A brief history of Twelve Imam’s life (3) Imam sajjad to Imam kazam - p.b. u.th

The 4th Imam / sajjad - p.b. u.h
In the third part it is supposed to study the life of Imam sajjad to Imam kazam (peace be upon them).
Imam sajjad ( Ali ibn Hossein entitled zany al- a’ bidin and sajjad) was the son of the third Imam and his wife, the queen among women, the daughter of Yazdigird the kind of Iran. He was the only son of Imam Hossein to survive, for his other three brothers Ali Akbar, aged twenty –five, five year old Ja’far and Ali Asghar (or Abdallah) who was a sucking baby were martyred during the event of Karbala (Maqatil al- talibiyyn, PP, 52 and 59). The Imam had also accompanied his father on the journey that terminated fatally in Karbala, but because of severs illness and the inability to carry arms or participate in fighting he was prevented from taking part in the holy war and being martyred. So he was sent with the women folk to Damascus, after spending a period in imprisonment he was sent with honor to Medina because Yazid wanted to conciliate public opinion. But for a second time, by the order of the Umayyad caliph, Abd al- Malik, he was chained and sent from Medina to Damascus and then again returned to Medina (Tadhkirat al-khawass, P324, Ithbar al- huddat, VOI, V, P, 242).

The fourth Imam, upon returning to Medina, retired from public life completely, closed the door of his house to strangers and spent his time in workship. He was in contact only with the elite among the shi’ites such as Abu Hamzah Thumali, Abu Khalid kabuli and the like. The elite disseminated among the shi’ah and the religious sciences they learned from the Imam. In this way shi’ism spread considerably and showed its effects during the imamate of the fifth Imam. Among the works of the fourth Imam is a book called sahifah sajjadiyah, it consists of fifty – seven prayers concerning the most sublime Divine sciences and is known as “the psalm of the Household of the prophet.”

The fourth Imam died ( according to some shi’ite traditions poisoned by wailed ibn Abd al- Malik through the instigation of the Umayyad caliph Hisham [Manaqib of Ibn shahrashub, VOI,IV,P, 176, Dala, il, al- mamah, P,8, al- fusul, al- muhimmah, P, 190])in 95/712 after thirty-five years of imamate.

The 5th Imam/ Bagher -p.b. u.h
Imam Muhammad ibn Ali Baqir ( the word baqir meaning he who cuts and dissects, a title given to him by the prophet [Irshad, P, 246, al- fusul ,al, muhimmah, P 193, Manaqib of Ibn shahrashub, VOI,IV,P, 197]) was the son the fourth Imam and was born in 57/ 675. He was present at event of Kabala when he was four years old. After his father through Divine Command and the decree of those who went before him, he became Imam. In the year 114/732 he died, according to some shi’ite traditions poisoned by Ibra him ibn walid ibn Abdallah, the newphew of Hisham, U mayyad caliph.

During the imamate of the fifth Imam, as a result of the injustice of Umayyads, revolts and wars broke out in some corner of the Islamic world every day. Moerover there were dis putes within the Umayyad family itself which kept the caliphate busy and to a certain extent left the members of the house hold of the prophet alone other side, the tragedy of karbala and the oppression suffered by the house hold of the prophet, of which the fourth Imam was the most noteworthy embodiment, had attracted many Muslims to the Imams (Usul al- kafi, VOI, I, P, 469, Irshad, P,245, al- fusul ,al, muhimmah, PP, 202 and 203, Tarikhi, Ya’ qobi, VOI, III, P, 63, Tadhkirat al- khavass P, 340 ,Dalai l al- imamah, P, 94, Manbqib of Ibn shahrashub, VOI, IV, P, 210). These factors combined to make it possible for people and especially the shi’ites to go in great numbers to Medina and to come into the presence of the fifth Imam. Possibilities for disseminating truths about IsIam and the sciences of the house hold of the prophet, which had never existed for the Imams before him, were presented to the fifth Imam. the proof of this fact is the innumerable traditions recounted from the fifth Imam and the large number of illustrious men of science and shi’ite scholars who were trained by him in different Islamic sciences. These names are listed in books of biographies of famous men in Islamic (Irshad, PP, 245- 253, see also kitab Rijal al –kashshi by Muhammad ibnAbd al- Aziz kashshi, Bombay, 1317, kitab rijal al- Tusi by Muhammad Najaf, 1381, kitab i- fihrist of Tusi Calcutta, 1281, and other books of biography).

The 6th Imam/ Jafar sadeq -p.b. u.h
Imam Ja’far ibn Muhammad, the son of the fifth Imam, was born in 83/702. he died in 148/765 according to shi’ite tradition poisoned and martyred through the intrigue of the Abbasid caliph Mansur. After the death of his father he became Imam by Divine Command and decree of those who came before him.

