Abd Allah al-Aftah and Isma'il al-Mubarak were the eldest sons by his first wife Fatima, a granddaughter of Hasan Ibn Ali.
According to the orientalist Vladimir Ivanov (d. 1970), Idris quoted this information literally from an early work, Sharḥ al-Akhbār fī Faḍāʾil al-Aʾimma al-Aṭhār, written by the Isma'ili jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa Nu'man ibn Muhammad al-Tamimi, who is well-known as al-Qadi al-Nu'man (d.
The third Isma'ili work is Asrār al-Nuṭaqāʾ written by Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman, a contemporary of al-Qadi al-Nu'man.
[8] He was alive in 133/751, when Dawud ibn Ali, the governor of Medina, executed Mu'alla ibn Khunays probably because of his agency on behalf of al-Sadiq and his involvement in some revolutionary activities of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, al-Sadiq, as soon as he heard the news of the execution of Mu'alla, went to the governor with his son al-Mubarak and called him to account for this murder.
[10][8] Riyah ibn Uthman al-Murri, the Abbasid governor in Medina burnt the house of Ahl al-Bayt, and al-Mubarak was decided to be killed.
[12][8] Muhammad Hasan al-Muzaffar (d. 1955) quotes al-Sadiq as saying that, "Isma'il was planned two times for killing, but I prayed for his life, and God protected him.
"[11] This association is one of several reported by the Twelver sources which caused al-Sadiq to express his dissatisfaction with those radical Shias who were leading his son astray.
In Kalām-i Pīr, an Isma'ili work wrongly attributed to Nasir Khusraw (d. 1088), there is an account of this contest, which was again carried for decision to the Black Stone at Mecca, as had been done by Zayn al-Abidin and Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya.
Mufaddal ibn Umar al-Sayrafi however relates that al-Sadiq, in view of his son's piety had already warned the people in Medina that, "Do not wrong Isma'il" (la tajafu Isma'ila).
The Sunni historian Rashid al-Din Hamadani (d. 1318) wrote that some Isma'ilis believed that al-Kazim willingly gave his life for the sake of his elder brother al-Mubarak, the true Imam.
[32] Al-Mubarak, who was reportedly involved in certain anti-Abbasid plots, may also have collaborated with Abu al-Khattab al-Asadi, another activist Shia originally in the entourage of al-Sadiq.
[9][2] In this connection, he formulated a general hypothesis, contending that since the beginning of the second Islamic century, the expression anta minna Ahl al-Bayt ('you are from the Prophet's family') purportedly used by Muhammad in reference to Salman the Persian, and as reported in a hadith, had acquired a ritual value indicating 'spiritual adoption' amongst the revolutionary Shias, for whom real family ties were established through spiritual parentage, adoption or initiation.
However, such connotations in the doctrine of bada (change of mind) raised serious questions about the nature of God's knowledge, and indirectly, about the ability of the Imams to prophesy future occurrences.
"[35][36] Al-Sadiq is also reported to have said: "Inlillah fi kullo shain bida illah Imamah" means, "Verily, God makes changes in everything except in the matter of Imam.
[8] Al-Nawbakhti writes in Kitāb Firaq al-Shīʿa that, "Yet another version is that by appointing his son, Isma'il, as an Imam, al-Sadiq thus resigned.
"[8][36] The Mubarakiyya claimed that, when al-Mubarak was alive, he appointed his son Muhammad as his heir and sent his da'is to different regions to administer the oath in his name.
[38][34] Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman writes in Asrār al-Nuṭaqāʾ that, "Both we and you admit the tradition that when Isma'il was about to die, he summoned his son and his followers, and handed over the Imamate to him, in their presence, under the supervision of his father [al-Sadiq].
He entrusted the testimony concerning the position of his son to one of his ḥujjats [i.e. da'is], as did his forefather Ishmael (Isma'il) with regard to the person surnamed al-Kabsh [lit.
[40][44][41] Ivanov has shown that al-Mubarak was the epithet of Isma'il himself, on the basis of some passages from the famous Isma'ili da'i of the 4th/10th century, Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani, as well as other sources.
[9] Many Isma'ili and non-Isma'ili sources state that during al-Mubarak's funeral procession al-Sadiq attempted to show the face of his dead son to witnesses.
[50][25][51] These Imami Shias further believed that al-Sadiq had announced al-Mubarak's death merely as a ruse to protect him from the persecution of the Abbasids who were angered by his political activities.
[54] The Twelver heresiographers al-Nawbakhti and al-Qummi call the members of this group, who recognised al-Mubarak as their Imam Mahdi, al-Isma'iliyya al-khalisa (lit.
'the pure Isma'ilis'), while some later heresiographers such as al-Shahrastani designate this group as "al-Isma'iliyya al-waqifa" which refers to those who stopped their line of Imams with al-Mubarak.