By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

“O Allah send blessings upon Muhammad and his Household, and send blessings upon Muhammad ibn Ali, the Pure, the Pious, the Devout, the Loyal, the Respectful, the Immaculate;
“Peace upon you O Abu Ja’far Muhammad son of Ali, the Pious, the Devout, the Guide, and the Loyal (to Almighty Allah).”
Today, the last day of the month of Zi’l-Qa’dah is a day of grief for Muslims, especially for the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt or Immaculate Household of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger to all mankind.
It is the day on which in the year 220 AH (835 AD), the 9th Infallible Heir of the Seal of Messengers was forced to leave world as a martyr through a fatal dose of poisoning, administered yet again by an usurper caliph.
As is clear from the wordings of the above-mentioned phrases of the “ziyarah” or standard form of salutation to him, he was the namesake of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), and like the “Mercy unto the whole creation”, he was a picture of piety, patience, and devotion to God Almighty, to the extent that he acquired the epithets of “at-Taqi” (the Pure) and “al-Jawad” (the Generous).
Imam Muhammad at-Taqi al-Jawad (AS), who lived in an age when the Muslim world had reached its height, both politically and intellectually – straddling vast areas of the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe – was not just generous in spending on the needy from whatever he possessed materially, but his generosity included the dispensing of knowledge and bezels of wisdom to all those who came into contact with him.
Volumes would be required to pen the virtues of the 9th Imam whose praises the celestial angels chant. He was a mere boy of 8 years, when the Divine Trust of Imamate, which on Almighty Allah’s express orders Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) had entrusted to his dear cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) on the memorable 18th of Zi’l-Hijjah at the historic gathering of over a hundred thousand Hajj pilgrims at Ghadeer-Khom in 10 AH, came to rest on his tender shoulders – following the martyrdom of his father Imam Ali ibn Musa ar-Reza (AS) in distant Khorasan due to a fatal dose of poison given by Mamoon the self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime.
The crafty Mamoon now plotted to tarnish the image of the young son and successor of his victim by pitting him in a debate with the Mu’tazalite ideologue, Yahya ibn Aktham. Since, we are on the threshold of the Hajj pilgrimage, the first question of the lively debate and its answer is worth contemplating upon.
Ibn Aktham asked the Imam: “What is the atonement for a person who hunts a game while he is dressed in the pilgrimage garb (Ehram).”
The question appears simple, especially during the Hajj season when pilgrims acquaint themselves with the rules before setting off to Mecca to circumambulate the Holy Ka’ba – the symbolic House of the Unseen but Omnipresent Lord. The questioner, however, had ulterior motives. He intended to ensnare what he viewed as a mere boy in the intricacies of legal issues, but to his astonishment and of the whole court, the lad, with composure and wisdom beyond his tender years, said:
“Your question is utterly vague and lacks definition. You should first clarify whether the game killed was outside the sanctified area or inside it; whether the hunter was aware of his sin or did so in ignorance; did he kill the game purposely or by mistake; was the hunter a slave or a free man; was he adult or minor, did he commit the sin for the first time or had he done so before; was the hunted game a bird or something else; was it a small animal or a big one; is the sinner sorry for the misdeed or does he insist on it; did he kill it secretly at night or openly during daylight; was he putting on the pilgrimage garb for Hajj or for the Umrah? Unless you clarify and define these aspects, how can you have a definite answer?”
Ibn Aktham stuttered for words and couldn’t find any answer to the counter question posed by the boy-Imam. His claim to knowledge now shattered before the whole court, he changed his tone and humbly addressed the boy with the words: O’ son of the Prophet, you know better.
This admission of inability by the learned doctor of law embarrassed Mamoon and evaporated his dreams of humiliating 9th infallible Heir of the Prophet. The boy-Imam calmly elaborated by saying:
“If he (the pilgrim) had killed the animal outside the sacred ground and it was winged and large, an atonement of sheep would have been necessary for him. If he had struck it down in the sanctuary, the penalty required of him would be doubled. If he killed a young bird outside the sacred ground, then the atonement of a lamb which had been weaned off milk would have been required of him. If he had killed it in the sanctuary, then he would have been required to sacrifice a lamb and the value of the young bird. As for wild animals, if it was a wild ass, he would have been required to sacrifice a cow. If it was an ostrich, the sacrifice of a camel would be necessary. If it had been a deer, then a sheep would have been necessary. If he had killed any of those in the sanctuary, the penalty would have been doubled.”
Imam Jawad (AS) continued to describe the various penalties for the pilgrim in the state of Ehram, to the astonishment of the audience. The crafty Mamoon was speechless. He now connived to marry his daughter to the Prophet’s Rightful Heir – not out of devotion to him but in order to keep under surveillance what he thought were political aspirations of Imam Mohammad Taqi (AS) to take over the caliphate.
Mamoon was wrong, since the 9th Imam whose spiritual powers were far greater than the wealth and political might of any king or caliph, did not need to rise and establish the rule of the Ahl al-Bayt on earth, which God Almighty had deferred for the end times through the Promised Imam Mahdi al-Qa’em (AS).
Mu’tasem, the next self-styled caliph, was also jealous of Imam Jawad. He vividly remembered the debate held over a dozen years ago in Baghdad between the 9th Imam and Ibn Aktham, yet he was so blind to the truth that he forced Imam Jawad (AS) to leave Medina on the threshold of the Hajj pilgrimage and come to his capital Baghdad, so as to be under the watchful eyes of the regime.
It was clear Mu’tasem was looking for a pretext to harm the Imam. Once a thief was brought before him and the jurisprudents in his court gave conflicting verdicts, with some saying that the culprit’s hand be severed from the wrist, some that it should be cut off from the elbow, while others wanting that the whole arm to be chopped off.
When Mu’tasim turned to the 9th Imam and insisted on his opinion in this regard, the Prophet’s

Heir said the mode of Islamic punishment for a habitual thief, according to the genuine laws of the shari’a is that only the four fingers (and that too after due warnings) should be severed, leaving the thumb and the palm intact, since the culprit is after all a human being in need of the mercy of the All-Forgiving God and should not be deprived of the correct way to pray, which requires the touching of 7 organs to the ground including the palms.
At this wise and rational judgement, the malice of the caliph and the court-mullahs increased. They plotted the murder of Imam Jawad (AS) through poisoning in the vain hope of giving legitimacy and permanency to the usurper Abbasid dynasty. They succeeded in their sordid plot through the treachery of Mamoon’s daughter who was one of the wives of Imam Jawad (actually forced upon him).
The 9th Imam was laid to rest beside his grandfather Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) in the magnificent gold-plated twin-domed mausoleum of Kazemain from where he continues to rule the hearts and minds of believers all over the world, while there is no trace today of the Abbasids and their graves, let alone their palaces. “Peace unto you O’ the Spring of Wisdom and the Lantern of Light”