Al-Khasibi | |
|---|---|
الخصيبي | |
| Died | 969[1] |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Alawism |
| Senior posting | |
| Teacher | Ibn Nusayr |
| Successor | Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jilli[2] |
| Initiated |
|
Abu Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Hamdan al-Junbalani al-Khasibi[a] (died 957 or 968), commonly known simply asal-Khasibi, was anAlawite religious leader and missionary. He originally from a village calledJonbalā, betweenKufa andWasit inIraq, which was the center of theQarmatians.[3] He was a member of a well-educated family with close ties to eleventhTwelverImamHasan al-Askari and a scholar of the Alawites, also known as Nusayris, which is now present inSyria, southernTurkey and northernLebanon.[2][1]
For a time, al-Khaṣībī was imprisoned in Baghdad, due to accusations of being a Qarmatian. According to the Alawites, after settling inAleppo, under the rule of the ShiaHamdanid dynasty, he gained the support and aid of its ruler,Sayf al-Dawla, in spreading his teachings. He later dedicated his bookKitab al-Hidaya al-Kubra to his patron. He died in Aleppo and his tomb, which became a shrine, is inscribed with the name Shaykh Yabraq.[4]
He taught several unique beliefs (especially in Risalah Ristpashiyah), including thatJesus was every one of the prophets fromAdam toMuhammad as well as other figures such asSocrates,Plato and someancestors of Muhammad, and that other historical figures were the incarnations ofAli andSalman al-Farisi.[5]
He and his works were praised by the Iranian Shiʿite scholarMuhammad Baqir Majlisi.[6]
Al-Khasibi's first exposure to the teachings of Ibn Nusayr was through ʿAbdallāh al-Jannān, who was a student of Muḥammad ibn Jundab, who was a student of Nusayr himself. Having been initiated into the doctrine through al-Jannān, Khasibi was now al-Jannān's "spiritual son". With the death of al-Jannān, however, al-Khasibi had no means of continuing practice and study of the doctrine. This period of dryness ended later when he encountered an ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad, who claimed to be a direct disciple of Nusayr.
In this manner, al-Khasibi received transmission from both al-Jannān and ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad, thus continuing transmission of the Nusayri doctrine. Khasibi did not necessarily believe he was representative of a splinter, rebel group of the Shias, but rather believed he held the true doctrine of the Shias.[7]
During his reign, the founder of the Alawite sect, al-Khasibi, benefited fromSayf al-Dawla's patronage. Al-Khasibi turnedAleppo into the stable centre of his new sect, and sent preachers from there as far as Persia and Egypt with his teachings. His main theological work, Kitab al-Hidaya al-Kubra, was dedicated to hisHamdanid patron.Sayf al-Dawla's active promotion ofShiaism began a process wherebySyria came to host a large Shia population by the 12th century.