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Imam
Musa Al-Kazim (a) was born during the waning glow of the Umayyad
dynasty.
He was only three years of age when the Abbasids established
themselves in a new dynasty. Before his death, Imam Ja'far asSaadiq
(a) appointed his son Musa as the next Imam. Musa took up the
responsibility of the Imamate at the age of twenty years, and
carried it out through a troubled period of thirty-five years.
He endured about ten years of the remaining rule of the Abbasid
caliph al-Mansoor Dwaneeqi, about ten years of the caliph al-Mahdi,
about one year
of al-Hadi and the initial thirteen years of the caliph Haroon
ar-Rashid.
The caliphs kept their stcm watch over the Aliyyids and their
followers for their refusal to accept the caliphs as their religious
leaders in addition to being their kings. Whereas during the
Umayyad dynasty, the Aliyyid and their followers had gone
underground to safe guard their survival, they were no longer hidden
from the Abbasids. In fact, the Abbasids had achieved their
success with assistance from the Aliyyids and their Shiite
followers. The caliphs knew the strength of the Shiites, and
took every opportunity to keep them under check in the empire.
They did not grant the Imams any immunity against this policy.
Imam Musa Kazim spent fourteen years of his life in the darkness of
several of the Abbasid jails of Basra and Baghdad, interspersed with
only brief periods of reprieve in his native Madinah. Because
of the hannless nature of the Imam who spent his time either in
payers or preaching other intenis, many of the jail wardens were
unable to carry out the caliph's orders to kill the Imam
while under in captivity.
As regards the conduct of the leaders of the Muslims, the Abbasid
caliphs were no better than their Umayyad predecessors. The
reign of Haroon ar-Rashid is regarded in history as the golden era
of the Abbasid dynasty regarding leaming, trade and stability, but
for the Imam and his followers, the same era was that of darkness
and gloom.
During the brief periods of reprieve that the Imam had from his
internships in the jails, he used to be called back to Baghdad from
Madinah to the court of the caliphs for debates that were in fact
intended to slight his personality.
The scope of this book makes it impossible to describe these
debates here, but suffice it to say that the caliphs were
unsuccessful in their attempts due to the vast knowledge and the wit
of the Imam.
Haroon ar-Rashid became increasingly impatient, and became
determined either to have unconditional submission from the Imam, or
have him killed. As the huam could not submit to the demands
of the caliph, he was ultimately given poisoned dates in the jail in
183 AH. As a result, the Imam died while he was still tied in
chains and shackles. To further show his spite, the caliph
ordered the body of the Imam be left on the main bridge leading in
and out of Baghdad for all to see. This was intended to show
to the people that the caliph wielded absolute power, and that the
Alkyds were just ordinary human beings. However, some devotees
took the body of the hnam away and buried it in Kaziznain, near
Baghdad.
At his last summons to Baghdad, the Imam knew that his time had
come, and that he would never return to Madinah alive. He was
so certain that the caliph would have him lolled in that trip that
he wrote a will appointing his son Ali to succeed him after his
death. In order to make his decision reach wide circulation
among his followers, the Imam wrote his will in the presence of
seventeen of his chosen companions, and had it witnessed by sixty
others. This is an example of extreme foresight and caution
the Imam had exercised in order to prevent confusion among his
friends and foes alike.
REFLECTIONS
ON THE LIFE AND CONDUCT OF IMAM MUSA BIN JA'FAR (a)
While
surrounded by wealth of the new Abbasid regime, the Imam spent a
life of simplicity and piety. In his personality, he
manifested a living example of tolerance and forbearance. Even
when he was intemed injails, he never missed his devout worship of
Allah. Many of his supplications were recorded by his devotees
and are available to the supplicant today.
There were many instances from his daily life that illustrated his
nature and popularity among the people of Hijaz. The poor and
needy of Madinah badly missed the Imam. Among many other
things he did, he used to get involved with the people in their
daily lives, and help fulfill their needs in the matter of Faith and
in the ritual practice of Islam. People particularly
remembered the
little pouches of money he used to hand out to those who asked for
monetary assistance or to those whom he felt to be in need.
Many of the letters he wrote to his followers and companions,
contained a world of wisdom and advice, which can still guide the
seekers of the Truth. He addressed his sons when giving
general advice towards an ideal conduct in life.
There is a large collection of his sayings which, if
followed today, would mold any human being into a picture of virtue.
The contents of his replies to complicated questions and the debates
held in the court of the caliphs further provides glimpses of the
wisdom and sagacity of Imam Musa bin Ja'far. He used a sweet
and poetical language in his conversation, and his written word had
a haunting rhyme in it.
Selected Sayings:
1. The status of your understanding
can be judged from four things:
(i) recognition of
the Beneficent Allah;
(ii) recognition of
the your benefactor;
(iii) recognition
of what is expected of you;
(iv) recognition of
the things that would throw you out of your faith.
2. Try and divide your
time into four portions:
(i) one portion for prayers and
supplications;
(ii) one portion for livelihood;
(iii) one portion for social activities
between friends and family;
(iv) one portion for the permissible
indulgences while you maintain control over your other portions.
3. When good deeds seem to be
large in number, consider them to be not enough; but when bad deeds
seem to be just a few, consider them far too many. Bad deeds,
even if trivial, tend to accumulate fast.
4. If one who was bom poor
acquires wealth and plenty, it would tends to make him arrogant and
headstrong.
5. It is not that people throw
abuses at the one who rises high by ill begotten means, but that he
would also see his downfall.
6. The pain and suffering of
tyranny is felt worst by the one who has been targeted for it.
7. The one who invalidates
three things with three others, has wasted his gift of intelligence:
(i) one who has extended his
expectations but does not ponder on the ways and means for
himself,
(ii) one who loses sagacity by wile
talk;
(iii) one who loses his salvation by
uncontrolled lust.
(An excerpt from his book, " And the Message Continues
available for
online
reading in the Book Section of this website.)
{Pleae
recite Sura Fateha for eisal-i thawab of the late Dr. Haider
Shamsi).
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