Atlas
Chains of transmission from the Prophet, read as the sources give them.
About this atlas
The atlas holds the chains of transmission from the Prophet as the standard references and the classical sources record them: the Sufi orders, the chains of Qurʾān recitation, the teachers of the schools of law and ḥadīth, and the lines of the Prophet's family, with the places they spread and the living houses and teachers who carry them today. Every link shows its sources; where they differ, both readings are shown, and we do not rule on any community's claims. Ibn ʿArabī's own life, teachers and readers are on their own page.
إسماعيل بن جعفر
Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar
Died 133/750 (Ibn ʿInaba, citing Ibn Khidāʿ; al-Dhahabī; TDV; a minority Ismāʿīlī view held he had not died; before his father: 133/750, 138/755, three years before 148/765)
Son of al-Ṣādiq; the Ismāʿīlī line is traced to him
Sources for this person
The chain up to the Prophet
Dates are given where the sources give them. Years are CE; the Hijri year is in each name's detail.
Route 1 of 3, the best-sourced: The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines. Tap a rule to read its basis, sources and checks.
- The Prophet Muhammadمحمد632
- ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīnعلي زين العابدين713
two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines
successor of · ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn to Muḥammad al-Bāqir · Two independent sources
Fifth Imam (d. 114/733, marked with a query in TDV).
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsnâaşeriyyeChecked against
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L62011-62015, L62163-62165 · agreesal-Bāqir is his son; died 114 per Abū Nuʿaym and others, 117 also reported; birth 56 AH.
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L3649-3652, L3668-3671 · agreesal-Bāqir listed first among Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn's sons; born 59, died Rabīʿ II 114.
- Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān (OpenITI), wafayat#L30679-30689 · agreesDeath given as 113, 114, 117 or 118; birth 3 Ṣafar 57.
Muḥammad al-Bāqirمحمد الباقر733two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines
successor of · Muḥammad al-Bāqir to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq · Two independent sources
Sixth Imam (d. 148/765).
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsnâaşeriyyeChecked against
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L81498-81510, L81801-81803 · agreesJaʿfar b. Muḥammad, born 80; died 148.
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L3672-3677 · agreesal-Ṣādiq was al-Bāqir's only child with offspring; born 80, died 148 (147 also given).
- Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān (OpenITI), wafayat#L5685-5694 · agreesOne of the Twelve Imams for the Imāmiyya; born 80 (or 83); died Shawwāl 148 at Medina.
Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiqجعفر الصادق765two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate linessources differ
child of · Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq to Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar · Two independent sources
The Ismāʿīlīs trace their imamate to Ismāʿīl, son of al-Ṣādiq.
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyyeChecked against
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L4427-4433 · agreesIsmāʿīl al-Aʿraj, al-Ṣādiq's eldest and best-loved son; died in his father's lifetime, buried at al-Baqīʿ in 133 (Ibn Khidāʿ).
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L81807-81808 · agreesIsmāʿīl was the eldest; died young in his father's lifetime, in 138; left Muḥammad, ʿAlī and Fāṭima.
- Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, p. 88; genealogical table, p. 507 · agreesIsmāʿīl (called al-Mubārak) is al-Ṣādiq's son and the eponym of the Ismāʿīliyya; he is the sixth imam in the Ismāʿīlī list.
Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.
- Twelver account: Mūsā, not Ismāʿīl, was designated; TDV İsmâiliyye lists the reports given for this (Ismāʿīl's death three years before his father, his conduct, his friendship with Abū l-Khaṭṭāb).TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyye
- Ismāʿīlī accounts as TDV gives them: the majority (the Mubārakiyya) held that Ismāʿīl died before his father and the imamate passed to his descendants; a smaller group held that he had not died. TDV also cites a report that he was seen alive in Basra five years after 148/765.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyye
- Ibn ʿInaba (citing Ibn Khidāʿ, the Egyptian genealogist) buries Ismāʿīl at al-Baqīʿ in 133/750, twenty years before al-Ṣādiq; al-Dhahabī dates his death to 138/755. Both place it in his father's lifetime. TDV gives three years before al-Ṣādiq.Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI)al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI)
- Daftary: calls Ismāʿīl al-Ṣādiq's second son, with the full brother ʿAbd Allāh al-Aftaḥ the eldest surviving son (ch. 3, p. 88), where Ibn ʿInaba and al-Dhahabī call Ismāʿīl the eldest. His genealogical table gives Ismāʿīl's death as 'after 136/754' (p. 507).Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
- Daftary on the date of Ismāʿīl's death: one source gives 133/750, while others name later years up to 145/762–763. Because the caliph al-Manṣūr (r. from 136/754) is named at his death, Daftary infers 136–145/754–763, possibly later. All of this is in his father's lifetime. (ch. 3, p. 91)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
- Daftary on the earliest Ismāʿīlī groups: one group denied Ismāʿīl's death and awaited him as Mahdī (the 'pure Ismāʿīliyya'); the Mubārakiyya accepted his death and recognized his son Muḥammad as imam, and Mubārakiyya was the original name of the movement. (ch. 3, pp. 89–90)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfarإسماعيل بن جعفر750
Other routes (2)
Route 2 of 3: The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines
- The Prophet Muhammadمحمد632
- ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīnعلي زين العابدين713
two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines
successor of · ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn to Muḥammad al-Bāqir · Two independent sources
Fifth Imam (d. 114/733, marked with a query in TDV).
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsnâaşeriyyeChecked against
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L62011-62015, L62163-62165 · agreesal-Bāqir is his son; died 114 per Abū Nuʿaym and others, 117 also reported; birth 56 AH.
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L3649-3652, L3668-3671 · agreesal-Bāqir listed first among Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn's sons; born 59, died Rabīʿ II 114.
- Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān (OpenITI), wafayat#L30679-30689 · agreesDeath given as 113, 114, 117 or 118; birth 3 Ṣafar 57.
Muḥammad al-Bāqirمحمد الباقر733two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines
successor of · Muḥammad al-Bāqir to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq · Two independent sources
Sixth Imam (d. 148/765).
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsnâaşeriyyeChecked against
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L81498-81510, L81801-81803 · agreesJaʿfar b. Muḥammad, born 80; died 148.
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L3672-3677 · agreesal-Ṣādiq was al-Bāqir's only child with offspring; born 80, died 148 (147 also given).
- Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān (OpenITI), wafayat#L5685-5694 · agreesOne of the Twelve Imams for the Imāmiyya; born 80 (or 83); died Shawwāl 148 at Medina.
Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiqجعفر الصادق765two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate linessources differ
child of · Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq to Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar · Two independent sources
The Ismāʿīlīs trace their imamate to Ismāʿīl, son of al-Ṣādiq.
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyyeChecked against
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L4427-4433 · agreesIsmāʿīl al-Aʿraj, al-Ṣādiq's eldest and best-loved son; died in his father's lifetime, buried at al-Baqīʿ in 133 (Ibn Khidāʿ).
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L81807-81808 · agreesIsmāʿīl was the eldest; died young in his father's lifetime, in 138; left Muḥammad, ʿAlī and Fāṭima.
- Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, p. 88; genealogical table, p. 507 · agreesIsmāʿīl (called al-Mubārak) is al-Ṣādiq's son and the eponym of the Ismāʿīliyya; he is the sixth imam in the Ismāʿīlī list.
Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.
- Twelver account: Mūsā, not Ismāʿīl, was designated; TDV İsmâiliyye lists the reports given for this (Ismāʿīl's death three years before his father, his conduct, his friendship with Abū l-Khaṭṭāb).TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyye
- Ismāʿīlī accounts as TDV gives them: the majority (the Mubārakiyya) held that Ismāʿīl died before his father and the imamate passed to his descendants; a smaller group held that he had not died. TDV also cites a report that he was seen alive in Basra five years after 148/765.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyye
- Ibn ʿInaba (citing Ibn Khidāʿ, the Egyptian genealogist) buries Ismāʿīl at al-Baqīʿ in 133/750, twenty years before al-Ṣādiq; al-Dhahabī dates his death to 138/755. Both place it in his father's lifetime. TDV gives three years before al-Ṣādiq.Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI)al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI)
- Daftary: calls Ismāʿīl al-Ṣādiq's second son, with the full brother ʿAbd Allāh al-Aftaḥ the eldest surviving son (ch. 3, p. 88), where Ibn ʿInaba and al-Dhahabī call Ismāʿīl the eldest. His genealogical table gives Ismāʿīl's death as 'after 136/754' (p. 507).Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
- Daftary on the date of Ismāʿīl's death: one source gives 133/750, while others name later years up to 145/762–763. Because the caliph al-Manṣūr (r. from 136/754) is named at his death, Daftary infers 136–145/754–763, possibly later. All of this is in his father's lifetime. (ch. 3, p. 91)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
- Daftary on the earliest Ismāʿīlī groups: one group denied Ismāʿīl's death and awaited him as Mahdī (the 'pure Ismāʿīliyya'); the Mubārakiyya accepted his death and recognized his son Muḥammad as imam, and Mubārakiyya was the original name of the movement. (ch. 3, pp. 89–90)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfarإسماعيل بن جعفر750
Route 3 of 3: The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines
- The Prophet Muhammadمحمد632
- ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīnعلي زين العابدين713
two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines
successor of · ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn to Muḥammad al-Bāqir · Two independent sources
Fifth Imam (d. 114/733, marked with a query in TDV).
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsnâaşeriyyeChecked against
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L62011-62015, L62163-62165 · agreesal-Bāqir is his son; died 114 per Abū Nuʿaym and others, 117 also reported; birth 56 AH.
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L3649-3652, L3668-3671 · agreesal-Bāqir listed first among Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn's sons; born 59, died Rabīʿ II 114.
- Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān (OpenITI), wafayat#L30679-30689 · agreesDeath given as 113, 114, 117 or 118; birth 3 Ṣafar 57.
Muḥammad al-Bāqirمحمد الباقر733two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines
successor of · Muḥammad al-Bāqir to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq · Two independent sources
Sixth Imam (d. 148/765).
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsnâaşeriyyeChecked against
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L81498-81510, L81801-81803 · agreesJaʿfar b. Muḥammad, born 80; died 148.
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L3672-3677 · agreesal-Ṣādiq was al-Bāqir's only child with offspring; born 80, died 148 (147 also given).
- Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān (OpenITI), wafayat#L5685-5694 · agreesOne of the Twelve Imams for the Imāmiyya; born 80 (or 83); died Shawwāl 148 at Medina.
Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiqجعفر الصادق765two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate linessources differ
child of · Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq to Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar · Two independent sources
The Ismāʿīlīs trace their imamate to Ismāʿīl, son of al-Ṣādiq.
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyyeChecked against
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L4427-4433 · agreesIsmāʿīl al-Aʿraj, al-Ṣādiq's eldest and best-loved son; died in his father's lifetime, buried at al-Baqīʿ in 133 (Ibn Khidāʿ).
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L81807-81808 · agreesIsmāʿīl was the eldest; died young in his father's lifetime, in 138; left Muḥammad, ʿAlī and Fāṭima.
- Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, p. 88; genealogical table, p. 507 · agreesIsmāʿīl (called al-Mubārak) is al-Ṣādiq's son and the eponym of the Ismāʿīliyya; he is the sixth imam in the Ismāʿīlī list.
Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.
- Twelver account: Mūsā, not Ismāʿīl, was designated; TDV İsmâiliyye lists the reports given for this (Ismāʿīl's death three years before his father, his conduct, his friendship with Abū l-Khaṭṭāb).TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyye
- Ismāʿīlī accounts as TDV gives them: the majority (the Mubārakiyya) held that Ismāʿīl died before his father and the imamate passed to his descendants; a smaller group held that he had not died. TDV also cites a report that he was seen alive in Basra five years after 148/765.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyye
- Ibn ʿInaba (citing Ibn Khidāʿ, the Egyptian genealogist) buries Ismāʿīl at al-Baqīʿ in 133/750, twenty years before al-Ṣādiq; al-Dhahabī dates his death to 138/755. Both place it in his father's lifetime. TDV gives three years before al-Ṣādiq.Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI)al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI)
- Daftary: calls Ismāʿīl al-Ṣādiq's second son, with the full brother ʿAbd Allāh al-Aftaḥ the eldest surviving son (ch. 3, p. 88), where Ibn ʿInaba and al-Dhahabī call Ismāʿīl the eldest. His genealogical table gives Ismāʿīl's death as 'after 136/754' (p. 507).Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
- Daftary on the date of Ismāʿīl's death: one source gives 133/750, while others name later years up to 145/762–763. Because the caliph al-Manṣūr (r. from 136/754) is named at his death, Daftary infers 136–145/754–763, possibly later. All of this is in his father's lifetime. (ch. 3, p. 91)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
- Daftary on the earliest Ismāʿīlī groups: one group denied Ismāʿīl's death and awaited him as Mahdī (the 'pure Ismāʿīliyya'); the Mubārakiyya accepted his death and recognized his son Muḥammad as imam, and Mubārakiyya was the original name of the movement. (ch. 3, pp. 89–90)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfarإسماعيل بن جعفر750
How to read the marks
- Two sources: a solid rule. Two independent references give the same link.
- One source: a lighter rule, so labelled.
- The community's own account: a dotted rule. The order tells it; we have not yet read it against a reference source.
- A gap in the rule: the sources omit names between the two. The label says which.
- The sources differ: tap the ≠ to read each reading with its source.
- A ring: a spiritual link, without a meeting (uwaysī).
Who received from Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar
1 recorded, each with the chain set it belongs to.
- Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūmمحمد بن إسماعيل795
two sourcesin The Prophet's family: descent and imamate linessources differ
successor of · Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar to Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūm · Two independent sources
Followers continued with Muḥammad al-Maktūm, who went from Medina to Rayy or Daylam and then Nishapur.
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyyeChecked against
- Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L4434-4445, L4469 · differsCalls Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl 'imam of the Maymūniyya'; reports (al-ʿUbaydalī, Abū Naṣr al-Bukhārī) he went to Iraq with Hārūn al-Rashīd and died in Baghdad.
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L81807-81809 · agreesMuḥammad is Ismāʿīl's son; his descendants are listed.
- Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, pp. 89–90, 95 · agreesIsmāʿīl's partisans recognized his son Muḥammad as imam after al-Ṣādiq; Muḥammad was Ismāʿīl's eldest son, born c. 120/738, called al-Maktūm.
- Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, pp. 95–96 · differsMuḥammad went from Medina to southern Iraq, then Persia (later life in Khūzistān); died under Hārūn al-Rashīd, perhaps soon after 179/795. Sources vary on his destination.
Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.
- Ibn ʿInaba, relaying the genealogists al-ʿUbaydalī and Abū Naṣr al-Bukhārī: Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl was 'imam of the Maymūniyya', was in Mūsā al-Kāẓim's circle, went to Iraq with Hārūn al-Rashīd, died in Baghdad and is buried there. This differs from the Ismāʿīlī account TDV gives (Medina, then Rayy or Daylam, then Nishapur).Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI)
- Daftary: Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl left Medina, went into hiding (hence al-Maktūm), and travelled first to southern Iraq and then to Persia, spending his later years in Khūzistān. Different sources give different final destinations. This differs from TDV (Rayy or Daylam, then Nishapur) and from Ibn ʿInaba (died in Baghdad). (ch. 3, pp. 95–96)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
How to cite
Mashraba Reader, Atlas of transmission, “Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar”, https://www.mashraba.org/atlas/figure/ismail-b-jafar (data of 31 October 2026).