Felicitating the Imam of the Age (AS)
By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
"The most pious of people is he who stops at suspicious matters. The best worshipper is he who performs the obligatory religious affairs duly. The most abstinent of people is he who refrains from the unlawful. The most hardworking of people is he who keeps away from sins.”
The above statement is indeed food for thought. It provides guidelines for all those striving for good in society and standing steadfast against devilish designs.
The person who pronounced these words was none other than the 11th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Father of the Promised Saviour of mankind, Imam Mahdi (AS), through whom God will grant the final victory to the true believers and make Islam triumphant over all creeds, ideologies, and nations.
To be more precise he was Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), whose birthday we celebrate every year on the 8th of the month of Rabi al-Akher.
He was born in the holy city of Medina in 232 AH (846 AD) to Imam Ali an-Naqi al-Hadi (AS). He was destined to acquire the epithet "al-Askari”, which means the "soldier”, or more properly the "Soldier of God”, at whose command was an army of angels – as the terrified tyrant Mutawakkel, a self-styled caliph, found out when he tried to boast of the power of his mostly Turkic mercenary slave-soldiers, recruited by the Abbasids from the wild steppes of Central Asia.
As for the mother of Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), she was the most virtuous lady of her age, known for her faith in God, her chastity, her purity of thought, and her piety. A native of Nubia between the lands of Egypt and Sudan, she was named ‘Saleel’ or the one purified from error, defect, and impurity. Some historians have referred to her ‘Sowsan’, while others have called her ‘Haditha’, which seem to be her epithets for her outstanding qualities.
In addition to such a glorious lineage that originates from his great ancestress, the Prophet’s Immaculate Daughter, Hazrat Fatema az-Zahra (SA) – the Noblest Lady of all times, he possessed perfect morals, was sincere in all affairs, and was the most knowledgeable person of his age – not only in Islamic sciences, but in all fields of knowledge.
Bakhtshou, the famous Christian physician, who was a contemporary once said to his disciple Batriq about the 11th Imam: "He is the most knowledgeable of all those under the sky in our day.”
Even the conscientious courtiers of the usurper Abbasid caliphs have admitted that if the Abbasid tyrants had not subjected the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt to oppression and confinement, they would have filled the world with knowledge and sciences to such an extent that the world had never before seen such wisdom and intellectual development.
Ahmad bin Ishaq relates that when he heard of the martyrdom of the 10th Imam in 254 AH (867 AD) he went to Samarra and asked for whereabouts of the 11th Imam. He was told that Imam had been imprisoned by Mo’taz Billah. After bribing the guards he was able to visit the Imam one night. He described the prison as a tunnel under the Caliph’s palace. Ahmad says he cried when he saw the Imam’s condition. Food was only one glass of water and a piece of dry bread a day.
He was imprisoned because the caliphs were scared of the Prophet’s famous hadith that his righteous successors will be 12 in number, and the last one will rise as Imam Mahdi al-Qa’em (AS) to rid the world of all vestiges of corruption and tyranny, and to establish the global government of peace and justice.
During the six years of his Imamate, Imam Askari (AS) guided seekers of truth at every opportunity, such as his timely admonishment through a common disciple to the philosopher Abu Ishaq al-Kindi that saved the latter from damning himself to the eternal inferno by expressing doubts on the timeless wisdom of God’s Revealed Word, the holy Qur’an. The Eleventh Imam’s unravelling of truth made al-Kindi repent and burn the dubious book that he had compiled because of lack of proper knowledge.
Volumes are required to pen the virtues of Imam Askari (AS). To be brief, here are some more bezels of wisdom from the 11th Imam:
"Reasonless laughter is a sign of ignorance”.
The worst servants –of God— are those who are two-faced and two-tongued; they praise their present friends and backbite the absent; they envy them for obtaining graces and disappoint them when they suffer a misfortune.
Anger is the key to every evil.
The least comfortable of people is the spiteful.
The heart of the foolish is in his mouth and the mouth of the wise is in his heart.
The powerful will be definitely humiliated if he ignores the right.
