The ''Kitāb al-Ghayba'' ( ar, كتاب الغيبة, lit. 'Book of Occultation') is a book by the 10th-century Shia scholar
Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Nu'mani
Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Jaʿfar al-Nuʿmānī ( ar, محمد بن إبراهيم بن جعفر النعماني), also known as Ibn Abī Zaynab (), was a 10th-century Shi'a scholar. His last name suggest that his family came from al-Numaniyya ...
on the subject of the
occultation of the last
Twelver Imam
Muhammad al-Mahdi
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī ( ar, محمد بن الحسن المهدي) is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justic ...
in 873–4 (260
AH). The aim of the book was to refute the existing doubts about the occultation and to support it by reason and narration.
Author
Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Nu'mani
Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Jaʿfar al-Nuʿmānī ( ar, محمد بن إبراهيم بن جعفر النعماني), also known as Ibn Abī Zaynab (), was a 10th-century Shi'a scholar. His last name suggest that his family came from al-Numaniyya ...
was reportedly a pupil of
al-Kulayni (–941). He wrote this work around 953, and died in 970.
Motivation
Much doubt and skepticism existed in al-Nu'mani' time about the
occultation () of the last
Twelver Imam
Muhammad al-Mahdi
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī ( ar, محمد بن الحسن المهدي) is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justic ...
in 873–4 (260
AH). In his book al-Nu'mani wrote that, having noticed how the Shia followers were perplexed by the event of the occultation, he wanted to try and save them from this perplexity. He also tried to show that the doubt and ignorance of people originated from the concerns of worldly and mortal aims. There are many references to the characters and symbols occulted to Imam.
See also
*
List of Shia books
*
Occultation (Islam)
Occultation ( ar, غَيْبَة, ') in Shia Islam refers to the eschatological belief that Mahdi, a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, has already been born and subsequently concealed, but will reemerge to establish justice and peace ...
**
Minor occultation
**
Major occultation
References
{{Reflist
Twelver theology
Shia theology books