إسماعيل بن علي

17 – Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī b. ʿAlī, al-Diʿbilī [ibn Akhī Diʿbil]. He resided in Wāsiṭ, and was responsible for its treasury. He was a liar, fabricator of ḥadīths. What he narrates from his father from al-Riḍā عليه السلام is not regarded, nor is other than that (to be regarded), nor what he authored.

“Isma‘il ibn Ali (appointed leader for pilgrim) performed al-Hajj in the year 140 Hijriy. Abu ‘Abd Allah, Alayhi al-Salam, fell off his transporting mule and Isma‘il ibn Ali stopped to care for him. Abu ‘Abd Allah, Alayhi al-Salam, said, ‘Move along with people; the (Imam) leader must not stop.’”

God’s Prophet (s) said, “There are four groups on whose behalf I will intercede on the Resurrection Day: Those who honor my offspring after me; those who fulfill their needs; those who try to assist them in times they need them; and those who love them both wholeheartedly and verbally.”

“Once I sat on the side of the road waiting for abu Muhammad (a.s.) to pass by so that I can present before him my complain against a need. When he was passing by I presented my complain before him and swore that I did not have even a Dirham, nothing for lunch or dinner.” The narrator has said that the Imam (a.s.) said, “You falsely swore by Allah. You have buried two hundred Dinars. These my words are not to deny you any grants. Young man, give him whatever is with you. His servant, give me one hundred Dinars. He then turned to me and said, “You will be deprived of it in your worst days.” He meant those Dinars that I had buried for a difficult day. What he said was true. I had buried two hundred Dinars thinking that they would only be used in a very difficult day. When I faced such a difficult day and all the ways to find a living was closed I went to take out the two hundred Dinars but soon I found that there was not even a single Dinar. In fact, my son had learned about where the Dinars were buried and he had taken them and had ran away. I could not benefit from any of those Dinars.”

The Companions of the Garden are those who obey me, and submit to Ali ibn Abi Talib (s) after me. The Companions of the Fire are those who hate his Mastery, are jealous of him, break their covenants and fight with him after me.”

“If something happens, who will take your place?” He said, ‘This, Abul Qasim Husain Ibn Rauh Ibn Abi Ja’far Naubakhti will take my place and will be the emissary between you and the Master of the Affair. He will be his representative and he is a reliable and honest man. Refer to him in your affairs and trust him in your vital matters. I have been ordered to that and I conveyed the message.”

“Abu Sahl Ismail bin Ali Naubakhti told me that Imam M-H-M-D bin Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) was born in Samarrah in 256 A.H. His mother was Saiqal; his patronymic is Abul Qasim and the Messenger of Allah (s) had mentioned the same patronymic and said: His name will be same as mine, his patronymic will be same as mine and his title will be Mahdi. He will be the Divine Proof, the Awaited one and the Master of the Age. Ismail bin Ali further says: When Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) was in his fatal illness, I was present with him. He summoned his servant, Aqeed, who was a Nubian black. Prior to this he was in the employ of Imam Ali Naqi (a.s). It was he that had brought up Imam Hasan Askari (a.s). Imam (a.s) told him: “O Aqeed, boil for me some mastic water.” Aqeed obeyed and after the water was procured, Saiqal, the mother of Imam Mahdi (a.t.f.s.) brought it to His Eminence. His Eminence took hold of the vessel, but his hands shook so much that the bowl clattered against his teeth. The Imam let go of the vessel and said to Aqeed: “Go inside the house where you will find a boy in prostration. Bring him to me.” Abu Sahl says: Aqeed said: When I went inside to bring that boy I saw that the boy was in prostration and had raised his index finger to the sky. I saluted him. He shortened his Prayer. I said respectfully: “The master has called you.” At that moment his mother arrived and taking his hand brought him to his father. Abu Sahl says: When the boy came to His Eminence, he saluted him. I saw that his face was glowing like a pearl; he had short hair and wide teeth. When the eyes of Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) fell on him, he wept and said: “O master of my family, give me this water, so that I may proceed to my Lord.” The young master complied and taking up the bowl of mastic water brought it to the lips of his father, so that he may drink it. Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) said: “Prepare me for the ritual prayer.” That child kept a towel before the Imam and made ablution for him by washing his face and hands in turn. Then he rubbed his head and both feet. The Imam said: “My son, I give you glad tidings that you are the Master of the Time and the Proof of Allah on the earth. You are my son and successor. You are born from me and you are M-H-M-D the son of Hasan son of Ali son of Muhammad son of Ali son of Musa son of Ja’far son of Muhammad son of Ali son of Husain son of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s) and you are from the progeny of the Holy Prophet (s) and the last of the Purified Imams (a.s). And the Messenger of Allah (s) gave glad tidings about you and informed about your name and patronymic. This was told to me by my father from his purified forefathers – blessings of Allah be on Ahle Bayt. Indeed our Lord alone is worthy of praise and glorification.” Imam Hasan bin Ali Askari (a.s) spoke these sentences and passed away at that very moment. May Allah bless them all.

