Musa al-Kazim
Musa al-Kazim was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the seventh imam in Twelver Shia Islam. Musa is often known by the title al-Kazim, apparently a reference to his patience and gentle disposition. He was born in 745 in Medina to Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Shia imam, who died in 765 without publicly designating a successor to save his heir from the wrath of the Abbasid caliphs. The subsequent crisis of succession was eventually resolved in favor of al-Kazim, with a dissenting group, now known as the Isma'ilis, separating from the mainstream Shia.
After the death of al-Sadiq, Musa al-Kazim remained in Medina, where he kept aloof from politics and devoted himself to religious teachings. He was nevertheless tightly restricted by the Abbasid caliphs and spent much of his adult life in their prisons. To counter these restrictions, he established an underground network of local representatives to organize the affairs of his followers across the Abbasid Empire and to collect their religious donations. His final imprisonment,, ended with his death in 799 in a Baghdad prison, possibly poisoned at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. The shrine of al-Kazim and his grandson, Muhammad al-Jawad, is a popular pilgrimage destination for Twelver Muslims in Kazimayn, Baghdad.
Musa al-Kazim played a key role in eradicating extreme views and exaggerations from Twelver thought. His answers to legal questions have survived in, and he is credited with numerous supplications. Musa al-Kazim is also revered for his piety in Sunni Islam and considered a reliable transmitter of prophetic sayings. He is a link in the initiatic Golden Chain in Sufism, and some Sufi saints are often associated with him. Various nonprophetic miracles are attributed to al-Kazim, often emphasizing his precognition. He was succeeded in imamate by his son, Ali al-Rida.
Life
Birth and early life
Musa was probably born on 8 November 745. He was born either in Medina, or in nearby al-Abwa', located between Medina and Mecca. Alternative birth dates are September 745 and 746747. His father was Ja'far al-Sadiq, a descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima, who were the cousin and daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, respectively. Ja'far al-Sadiq was widely accepted as the legitimate imam by the early Shia community, who rejected the ruling Umayyad caliphs as usurpers. Musa's mother was Hamida Khatun, a Berber slave-girl. She was also known as al-Musaffat, a title which was perhaps a reference to her religious learning, as she is said to have taught Islamic jurisprudence to women in a seminary in Medina. Abdallah al-Aftah and Isma'il ibn Ja'far were the elder half-brothers of Musa, and Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq was his younger full brother. Musa was about four years old when the Abbasid revolution overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate in 750. He continued to live in Medina under the authority of his father al-Sadiq, until the latter died in 765. Ja'far al-Sadiq was poisoned at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, according to the Shia.After the death of al-Sadiq
After the death of al-Sadiq, Musa al-Kazim remained in Medina, where he stayed out of politics, similar to most of his predecessors. As with his father, al-Kazim instead taught religious sciences in Medina. Over time, he also established an underground network of representatives to collect religious donations from his followers and organise their affairs.The Abbasids, who claimed descent from Muhammad's uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, had rallied the support of the Shia community against the Umayyads in the name of the family of Muhammad. But many Shias were disillusioned when the Abbasid al-Saffah declared himself caliph, as they had instead hoped for an Alid leader, one who had descended from Muhammad, that is, a descendant of his daughter Fatima and Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Abbasids soon turned against their former allies, and were generally hostile to the Shia imams, especially after the abortive 762763 revolt of the Alid pretender Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. Musa al-Kazim was contemporary with the Abbasid caliphs al-Mansur, al-Hadi, al-Mahdi, and Harun al-Rashid. Unlike his father, who often taught freely in Medina, al-Kazim was highly restricted by the caliphs, and spent much of his adult life in the Abbasid prisons in Iraq. By one Shia account, under the Abbasids' watchful eyes, al-Kazim even discouraged his followers from greeting him in public.
