “He is a little Murjiʾi.”[1]

[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.
Author: Haseeb Hassan

Refutation of ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar’s Claim to the Imamate

Book 2, Chapter 15

Refutation of ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar’s Claim to the Imamate

Hadith #5