Muhammad ibn Isma'il

Muhammad al-Maktum
مُحَمَّد ٱلْمَكتُوم
Seventh Imam of Isma'ilism
7th Isma'ili Imam
In office
775 – 813 CE
Preceded byIsma'il al-Mubarak
Succeeded byAhmad al-Wafi
Titleal-Maktum(lit.'the hidden one')
al-Shakir(lit.'the grateful one')
Personal
Born122 AH
740 AD
Died197 AH
813 AD
ReligionShia Islam
Children
List of children
Parents

Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Maktum (Arabic: مُحَمَّد ٱبْن إسْماعِيل ٱلْمَكتُوم, romanizedMuḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Maktūm; c. 740–813) was the eldest son of Isma'il al-Mubarak and the seventh imam in Isma'ilism. When Isma'il died, his son Muhammad continued to live in Medina under the care of his grandfather Ja'far al-Sadiq until the latter's death in 148/765. After the death of Abd Allah al-Aftah, Muhammad was the senior most member of the Husaynid branch of the Alids. However, due to the rival group that recognized Musa al-Kazim as their imam, and the Abbasid Caliphate's persecution of all Alid partisans, Muhammad fled Medina with his sons for the east. For this reason, he was known as al-Maktum (lit.'the hidden one'). He had two sons when living in Medina and then four more sons after his emigration, among whom was his successor Ahmad al-Wafi. Muhammad's descendants became the Fatimid dynasty that ruled Ifriqiya and later Egypt and much of the Levant, and founded Cairo.