Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Aftah

Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Aftah ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq was a figure whose existence is contested: a portion of the Fathite Shia Muslims (followers of Abdullah al-Aftah ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq), believed that Muhammad was the son of Imam Abdullah al-Aftah (died 766 CE), whom they believed to be the Imam after his father Ja'far al-Sadiq. This assertion is contested by others, including many Fathites, who believe that Abdullah died without issue.^[1]

When Abdullah al-Aftah died without an issue to succeed him in the Imamate, a portion of his followers believed in the necessity of the continuation of the Imamate in the children and the grandchildren of the Imam through pure vertical inheritance. Due to this they could not shift to the belief in the Imamate of the brother of Abdullah al-Aftah, Musa al-Kadhim. They therefore believed that Abdullah secretly had a son, claiming that this son was the Mahdi. They argued: "His name corresponds to the famous Prophetic hadith (of Muhammad): 'His name (i.e. the Mahdi) is my name (i.e. Muhammad), the name of his father is the name of my father (i.e. Abdullah).'"

Timeline

Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Aftah of the Ahl al-Bayt Born: (existence disputed)
Shī‘a Islam titles
Preceded by Abdullah al-Aftah ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq	8th Imam of a faction of Fathite Shia Islam 766-? CE	Succeeded by Schism became defunct

References

1. ^ Moojan Momen (10 September 1987). An introduction to Shiʻi Islam: the history and doctrines of Twelver Shiʻism. Yale University Press. pp. 54–. ISBN 9780300035315. http://books.google.com/books?id=B0OL5Z8S-V0C&pg=PA54. Retrieved 8 February 2011. 

• Al-Maqalat wa al-Firaq, by Sa'ad Ibn Abdillah al-Ash'ari al-Qummi (d. 301), pg.88