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The Book of Occultation: Kitab al-Ghaibah

(Bilingual Edition) [English = Arabic]

Author (s): Allamah Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi

Translator (s): Hassan Allahyari

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Table of Contents

Dedication 7

INTRODUCTION 8

TRANSLATOR’S WORD 9

His Birth and The Story Of His Mother 10

ولادته وأحوال أمه (صلوات الله عليه) 10

Supplement 27

His Names, Titles, Patronym and Their Reasons 54

أسماؤه (ع) وألقابه وكناه وعلله 54

His Atributes, Taits and Lineage 64

صفاته صلوات اللـّه عليه وعلاماته ونسبه 64

Verses About The Rise of The Qa’im 78

الآيات المؤوّلة بقيام القائم (ع) 78

Supplement 92

The Words of Allah and His Messenger About the Qa-'im Narrated by the Shiah and the Sunnah 109

ما ورد من اخبار اللـّه واخبار النبـي (ص) بالقائم (ع) من طرق الخاصة والعامة 109

Supplement 129

Chapter I: His Uprise in the Latter Eras 142

Chapter II: The Saying of the Prophet: The Mahdi is from my Progeny from the Sons of Fa-timah 142

Chapter III: The Mahdi is from the Lieges of the Paradise 143

Chapter IV: The Messenger’s Command to Pledge Allegiance to the Mahdi 144

Chapter V: The Help of the People of the East to the Mahdi 144

Chapter VI: The Duration of his Rule 145

Chapter VII: He Leads Jesus in Prayers 146

Chapter VIII: His Looks described by the Prophet 149

Chapter IX: The Mahdi is from the Progeny of Husain 149

Chapter X: The Munificence of the Mahdi 151

Chapter XI: The Mahdi is not Jesus the Son of Mary 153

Chapter XII: The Mahdi in Middle of the Ummah 154

Chapter XIII: His Name and His Looks 154

Chapter XIV: The Village from where he will rise 155

Chapter XV: Clouds will Shade over him 155

Chapter XVI: The Angel that will Come with the Mahdi 155

Chapter XVII: His Color and Body 155

Chapter XVIII: His Right Cheek Mole 155

Chapter XIX: The Description of the Mahdi’s Teeth 156

Chapter XX: His Conquest of Constantinople 156

Chapter XXI: His Rule comes after Tyrants 157

Chapter XXII: The Mahdi is a Virtuous Imam 157

Chapter XXIII: The Ummah’s Leisure during his Rule 157

Chapter XXIV: The Mahdi is the Caliph of Allah 158

Chapter XXV: The Mahdi is Living and Alive 158

The Narrations of the Prince of the Believers in this Regard 171

ما ورد عن أمير المؤمنين صلوات الله عليه في ذلك 171

Narrations from Imam Hasan and Imam Husain about Him 191

ماروى في ذلك عن الحسنين صلوات اللـه عليهم 191

Narrations from Imam al-Ba-qir 197

ما روى عن الباقر صلوات الله عليه في ذلك 197

Narrations from Imam al-Kadhim 216

ما روي عن الكاظم صلوات اللـّه عليه في ذلك 216

Narrations from Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-‘Askari 227

نص العسكريَّين صلوات اللـّه عليهما على القائم (ع) 227

The Argument of the Sheikh of the Congregation, the Most Venerable al-Tusi 233

ذكر الأدلة التى ذكرها شيخ الطائفة على اثبات الغيبة 233

Supplement 249

Supplement 1 262

Supplement 2 274

Supplement 3 286

Another Proof 298

Occultations of the Apostles and the Qa'im 313

ما فيه (ع) من سنن الأنبياء والاستدلال بغيباتهم على غيبته صلوات اللـّه عليهم 313

His Miracles Manifested and Some Narratives of His Emissaries 327

ما ظهر من معجزاته صلوات اللـّه عليه وفيه بعض أحواله وأحوال سفرائه 327

Supplement 1 339

Supplement 2 351

Supplement 3 365

Supplement 4 382

The Emissaries Who Communicated Between the Shi-‘a And the Qa-’im During the Minor Occultation 401

أحوال السفراء الذين كانوا في زمان الغيبة الصغرى وسائط بين الشيعة وبين القائم (ع) 401

Abu Ja‘far Muhammad Ibn ‘Othma-n Ibn Sa‘i-d al-‘Amri 407

Abu Ja‘far Muhammad Ibn ‘Othma-n Ibn Sa‘i-d al-‘Amri’s Appointment of Abu al-Qa-sim al-Husain Ibn Ru-h in His Position after Himself through the Order of the Imam 416

ذكر إقامة أبي جعفر محمد بن عثمان بن سعيد العمري أبا القاسم الحسين بن روح رضي الله عنهما مقامه بعده بأمر الامام صلوات الله عليه 417

Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Samari, the Last of the Four Deputies 427