When Allah desired to unveil the affair of Hallaj and manifest his humiliation and to disgrace him, he thought that Abu Sahl Ibn Ismail Ibn Ali Naubakhti (a.s) was a person that could be deceived by his hoax and taken by his fraud. So he sent after him. Due to his sheer ignorance, he assumed that Abu Sahl is like the other weaklings in the matter of faith and reckoned that he could be drawn and tricked through his lunacies, and that by commanding Abu Sahl’s loyalty, he will be able to draw yet more followers on the virtue of Abu Sahl’s position in the view of people and his respectability in knowledge and literature. Hallaj sent a message to him, “I am the representative of the Master of the Age (a.s).” Through such a message he would first draw the ignorant people and then proceed to other claims. He stated, “I have been ordered to correspond with you and avail you with the help you desire, so your soul may find strength and you may not have doubts in the creed.” Abu Sahl wrote back, “I will ask you a rather minor thing in comparison to the signs and proofs that have been manifested on your hands. I am a man who is fond of women and love to have playful talks with them. I have a number of concubines, but I cannot copulate with all of them. Age and grey hair has created a distance between me and them. I need to dye my hair and beard every Friday, which is a severely laborious work, in order to conceal it from them, lest my condition will be revealed to them and my proximity from them will change to distance and my union into separation. I want you to remove this need of mine of dyeing and suffice me its labor and make my beard black. I will obey you and come to you and believe in you. I will be a preacher of your faith, considering my ingenuity in this matter and your help in that regard.” When Hallaj got this message, he realized that his call to him had been a blunder. He did not reply and did not send him any messenger. On the other hand, Abu Sahl made Hallaj the subject of his talks and jests. He would make jokes of him before everyone. He spread this incident to every young and old, and this led to the revelation of Hallaj’s blasphemous enterprise and the disassociation of the community from him.

