Musa al-Kazim

Musa was probably born on 8 November 745 CE (7 Safar 128 AH),[1][2] either in Medina,[3] or in nearby al-Abwa', located between Medina and Mecca.[4][1] Alternative birth dates are September 745 and 746–747.[1] 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.[5] 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,[6] who is often referred to as al-Musaffat (lit. 'the purified').[1][7] This title was perhaps a reference to her religious learning, as she is said to have taught Islamic jurisprudence to women in a seminary in Medina.[7] Abd-Allah al-Aftah and Isma'il were the older sons of al-Sadiq.[4][8] Musa was about four years old when the Abbasid revolution overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate in 750.[6] Musa continued to live in Medina under the authority of his father al-Sadiq,[6][4] until the latter died in 765.[9] Ja'far al-Sadiq was poisoned at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 754–775), according to the Shia.[4][10]

After the death of al-Sadiq, Musa al-Kazim remained in Medina,[3] where he stayed out of politics, similar to most of his predecessors.[11][12] As with his father, al-Kazim instead engaged in teaching in Medina.[1][13] Over time, he also established an underground network of representatives (wukala) to collect religious donations from his followers and organize their affairs.[14]

To overthrow the Umayyads, the Abbasids, who claimed descent from Muhammad's uncle Abbas, had rallied the support of the Shia in the name of the family of Muhammad. But many Shias were disillusioned when the Abbasid al-Saffah (r. 750–754) 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.[15] The Abbasids soon turned against their former allies,[16][17] and were generally hostile to the Shia imams, especially after the abortive 762–763 revolt of the Alid pretender Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya.[12] In particular, Musa al-Kazim was contemporary with the Abbasid caliphs al-Mansur, al-Hadi, al-Mahdi, and Harun al-Rashid.[18] Unlike his father, who often taught freely in Medina, al-Kazim was highly restricted by the caliphs,[13][19] and spent much of his adult life in Abbasid prisons in Iraq.[20][21] By one Shia account, al-Kazim had even discouraged his followers from greeting him in public, probably to avoid alarming the Abbasids.[22]

Shia sources blame the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur for the death of Ja'far al-Sadiq,[4][10] who did not publicly designate an heir, likely fearing the Abbasid reaction.[23] The caliph may have indeed ordered his governor of Medina to kill the heir to al-Sadiq, a plan that was thwarted when the governor reportedly found out that al-Sadiq had appointed four or five legatees.[24][1] The resulting crisis of succession to al-Sadiq was ultimately resolved in favor of al-Kazim,[21] who spent the first ten years of his imamate under al-Mansur.[4] This succession crisis nevertheless weakened the mainstream Shia; and al-Mansur may have therefore left al-Kazim relatively unmolested,[25] while still keeping al-Kazim under surveillance.[26] This initial mild treatment would not continue.[27]

During the ten years under the reign of al-Mahdi, al-Kazim remained under surveillance in Medina.[28] He was arrested at least once by the caliph, who around 780 briefly imprisoned him in the Abbasid capital of Baghdad.[29][13] 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.[1] According to the Sunni historian al-Tabari (d. 923), al-Mahdi had a dream in which Ali ibn Abi Talib berated him for imprisoning his progeny, which compelled the caliph to set al-Kazim free,[1][13][30] after al-Kazim pledged not to lead a revolt.[1][12][31]

Musa al-Kazim did not lend his support to the 786 revolt of al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Abid, another descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib.[32] A letter attributed to al-Kazim even warns al-Husayn about his violent death,[32] but the imam was nevertheless accused of complicity by al-Hadi, who was dissuaded from killing al-Kazim only by the intervention of the judge Abu Yusuf.[1] The caliph died soon after, and thus al-Kazim survived[1][33] and composed the supplication Jawshan (lit. 'coat of mail') in gratitude, according to the Twelver jurist Ibn Tawus (d. 1266).[1]

The persecution of the Shia reached a climax during the caliphate of Harun, who is said to have killed hundreds of the descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib.[29] Harun 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.[29][34] Harun was perhaps provoked by an earlier incident reported by the Sunni historian Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282): When the two men visited the tomb of Muhammad in Medina, Harun, intent on showing his family ties to the prophet, had reportedly 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 [al-Kazim], such glory as thine is truly to be vaunted of!"[35]

The final imprisonment of al-Kazim is said to have been plotted by Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki, 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, Amin. Yahya then informed 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 Shias.[29][36] Alternatively, Harun may have felt threatened by the views of the theologian Hisham ibn al-Hakam, a disciple of al-Kazim,[1] who argued for the right of al-Kazim to the caliphate, thus implying that the Abbasids were usurpers.[37] In any case, Harun had al-Kazim arrested in 793,[19][29][19][38] or in 795,[13][14][37] 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.[38][19] 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 Fadl ibn Yahya al-Barmaki.[1] During his house arrest, al-Kazim may have continued to direct Shia affairs.[1] When Harun learned about the relatively comfortable conditions of al-Kazim, he gave Fadl a written order to kill al-Kazim. By one account, Fadl refused the order and was given a hundred lashes.[1] 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.[38][19]

