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

When Musa b. Ja'far (a) was martyred, his corpse was put on Baghdad's bridge at the order of al-Sindi b. al-Shahik and it was announced that Musa b. Ja'far died of natural causes. There are different accounts of how he was martyred. The majority of historiographers believe that he was poisoned by Yahya b. Khalid and al-Sindi b. al-Shahik. According to another account, the Imam (a) was suffocated by being folded in a carpet. Hamd Allah al-Mustawfi has attributed to the Shi'as the belief that Musa b. Ja'far (a) was martyred by hot lead poured in his throat, but he cited no sources for his claim.

Two reasons have been mentioned for why the Imam's (a) corpse was exhibited in a public place: one of them was to show that the Imam (a) died of natural causes, and the other was to repute the view of those people who believed in the [[Mahdawiyya]] of Imam al-Kazim (a).

Musa b. Ja'far's (a) corpse was buried in the Shuniziyya area in the family mausoleum of al-Mansur, known as the graves of the [[Quraysh]]. His burial place is known as the [[Shrine of Kazimayn]]. It is said that the Abbasids buried the Imam's (a) corpse there so that the Shi'as could not congregate in his burial place.

After finding about Imam's (a) [[martyrdom]], the [[Shi'a]] gathered for a funeral and buried his body in the Quraysh cemetery of [[Kadhimiya]]. [[Imam al-Rida (a)]] said, "anyone who visits my father's grave is like the one who visits the graves of [[the Prophet (s)]] and [[Shrine of Imam 'Ali (a)|Ali b. Abi Talib (a)]]." In another [[Hadith|narration]], he (a) is narrated saying that the [[Thawab|reward]] given for visiting the grave of his father is like the reward given for visiting the grave of [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]].

* According to [[al-Shaykh al-Tusi]], they were 272.

* Al-Qurashi rejected al-Barqi's view and mentioned 320 companions of Imam al-Kazim (a).

Companions of Imam al-Kazim (a) include people such as [['Ali b. Yaqtin]], [[Hisham b. Hakam]], [[Hisham b. Salim]], [[Muhammad b. Abi 'Umayr]], [[Hammad b. 'Isa]], [[Yunus b. 'Abd al-Rahman]], [[Safwan b. Yahya]], and [[Safwan al-Jammal]], some of whom are among the [[People of Consensus]]. After Imam al-Kazim's (a) martyrdom, a number of his companions, such as [['Ali b. Abi Hamza al-Bata'ini]], [[Ziyad b. Marwan]] and [['Uthman b. 'Isa]], did not accept the imamate of [['Ali b. Musa al-Rida (a)]] and "stopped" at the imamate of Musa b. Ja'far (a). Thus they came to be known as "[[al-Waqifiyya]]" (literally: people who stopped). However, after a while, some of them changed their minds and accepted the imamate of Imam al-Rida (a).

In order to have wider contacts with the Shi'as and reinforce their economic power, Imam al-Kazim (a) expanded the organization of representatives and deputies which was established in the period of [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]]. He sent some of his companions to different areas as his representatives or agents. Some sources have mentioned 13 of his representatives. According to some sources, his representatives included 'Ali b. Yaqtin and [[Mufaddal b. 'Umar]] in [[Kufa]], [['Abd al-Rahman b. al-Hajjaj]] in Baghdad, [[Ziyad b. Marwan]] in [[Kandahar]], 'Uthman b. 'Isa in [[Egypt]], [[Ibrahim b. Salam]] in [[Nishabur]], and [['Abd Allah b. Jundab]] in [[Ahvaz]].

There are different reports in sources according to which the Shi'as gave the [[Khums]] of their money and property to the Imam (a) or his representatives. Al-Shaykh al-Tusi believes that the reason why some of the Imam's (a) representatives believed in Waqifiyya was their infatuation with the money gathered by them. According to the report given by 'Ali b. Isma'il b. Ja'far to Harun, which led to Imam al-Kazim's (a) arrest, "a lot of money is sent to him from the east and the west, and he has a Treasury of his own in which different types of coins in great quantities are found".

The other way in which the Imam (a) contacted the Shi'as was correspondence. Letters were exchanged between him and the Shi'as with respect to jurisprudential issues, beliefs, preaching, praying, and issues related to the representatives. It is said that he even wrote letters to his companions and replied to their questions when he was in the prison.

Sunni Muslims honor Imam al-Kazim (a) as a religious scholar. Some Sunni figures have admired the Imam's (a) knowledge and moral character and pointed to his patience, generosity, worship and the like. Some cases in which Imam al-Kazim's (a) patience and worship are exhibited have been cited in Sunni sources. Some Sunni scholars, such as al-Sam'ani, visited Imam al-Kazim's (a) grave and took resort ([[tawassul]]) to him. Abu 'Ali al-Khilal, a Sunni scholar, said that he visited Musa b. Ja'far's grave and resorted to him whenever he had a problem and then his problem was solved. [[Al-Shafi'i]] is also quoted as saying that Musa b. Ja'far's grave is a "healing cure".