wikishia:Featured articles/2025/04
Mūsā b. Jaʿfar (a) (b. 128/745 – d. 183/799) titled as al-Kāẓim and Bāb al-Ḥawāʾij was the seventh Imam of Shi'a, born in Abwa' (a village between Mecca and Medina). After his father Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a) was martyred he (a) became the Imam of Shi'a. The thirty-five years of his imamate coincided with the caliphate of al-Mansur, al-Hadi, al-Mahdi, and Harun al-Rashid. He was repeatedly imprisoned by al-Mahdi and Harun and was finally martyred in 183/799 in al-Sindi b. Shahik's prison. After his martyrdom, he was succeeded by his son, 'Ali b. Musa (a), as the next Imam.
Imam al-Kazim's (a) life coincided with the peak of the Abbasid caliphate. He practiced taqiyya (precautionary dissimulation) with regard to the government and recommended the Shi'as to do the same. Thus, there is no report of him taking explicit positions against the Abbasid caliphs or with regard to Alids uprisings, such as the Uprising of Fakhkh. However, in his debates and dialogues with Abbasid caliphs and others, he tried to question the legitimacy of the Abbasid caliphate.
Some debates and dialogues between Musa b. Ja'far (a) and some Jewish and Christian scholars have been reported in sources of history and hadiths. His dialogues with the scholars of other religions have been collected in Musnad al-Imam al-Kazim, some of which have been transmitted by People of Consensus. He also expanded the Wikala network (the network of deputyship), appointing people as his representatives or deputies in different areas. His life also coincided with some divisions within Shiism as well. At the beginning of his imamate, Isma'iliyya, Fatahiyya, and Nawusiyya were formed, and after his martyrdom, the Waqifiyya came to existence.......
Other featured articles: Ammar b. Yasir – Tawhid – Al-Kafi (book)