Kitāb al-Ghayba
Two books on the occultation under one heading, and this page holds both. Al-Nuʿmānī (d. c. 360/971) wrote the earlier, within living memory of the shorter occultation, gathering the reports that the concealment had been foretold. Al-Ṭūsī (d. 460/1067) wrote the later in Baghdad a century further on, when the doctrine was under sustained attack, and his purpose is argument as much as collection: he sets out the reports, reasons from them, then answers opponents directly — that a leader nobody can reach is no leader, that the concealment has lasted too long, that the accounts conflict. He documents the four deputies and the claimants he rejects, and collects earlier cases of concealment among prophets to argue the pattern is not new.
Chapters
- 1. Introduction 1 hadith
- 2. Preserving the secret of the Prophet’s Family 12 hadith
- 3. Clear declaration of Imam Kadhim about the Imamate of Imam Ridha 17 hadith
- 4. Disappearance of the expected Imam 89 hadith
- 5. Being patient in waiting for deliverance 17 hadith
- 6. Evidence of the Imamate of Imam Musa Kadhim (a.s) and refutation of Waqifiya 41 hadith
- 7. Disagreement among the Shia during the disappearance 19 hadith
- 8. Factors of appearance of Waqifi sect 5 hadith
- 9. Al-Qa’im’s aspects and deeds 45 hadith
- 10. Traditional reports in condemnation of Waqifites 7 hadith
- 11. Some miracles of Imam Ali Ibn Musa Ridha 9 hadith
- 12. The signs preceding the appearance 68 hadith
- 13. Objections of the opponents with regard to the birth of Imam Mahdi (a.s) 5 hadith
- 14. The distresses before the appearance of al-Qa’im 7 hadith
- 15. Forbidding timing and naming al-Qa’im 15 hadith
- 16. Refutation of all sects, which believed in Imamate of someone other than Master of the Age (a.s) 7 hadith
- 17. Philosophy and wisdom of Occultation 22 hadith
- 18. The distresses al-Qa’im meets from people 6 hadith
- 19. The rising of as-Sufyani 18 hadith
- 20. What is the difference between a hidden Imam and an Imam who does not exist or one that exists in the heavens? 3 hadith
- 21. Application of Divine Penalties during the Occultation of Imam Mahdi (a.s) 6 hadith
- 22. The Prophet’s banner 5 hadith
- 23. Discussion on occultation of Imam Mahdi(a.s) 5 hadith
- 24. Keeping to the “Rope” Of Allah 2 hadith
- 25. Discerning truth during occultation of the Imam 6 hadith
- 26. The army of anger 12 hadith
- 27. Statement of Sayyid Murtadha (r.a) 1 hadith
- 28. The Shia when al-Qa’im appears 10 hadith
- 29. Islam began strange and returns strange 5 hadith
- 30. Reason of occultation of the Imam from his followers 19 hadith
- 31. Concealed Birth of the Imam of the Time (a.s) was not an extraordinary event 21 hadith
- 32. The age of al-Qa’im 4 hadith
- 33. Issma’eel, the son of Imam as-Sadiq 9 hadith
- 34. Stories of people with long lifespans from Arabs and non-Arabs are famous and chronicled in books and history. 29 hadith
- 35. Knowing one’s imam 5 hadith
- 36. Reports of Ahle Sunnat that Imams are twelve in number 12 hadith
- 37. Shia traditional reports on the topic that Imams are twelve in number 16 hadith
- 38. Traditions of the Holy Imams on the occultation of Imam Mahdi 17 hadith
- 39. Traditional reports that confirm the uprising of Imam Mahdi 15 hadith
- 40. Mahdi is from the progeny of Ali and Fatima (a.s) 6 hadith
- 41. First Principle: Necessity of Imamate 39 hadith
- 42. The Imamate and the Will 7 hadith
- 43. Mahdi is from the progeny of Imam Husain (a.s) 12 hadith
- 44. Refutation of Kaisaniya belief and account of the demise of Muhammad bin Hanfiyyah 4 hadith
- 45. Refutation of those who stopped at the Imamate of Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s) and said that he is the Promised Mahdi 5 hadith
- 46. Imamate of Imam Hasan Askari (a.s) 48 hadith
- 47. Evidence of the Birth of the Master of the Age 34 hadith
- 48. Reports of those who saw the Imam of the Time (a.s) 19 hadith
- 49. Miracles of the Master of the time during his Occultation 7 hadith
- 50. Epistles issued from Imam Mahdi (a.s) 31 hadith
- 51. Causes of delay in reappearance of the Master of the Affair 11 hadith
- 52. Test of Shia during the period of occultation of the Imam 13 hadith
- 53. Second Principle: Infallibility of Imam 1 hadith
- 54. Twelve imams determined by Allah 40 hadith
- 55. Reports of the Emissaries of Imam (a.s) during the period of occultation 3 hadith
- 56. Approved Emissaries 28 hadith
- 57. Emissaries condemned by the Imam 7 hadith
- 58. Special Emissaries of the Imam during the Occultation 41 hadith
- 59. Questions of Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Ja’far Himyari 3 hadith
- 60. Excellence of Husain bin Rauh continued 17 hadith
- 61. Abul Hasan Ali bin Muhammad Saymoori 8 hadith
- 62. False claimants of deputyship of Imam who are also clearly condemned by the Imams 29 hadith
- 63. Appointees of the four special deputies of the Imam 8 hadith
- 64. Long lifespan of the Imam (a.s) 16 hadith
- 65. Pretenders of being imams 13 hadith
- 66. Third Principle: Truth will never leave the Islamic Ummah 1 hadith
- 67. Time of reappearance of the Imam (a.s) 17 hadith
- 68. Signs preceding the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (a.s) 60 hadith
- 69. Some Qualities, practices and manners of the Master of the Age (a.s) 23 hadith
- 70. Invalidity of Kaisaniyya creed 11 hadith
- 71. The traditions narrated by the Sunni 25 hadith
- 72. Doubting any of the twelve imams 19 hadith
- 73. Refutation of Nawusiyya belief 1 hadith
- 74. Allah does not leave the world with no authority (Hujjah) 10 hadith
- 75. Refutation of Waqifiya belief 1 hadith
- 76. Al-Hujjah must appear 5 hadith
- 77. Traditional reports about the martyrdom of Imam Kadhim 6 hadith
About this collection
Kitāb al-Ghayba
Two separate books on the occultation of the twelfth Imam, gathered here under one heading. The earlier is by Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Nuʿmānī (d. c. 360/971), a student of al-Kulaynī, written while the shorter occultation was still within living memory; the later is by Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī (d. 460/1067), written in Baghdad roughly a century further on. Together they run to 1,241 narrations across 77 chapters in this edition.
Al-Nuʿmānī’s concern is that the concealment was foretold rather than improvised: he assembles the reports in which the Prophet and the Imams are said to have announced a ghayba in advance, and warns his readers against being unsettled by something already described to them. Al-Ṭūsī writes under different pressure. By his time the doctrine had been under attack for a century — that a leader nobody can reach is no leader, that the concealment had outlasted any reasonable span, that the accounts contradict one another — and his book answers those objections directly, reasoning from the narrations rather than only listing them.
Al-Ṭūsī also documents the four deputies of the shorter occultation and the men who claimed that office and were repudiated, which makes his half the principal source for the institutional history of the period. Both authors collect earlier concealments among the prophets, to argue that the pattern is not new.