'Alí ibn Abí Ṭálib was the immediate legitimate successor of the Prophet and the First Imám, though not 'Alí ibn Abí Ṭálib, the First Imám. formally recognized as Khalífa until after the deaths of Abú Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthmán (whom the Shí'a regard as usurpers). He waged three great wars, with the Qásiṭín (“wrong-doers”), i.e. Mu'áwiya the Umayyad and his partisans; the Nákithín (“troth-breakers”), i.e. 'Á'isha, Ṭalḥa and Zubayr; and the Máriqín (“rebels”), i.e. the Khárijites. He was assassinated by Ibn Muljam on Ramaḍán 21 at the age of sixty-three. He married twelve wives after the death of Fáṭima and had seventeen sons and nineteen daughters. His father Abú Ṭálib was inwardly a believer, though he made no outward profession of Islám. 'Alí is supposed to have been the twelfth of the Awṣiyá (executors, trustees, or vicegerents) of Jesus Christ.
Fáṭima was the daughter of the Prophet by Khadíja,
and the wife of 'Alí, to whom she bore three sons (al-
Ḥasan ibn 'Alí, the Second Imám, was born in Sha'bán or Ramaḍán, A.H. 3 (January or March, 625), resigned the Ḥasan ibn 'Alí, the Second Imám. position of Khalífa to Mu'áwiya, to safeguard himself and his followers, after he had held it for ten years and a half, and died of poison administered to him by Ja'da the daughter of al-Ash'ath ibn Nafís, known as Asmá, at the instigation of Mu'áwiya, nine years and a half later. He is said to have had 60 wives, besides concubines, but others say 300 or even 600, of whom he divorced so many that he earned the nick-name of al-Miṭláq (“the great divorcer”); and to have had fifteen sons and two daughters, though here again there is much difference of opinion. The best known of his numerous titles is al-Mujtabà.
Ḥusayn ibn 'Alí, the Third Imám, was born only six
months (sic) after his brother Ḥasan; had five wives besides
Ḥusayn ibn 'Alí,
the Third
Imám.
concubines; six sons, 'Alí Akbar, who succeeded
him as Imám, 'Alí Awsaṭ, 'Alí Aṣghar,
Muḥammad, Ja'far and 'Abdu'lláh; and three
daughters, Fáṭimatu'l-Kubrà, Sakína and Fáṭimatu'ṣ-
'Alí ibn Ḥusayn, the Fourth Imám, commonly known as Zaynu'l-'Ábidín and Sayyid-i-Sajjád. His mother was 'Alí Zaynu'l 'Ábidín, the Fourth Imám. the daughter of Yazdigird, the last Sásánian King of Persia. Her name was Shahrbánú, or, according to others, Ghazála or Saláma. He was born in 36/656-7 or 38/658-9. He had one wife, his cousin Umm 'Abdi'lláh, daughter of al-Ḥasan, besides concubines. He had sixteen children (seven or twelve sons, and nine or four daughters). One of his sons, Zayd, was killed by the Umayyad Caliph Hishám ibn 'Abdu'l-Malik, who is also said to have poisoned him in 94/712 when he was fifty-seven years of age.
Muḥammad Báqir, the Fifth Imám, was born in A.H. 57 or 58 (A.D. 676-8), and is said to have been poisoned by the Umayyads in 104/722 or 107/726-7. [From this Muḥammad Báqir, the Fifth Imám. point onwards there are so many discrepancies and conflicting statements that a more rigorous abridgment seems desirable. Thus the age of this Imám is given as 57 or 58, or even 78, all of which, especially the last, are absolutely incompatible with the dates given for his birth and death.]
Ja'far aṣ-Ṣádiq, the Sixth Imám, born 80/699-700, poisoned by the 'Abbásid Caliph al-Manṣúr in 148/765-6.
Ja'far aṣ-Ṣádiq, the Sixth Imám. He took advantage of the internecine strife between the Umayyads and 'Abbásids to carry on an active propaganda for the Shí'a doctrine, which is therefore often called after him “Ja'farí.”Músà al-Káẓim, the Seventh Imám, born 129/746-7, poisoned by Hárúnu'r-Rashíd in 180/796-7.
Músà al-Káẓim, the Seventh Imám, and his five successors.'Alí ar-Riḍá, the Eighth Imám, poisoned by al-Ma'mún in 203/818-9, and buried at Mashhad.
Muḥammad Taqí, the Ninth Imám, born 195/810-11, poisoned by his wife at the instigation of the Caliph al-Mu'taṣim in 220/835.
'Alí Naqí, the Tenth Imám, born in 212/827-8, poisoned in 245/868 at the instigation of the Caliph al-Mu'tazz.
Ḥasan al-'Askarí, the Eleventh Imám, born 232/846-7
poisoned in 260/873-4 at the instigation of the Caliph al-
The Imám Mahdí, also called Qá'imu Áli Muḥammad, Ḥujjatu'lláh and Baqiyyatu'lláh, the Twelfth and last The Imám Mahdí. Imám, born in 255/869 by Narjis Khátún to Ḥasan al-'Askarí, disappeared in 260/873-4, is still living and will return “in the last Days” to establish the Shí'a faith and “fill the earth with justice after it has been filled with iniquity.”
Section iii. Attributes of the Imáms. It is necessary to believe that the Imáms were created from one pre-existing Character of the Imáms. Light; that all blessings and all knowledge of God come through them; that through them the universe lives and moves and has its being; and that they are in every respect the most excellent of beings after the Prophet Muḥammad, and superior to all other Prophets and to the Angels, though subject to all human needs and functions. They are also immaculate (ma'ṣúm), innocent of any sin, small or great, co-equal, endowed with every virtue, knowledge and power. Their birth was not as that of ordinary mortals, and, like the Prophet, they were born circumcised. After many further amplifications of the Imáms' perfections, the author proceeds to warn his readers against certain opinions of the Ghulát, or most extreme Shí'a, who would put them above the Prophet and even deify them.