Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Alī, Abū Sahl al-Nawbakhtī[n 1] was the great scholar of the Imamah, and the uncle of Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Musa al-Nawbakhti.
[n 3] He used to say: “I say to you the [lawful] imam was Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan[n 4] and, although he died hidden, there has arisen in the cause[n 5] [4] during the concealment his son, and so will his son’s issue be concealed, until God consummates his dominion by causing him to appear.” Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Shalmaghānī, called Ibn Abī al-‘Azāqir (d. 934), summoned him to opposition, promising miracles and supernatural visions.
Abū Sahl had a bare spot on his forehead like baldness, so he sent the messenger with this reply: “I ask only one miracle of your master, that he should make hair grow on my forehead; then I can believe him.” The messenger did not return.
[n 6] Al-Nadīm tells a very similar story about Al-Ḥusayn ibn Mansūr al-Hallāj who was in prison when he sent a messenger to appeal for Abū Sahl's help.
[5] Al-Fihrist lists the following among his books:[n 7] The Fulfilment, about the imamate; Warning (Prophecy), about the imamate; Refutation of the Ghulāt; Refutation of Ṭāṭarī, concerning the imamate; Refutation of ‘Īsā ibn Abān, about legal interpretation; [n 8] Refutation of the Epistle of al-Shāfi‘ī; Ideas; Sessions;[n 9] Knowledge; Confirmation of the Epistle (Confirmation of the Prophetic Mission); Refutation of Those Upholding the Attributes; Emergence of the World; [n 10] Refutation of Whoever Speaks of the Created [the Qur’an]; The Word, about man;[n 11] The Vanity of Analogy; [n 12] Narrative and What Is Told; Refutation of the Book, “Arousing Wisdom” (Ba‘th al-Ḥikmah), against Ibn al-Rāwandī; Refutation of “The Crown” (Al-Taj), against Ibn al-Rāwandī—it is known as Kitāb al-Shibk;[n 13] [6] Refutation of Legal Interpretation by Personal Opinion, against [Ibn] al-Rāwandī; Attributes.