Imam Musa b. Ja'far al-Kazim (a): Difference between revisions

His lineage was, Musa b. Ja'far b. Muhammad b. Ali b. Husayn b. Ali b. Abi Talib (a). His mother was [[Hamida al-Barbariyya]] and his [[Kunya]]s were Abu Ibrahim, Abu l-Hasan al-Awwal, Abu l-Hasan al-Madi, and also Abu Ali.

He (a) was known as al-'Abd al-Salih due to his great piety and worshiping, and known as al-Kazim since he (a) forbore against maltreatment of others. His other titles were [[Bab al-Hawa'ij]].

Imam al-Kazim (a) was born on [[Sunday]], [[Safar 7]], [[128]]/[[November 12]], 745 or [[Safar 7]], [[129]]/[[November 1]], 746 in the village of [[Abwa']], between [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]], when his parents, [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]] and [[Hamida al-Barbariyya]], were returning from [[Hajj]]. Some have mentioned his place of birth in Medina.

There is a disagreement over the date of Imam al-Kazim's (a) birth. Al-Tabari takes it to be in [[Dhu l-Hijja]], and al-Tabrisi takes it to on [[Safar 7th]]. According to some sources, [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]] strongly loved him. According to a hadith transmitted by [[Ahmad al-Barqi]], Imam al-Sadiq (a) gave food to people for three days after the birth of his son, Musa.

Musa b. Ja'far (a) was born in the period of the transfer of the power from the [[Umayyads]] to the Abbasids. When he was 4 years old, the first Abbasid caliph took over the power. There is no information in historical sources about Imam al-Kazim's (a) life before his imamate, except for a few scholarly dialogues during his childhood, such as his dialogue with [[Abu Hanifa]] and scholars of other religions in [[Medina]].

According to a hadith cited in [[Manaqib]], he anonymously entered a village in [[Syria]] and had a dialogue with a priest there. The dialogue led to the conversion of the priest and his companions to Islam. There are reports of the Imam's (a) trips to [[Mecca]] for [[hajj]] or [['Umra]] pilgrimages. The Imam (a) was repeatedly summoned by the Abbasid caliphs to [[Baghdad]]. Other than these occasions, he spent most of his life in Medina.

The number of Imam al-Kazim's (a) wives is not clear, but it is reported that most of them were concubines he (a) bought and either freed or married them, the first of whom was [[Najma]], mother of [[Imam al-Rida (a)]].

About Imam's (a) children, there are different historical reports. According to [[al-Shaykh al-Mufid]], Imam al-Kazim (a) had thirty seven children. Al-Shaykh al-Mufid listed the names of his eighteen sons and nineteen daughters as below,

After the [[martyrdom]] of his father in [[148]]/765, Imam al-Kazim (a) became the [[imam]] of [[Shi'a]] for next thirty five years.

The period of Imam al-Kazim’s (a) imamate coincided with the periods of four Abbasid caliphs. About 10 years of his imamate occurred in the period of al-Mansur’s caliphate (reign: 136/754-158/775); 11 years of it occurred in the period of the caliphate of al-Mahdi al-'Abbasi (reign: 158/775-169/785); one year of it occurred in the period of the caliphate of al-Hadi al-'Abbasi (reign: 169/785-170/786); and 13 years of it occurred in the period of Harun’s caliphate (reign: 170/786-193/809). Musa b. Ja'far’s (a) imamate lasted for 35 years, and he was succeeded by his son, [[Imam al-Rida (a)]], after his martyrdom in 183/799.

From a Shiite point of view, an Imam can only be selected through an explicit statement by the previous Imam. That is, every Imam should explicitly select and introduce his successor. On a number of occasions, [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]] announced the imamate of his son, Musa, to his close companions. There are sections about the textual evidence for the imamate of Musa b. Ja'far (a) in ''[[al-Kafi]]'', ''[[Bihar al-anwar]]'', ''[[al-Irshad]]'', and ''[[I'lam al-wara]]'' which have, respectively, cited 16, 46, 12, and 14 hadiths in this regard. Here are some of such hadiths:

[[Fayd b. Mukhtar]] asked Imam al-Sadiq (a) about the next Imam. At that time, his son, Musa, entered and Imam al-Sadiq (a) introduced him as the next Imam.

According to a hadith transmitted by [['Ali b. Ja'far]], Imam al-Sadiq (a) said about Musa b. Ja'far (a): “he is my best child, and the one who will succeed me. He is my surrogate. And he is the Exalted God’s [[Hujja]] for all the creatures after me”.

According to a report in ''[['Uyun akhbar al-Rida (a)]]'', Harun al-Rashid told his son that Musa b. Ja'far was the right Imam and the most competent person for the succession of [[the Prophet (s)]], describing his own caliphate or leadership to be only apparent or based on force.

After the martyrdom of Imam al-Kazim (a), some people did not believe in the imamate of [[Imam al-Rida (a)]] and stopped following anyone after Imam al-Kazim (a) and believed in him being the [[Mahdawiyya|al-Mahdi]] and the [[al-Qa'im|Upriser]] and were called [[Waqifid]]s. The movement of [[Mahdawiyya|Mahdism]] is of course among the essential principles of Shi'a adopted from [[Hadith|narration]]s of the [[Infallibles (a)]] which suggests that a person called "al-Qa'im" [Upriser] and "Mahdi" will rise from among the [[Ahl al-Bayt|progeny of the Prophet (s)]] and will spread justice in the world.

The [[Ghalis]] (people who exaggerated about the Imams) were active during the imamate of Imam al-Kazim (a). The [[Bashiriyya]] sect was formed in this period. The sect is attributed to [[Muhammad b. Bashir]], a companion of Musa b. Ja'far (a). He attributed some falsehoods to the Imam (a) when the Imam (a) was still alive. Imam al-Kazim (a) believed that Muhammad b. Bashir was impure and cursed him.

There are reports about many scholarly activities of Imam al-Kazim (a) have been reported. They were in the forms of hadiths, debates, and dialogues, and are cited in Shiite collections of hadiths.

Many hadiths have been transmitted from Imam al-Kazim (a) in Shiite collections of hadiths. They are mostly concerned with theological issues, such as [[monotheism]], [[bada']] and [[faith]], as well as moral issues. Some supplications, such as [[al-Jawshan al-Kabir]], have also been transmitted from him. In the chains of the transmitters of such hadiths, the Imam (a) has been referred to "al-Kazim", "Abu l-Hasan", "Abu l-Hasan al-Awwal", "Abu l-Hasan al-Madi", "al-'Alim", and "al-'Abd al-Salih". [['Aziz Allah 'Atarudi]] has collected 3,134 hadiths from him in his ''Musnad al-Imam al-Kazim''. Abu 'Imran al-Marwzi, a Sunni scholar, has also collected some of the Imam's (a) hadiths in his ''Musnad al-Imam Musa b. Ja'far''.

* An essay concerning the intellect or reason (al-'aql) addressed to [[Hisham b. Hakam]].

* An essay concerning monotheism in reply to the questions of Fath b. 'Abd Allah.

[['Ali b. Yaqtin]] also collected some of his questions and replies with Musa b. Ja'far (a) in a book under ''Masa'il 'an Abi l-Hasan Musa b. Ja'far''.