Reign of al-Mansur ()
Shia sources blame the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur for the death of Ja'far al-Sadiq, who did not publicly designate an heir, likely fearing the Abbasid reaction. Shia sources report that the caliph ordered his governor of Medina to kill the heir to al-Sadiq, a plan that was thwarted when the governor found out that al-Sadiq had appointed four or five legatees. The resulting crisis of succession to al-Sadiq was ultimately resolved in favor of al-Kazim, who spent the first ten years of his imamate under al-Mansur. This succession crisis nevertheless weakened the mainstream Shia, which is perhaps why al-Mansur left al-Kazim relatively unmolested, while still keeping him under surveillance. This initial mild treatment of al-Kazim would not continue under future caliphs.Reign of al-Mahdi ()
During the ten years of the reign of al-Mahdi, al-Kazim remained under surveillance in Medina. He was arrested at least once by the caliph, who around 780 briefly imprisoned him in the Abbasid capital of Baghdad. There Musa was placed in the custody of the prefect of police, al-Musayyab ibn Zuhayr al-Dabbi, who later became a follower of al-Kazim. According to the Sunni historian al-Tabari, al-Mahdi had a dream in which Ali ibn Abi Talib berated him for imprisoning his progeny, which apparently compelled the caliph to set al-Kazim free, after he pledged not to revolt against the caliph.Reign of Musa al-Hadi ()
Musa al-Kazim did not lend his support to the 786 revolt of the Alid pretender al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Abid, and a letter attributed to al-Kazim even warns al-Husayn about his violent death. The Shia imam was nevertheless accused of complicity by the Abbasid caliph al-Hadi, who was dissuaded from killing al-Kazim only by the intervention of the judge Abu Yusuf. The caliph died soon after, and thus al-Kazim survived. He then composed the supplication in gratitude, according to the Shia jurist Sayyed Ibn Tawus.Reign of Harun al-Rashid ()
The persecution of the Shia reached a climax during the caliphate of Harun, who is said to have killed hundreds of Alids. Harun also arrested al-Kazim, brought him to Baghdad, and was apparently intent on killing him but then set him free as a result of a dream, it is said. Harun was perhaps provoked by an earlier incident, according to the Sunni historian Ibn Khallikan : When the two men visited the tomb of Muhammad in Medina, Harun, intent on showing his family ties to the prophet, had said, "Salutation unto thee, O prophet of God, unto thee who art my cousin!" Musa al-Kazim apparently countered with, "Salutation unto thee, O my dear father!" This angered Harun, who retorted, "O Abu al-Hasan , such glory as thine is truly to be vaunted of!"The final imprisonment of al-Kazim may have been plotted by Yahya ibn Khalid, Harun's vizier. The vizier was reportedly threatened by the growing influence of Ja'far ibn Muhammad, who was entrusted with the caliph's son and heir, Al-Amin. Yahya is said to have tipped the caliph about the secret Shia disposition of Ja'far and also suborned a relative of al-Kazim to testify that the imam secretly collected religious dues from the Shia. Alternatively, al-Kazim was imprisoned perhaps because the caliph felt threatened by the views of a disciple of al-Kazim, the theologian Hisham ibn al-Hakam, who argued for the right of al-Kazim to the caliphate, thus implying the illegitimacy of the Abbasids. In any case, Harun had al-Kazim arrested in 793, or in 795, and had him brought to Basra in Iraq, where he was imprisoned for a year under the custody of its governor, Isa ibn Ja'far ibn al-Mansur. Harun then ordered al-Kazim to be killed but Isa did not carry out the order, apparently being impressed by the piety of al-Kazim. Isa instead arranged for al-Kazim's house arrest in Baghdad under Fadl ibn al-Rabi' and then under Al-Fadl ibn Yahya. During his house arrest, however, al-Kazim likely continued to direct the Shia affairs. When Harun learned about this relatively comfortable conditions of al-Kazim, he gave Fadl a written order to kill the Shia imam. By one account, Fadl refused the order and was given a hundred lashes. Musa al-Kazim was then handed to al-Sindi ibn Shahik, the prefect of police in Baghdad, who is said to have poisoned the imam.