An analysis and critique of the reasons conjecturing theimamate of Ismā īl from the perspective of Imamiyah sources

One of the issues always debated in the history of Shi‘ism is the conjecture about the imamate of Ismā‘īl after the martyrdom of Imam Sādiq (AS), expressed in Ismā‘īlī books and sometimes the Imāmī. The reasons that led to the conjecture about the imamate of Ismā‘īl include: the narrations indicating thatimamate belongs to an older child, the attention and affection of the sixth Imam to Ismā‘īl, the availability of bogus text, lack of understanding regardingthe concept of Bidā’, rumors about the survival of Ismā‘īl, and the throbbing effect during theAbbasid rulein preventing public introduction and announcement ofthe Imam. These reasons will be examined and critiquedin the present study.In this paper, for the identification of possible causes of forgery, traditions from the Imams following Imam Bāqir (AS) with the content of introducing the names of the twelve Imams are analyzed and explained. These traditions cited bythose opposing the imamate of Ismā‘īl along with a chart of narrators will show that none of the factors mentioned indicate the imamate of Ismā‘īl, that no error had occurred on the part of Imam Sādiq (AS) in nominating the next imam, and thatthe traditions of thetwelve imams cannot be considered as having been forged by narrators. In this context, the conjecture regardingthe imamate of Ismā‘īl should be seenas public speculations by ordinarypeople and as a consequence of the impediments the Imam (AS) faced in terms introducing Imam Kāzim (AS) as the new imam due to the sociopolitical suffocation conditions during the reign of the Abbasid.