Note 594 — Chapter VI
David Shea translation
Jâfer, surnamed S adik, “the Just,” was the eldest son of Muhammed Baker, the fifth Imám. Jâfer was born in Medina, in the year of the Hejira 83, A. D. 702; he is acknowledged the síxth Imám, and of great authority in religious matters among the Muselmans. He died in his native town, under the khalifate of Abú Jâfer Almansor, the second khalif of the Abbasides, in the year of the Hejira 148, A. D. 764, in his sixty-second year.
The two eldest of his seven sons were Ismâil and Mussa. Ismâil, the elder of the two, having died during his father’s life, the latter appointed Mussa his successor, which gave rise to the contest above mentioned, and to several sects, as well as to two great dynasties. The Fatimite khalifs in Egypt are considered as descendants of the branch of Ismáil, called Ismâilahs, of Africa, but the Suffavean monarchs of Asia claim to derive their origin from Mussa, and strenuously support his title to the seventh Imám.