40 * Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-ʿAlawī al-Ḥusaynī, a descendant of Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, son of Imām ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, was an ascetic nicknamed “al-Ṣūfī” because he wore wool.

He was a jurist, a learned man who practiced what he preached, a devout worshipper, and highly revered by the Zaydīs.

He appeared in Ṭālaqān (1) and called people to al-Riḍā from the Prophet’s household, peace and blessings be upon him. A large army gathered around him, and he fought the Khurāsān troops during the reign of al-Maʾmūn. His authority grew, but his forces later fell apart; he was arrested and brought before al-Muʿtaṣim in Rabīʿ al-Ākhir of the year 219 AH. The caliph imprisoned him in Sāmarrāʾ, yet on a festival day he escaped, went into hiding, and the land concealed him (2).

Abū al-Faraj, the author of al-Aghānī, says that he contrived a plan, slipped away in secret, reached Wāsiṭ, and thereafter his whereabouts were unknown.

Ibn al-Najjār remarks that in Wāsiṭ there is a shrine said to contain his grave—Allah knows best.

It is related from Ibn Sallām al-Kūfī that al-Muʿtaṣim had him executed in captivity.

He was fair-skinned, handsome-faced, well-proportioned, with grey beginning to streak his hair, and was of middle age.