Raj'a in the context of "Occultation (Islam)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Raj'a

Rajʿa (Arabic: رجعة, lit.'return'), also known as ḥashr khāṣṣ (lit.'specific resurrection'), is a doctrine in Shia Islam positing that some of the dead will return to life before the Resurrection to avenge their oppression.

In Twelver Shia doctrine, the concept of rajʿa is closely intertwined with the eschatological concept of occultation (ghayba) and the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi in the end times to establish peace and justice on earth. This doctrine, which was elaborated in the early 10th century by the then emerging Twelver sect, goes back on earlier ideas developed by early Shia sects such as the late 7th-century Kaysāniyya and the early 9th-century Wāqifiyya, who denied the deaths of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya (died 700) and Musa al-Kazim (died 799) and awaited their return. The doctrine was also current among the 8th/9th-century Shias known as ghulāt (lit.'exaggerators'), whose elaboration of the idea may have influenced early Twelver scholars.

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Raj'a in the context of Ghulat

The ghulāt (Arabic: غُلَاة, lit.'exaggerators, extremists') were a branch of early Shi'a Islam. The term mainly refers to a wide variety of extinct Shi'i sects active in 8th- and 9th-century Kufa in Lower Mesopotamia, and who, despite their sometimes significant differences, shared several common ideas. These common ideas included the attribution of a divine nature to the Imams, metempsychosis (the belief that souls can migrate between different human and non-human bodies), a particular gnostic creation myth involving pre-existent 'shadows' (azilla) whose fall from grace produced the material world, and an emphasis on secrecy and dissociation from outsiders. They were named ghulat by other Shi'i and Sunni Muslims for their purportedly "exaggerated" veneration of Muhammad (c. 570–632) and his family, most notably Ali (c. 600–661) and his descendants, the Imams.

The ideas of the ghulat have at times been compared to those of the late antique gnostics, but the extent of this similarity has also been questioned. Some ghulat ideas, such as the notion of the occultation (ghayba) and return (raj'a) of the Imam, have been influential in the development of Twelver Shi'ism. Later Isma'ili Shi'i authors such as Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman (died c. 957) and Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani (died after 971) also adapted ghulat ideas to reformulate their own doctrines. The only ghulat sect still in existence today are the Alawites, historically known as Nusayris after their founder Ibn Nusayr (died after 868).

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