Imam al-Nāṣir al-Aṭrūsh responds to the satire of one of the Imāmīs
The Imāmī says:
O you neglected Zaydīs…
Your Imam is afflicted with a sent calamity.
His hand is wide open when it comes to taking,
But in giving gifts it is tightly clenched.
Imam al-Nāṣir al-Aṭrūsh replied with these verses:
You have lied, O one of baseness and humiliation—
Rather, you are the neglected Rāfiḍa.
Our Imam stands upright and manifest,
Not like one who is sought after through sieving.
[Qawāʿid ʿAqāʾid Āl Muḥammad: manuscript no. 470]
In the first verse, the Imāmī is insinuating that the Zaydīs have no divinely designated successor (waṣiyya) for the Imam.
In the first verse of the reply, Imam al-Nāṣir (peace be upon him) insinuates that the truly “neglected” are the Rāfiḍa—those who believe in occultation and therefore have no Imam.
The chains of transmission by which Imam al-Nāṣir (peace be upon him) received his doctrine—according to investigation—are multiple, including:
First:
Al-Nāṣir → his father ʿAlī al-ʿAskarī → ʿAlī al-ʿUrayḍī → his brother Mūsā al-Kāẓim → Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq → Muḥammad al-Bāqir → ʿAlī al-Sajjād → al-Ḥusayn al-Sibṭ → ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → our master the Messenger of God (may God’s blessings be upon them all).
Second:
Al-Nāṣir → his father ʿAlī al-ʿAskarī → al-Ḥusayn Dhī al-Damʿa → Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq → Muḥammad al-Bāqir → ʿAlī al-Sajjād → al-Ḥusayn al-Sibṭ → ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → our master the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon them all).
Third:
Al-Nāṣir → the jurist of the Family al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Zayd ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn → his father Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn → his father al-Ḥusayn Dhī al-Damʿa ibn Zayd → al-Nafs al-Zakiyya Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → his father ʿAbd Allāh al-Maḥḍ → his father al-Ḥasan al-Muthannā → his father al-Ḥasan al-Sibṭ → his father ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → our master the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon them all).
Fourth:
Al-Nāṣir → his father ʿAlī al-ʿAskarī → the genealogist al-ʿAqīqī Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Jaʿfar al-Ḥujja ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → al-Qāsim al-Rassī → his father Ibrāhīm Ṭabāṭabā → his father Ismāʿīl al-Dībāj → his father Ibrāhīm al-Shibh → his father al-Ḥasan al-Muthannā → his father al-Ḥasan al-Sibṭ → his father ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → our master the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon them all).
Fifth:
Al-Nāṣir → his father ʿAlī al-ʿAskarī → the genealogist al-ʿAqīqī Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Jaʿfar al-Ḥujja ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → al-Qāsim al-Rassī → Mūsā al-Kāẓim → Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq → Muḥammad al-Bāqir → ʿAlī al-Sajjād → al-Ḥusayn al-Sibṭ → ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → our master the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon them all).
Sixth:
Al-Nāṣir → his father ʿAlī al-ʿAskarī → the genealogist al-ʿAqīqī Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Jaʿfar al-Ḥujja ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → al-Qāsim al-Rassī → al-Jawn Mūsā ibn ʿAbd Allāh → his father ʿAbd Allāh al-Maḥḍ → his father al-Ḥasan al-Muthannā → his father al-Ḥasan al-Sibṭ → his father ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib → our master the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon them all).
Imam al-Nāṣir li’l-Ḥaqq al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (peace be upon them), who died in 304 AH, and his cousin al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-ʿAskarī—the father of the one whose Mahdīship was claimed—were friends in the city of al-ʿAskar. They kept long company with one another. Imam al-Nāṣir participated in his burial and refuted the Rāfiḍī claims regarding the alleged son, affirming that such a claim was not established.
The one who lied about Mūsā al-Kāẓim concerning his occultation, and lied about the Commander of the Faithful concerning his occultation, and lied about Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyya concerning his occultation—this same party repeated the lie concerning a supposed son of al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī and claimed his occultation. These are dark claims—destructive, collapsing—whose opposites are the banners of the Family of Muḥammad. Thus, the papers and narrations of extremists and fabricators in the darkened heritage became the leaders of later imitators among the Imāmīs and those deceived by them, or those who departed from the path of their predecessors among the Fāṭimids.
May God grant you success.
O God, send prayers and peace upon Muḥammad and upon the family of Muḥammad.
Translation of Ustadh Kadhim Al Zaydi (May Allah reward him)