Harun brought several public figures to examine al-Kazim's body and testify that he had died naturally.[38][29] The caliph also publicly displayed the body of al-Kazim in Baghdad, perhaps to dispel the rumors that he had not died and would return as the Mahdi, the Messianic figure in Islam.[29][1][42] Later al-Kazim was buried in the Quraysh cemetery in northwest Baghdad,[13][18] which is now located in the city of Kazimayn.[18][14] At first a dangerous site for Shia visitors, his tomb in time became an important center for Shia pilgrimage, together with the tomb of his grandson, Muhammad al-Jawad.[1][13][43] A shrine has stood over their graves since the time of the Buyid dynasty (r. 934–1062), though the present complex dates to the Safavid Shah Isma'il (r. 1501–1524), the Twelver ruler of Iran.[29] The shrine of al-Kazim has also acquired a reputation as a place where prayers are fulfilled; that is, a gate to the fulfilment of needs (bab al-hawaij), as attested by the Sunni scholar al-Shafi'i (d. 820).[44] Also buried there are a number of medieval Shia scholars,[45] including the polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 1274).[46]

By some Shia accounts, al-Kazim died for the sins of his followers.[1] A tradition attributed to him in the hadith collection Kitab al-Kafi reads, "God became wrathful with the Shia, so he made me choose between them or myself and I shielded them, by God, with my soul," which may also suggest al-Kazim's premonition about his own death.[47] These sins may have been disloyalty and abandoning taqiya (religious dissimulation), according to the Twelver traditionist al-Kulayni (d. 941), who adds that the latter sin revealed the activities of al-Kazim and led to his imprisonment.[1] Harun indeed carried out a campaign of arrests in 795 to decimate the underground network of local Shia representatives (wukala), which may have led to the final arrest of al-Kazim.[48]

After the death of al-Sadiq in 765, his following became fractured,[49] for he did not publicly designate a successor to save him from the Abbasids' wrath.[23] The majority of his followers, the antecedents of the Twelvers, ultimately accepted the imamate of his son al-Kazim,[49][9] who also received the backing of some renowned students of al-Sadiq, including Hisham ibn al-Hakam and Mu'min al-Taq.[14][50][1] Yet, many may have expected the next imam to be Isma'il, an older son of al-Sadiq, who nevertheless predecease his father.[4] Some of them declared that Isma'il would return as the Mahdi or instead accepted the imamate of his son Muhammad ibn Isma'il.[9][51] These were the antecedents of the Isma'ilis, who for long expected Muhammad ibn Isma'il to return as the Mahdi, but later followed a line of imams who claimed descent from him, the Fatimid dynasty. Even though the Isma'ilis were active against the Abbasids,[52][53] they were of marginal importance until their rise to political power much later:[54] The Fatimid Caliphate was established in Egypt at the turn of the tenth century and the Qarmatians rose to power in Bahrain in the late ninth century.[55] Their relations with the mainstream Shia were apparently tense at the time, as some have implicated them in the arrest of al-Kazim and the murder of some of his followers.[56][57]

Isma'ilis believe that their eponym Isma'il was the designated successor,[58] and even his death in the lifetime of al-Sadiq did not annul his divine designation (nass), as that would have contradicted their belief in the omniscience of God.[59] By contrast, the early Twelvers explained any changes in the divine will through bada', a notion similar to abrogation (naskh) in the Quran.[60][61] Later Twelvers, such as al-Mufid, altogether rejected the claim that Isma'il was al-Sadiq's designated successor.[62] They instead cited the qualifications of al-Kazim to support his fitness for the imamate after al-Sadiq.[63][32] While the Twelvers and the Isma'ilis are the two sects that have survived,[64] there were also additional branches that emerged after the death of al-Sadiq:[8][65][66] After the death of al-Sadiq, perhaps the majority of his followers initially accepted the imamate of his eldest surviving son, Abd-Allah al-Aftah,[8][40] thus becoming known as the Fathiyya.[1] Abd-Allah died after a few months without a male heir and apparently lacked the scholarly prerequisites for the imamate.[54] His followers then mostly turned to al-Kazim,[8][67][68] although for some time they still counted al-Aftah as their seventh Imam.[54][69] Many others who had split off after the death of al-Sadiq seem to have joined al-Kazim later.[29]

Map of the Abbasid Caliphate circa 744, before the independence of the Maghreb (present day Morocco and parts of Algeria) as well as the Andalus (present day Spain and Portugal)

Map of Iraq and the neighboring Khuzestan, with inserts on the vicinities of Baghdad and Samarra, during the Abbasid period

The Abbasid caliphs attempted to tightly control the activities of al-Kazim,[12] who consequently appointed a network of local representatives (wukala, SG wakil) to organize the affairs of the Shia and collect their religious dues, particularly Khums (lit. 'one-fifth').[14][70] This underground network, which extended throughout the Abbasid empire, was likely established by al-Kazim,[71][72] although there is some evidence that an earlier network existed under his predecessor, al-Sadiq.[73][74] During the imamate of al-Kazim, new Shia centers were also established in the Maghreb and Egypt,[29] for instance, in the city of Akhmim.[33]