“When the Prophet (S) died, a Jew man of the descendants of Dawood (Prophet David) came to Medina and saw the streets empty. He asked what the matter was. It was said to him that the Prophet (S) had died. He said: “Indeed he has died on the same day mentioned in our Book.” Then he asked where people were. It was said to him that they had been in the mosque. He came to the mosque where there were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Abdurrahman bin Ouff, Abu Obayda bin al-Jarrah and a great crowd of people. He said: “Make way to let me come in and lead me to the one, whom your prophet has entrusted with his umma!” They led him to Abu Bakr. He said to Abu Bakr: “I am a Jew and I am from the descendants of Prophet David (as). I have come to ask about four things. If you answer me, I become a Muslim.” He was asked to wait a little. Then Amirul Mo’mineen Ali (as) came in from one of the gates of the mosque. People said to the Jew: “Go to this young man!” When he came near to him, he asked: “Are you Ali bin Abu Talib?” Imam Ali (as) said to him: “Are you so-and-so the son of David (as)?” He said: “Yes, I am.” Imam Ali (as) took the Jew’s hand and came with him to Abu Bakr. The Jew said to Imam Ali (as): “I asked these people about four things but they sent me to you.” Imam Ali (as) said: “Please ask!” The Jew asked: “What was the first thing that was revealed to your prophet when he came back from his Lord after his Ascension? Who was the angel that pushed your prophet away and did not greet him? Who were the four men, from above whom Angel Malik had removed a cover of Fire and who had talked with your prophet? In which position of Paradise will the minbar of your prophet be?” Imam Ali (as) said: “The first thing that Allah has revealed to our prophet after the Ascension is: (The messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord).” The Jew said: “It is not this that I mean.” Imam Ali (as) said: “Then it is (and (so do) the believers; they all believe in Allah).” He said: “It is not this that I mean.” Imam Ali (as) said: “Then let the matter be hidden.” The Jew said: “You are to tell me the truth. Are you not the one, whom I mean?” Imam Ali (as) said: “As you insist on that, I shall tell the truth. When the Prophet (S) came back from his Lord, where the screens were opened before him, and before he got to the place of Gabriel, an angel had called: “O Ahmad!” The Prophet (S) said: “Here I am.” The angel said: “Allah sends you His greeting and says to you: “Deliver Our greeting to the master of guardians.” The Prophet (S) asked: “Who is the master of guardians?” The angel replied: “He is Ali bin Abu Talib.” The Jew said to Imam Ali (as): “You are right. I have found that in my father’s book.” Imam Ali (as) said: “As for the angel, who had pushed the Prophet (S) away, he was the Angel of Death. He had come from an arrogant of the people of the earth, who had uttered something that made Allah angry. Then Gabriel said to the Angel of Death: “This is Ahmad, the beloved messenger of Allah.” The Angel of Death came back, embraced the Prophet (S), apologized and said to him: “O messenger of Allah, I went to a tyrant king, who uttered bad things that made me very angry so that I did not know you.” The Prophet (S) accepted his apology. As for the four men, from above whom Angel Malik had removed a cover of Fire, that when the Prophet (S) passed by Angel Malik, who had never smiled since he had been created at all, Gabriel said: “O Malik, this is Muhammad, the prophet of mercy.” Then Malik smiled to the Prophet (S) and he did never smile to anyone else than Muhammad (as). The Prophet (S) said to Gabriel: “Order him to uncover a layer of Fire!” He uncovered a layer of Fire and there appeared Qabeel (Cain), Nimrod, Pharaoh and Haman. They said: “O Muhammad, ask your god to send us back to the worldly life in order to do good!” Gabriel became angry and with a feather of his wing he returned the layer of Fire upon them. As for the minbar of the Prophet (S), the abode of the Prophet (S) is the Garden of Eden, which Allah has created with His (hand). There are twelve guardians will be with the Prophet (S) in this Garden. Above this abode there is a dome called the dome of ar-Radhwan (contentment). Above the dome there is a house called al-Wasseela (the means), which no house in Paradise looks like it. It is the minbar of the Prophet (S).” The Jew said: “By Allah, you are right. This has been mentioned in the book of my father David (as). The book has been inherited by one after the other until it has reached me.” Then he took out a book written by Prophet David (as) and said to Imam Ali (as): “Give me your hand! I witness that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. It is he, of whom Prophet Moses (as) has informed. And I witness that you are the jurisprudent of this umma and the guardian of the messenger of Allah.” Then Imam Ali (as) began to teach him the laws of Islam.” The Book of Allah, the traditions of the Prophet (S), Imam Ali (as) and all the imams one after the other had confirmed that the number of the imams is twelve. No one among the Shia denies that the book of Sulaym bin Qayss al-Hilali is considered as one of the important books of the doctrine of the Shia. All that is mentioned in the book has been narrated from the Prophet (S), imam Ali (as), al-Miqdad, Salman al-Farisi Abu Tharr and their likes, who have accompanied the Prophet (S) and Amirul Mo’mineen (as). It is one of the sources that the Shia have depended on and referred to.