There is no precise information about the companions of Imam Kazim (a.s.) and there is disagreement about their number. Sheikh Tusi counted their number as 272, and Barki counted their number as 160. Baqir Sharif al-Qarashi, the author of Hayat al-Imam Musa ibn Ja'far, rejected Barki's statement that mentioned their number as 160, and he himself named 321 as the companions of the Imam.

Ali ibn Yaqtin, Hisham ibn Hakam, Hisham ibn Salim, Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr, Hammad ibn Isa, Yunus ibn Abd al-Rahman, Safwan ibn Yahya, and Safwan Jamal were among the companions of Imam Kazim, some of whom, like Safwan ibn Yahya and Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr, are mentioned among the companions of consensus. After the martyrdom of Imam Kazim, a number of his companions, including Ali ibn Abi Hamzah Bata'ini, Ziyad ibn Marwan, and Uthman ibn Isa, did not accept the Imamate of Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (a.s.) and stopped at the Imamate of Musa ibn Ja'far.

This group became known as the Waqfiyyah. Of course, some of them later accepted the Imamate of Imam Reza (a.s.)