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Congratulations on the Birthday of Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS)
"The most pious of people is he who stops at suspicious matters. The best worshipper is he who performs the obligatory religious affairs duly. The most abstinent of people is he who refrains from the unlawful. The most hardworking of people is he who keeps away from sins.”
The above statement is indeed food for thought. It provides guidelines for all those striving for good in society and standing steadfast against devilish designs.
The person who pronounced these words was none other than the 11th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Father of the Promised Saviour of mankind, Imam Mahdi (AS), through whom God will grant the final victory to the true believers and make Islam triumphant over all creeds, ideologies, and nations.
To be more precise he was Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), whose birthday we celebrate every year on the 8th of the month of Rabi al-Akher.
He was born in the holy city of Medina in 232 AH (846 AD) to Imam Ali an-Naqi al-Hadi (AS). He was destined to acquire the epithet "al-Askari”, which means the "soldier”, or more properly the "Soldier of God”, at whose command was an army of angels – as the terrified tyrant Mutawakkel, a self-styled caliph, found out when he tried to boast of the power of his mostly Turkic mercenary slave-soldiers, recruited by the Abbasids from the wild steppes of Central Asia.
As for the mother of Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), she was the most virtuous lady of her age, known for her faith in God, her chastity, her purity of thought, and her piety. A native of Nubia between the lands of Egypt and Sudan, she was named ‘Saleel’ or the one purified from error, defect, and impurity. Some historians have referred to her ‘Sowsan’, while others have called her ‘Haditha’, which seem to be her epithets for her outstanding qualities.
In addition to such a glorious lineage that originates from his great ancestress, the Prophet’s Immaculate Daughter, Hazrat Fatema az-Zahra (SA) – the Noblest Lady of all times, he possessed perfect morals, was sincere in all affairs, and was the most knowledgeable person of his age – not only in Islamic sciences, but in all fields of knowledge.
Bakhtshou, the famous Christian physician, who was a contemporary once said to his disciple Batriq about the 11th Imam: "He is the most knowledgeable of all those under the sky in our day.”
Even the conscientious courtiers of the usurper Abbasid caliphs have admitted that if the Abbasid tyrants had not subjected the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt to oppression and confinement, they would have filled the world with knowledge and sciences to such an extent that the world had never before seen such wisdom and intellectual development.
Ahmad bin Ishaq relates that when he heard of the martyrdom of the 10th Imam in 254 AH (867 AD) he went to Samarra and asked for whereabouts of the 11th Imam. He was told that Imam had been imprisoned by Mo’taz Billah. After bribing the guards he was able to visit the Imam one night. He described the prison as a tunnel under the Caliph’s palace. Ahmad says he cried when he saw the Imam’s condition. Food was only one glass of water and a piece of dry bread a day.
He was imprisoned because the caliphs were scared of the Prophet’s famous hadith that his righteous successors will be 12 in number, and the last one will rise as Imam Mahdi al-Qa’em (AS) to rid the world of all vestiges of corruption and tyranny, and to establish the global government of peace and justice.
During the six years of his Imamate, Imam Askari (AS) guided seekers of truth at every opportunity, such as his timely admonishment through a common disciple to the philosopher Abu Ishaq al-Kindi that saved the latter from damning himself to the eternal inferno by expressing doubts on the timeless wisdom of God’s Revealed Word, the holy Qur’an. The Eleventh Imam’s unravelling of truth made al-Kindi repent and burn the dubious book that he had compiled because of lack of proper knowledge.
Volumes are required to pen the virtues of Imam Askari (AS). To be brief, here are some more bezels of wisdom from the 11th Imam:
"Reasonless laughter is a sign of ignorance”.
The worst servants –of God— are those who are two-faced and two-tongued; they praise their present friends and backbite the absent; they envy them for obtaining graces and disappoint them when they suffer a misfortune.
Anger is the key to every evil.
The least comfortable of people is the spiteful.
The heart of the foolish is in his mouth and the mouth of the wise is in his heart.
The powerful will be definitely humiliated if he ignores the right.
--
Congratulations on the Birthday of Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS)