The Nusayri Religious System

The Twelve Imams

According to the Nusayris each of the Imams has the Bab (door), who serves as the path leading believers to him. They base this belief on tradition in which the Rasul
Muhammad (saw) is reported to have said, “I am the city of knowledge, and Ali is its gate,” and, “He who seeks divine knowledge must go through the gate.”[1]

Because each Imam possessed the divine knowledge of former ambiya’ and messengers of God, it is necessary that each should have a Bab able to transmit this divine
knowledge to the faithful of his age. The office of the Bab was best explained by the Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq, who said that the Bab is the one who, at will, knows the affairs of
the Imams. Nothing can conceal the Imam from him — no high mountain, deep sea, or surrounding wall.[2] The Bab acts as the testamentary trustee and heir to the Imam
and, like the Imam, possesses divine knowledge and the capacity for allegorical interpretation (Ta’wil) of the inward and outward meaning of the Qur’an. This explains the
necessity of the Bab for every Imam. In the Nusayri religious system, their Imams and their Babs are as follows:

Imam Bab

Ali Salman al-Farisi

Hasan Qays ibn Waraqa, known as al-Safi

Husayn Rashid al-Hijri

Ali Zayn al-Abidin Abd Allah al-Ghalib al-Kabuli nicknamed Kankar

Muhammad Baqir Yahya ibn Muammar ibn Umm al-Tawil al-Thumali

Ja’far al-Sadiq Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju’fi

Musa al-Kazim Muhammad ibn Abi Zaynab al-Kahili

Ali al-Riza Al-Mufaddal ibn Umar al-Ju’fi

Muhammad al-Jawad Muhammad ibn Mufaddal al-Ju’fi

Ali al-Hadi Umar ibn Furat known as al-Katib

Al-Hasan al-Askari Abu Shu’ayb Muhammad Ibn Nusayr

Since the twelfth Imam, Muhammad (the Mahdi), had no Bab still living when the Mahdi disappeared and who had been the Bab of the Mahdi’s father, al-Askari, became
the heir, representative, and guide of the Mahdi. In short, Ibn Nusayr became the Bab; he was succeeded by Muhammad al-Jannan al-Junbulani, who in turn was
succeeded by al-Khasibi (d. 957), already mentioned. It was al-Khasibi, more than his predecessors, who established a firm foundation for the Nusayri sect and spread
Nusayrism throughout the lands. Thus, according to the Nusayri writer al-Tawil, the office of the Bab forms a fundamental part of the religious system of the Nusayris.[3]

The twelve Imams also constitute an essential part of the Nusayri system. In Kitab al-Mashyakhah, they of spoken of as the culmination of the sixty-three personifications
of the Ism (Muhammad). This work also states that the Imams are part of the divine economy of God. In a supplicatory prayer, the Nusayris ask their God Ali establish them
in obedience to Him, to his apostle Muhammad, to His Wali (vicegerent) Salsal (Salman al-Farisi), and to “the Imam’s, who are yours, you had named yourself by them;
they are not empty of you, but you are of them.”[4]

Like the Twelver Shi’i, the Nusayris maintain that the twelve Imams existed before all of creation. The Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq is reported to have said that God created the
Imams thousands of years before he created Adam. They were spirits around the throne of God, praising Him, and were joined by heavenly host in their praise. Later the
Imams descended to earth in physical bodies; there they continued to praise God, joined in their praise by the people of the earth, as is related in the Qur’an 37: 165-66:
“and we are verily ranged in rank [for service]; and we are verily those who declare [God’s] glory.”[5]

The Imams were also God’s first delegates to His people. They acted as God’s spokesmen, repositories of His divine knowledge and storehouses of His secrets, the heirs
of His prophets and messengers, His light, His proof against mankind, and the trustees of His creation. In the words of the fifth Imam, Muhammad al-Baqir, the Imams are
vicegerents of God on earth. No part of God’s knowledge on earth and in heaven escapes them. They are the arm, the hand, the face, the eye, and the side of God.
Wherever the believer turns his face, he sees them. Whatever is God’s will is also that of the Imams. Al-Baqir concludes by saying, “Praise be to God, who chose us from
the light of His power, granted us the secret of the knowledge His will, and commanded us to inculcate in our partisans [Shi’ah] the truth of His creed in order to redeem
their souls from eternal torment through adherence to Him.”[6]

The Nusayri representation of the Imams as pre-existent celestial beings having divine status, seems no different from the view of the Twelver Shi’i. In the treatise
entitled al-Tawjih (Direction) in Kitab al-Mashyakhah, for example, the eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari, is portrayed as a divine being. It is reported that a certain Yahya ibn
Muin al-Samiri went to see Hasan al-Asakari and found him sitting on the throne of light, with rays of light before him and a light between his eyes which filled the east and
the west. Al-Samiri said, “When I saw him, I fell in my face in adoration; then raised my head and stood praising and thanking my Lord [al-Askari] and said, ‘My Lord is to
be praised. He is holy. Our Lord is the Lord of the angels and of the spirit.’”[7]

This spiritual pre-eminence of the Imams is further asserted by Ja’far al-Sadiq, who is reported to have said that God created seven heavens, the first being the abode of
the Imams. Al-Sadiq also said that whenever a believer (Shi’ah) dies, his soul is carried to the Imam Ali to be examined, in order that Ali may determine whether the soul is
that of a true believer and may decide whether it should be sent to Paradise or to Hell. Indeed, so magnificent is the spiritual position of the Imam that al-Sadiq interpreted
Qur’an 41:10, “He set on the earth mountains standing firm and high above it,” to mean that the mountains are the Imams, without whom the believers (Shi’ah) would have
doubted their religion and gone astray.[8]

The same Ja’far al-Sadiq also said that when mentioning an Imam, “the speaker should observe silence, and on mentioning God, [he] should fall silent and attentive.”[9]
Such, then, is the lofty spiritual plane occupied by the Imams in the religious system of the Nusayris. They are divine beings chosen to guide believers to knowledge of the
God Ali through the medium of their Babs. This role is reason the Imams are considered leaders of their communities and are so highly honoured.

According to Sulayman al-Adani, the common people among the Nusayris regard Imams as infallible and not subject to the laws of nature.[10] They also believe that their
Imams have knowledge of the future; they consult them in any matter on which they need advice, such as the building of a house, or marrying, or moving from the village.
[11]

The religious hierarchy of the Nusayris embraces seven ranks. They are the Babs, the five Aytam of Salman al-Farisi, the Naqibs, the Babs are the highest of these,
followed by the Aytam.[12] The Aytam number 500, all of whom are connected with the different Isms (names) of Salman al-Farisi (ra), five with Muhammad (saw), five with
Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah (rah), five with Muhammad’s wife Umm Salamah and five with one of al-Farisi’s close associates Abu Abd al-Rahman ibn Waraqa al-Riyahi
nicknamed al-Safinah (the Ark).[13] In the Nusayris religious system, however, al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Abd al-Rahman ibn Rawahah, Uthman ibn
Madh’un and Qandar ibn Kadan, are considered the five Aytam par excellence who exclusively belong to Salman al-Farisi and are believed by Nusayris to have been
created by al-Farisi.[14]

It is strange that women are mentioned as Aytam, since they have no place in the Nusayris religious system. Like the extremists Shi’i, however, the Nusayris regard
Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad, as a male and given her the name of Fatir.[15] We shall further discuss the Aytam in the following chapter.

Fatimah/Fatir holds an interesting place in the Nusayri religious system, serving to exalt the Imamah. In Kitab al-Majmu’ al-Ayad (The Book of Feasts), Fatimah-Fatir is
described as the personification of Laylat al–Qadr (the Night of Power), during which the Qur’an was first revealed to the Rasul Muhammad (saw). Qur’an 97:1-5 states,
“We have revealed the Qur’an in the Night of Power. Do you realise what the Night of Power is? The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. On it the angels and
the Spirit, by their Lords’ leave, descend with His decrees. That night is peace till the break of dawn.” Al-Khasibi explains that Laylat al-Qadr, which falls in the middle of
Sha’ban (the eighth month of the Islamic calendar), is a noble night during which God rewards and answers the prayers and fasting of His people [the Nusayris] for the
glorification of Fatir [Fatimah], Hasan, Husayn, and Muhsin, who are the light and essence of Muhammad. He adds that the Qadr (power) is Muhammad, and the night of
that power is Fatimah — Fatir, who is the mystery of Muhammad. Fatimah, he says, appeared in a feminine form to delude the wretched created beings.

Another Nusayri writer, al-Jilli, reiterates al-Khasibi’s interpretation, stating the Fatimah is the Night of Power. People believed that Fatimah appeared in feminine form, says
al-Jilli, but God dispelled this belief when He asked [Qur’an 97:1], “Do you realise what the Night of Power is?” Al-Jilli explains that this Night of Power is Fatimah — Fatir,
who created all mankind.

He goes on to interpret “better than a thousand months” to mean better than a thousand ambiya’, “angels” as those who posses knowledge of Fatimah’s reality and “the
Spirit” as her magnification and the call to know and obey her. Al-Jilli interprets the final sentence of the passage to mean that Fatimah will uphold justice and manifest
herself on behalf of the Imams until the day of the appearance of the Mahdi.

From the preceding evidence we are able to state that to the Nusayris, Fatimah is divine. She is the creator of mankind. She is not only the daughter of the Rasul (saw), but
homologous with him. They are the same essence. It is in this sense, as shall be seen later, that the Prophet addresses Fatimah as umm Abiha (mother of her father).
Furthermore, Fatimah — Fatir is the Manifestation of the Imams, who emanated from her, and she is acting on their behalf until the day when the Mahdi shall appear and
bring justice to the earth.

Just as Laylat al-Qadr is exalted as the time when the Qur’an was first revealed to the Rasul, so Fatimah — Fatir is exalted because she is the mother of the Imams, the
one from whose essence they emanated. In other words, as the nubuwwah was exalted through the divine revelation of the Qur’an, so the Imamah was exalted through
divine Fatimah, who is the very essence of Muhammad. Thus, the Nusayris believe that the nubuwwah and the Imamah are coequal; on this point they are in complete
agreement with the Twelver Shi’i, although the Twelvers do not regard Fatimah as divine.[16]

The preceding evidence also indicates that the Nusayris are one of the ancient Ghulat sects called the Mukhammisah (Fivers), who maintained that the five members of
the family of the Rasul are incarnation of God, and who prefer to call Fatimah by the masculine name of Fatir. Among the Fivers mentioned by al-Razi are the al-
Shurariyyah and al-Namiriyyah sects.[17] But in fact, as we have seen earlier, al-Namariyyah is none other than the Nusayriyyah, founded by Muhammad ibn Nusayr.