reference to ḥusayn b. rūḥ nawbakhtī in earlier sources (4th/10th to 8th/14th centuries)

the sources have made little reference to ḥusayn b. rūḥ nawbakhtī (d. 326/938), a relative of nawbakhtī household, who was known to the imāmī shī‘as as the third deputy of the twelfth imam, or they have made no reference to his personality dimensions. the issue this article deals with is whether his specific deputyship has been addressed in the earlier sources including the historical, theological, and narrational writings of the shī‘a and the books of rijāl and sects. it seems that due to his intense precautionaryا dissimilation (taqiyya) and that of the shī‘as of that time, no reference has been made to the specific deputyship of ḥusayn b. rūḥ in his contemporary historical and shī‘ī sources and only after his death his deputyship has been pointed out. in order to examine the above-mentioned assumption, first the material brought up in historical books concerning ḥusayn b. rūḥ in 4th/10th to 8th/14th centuries are studied and then the imāmī theological-narrational sources and the histories related to the ahl al-bayt in these centuries are taken into consideration and finally the books of rijāl and sects are dealt with.