During the imamate of the sixth Imam greater possibilities and a more favorable climate existed for him to propagate religious teachings, this came about as a result of revolts in IsIamic lands, especially the uprising of the Muswaddah to overthrow the Umayyad caliphate, and the bloody wars which finally led to the fall and extinction of the Umayyads the greater opportunities for shi’ite teaching were also result of the favorable ground the fifth Imam had prepared during twenty years of his imamate through the propagation of the true teachings of Islam and the sciences of the Household of the prophet.

Training the scholars and publicating the religious teachings
The Imam took advantage of the occasion to propagate the religious sciences until the very end of his imamate, which was contemporary with the end of the Umayyad and beginning of the Abbasid caliphates, he instructed many scholars in different fields of the intellectual and transmitted sciences, such as Zararah, Muhammad ibn Muslim, Mu’min, Taq,Hisham ibn Hakam, Aban ibn Taghlib, Hisham ibn salim, Hurayz, Hisham, Kalabi Nassbah, and jabir ibn Hayyan, the alchemist, Even some important sunni scholars such as Sufyan Thawri ,Abu Hanifah, the founder of the Hanafi school of law, Qadi sukuni, Qadi Abu I’ –B akhtari, and others, had the honor of being his students. It is said that his classes and sessions of instructions produced four thousand scholars of hadith and other sciences (Usul al- kafi, VOI, I, P, 472, Dalall al – mamah P, 111, Irshad P, 254, Tarikh- I, Ya qobi,VOI, III, P, 119, al,fusul al- Muhimmah, P, 212 ,Tadkirat al- khawass, P, 346, Manqib of Ibn shahrashub, VOI,IV, P, 280). The number of traditions preserved from the fifth and sixth Imams is more than all the hadith that have been recorded from the prophet and the other ten Imams combined.

The affiction and limitations times
But toward the end of his the Imamwas subjected to severs restrictions placed upon him by the Abbasid caliph Mansur, who ordered such torture and merciless killing of many of the descendants of the prophets who were shi’ite that his actions even surpassed the cruelty and heedlessness of the Umayyada, At his order they were arrested in groups, some thrown into deep and dark prisons and tortureduntil they died, while, others were beheaded or buried alive or placed at the base of or between walls of buildings, and walls were constructed over them.

Hisham,the Umayyada caliph, had ordered the sixth Imam to be arrested and brought to Damascus, Later, the Imam was arrested by saffah, the Abbasid caliph, and brought to Iraq, Finally, Mansur had him arrested again and brought to Samarrah where he had the Imam kept under supervision, was in everyharsh and discourteous to him, and several times thought of killing him (Irshad P,254, al,fusul al- Muhimmah, P, 204, Manqib of Ibn shahrashub, VOI,IV, P, 247). Eventually the Imam was allowed to return to Medina where he spent the rest of his life in hiding ,until he was poisoned and martyred through the intrigue of Mansur (Al,fusul al- Muhimmah, P212, Dalai l al Muhimmah, P111, Ithbal al – wasilah, p, 142).

Upon hearing the news of Imam ‘s martyrdom, Marsur wrote to the governor of Medina instructing him to go to the house of Imam on the pretext of expressing his condolences to the family, to ask for the Imam’s will and testament and read it, whoever was chosen by the Imam as his inheritor and successor should be beheaded the spot, of course the aim of Mansur was to put and end to the whole question of imamate and to shi’tie aspirations, when the governor of Medina, following orders, read the last will and testament, he saw that the Imam had chosen four people rather than one to administer his last will and testament: the caliph himself m the governor of Medina, Abdallah, aftah, the Imam ‘s older son, and Musa his younger son, In this way the plot of Mansur failed (Usul al, kafi, VOI, I,P, 310).

The 7th Imam/ Kazem - p.b. u.h
Imam Musa ibn Ja’far Kazim, the son of the sixth Imam, was born in 128/744 and was poisoned and martyred in prison in 183/ 799, he became Imam after the death of his father, through Divine command and the decree of this fore fathers, the seventh Imam was contemporary with the Abbasid caliphs, Mansur, hadi, Mahdi, and Harun, he lived in very difficult times, in hiding, until finally Harun went on hajj and in Medina had the Imam arrested while praying in the Mosque of the prophet, he was chained and imprisoned, then taken from Medina to Basra and from Basra to Baghdad where for years he was transferred from one prison to another, finally he died in Baghdad in the sindi ibn shahak prison through poisoning (Irshad PP, 279 -283, Dalall al – mamah P148 and 154 al,fusul al- Muhimmah, P222, Manqib of Ibn shahrashub, VOI,IV, P,323 and 327 Tarikhi- Ya’ qubi, VOI, III,P150) and was buried in the cemetery of the Quraysh which is now located in the city of Kazimayn.

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