Al-Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm Ṭabāṭabā ibn Ismāʿīl al-Dībādj ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ghamr ibn al-Ḥasan al-Muthannā ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ar-Rassī (Arabic:القاسم بن ابراهيم بن اسماعيل بن ابراهيم بن الحسن بن الحسن بن علي بن أبي طالب الرسي; 785–860) was a 9th-century religious leader in theArabian Peninsula. He was one of the founders of the theological traditions of theZaydi branch ofShi'a Islam, and is considered as animam by the Zaydis. His grandsonYahya founded theRassid dynasty of Zaydiimams of Yemen.
Qasim was adescendant ofal-Hasan, a son ofAli ibn Abu Talib, the son-in-law ofMuhammad and firstShi'aimam. Qasim was a great-grandson of al-Hasan's grandson, Ibrahim al-Shibh.[1] He was born and grew up inMedina, being taughtZaydi doctrine, thehadiths, and possibly theQuran and Arabic as well, by Abu Bakr Abd al-Hamid ibn Abi Uways, a nephew of the famed juristMalik ibn Anas.[2]
Qasim came to be recognized as one of the chief authorities of the Zaydi school of Shi'a Islam, and was honoured with the titles "Star of the Family of the Prophet of God" (Najm Āl Rasūl Allāh) and "Interpreter of the Faith" (Turjumān al-Dīn).[3] His brother Muhammad, known asIbn Tabataba, was recognized as imam, and raised a failed rebellion against theAbbasid Caliphate atKufa in 814.[2][4]
Qasim himself moved toEgypt sometime before 815, and probably settled atFustat, the capital of Egypt. One later source claims that he was sent there by his brother, but this is unlikely, especially as Qasim objected to some of Ibn Tabataba's theological views.[2] During his stay in Egypt, he studied Christian and Jewish theological writings, and debated both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars. A treatise refuting Christian theological views and another against aManichaean treatise attributed to the scholarIbn al-Muqaffa', were written during his stay in Egypt. At the same time, he was influenced by Christian views on God, and especially onfree will.[2]
Eventually, Qasim himself was widely acknowledged as an imam, receiving pledges of allegiance from various communities from theHejaz,Iraq andPersia, but given the failure of his brother's uprising and similar Shi'a revolts in the past, he refrained from proclaiming himself in public or rising in revolt against the Abbasids.[5] Instead, after coming under suspicion from the Abbasid authorities, inc. 827 he moved his family from Egypt to a village (likely modern al-Dur or Dur Abi al-Qasim, some 57 kilometres (35 mi) southwest of Medina) near thewadi al-Rass, whence he received hisnisba of "al-Rassi".[2][6] He spent the remainder of his life there, engaged in writing, and in teaching Zaydi faithful who came to visit him.[2]
Qasim died in 860,[3][2] a year after the birth of his grandsonYahya, who went on to found a line of Zaydiimams inYemen that lasted into the 20th century, most of whom were descended from Qasim.[7]
Qasim summarized his teachings in five "pillars" (uṣūl),[2] which echoed and revised those of theMu'tazilite doctrine:
On the attributes required for claiming the imamate according to Zaydi doctrine, Qasim stressed the religious qualifications of the candidate over the traditional requirement to lead an armed revolt.[9] He rejected the first threeRashidun caliphs as illegitimate, and held Ali ibn Abi Talib as the only legitimate successor of Muhammad.[9] He accepted the fifth Imami imam,Muhammad al-Baqir (d.c. 733), but not his successors, whom he considered, in the words of Madelung, as "wordly exploiters of their pious followers".[9]
His doctrines became the foundation for the religious and legal systems of the Zaydi states inTabaristan andYemen, but were heavily amended by his grandson Yahya to a more mainstream Shi'a and Mu'tazilite direction.[9]
