Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Hence all the dissenters according to them are Nawāṣib, of course with the
exception of the Mustaḍʿafs and the gullible who are not aware of the various
views and do not hate the Shīʿah. Put another way, the ignorant whose ignorance
stems from their inability and not from their slackening. 1
This viewpoint was popular amongst the early Shīʿah scholars like al-Mufīd, 2
al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, 3 and Ibn Idrīs al-Ḥillī, 4 and is also the preferred view of
some of the later scholars. 5 This view is based on the fact that every dissenter
is necessarily a denier of the emphatic appointment, and whoever is a denier
thereof is either a disbeliever or a renegade. Hence there is a binding relationship
between Naṣb and opposition. 6
1 Al-Shuhub al-Thāqib p. 22. There are various but close definitions for the term Mustaḍʿaf provided by
the Shīʿah which can be seen in al-Ḥadāʾiq al-Nāḍirah 24/64.
2 Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Nuʿmān al-ʿUkbarī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh. A prominent scholar of
the Imāmiyyah who was known as al-Mufīd. He was born in ʿUkbarā in 336. He was the chief Shīʿī
scholar in his time and was well-respected in the dynasty of ʿAḍud al-Dawlah. He has written books
wherein he impugns the pious predecessors of the Ummah. He died in 413 A.H. He authored close to
two hundred books, amongst them are: al-Muqniʿah, Awāʾil al-Maqālāt, and al-Amālī. See: Tārīkh Baghdād
3/231; Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl 6/321; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 17/344; Lisān al-Mīzān 5/368.
3 ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Mūsā al-Hāshimī, Abū al-Qāsim al-ʿAlawī. An Imāmī scholar with vast
knowledge in the sciences of language, theology, and poetry. He was born in 304 A.H. and was accorded
the title ‘al-Murtaḍā Dhū al-Majdayn’. He wrote few books regarding the schools of the Shīʿah. He was
also the head of the Muʿtazilah and the leader of Ṭālibiyyīn. He died whilst blind in 436 A.H. Some of
his books are: Kitāb al-Shāfī fī al-Imāmah, Tanzīh al-Ambiyāʾ, and al-Ṣirfah. See: Tārīkh Baghdād 11/402;
al-ʿIbar fī Khabar man Ghabar 3/188; al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 20/231; al-Darajāt al-Rafīʿah p. 458.
4 Muḥammad ibn Idrīs ibn Aḥmad al-ʿIjlī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥillī. The leading Shīʿī cleric of his time.
He had vast knowledge and very strong reasoning in jurisprudence. He died in 597 A.H. Some of
his books are: al-Ḥāwī li Taḥrīr al-Fatāwī; Khulāṣah al-Istidlāl, and al-Manāsik. See: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ
21/332; Tārīkh al-Islām 42/314; al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 2/129; Muʿjam al-Muʾallifīn 9/32.
5 Amongst them are: Yūsuf al-Baḥrānī, Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Māzindarānī, and Abū al-Ḥasan al-
Sharīf ibn Muḥammad Ṭāhir. See: al-Ḥadāʾiq al-Nāḍirah 3/176, 406, 14/163, 18/159, 61/24; al-Shuhub
al-Thawāqib p. 23; Riyāḍ al-Masāʾil 9/542.
6 Al-Shuhub al-Thāqib p. 23.
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