Information was received from Mír Amír, who was a governor of the Naváhi, “district” of the town Shekúnah, that the Ismâílíah, are a tribe among the Shiâhs; and their creed is ascribed to the lord Imám Ismâíl, the son of the lord Imám Jâfr sádik,[594] and this sect believe this lord an Imam; they say, that Imám Jâfr consigned the office of an Imám to him; and that he never admitted to a partnership with the mother of this lord any other woman or girl, in the manner that had been done by the prophet with regard to Khadíjah, and by Alí with respect to Fátmah.[595] About the departure of Ismâíl from this perishable world, there are different accounts. Some say that he died during the lifetime of Jâfr; then the prerogative of appointing to the Imámate was transferred from the Imám Jâfr to the offspring of Ismâíl; in like manner as Músí (Moses) transferred the appointment to Hárún (Aaron), who died during the lifetime of Músí. The appointment does not return by retrocession; and a convention _reversed_ from whence it came is impossible. Jáfr was not likely to appoint, without traditional credentials from noble ancestors, one from among his distinguished descendants, and to be uncertain and unknown is not suitable to an Imám. As to the appointment of the Imám Jáfr, its legality is in accordance with the twelve Imáms. Some say, that Ismâíl had not departed from life, but the news of his death was spread about, from fear that his enemies should attempt his life, and a declaration of his death was written. It is reported, according to some, that during the khalifat of Manzur, Ismâil was seen in Basra, where a person afflicted with a malady of the foot was cured by means of his prayers. Mansur asked information from the Imám, who sent to the khalif a certificate (of Ismâil’s death), in which was included a letter of the âamil (collector of revenue) of Mansur. They say that, after Ismâil followed Muhammed, the son of Ismâil, with whom closed the series of the Shiâh Imáms,[596] and after him the Imáms disappeared; but no age remains destitute of conspicuous Imáms, and when an Imám has appeared, he certainly evinces himself as such.