The Holy Letter Enunciating his Damnation 439

The Story of Abu Bakr al-Baghda-di, the Nephew of al-Sheikh Abu Ja‘far Muhammad Ibn ‘Othma-n al-‘Amri and the Story of Abu Dalaf al-Majnu-n 441

ذكر أمر أبي بكر البغدادي ابن أخي الشيخ أبي جعفر محمد بن عثمان العمري(رضي الله عنه) وأبي دلف المجنون 442

Notes 447

Dedication

This humble and petty and unworthy effort, O’ my Master, O’ Love of my heart, O Luminous Star of the heavens and the earths, my father and mother and all whom I hold dear be the ransom of the dust of your steps, on the blessed occasion of your birthday, I offer to you, and with tearful eyes and trembling voice and an embarrassed conscience, I beseech you, O king of glory, harm has touched us and our family. We have come to you with a scanty offer, so give us full measure and give us charity, for Allah rewards the charitable.

My Master, may Allah hasten your appearance and make us of your aides and supporters and martyrs at your feet, though I confess that thus far, I am ashamed to have been a very bad Shi-‘a for you. But my Master, you know I do not have a Patron but you. So please abandon me not for my bad character, forget me not for my disloyalty, and give me charity from the treasure trove of certainty, knowledge, propriety, and love and more.

H. A.

15 Sha‘ba-n 1423

INTRODUCTION

In the name of Allah the Merciful the Compassionate

Praise belongs to Allah, Who conveyed the Word to His servants through an Imam after an Imam, so may they remember; and completed the religion through His entrusted subjects and representatives, in every time and age, for a people who believe. And blessings and greetings be unto the one that apostles and prophets gave the happy tidings of his and his successors, Muhammad the master of the creation, and his Household the lights of darkness, until the Day they shall be resurrected. Divine damnation be on their enemies so long as the heavens and the earths endure.

Here is the thirteenth volume from the book Biha-r al-Anwa-r expounding the history of the Twelfth Imam, the Awaited Guide, the Victorious Mahdi, the Light of Lights, the Representative of the Almighty, Hidden from the view of the eyes, Present in the hearts of the virtuous, the Pillar of Faith, the Remover of Sorrows, the Representative of the All-Merciful, al-Hujja Ibn al-Hasan, the Imam of the Age, blessings of Allah be unto him and his infallible forefathers as long as the ages come and go, from the authorships of the servant of the traditions of the Virtuous Imams and the dust of the threshold of narrators, Muhammad the son of Muhammad Taqi, may Allah resurrect them both with their pure masters and make them in their governance of their supporters and aides.

TRANSLATOR’S WORD

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may He bless His Beloved Prophet our Master and the Master of all Creation, Muhammad, and his Divinely Ordained Heirs, specially so their first one the Prince of the Believers and their Last one the Caliph of the All Merciful and the Personification of the Virtues of Qur’a-n our Master al-Imam al-Mahdi. Thousands of greetings of peace and love and devotion be unto them and their followers and devotees.

The oceans of light and seas of illumination that is the Biha-r al-Anwa-r of the greatest ‘Allamah of all ages Muhammad Ba-qir Ibn Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi is a book of unparalleled worth and value in Islamic literature. The thirteenth volume of this reputable ocean of wisdom and trustworthy arc of salvation - titled by its author as Kita-b al-Ghaiba, that is, the Book of Occultation - is devoted to accounts about the Last Hujja of Allah the Imam of the Age, may Allah hasten his appearance. In the contemporary prints, this volume has been divided into three volumes, which span from the fifty first to fifty third of the total one hundred and sixteen volumes.

In your hands is the translation of the first of these three volumes, namely, the fifty first, which I translated in times of great stress and duress and lack of access to books and mentors. All thanks and gratitude is due to Allah, in the beginning and in the end, in private and in public, for His blessings as well as His trials. We thank Him from the depths of our souls and the bottom of our hearts.

It must be noted that not seeing much need or benefit in translating chapter eleven, which chronicles the predictions of fortunetellers and writings found on rocks, and chapter fourteen, which recounts the stories of the individuals who have lived enormously long lives, these two sections are not included in this translation.

As I have brought the Arabic version of the traditions, I did not see any need for mentioning the long names in the chains of narrations, as they can be easily seen in the each opposite page in Arabic. Many a time, the honorable author has commentaries about certain narrations, which sometimes only explain literary and grammatical points of a given tradition, rendering it into simpler Arabic, which can be of great value only to an Arabic reader. Such commentaries were not translated either.

I hope the kind reader forgives my shortcomings and goes through these pages with magnanimity. I confess my knowledge is scant and my writing skills are poor. My fond prayer is that Allah benefits me and my brothers and sisters in faith through this work.

I would like to extend my special thanks to Brother Ka-zim Mamda-ni and Brother Feroze Karimbhoy for their help in this work.