Qarmatian – Imamāte of Seven Imāms According to some early Isma'ilis, the
Seveners, as well as the
Qarmatians, a splinter group, the number of imams was fixed, with seven Imams preordained by God. These groups consider
Muhammad ibn Isma'il, the foundation Imam of the Isma'ili branch of
Shia Islam, to be the
Mahdi and to be preserved in hiding, which is referred to as
the Occultation.
Qarmatians believed that
Muhammad ibn Isma'il was
Imām al-Qā'im al-Mahdi, and the last of the great messenger–prophets. (
Noah–
Shem), (
Abraham–
Ishmael), (
Moses–
Aaron or
Joshua), (
Jesus–
Simeon), (
Muhammad bin ʿAbd Allāh–
Ali ibn Abu Tālib); the silsila of “Nātıqs and Sāmads have been completed with (
Muhammad bin Ismā‘īl as-ṣaghīr (
Maymūn al-Qaddāh) –
ʿAbd Allāh Ibn-i Maymūn and his sons). Early Ismāʿīlis believed that hierarchical history of the mankind is created in
Seven Eras of various durations each one inaugurated by "speaker-
prophet" (known as
nātiq). In the first
Six Eras of human history,
nātiqs or
ūlul’l-ʿazm had been
Adam,
Nūh,
Ibrāhīm,
Mūsā,
ʿIsā,
Muhammad bin ʿAbd Allāh. Qarmatians, on the other hand, originally included
Ali ibn Abu Tālib instead of Adam in their list of law-announcing prophets. Later substitution of Adam in place of Ali as one of the nātiqs, and the reduction of Ali's rank from a prophet level to that of Muhammad's successor indicate the renouncement of their extremist views. Furthermore, they believed that each of the first six nātiqs were succeeded by a spiritual legatee called
wāsi or foundation
asās or silent
sāmit, who interpreted the inner esoteric
(batin) meaning of the revelation. Each
sāmit in turn was followed by
Seven Imāms called ''atimmā','' who guarded the true meaning of the scriptures and the laws. In the
Ismaili interpretation, the Imam is the guide and the intercessor between humans and God, and the individual through whom God is recognized. He is also responsible for the interpretation (
ta’wil) of the
Quran. He is the possessor of divine knowledge and therefore the “Prime Teacher”. According to the “Epistle of the Right Path”, a Persian
Ismaili prose text from the post-Mongol period of
Ismaili history, by an anonymous author, there has been a chain of Imams since the beginning of time, and there will continue to be an Imam present on the Earth until the end of time. The worlds would not exist in perfection without this uninterrupted
chain of Imamate. The proof (
hujja) and gate (
bāb) of the Imam are always aware of his presence and are witness to this uninterrupted chain. According to
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, a
Nizari Ismaili intellectual of the
Alamut period, the Imams are the Possessors of the Command, upon whom obedience is ordered by God in
Sura an-Nisa, Ayah 59: "Obey God and obey the Messenger and the Possessors of the Command". An old command may be superseded by a newer one, and therefore those who hold to the command rather than the Commander, in the Ismaili view, may go astray. Through this framework, the Ismailis give primacy to the living Word, or the Imam of the Time, over the recorded word. == The first seven Musta'li and Nizari imams ==