ʿUmar (1), and Ibn Abī Yaʿlā.
Among the judges were: Abū Muḥammad ibn al-Akfānī (2); Abū al-Qāsim al-Ḥarīrī (3); and Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Abīwardī (4).
Among the jurists were: Abū Ḥāmid al-Isfarāʾīnī (5); Abū Muḥammad (6) ibn al-Kashfalī (7); Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Qudūrī (8); Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣayrī (9); Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Bayḍāwī; and Abū ʿAlī ibn Ḥimkān (10).
Among the certifying witnesses were: Abū al-Qāsim al-Tanūkhī (11) together with a large company of others. The document was also read aloud in Basra, and many people there affixed their signatures to it (12).
Such is the wording cited by Shaykh Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī (13).
I say: Further proof that these individuals are mere pretenders—liars—just as those learned masters and eminent imams have declared, and that they bear no relation at all to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib or to Fāṭimah, despite their claims, is found in the statement of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar to al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī when the latter intended to enter Iraq after receiving letters from the common folk of Kūfa inviting him to accept their allegiance. Ibn ʿUmar said:
“Do not go to them, for I fear they will kill you. Your grandfather was offered the choice between this world and the Hereafter, and he chose the Hereafter over this world. You are a part of him, and—by Allah—you will never attain it, nor will anyone from your household.”
This sound, well-reasoned, and manifest counsel from that noble Companion implies that no one from the Prophet’s Household will assume the caliphate except Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, the Mahdī who will appear at the end of time, at the moment of
(1) Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Umar, known as Abu al-Harith al-Alawi (d. 403 AH); biography in al-Muntazam, vol. 7, p. 265.
(2) Ibn al-Akfānī (Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Abd Allāh), known as Abu Muḥammad al-Asadī; his biography will appear under the obituaries for AH 405.
(3) al-Muntazam, vol. 7, p. 256: Abu al-Qāsim al-Kharzī.
(4) In al-Muntazam the name is erroneously given as “al-Sūrī”; the correct nisba is al-Sayyūrī. Abu al-ʿAbbās al-Abyūrdi refers to Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān; his biography appears in the obituaries for AH 425.
(5) Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad; his biography appears with the obituaries for AH 406.
(6) This is how Ibn al-Jawzī records his kunya in this passage of al-Muntazam (vol. 7, p. 256), a rendering adopted by al-Dhahabī in Tarīkh al-Islām (vol. 9, p. 11) and by Ibn Kathīr here. His full entry is found under the obituaries for AH 414 in this work, where he is given as “Abu Allāh” – the correct form, as also stated by al-Khaṭīb in his history (vol. 8, p. 678, our edition) and by Ibn al-Jawzī himself later in al-Muntazam (vol. 8, p. 13).
(7) In this edition the nisba appears as “al-Kasfalī” with an unpointed sīn; this is a copyist’s error. The correct form, al-Kashfalī, refers to the village of Kashfal near Āmul in Ṭabaristān, as Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī records in al-Ansāb and as Ibn al-Athīr follows in al-Lubāb.
(8) Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad; his biography appears with the obituaries for AH 428.
(9) al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad; his biography appears with the obituaries for AH 436.
(10) al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Himkān; his biography appears with the obituaries for AH 405.
(11) ʿAlī ibn al-Muḥsin ibn ʿAlī; his biography appears with the obituaries for AH 447.
(12) This document was recopied in AH 444 to reinforce the refutation of the Fatimid lineage.
(13) al-Muntazam, vol. 7, p. 255.