It appears that al-Kazim permitted cooperation with the Abbasids, if it furthered the Shia cause.[1][13] In particular, he allowed his companion Ali ibn Yaqtin to hold the vizierate as long as he could promote justice and social welfare,[75] or perhaps so that he could save other Shias in times of danger.[33] Historically, whether Ali ibn Yaqtin attained such a high office and for long enough to make any difference is uncertain.[76] In line with the principle of taqiya, al-Kazim even instructed Ali ibn Yaqtin not to practice the Shia ablution (wudu') because he had become suspect in the eyes of the Abbasid ruler.[77] In another Shia report, al-Kazim instructs Ali to withhold some goods destined for him so as to foil a plot aimed at exposing the Shia tendencies of Ali, thus saving his life.[78] Ali ibn Yaqtin was nevertheless finally arrested, and died in prison, as part of the same campaign of arrests that led to the imprisonment and death of al-Kazim.[48] Some other Abbasid officials whose loyalty rested with al-Kazim were Abbas ibn Ja'far al-Ash'ath, governor of Khorasan, and Waddah (or Wadih), who was an official of the postal service (al-barid) in Egypt.[33]

After the death of al-Kazim in 799, the mainstream Shia acknowledged his son Ali al-Rida as the next imam.[79][80][81] These Shias were the antecedents of the Twelvers, known at the time as the Qat'iyya because they confirmed the death of al-Kazim.[82][83] In contrast, some followers of al-Kazim came to believe that he would return as the Mahdi,[84][19] citing a hadith ascribed to al-Sadiq to the effect that the seventh imam would be the Mahdi;[42] these became known as the Waqifiyya (lit. 'those who stop'). Many of the Waqifiyya later returned to the mainstream of Shia,[1][85] declaring al-Rida and his descendants as the lieutenants of al-Kazim.[13][79] Beginning in the ninth century, the Waqifiyya sect and its beliefs eventually disappeared.[86] The Waqifiyya included the Bushariyya, named after Muhammad ibn Bashir, the Kufan exaggerator (ghali, extremist) who regarded al-Kazim as divine and claimed to be his interim successor.[87][13][88] Ibn Bashir was later charged with heresy and executed by the caliph.[89]

The formation of the Waqifiyya may have had a financial dimension, as some representatives of al-Kazim declared him the last Imam probably to avoid forwarding to al-Rida what was entrusted to them when al-Kazim was alive.[1][90] These rogue representatives included Mansur ibn Yunus al-Qurayshi, Ali ibn Abi Ḥamza al-Bata'ini, Ziyad ibn Marwan al-Qandi, Uthman ibn Isa al-Amiri al-Ruasi (Ruwasi),[1] and Hayyan al-Sarragh,[91] although al-Ruasi may have later turned possessions over to al-Rida.[1][92] The term Waqifiyya or Waqifite is also applied to any Shia group who denied or hesitated over the death of a particular imam, thus refusing to recognize his successors.[93][94] Ali al-Rida was not challenged by any of his brothers, even though some of them revolted against the Abbasids,[81] including Ahmad ibn Musa.[82]

Often viewed as evidence of his divine favor,[95] various nonprophetic miracles (karamat, SG karama) have been attributed to al-Kazim in Shia sources.[1] He is considered knowledgeable of all languages, and he also counted this ability as a sign of being the true imam in a hadith attributed to him.[96] Indeed, similar miracles of speech are attributed to all of the Twelve Imams.[97] This included the ability to communicate with animals, following the precedent of Surat al-naml, a chapter in the Quran, in which Solomon speaks with birds and ants.[98] Musa al-Kazim is thus said to have prayed for a wild beast to ease the birthing pains of its partner.[99] By other accounts, Musa spoke in his cradle,[1][100] revived a dead tree with his touch,[1] and brought back to life the dead farm animal of a poor family.[101] By another account, he showed to a disciple the spirit of al-Sadiq, who had died some years earlier, seated in the entryway to his house.[102]

Even though al-Kazim and his father al-Sadiq seem to have successfully rooted out a belief in the imam's divinity from mainsteam Shia thought, as evidenced by its absence in later mainstream Shia writings,[103] there remained at the time groups with extreme views (ghuluww) embedded within mainstream Shia.[104] These Ghulat (lit. 'exaggerators') continued to believe in the divinity of the Shia imams.[105] Muhammad ibn Bashir believed in the divinity of al-Kazim.[1] The Mufawwida believed that God had delegated (tawfiz) the affairs of this world to the prophet and the Shia imams.[106] Such beliefs were also championed by al-Mufaddal ibn Umar al-Ju'fi,[107] a financial agent of al-Kazim,[108] even though there is no evidence that he or the imams themselves personally subscribed to these views.[104]