al-Ismāʿīliyya al-khāliṣa / al-Ismāʿīliyya al-wāqifa or Seveners ( ar, سبعية) was a branch of

Ismā'īlī Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al ...

Shīʻa. They broke off from the more numerous

Twelvers Twelver Shīʿīsm ( ar, ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; '), also known as Imāmīyyah ( ar, إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85 percent of all Shīʿa Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers t ...

after the death of

Jafar al-Sadiq Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣādiq ( ar, جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 702 – 765 CE), commonly known as Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian.. He was the founder of th ...

in 765 AD. They became known as "Seveners" because they believed that

Isma'il ibn Ja'far Abū Muḥammad Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar al-Mubārak ( ar, إسماعيل بن جعفر; c.719 AD – c.762 AD) was the eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. He is also known as Isma'il al-Ãraj ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq (اسماعيل الاعرج ...

was the seventh and last Imam (hereditary leader of the Muslim community in the direct line of Ali). They believed his son,

Muhammad ibn Isma'il Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl (), also known in his own time as al-Maymūn and hence sometimes incorrectly identified as Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ, was the son of Isma'il ibn Ja'far; he was an Ismāʿīlī Imam. The majority of Ismā� ...

, would return and bring about an age of justice as

Mahdi The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a Messianism, messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a de ...

. Their most well-known and active branch were the

Qarmatians The Qarmatians ( ar, قرامطة, Qarāmiṭa; ) were a militant Isma'ilism, Isma'ili Shia Islam, Shia movement centred in Al-Ahsa Oasis, al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a Utopia#Religious utopias, religious-utopian Socialis ...

History, Shia schisms, and Seveners

Seveners and the Fatimid dynasty

List of Imams

Sometimes "Sevener" is used to refer to

s overall, though mainstream

Musta'li The Musta‘lī ( ar, مستعلي) are a branch of Isma'ilism named for their acceptance of al-Musta'li as the legitimate nineteenth Fatimid caliph and legitimate successor to his father, al-Mustansir Billah. In contrast, the Nizari—the other l ...

and

Nizari The Nizaris ( ar, النزاريون, al-Nizāriyyūn, fa, نزاریان, Nezāriyān) are the largest segment of the Ismaili Muslims, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasize independent ...

Isma'ilis have far more than seven imams.

Ismaili imams who were not accepted as legitimate by Seveners

The following Ismaili imams after

had been considered as heretics of dubious origins by certain

Qarmatian The Qarmatians ( ar, قرامطة, Qarāmiṭa; ) were a militant Isma'ili Shia movement centred in al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a religious-utopian socialist state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adhe ...

groupsEncyclopedia Iranica, "ʿABDALLĀH B. MAYMŪN AL-QADDĀḤ"
/ref> who refused to acknowledge the imamate of the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...

and clung to their belief in the coming of the Mahdi.Encyclopedia Iranica, "THE IMAMATE IN ISMAʿILISM"
/ref> * Abadullah ibn Muhammad (Ahmad al-Wafi) (813-829) * Ahmad ibn Abadullah (Muhammad at-Taqi) (829-840) * Husayn ibn Ahmad (Radi Abdullah) (840-881) * Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah (881-934) (Founder of

Fatimid Caliphate The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...

)

References

{{Islam topics, state=collapsed Ismailism Extinct Islamic sects

History, Shia schisms, and Seveners

Seveners and the Fatimid dynasty

List of Imams

Ismaili imams who were not accepted as legitimate by Seveners

See also

References