By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

“Peace be upon you; O the Light of Allah; Peace be upon you; O the Argumentation of Allah; Peace be upon you O the Guide of the believers; the Heir of the Prophets’ knowledge.”
Today, the 10th of Rajab is a day of double rejoicing. It is the day on which two dynamic boys were born in the household of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) although a century and 35 years apart.
The first was the infant martyr of Karbala, Ali al-Asghar (AS), who in 61 AH (680 AD) attained immortality at the tender age of 6 months with a smile on his parched innocent lips, as the arrow of the brutal Omayyad marksman, Harmala bin Kahel, pierced his slender neck.
God only knows the depth of grief and the heights of patience of the bereaved father, Imam Husain (AS), who had raised the radiant on his hands to demonstrate the baby’s acute thirst to enemy troops that had cut off the camp of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt from the fresh flowing waters of the Euphrates.
Every year, during the first ten days of Muharram, normally on the first Friday of the mourning month as well as its 6th, the faithful around the world commemorate the martyrdom Ali al-Asghar (AS), with offerings of milk to the gathering which is attended by children and weeping mothers with toddlers in their arms.
The second brilliant boy born today was Imam Muhammad at-Taqi al-Jawad (AS), who graced Planet Earth in the year 195 AH (,,,,AD). He was hardly six years when his father Imam Reza (AS) was forced to leave Medina for distant Khorasan, where the martyrdom through poisoning of the 8th Infallible Imam in 203 AH, meant that the 8-year old boy was now the Divinely-Designated Heir of the Seal of Messengers.
It would be repetitive to refer to Ayahs of the holy Qur’an say in support of the Imamate of the 9th Infallible Imam of the Ahl al-Bayt. We all know what God has said in Surah al-Maryam. How He entrusted the Boy-Prophet Yahya (John the Baptist) with Book and Wisdom. How made the Virgin-Born Prophet Jesus (AS), while still an infant in the cradle, speak to the Israelites in testimony to the chastity of his mother Mary (SA), announcement of his prophethood and tidings of the heavenly scripture entrusted to him.
The 17-year mission of Imam Jawad (AS) that ended in 220 AH because of his martyrdom through poisoning in the prime of youth at the age of 25 was instrumental in enlightening the seekers of truth with sciences no scholar of the age could impart.
He presented the correct interpretation of the holy Qur’an and the genuine “Sunnah” and “Seerah” (behaviour and practice) of the Prophet of Islam.
He uplifted the intellectual level of the Muslims in those days of Abbasid tyranny when the rulers lived a life of debauchery far removed from the teachings of Islam, while the poverty-stricken masses were misled by pseudo scholars who pretended to possess the knowledge of the ancient Greek philosophers, but in fact knew nothing.
It was an age when the self-styled caliphs were immersed in sins such as adultery, singing, and dancing, without caring for afterlife. In such an atmosphere decadence, the following letter of Imam Jawad (AS) to one of the governors of a remote province shows the torch of guidance that the Ahl al-Bayt held aloft:
“O’ Governor of Sistan! Power and authority are the trust that God has put at your disposal in order to serve His servants. You ought to help your religious brethren. The only thing that lasts for you is virtue and good deeds including your help to your brothers-in-faith. Beware, on the Day of Resurrection God will question you since nothing is hidden from the Almighty.”
This admonishing epistle had an instant effect on the recipient and he reformed himself, became a follower of the Ahl al-Bayt, and strove to solve the problems faced by the people.
It was obvious the caliphs did not like such reforms to take place in the society. That was one of the reasons the crafty Mamoun, who on testing the God-given wisdom of the 9th Imam by pitting him against the Mu’tazalite ideologue, Yahya ibn Aktham and finding the bearded scholar stuttering for words in the debate with the Boy-Imam, contrived the plot to give his daughter in marriage to the Prophet’s descendant.
His pretension was to be a maternal grandfather of a future member of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt but in reality, Mamoun tried to show the public that he was not the assassin of Imam Reza (AS), otherwise, he would not have given his daughter in marriage to the son of his victim.
It was a lie and sheer hypocrisy on the part of the Abbasid caliph to deceive the Muslim masses. His real intention was to keep a close eye on the activities of the 9th Imam and his supporters, by planting his daughter as a spy, and if possible to lure the then 15-year old Imam Muhammad Taqi (AS) towards amusement, play and diversion, in order to destroy the edifice of imamate.
The tyrant, however, failed in his plot, since the Divinely-Designated Imam, as the successor of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) is infallible and far removed from such frivolities.
For instance, when a musician named Mukhariq was ordered by Mamoun to sing and play the lute and the tambourine in the presence of the young Imam, the Prophet’s Heir looked neither to the left nor to the right, before raising his head and saying: “Fear God, O bearded man”. At this, the tambourine and the lute fell down from Mukhariq’s hands and he could not make use of his hands until he died.
This is the immortal legacy bequeathed by the Ahl al-Bayt to salvage our faith.
No wonder, there is no sign today of the pleasure palaces of the Abbasids, and even their graves. Today, on the 10th of Rajab, the hearts of the faithful are turned towards the twin-domed gold-plated mausoleum of Kazemayn (near Baghdad in Iraq) where the 9th Imam reposes in eternal peace beside his grandfather, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS).