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Mashrabaمشربة

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.

محمد بن إسماعيل

Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūm

Died 179/795 (approximate)

Seventh Imam in the Ismāʿīlī account

Sources for this person

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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.

  1. The Prophet Muhammadمحمد632
  3. Muḥammad al-Bāqirمحمد الباقر733
  4. two 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, İsnâaşeriyye

    Suggest a correction

    Checked against

    Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiqجعفر الصادق765
  5. two 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, İsmâiliyye

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    Checked 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
  6. 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, İsmâiliyye

    Suggest a correction

    Checked 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)
    Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūmمحمد بن إسماعيل795
Other routes (2)

Route 2 of 3: The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines

  1. The Prophet Muhammadمحمد632
  3. Muḥammad al-Bāqirمحمد الباقر733
  4. two 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, İsnâaşeriyye

    Suggest a correction

    Checked against

    Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiqجعفر الصادق765
  5. two 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, İsmâiliyye

    Suggest a correction

    Checked 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
  6. 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, İsmâiliyye

    Suggest a correction

    Checked 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)
    Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūmمحمد بن إسماعيل795

Route 3 of 3: The Prophet's family: descent and imamate lines

  1. The Prophet Muhammadمحمد632
  3. Muḥammad al-Bāqirمحمد الباقر733
  4. two 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, İsnâaşeriyye

    Suggest a correction

    Checked against

    Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiqجعفر الصادق765
  5. two 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, İsmâiliyye

    Suggest a correction

    Checked 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
  6. 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, İsmâiliyye

    Suggest a correction

    Checked 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)
    Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūmمحمد بن إسماعيل795
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 Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūm

1 recorded, each with the chain set it belongs to.

  • ʿUbaydallāh al-Mahdīعبيد الله المهدي934
    one sourcein The Prophet's family: descent and imamate linesomits: al-Wafī, al-Taqī, al-Raḍī (TDV; Ibn Khallikān names the same three as the hidden imams), or Muḥammad al-Ḥabīb b. Jaʿfar (Ibn ʿInaba's first account)sources differ

    successor of · Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūm to ʿUbaydallāh al-Mahdī · One source

    TDV İsmâiliyye: the Ismāʿīlī imams stayed hidden (the satr) from al-Ṣādiq's death until ʿUbaydallāh appeared in North Africa (296/908); ʿUbaydallāh claimed the imamate for himself and his forebears at Salamiyya in 286/899 and declared himself Mahdī at Raqqāda in 297/910.

    TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyyeTDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Fatımîler

    Suggest a correction

    Checked against

    • Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L4465-4481 · differsGives two accounts of the first Fatimid's descent, both through Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl's later descendants; chronology rules out a direct son.
    • Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān (OpenITI), wafayat#L20604-20620 · differsReports four attributions of ʿUbaydallāh's descent; one makes him son of al-Raḍī b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl (via al-Wafī, al-Taqī).
    • al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI), siyar#L81812-81821 · differsLists Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl's descendants (none ʿUbaydallāh) and reports a Damascus sharīf who denied ʿUbaydallāh this descent.
    • Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, pp. 99–100 · agreesFatimid account: a series of hidden imams from Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl to ʿAbd Allāh al-Mahdī; their names do not appear in the earliest Ismāʿīlī sources.
    • Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, pp. 116–117 · agreesIn 286/899 ʿAbd Allāh publicly claimed the imamate for himself and his predecessors; Ḥamdān Qarmaṭ and ʿAbdān broke with the leadership.
    • Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, pp. 101, 106 · differsHis own letter traces his line through ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar, not Ismāʿīl; Daftary says the evidence neither proves nor refutes the official chain.

    Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.

    • Fatimid sources, as TDV Fâtımîler gives them: ʿUbaydallāh b. al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar. TDV adds that even the earliest Ismāʿīlī sources do not name the hidden imams, and that the Fatimid caliphs published no official genealogy.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Fatımîler
    • TDV Fâtımîler: in a letter to the Yemen community, ʿUbaydallāh traced his line not to Ismāʿīl but to Ismāʿīl's elder brother ʿAbd Allāh, whom, he said, Jaʿfar had named heir; TDV relates this to the hidden imams' use of cover names. al-Maqrīzī (al-Muqaffā) records a lineage close to the letter's.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Fatımîler
    • TDV Fâtımîler reports another account in which ʿAbd Allāh b. Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ, not of ʿAlī's line, is named the real founder of the movement and ancestor of the Fatimids; TDV traces the confusion to 'Maymūn' being one of the epithets of Jaʿfar's sons.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Fatımîler
    • TDV Fâtımîler: the maḥḍar issued by the Abbasids in Baghdad in 402/1011 to contest the Fatimids' descent, which al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā also signed, does not name Maymūn or his son.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Fatımîler
    • TDV İsmâiliyye: Ḥamdān Qarmaṭ and ʿAbdān withdrew their support over ʿUbaydallāh's claim of 286/899, and the Ismāʿīlī communities of Iraq, Bahrain and western Iran did not accept his imamate, holding to the return of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl as the qāʾim.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyye
    • Qarmaṭī view, as Daftary reports it from al-Nawbakhtī, al-Qummī and others: before 286/899 the great majority of the movement recognized only seven imams, ending with Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, expected as Qāʾim and Mahdī. Only a small subgroup continued the imamate in his progeny. The Qarmaṭīs of Iraq and Bahrayn held to this and did not accept ʿAbd Allāh's claim. (ch. 3, pp. 96, 99, 117, 120–121)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
    • Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ account and its critics, as Daftary reports them: Ibn Rizām and Akhū Muḥsin made the non-ʿAlid ʿAbd Allāh b. Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ the founder of Ismāʿīlism and ancestor of the Fatimids. Daftary notes that al-Nawbakhtī, al-Qummī, al-Ṭabarī, ʿArīb b. Saʿd and the 402/1011 manifesto do not name him. Ivanow called it a myth; Massignon, Qazvīnī and Lewis clarified the Qaddāḥ biographies; Stern sees a basis in later Qaddāḥ descendants; Lewis proposes two lines of imams (mustawdaʿ and mustaqarr), a view Daftary says other scholars do not generally accept; Hamdani and de Blois see the official genealogy as a merger of two lines of Jaʿfar's descendants (ʿAbd Allāh and Ismāʿīl). (ch. 3, pp. 101–107)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
    one sourcein The Prophet's family: descent and imamate linesomits: al-Wafī, al-Taqī, al-Raḍī (TDV, Ibn Khallikān) or Jaʿfar and Muḥammad al-Ḥabīb (Ibn ʿInaba); Daftary (p. 100, table p. 507) names the same three positions as ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh, al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad, with epithets differing from TDVsources differ

    child of · Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūm to ʿUbaydallāh al-Mahdī · One source

    Descent as stated by Fatimid sources through intermediate imams (see readings).

    TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Fatımîler

    Suggest a correction

    Checked against

    • Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān (OpenITI), wafayat#L20604-20620 · differsFour attributions; the 'hidden' reading (ʿUbaydallāh b. al-Taqī b. al-Wafī b. al-Raḍī b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl) matches TDV.
    • Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI), umda#L4465-4481 · differsEither son of Muḥammad al-Ḥabīb b. Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, or of Jaʿfar al-Baghīḍ; no direct son.
    • Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, p. 100; genealogical table, p. 507 · agreesFatimid version: Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh, al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad, then ʿAbd Allāh al-Mahdī.
    • Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007), ch. 3, pp. 100–101 · differsNames, number, sequence and descent of the hidden imams are disputed even among Ismāʿīlīs; the Fatimids published no official genealogy.

    Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.

    • TDV İsmâiliyye: Ismāʿīlīs name ʿAbd Allāh al-Wafī, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Taqī and Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad al-Raḍī as the imams after Muḥammad, and TDV says it is not known with certainty whether they were historical persons. al-Maqrīzī, per TDV Fâtımîler, says these three were called 'hidden in God's essence'.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmâiliyyeTDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Fatımîler
    • Ibn Khallikān reports four attributions of ʿUbaydallāh's descent: from the line of Mūsā al-Kāẓim (Taʾrīkh al-Qayrawān); from Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl; from a line through al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn (as he gives it); or as son of al-Taqī b. al-Wafī b. al-Raḍī, sons of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl who stayed hidden for fear of the Abbasids. He adds that verifying genealogists reject the claim.Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān (OpenITI)
    • Ibn ʿInaba: the Abbasid-sponsored manifesto of Baghdad denied the lineage; he finds the critics' reasoning assumes the first Mahdī was a direct son of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, which chronology does not allow, and notes that al-Sharīf al-Raḍī affirmed the lineage in verse. He gives two accounts: son of Muḥammad al-Ḥabīb b. Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, or of Jaʿfar al-Baghīḍ.Ibn ʿInaba, ʿUmdat al-ṭālib (OpenITI)
    • al-Dhahabī lists Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl's descendants through Egypt and reports that a Damascus sharīf, Abū l-Ḥusayn Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (known as Akhū Muḥsin, d. before 400/1009), wrote a book denying ʿUbaydallāh any share in the lineage.al-Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (OpenITI)
    • Daftary on the official Fatimid chain: Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl, ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad (who, he says, later took the surname al-Raḍī), Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh, al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad, ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Ḥusayn (al-Mahdī). The epithets thus differ from the al-Wafī, al-Taqī, al-Raḍī sequence TDV and Ibn Khallikān give. Daftary notes the Ismāʿīlī sources are reluctant to name these imams and that they used pseudonyms. (ch. 3, p. 100; table, p. 507)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
    • Fatimid (al-Mahdī's own) account, as Daftary reports it: in his letter to the Yaman community he gives his line as ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, naming Jaʿfar's son ʿAbd Allāh rather than Ismāʿīl as progenitor, with the imams using the names Mubārak, Maymūn and Saʿīd for concealment. His successors never adopted this as the official genealogy. Al-Muʿizz's epistle explains 'son of Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ' as a code name for ʿAbd Allāh, son of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl. (ch. 3, pp. 101, 104)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
    • 402/1011 Baghdad manifesto, as Daftary reports it: sponsored by the Abbasid caliph al-Qādir, signed by ʿAlids and jurists, it denounced the Fatimids' ʿAlid descent as false; it names a Daysān b. Saʿīd as ancestor and does not name Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ. It drew on the account of Ibn Rizām and Akhū Muḥsin (the latter, in Daftary's dating, wrote c. 372/982 and died c. 375/985–986). (ch. 3, pp. 101–103; ch. 4, p. 185)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)
    • Other Ismāʿīlī positions in Daftary: in al-Muʿizz's time some eastern Ismāʿīlīs held that leadership passed to ʿAbd Allāh b. Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ and his descendants before reverting to Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl's line, and al-Muʿizz refuted them; al-Kirmānī rejected the Qaddāḥid ancestry; the Yamanī Mustaʿlī dāʿī al-Khaṭṭāb (a fourth hidden imam, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn, with al-Mahdī only a trustee who returned the imamate to al-Qāʾim) and Ibrāhīm al-Ḥāmidī (al-Mahdī as father of al-Qāʾim, with Maymūn's son as tutor of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl) gave variant sequences; the Druze literature lists seven hidden imams. Daftary's own conclusion is that the evidence does not prove al-Mahdī was not al-Qāʾim's father, nor support a Qaddāḥid origin. (ch. 3, pp. 105–106)Farhad Daftary, The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge UP, 2nd ed. 2007)

How to cite

Mashraba Reader, Atlas of transmission, “Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Maktūm”, https://www.mashraba.org/atlas/figure/muhammad-b-ismail (data of 31 October 2026).