Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

accusations he will come across, for not even Makkah and Madīnah, the two most
sacred lands of the Muslims, have been spared. 1
Secondly, the discussion will include everyone upon who the definition of Naṣb
fits. It is well-known that the Nawāṣib are not all of the same level in their Naṣb.
Hence the Khawārij are the most staunch amongst them, and besides them there
are other groups who hold variant views and positions regarding ʿAlī I with
the common factor in all of them being the non-excommunication of ʿAlī I.
Thirdly, what is intended by the loci of Naṣb is areas which the Nawāṣib made
their base and wherein they openly proclaimed their Naṣb, irrespective of
whether they were alone or not, and whether they inhabit them today or not.
As for areas besides the aforementioned, like places which they made their
military base 2 or where they fought battles 3 and which they took control of for a
1 Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nuʿmānī quotes the following narration on p. 309 of his book al-
Ghaybah:
ثالث عرشة مدينة وطائفة حيارب القائم أهلها وحياربونه:‏ أهل مكة،‏ وأهل املدينة،‏ وأهل الشام،‏ وبنو أمية،‏ وأهل البرصة،‏ وأهل دست
ميسان،‏ والكراد،‏ والعراب،‏ وضبة،‏ وغنى،‏ وباهلة،‏ والزد،‏ وأهل الري.‏
Thirteen cities and groups will fight the Mahdī and he will fight them: the people of Makkah,
the people of Madīnah, the people of Shām, the Banū Umayyah, the people of Basrah, the people
of Dast Mīsān, the Kurds, the Bedouins, Ḍabbah, Ghinā, Bāhilah, Azd, and the people of Ray.
Similarly, Abū Jaʿfar al-Iskāfī states the following, as appears in the Sharḥ Nahj al-Balāghah of Ibn Abī
al-Ḥadīd 4/103:
كان أهل البرصة كلهم يبغضونه،‏ وكثري من أهل اكوفة،‏ وكثري من أهل املدينة.‏ وأما أهل مكة فكلهم كانوا يبغضونه قاطبة
All the people of Baṣrah hated him. Likewise many of the people of Kūfah and many of the
people of Madīnah. As for the people of Makkah, they all hated him.
Furthermore, the Shīʿah have considered the following places to be the loci of Naṣb: Aṣfahān,
Khawārizm, Sijistān, Qazwīn, Ray, Shanshat, Andalus, Shām, Ḥarrān, Dimashq, Ḥimṣ, Mawṣil and
Wāsiṭ. See: al-Muʿallim: al-Naṣb wa al-Nawāṣib p. 229-243.
2 Like the valley of Ᾱl al-Akhnas which is known as the valley of the Khawārij due to Najdah al-Ḥarūrī
basing himself there the year he performed Ḥajj. See: Akhbār Makkah of al-Azraqī 2/287.
3 Like Salā, Sillabrī, Kāzar, Khūzistān Fāris, and Karnabā. See: Muʿjam al-Buldān 3/232, 4/429, 438, 457.
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