Isma'il al-Mubarak

Abu Muhammad Isma'il ibn Ja'far ibn Muhammad (Arabic: أَبُو مُحَمَّد إسْماعِيل ٱبْن جَعْفَر ٱبْن مُحَمَّد, romanized: Abū Muḥammad Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad), commonly known as Isma'il al-Mubarak (Arabic: إسْماعِيل ٱلْمُبَارَك, romanized: Ismāʿīl al-Mubārak, lit. 'Isma'il the blessed one') was the eldest son of Ja'far al-Sadiq and the sixth Imam in Isma'ilism. He carried the epithet of al-Mubarak, on the basis of which one of the earliest Isma'ili groups became designated as the Mubarakiyya.

It seems likely that the Mubarakiyya, were originally supporters of al-Mubarak before acknowledging Muhammad ibn Isma'il as their imam. At any rate, Mubarakiyya was thus one of the original names of the nascent Isma'iliyya, a term coined by later heresiographers. A faction of the Mubarakiyya later developed into the Fatimid Isma'ilis, upholding the continuity of the Imamate in the progeny of al-Mubarak, acknowledging al-Mubarak himself as their sixth Imam. This enumeration was subsequently retained by the various branches of the Isma'ili.

A major crisis arose among the Shia after the death of Ja’far al-Sadiq, who had five sons. Abd Allah al-Aftah and Isma'il al-Mubarak were the eldest sons by his first wife Fatima, a granddaughter of Hasan Ibn Ali. Al-Mubarak was probably the second son of al-Sadiq. The exact date and circumstances of al-Mubarak's death also remain obscure. According to some Isma'ili authors, al-Mubarak survived al-Sadiq. Some sources, mainly Twelver texts, report that al-Mubarak died during the lifetime of al-Sadiq—but those same sources also report that al-Mubarak was seen several days later in Basra, suggesting that he did not really die but was sent away out of Medina.