Glory to the Divine Gateway
By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
"O Husham, the Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mominin Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb – AS) used to say: "No one should sit in the forefront of a session except those who can answer when they are questioned, speak when others cannot, and own the most successful opinion. He who does not enjoy these three characteristics and allows himself to sit in the forefront of a session is surely an idiot.”
"Amir al-Mominin (AS) also used to say to his companions: I command you to fear God in secret and in public, be fair in both states of contentment and rage, earn provisions in richness and poverty, regard them who ruptured their relations with you, pardon them who oppressed you, and treat kingly the one who ignored you. All your faculties should be learning lessons, all your silence should be pondering over things, all your wordings should be mention of God, and all your nature should be generosity, for no stingy will be in Paradise and no generous will be in Hell.”
We are still basking in the blessings of the Glorious and Greatest Eid of Islam by expressing gratitude to God Almighty for His perfection of our faith, completion of His favours, and decreeing of Islam as the religion of all mankind. Indeed the 18th of Zi’l-Hijjah that recently went by and which we celebrate for several days, is an immortal occasion, since it was on this day in the year 10 AH, in the wilderness of Khom near Juhfa, beside a pond (Ghadeer), the Seal of Messengers, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), following the express commandment of the Lord Most High, proclaimed his dear cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), as Heir and Master of all and everything after him.
This is firm proof of the fact that leadership in Islam is divinely-decreed. In other words, without designation from the Almighty Creator none can be regarded as a rightful Imam.
This means that except for the 12 Infallible Imams of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, of whom the Last One is in occultation and will reappear in the end times as Qa’em al-Mahdi (AS) to end corruption and tyranny on Earth by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity and justice, all those who have styled themselves as caliphs throughout history (till the recently killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of our own days) have been imposters, cheats, and fraudsters, who have mislead Muslims and caused sedition amongst the Ummah.
Glory to God Who has not left the seekers of truth stumbling in the dark and has provided Beacons of Divine Light for our guidance as is evident by the passages mentioned at the beginning of this column from the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), by none other than his sixth in lineal descent worthy heir, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) – the Prophet’s 7th Infallible Successor – famous by his epithet of "Bab al-Hawa’ej” or the Gateway to Allah for fulfillment of the deserving needs of the believers.
Born in Abwa between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in the years 128 AH (745 AD) on either the 7th of Safar, or according to another report on the 20th of Zi’l-Hijjah, he was named Musa in honour of Prophet Moses, by his illustrious father, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) – the Reviver of the Prophet’s genuine practice and behaviour (Sunnah wa Sirah).
He was twenty years old when God entrusted him with the Divine Trust of imamate on the martyrdom of his father through poison by Mansour Dawaniqi the second self-styled caliph of the Abbasid usurper regime.
A point to note is that like Prophet Joseph he had several older brothers, who were all alive except for the eldest Ismail who predeceased his father. This means Imamate like Prophethood is neither hereditary nor mandatory, and solely depends on Divine Will.
Of course, the preceding Imam knows his successor, and in view of political conditions might not publicly proclaim him, in order to confound the enemies and frustrate their plots.
This was the reason, the tyrant Mansour could neither determine nor kill the successor of his victim.
The 7th Imam, whose period of imamate spanned thirty-five years and saw the reign of four Pharaonic caliphs – Mansur, Mahdi al-Abbasi, Hadi al-Abbasi and the lecherous tyrant Haroun Rasheed – acquired the epithet of "al-Kazem” which means "Restrainer of anger or emotions”, since he patiently endured hardships upon the Muslims and upon himself, including intermittent bouts of imprisonment.
Nonetheless he ably piloted the ship of Islam through the stormy waters of Abbasid misrule, enlightening all those who came in contact with him with the genuine teaching of Islam.
He held debates with the scholars of other religions, like the Christians and the Jews, convincing many of them of the truthfulness of Islam.
At the same time, his political acumen prevented many a catastrophe in those crucial days when frequent uprisings were staged against the Abbasids by several descendants of the Prophet, such as establishment of the Idrisid state in what is now Morocco by his distant cousin, Idris, the survivor of the bloodbath of Fakhkh near Mecca, where the Abbasids massacred many of the offspring of Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS). The Imam also remained silent about the uprising of another distant cousin Yahya ibn Abdullah in Tabaristan on the Caspian Sea coast of Iran.
The 7th Imam’s prudence prevailed and was instrumental in preserving the life and dignity of the majority of the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, to whom he bequeathed bezels of knowledge that have since continued to serve the cause of Islam till this day.
Although Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) was martyred through poisoning in the prison of Baghdad by the tyrant Haroun in 183 AH and was succeeded by his Divinely-designated Heir, Imam Ali ar-Reza (AS), the 7th Imam continues to rule the hearts and minds of the seekers of truth from his majestic mausoleum in Kazemain, Iraq, while there are no traces of the graves of the imposter caliphs, let alone their palaces.
"O Husham, the Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mominin Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb – AS) used to say: "No one should sit in the forefront of a session except those who can answer when they are questioned, speak when others cannot, and own the most successful opinion. He who does not enjoy these three characteristics and allows himself to sit in the forefront of a session is surely an idiot.”
"Amir al-Mominin (AS) also used to say to his companions: I command you to fear God in secret and in public, be fair in both states of contentment and rage, earn provisions in richness and poverty, regard them who ruptured their relations with you, pardon them who oppressed you, and treat kingly the one who ignored you. All your faculties should be learning lessons, all your silence should be pondering over things, all your wordings should be mention of God, and all your nature should be generosity, for no stingy will be in Paradise and no generous will be in Hell.”
We are still basking in the blessings of the Glorious and Greatest Eid of Islam by expressing gratitude to God Almighty for His perfection of our faith, completion of His favours, and decreeing of Islam as the religion of all mankind. Indeed the 18th of Zi’l-Hijjah that recently went by and which we celebrate for several days, is an immortal occasion, since it was on this day in the year 10 AH, in the wilderness of Khom near Juhfa, beside a pond (Ghadeer), the Seal of Messengers, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), following the express commandment of the Lord Most High, proclaimed his dear cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), as Heir and Master of all and everything after him.
This is firm proof of the fact that leadership in Islam is divinely-decreed. In other words, without designation from the Almighty Creator none can be regarded as a rightful Imam.
This means that except for the 12 Infallible Imams of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, of whom the Last One is in occultation and will reappear in the end times as Qa’em al-Mahdi (AS) to end corruption and tyranny on Earth by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity and justice, all those who have styled themselves as caliphs throughout history (till the recently killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of our own days) have been imposters, cheats, and fraudsters, who have mislead Muslims and caused sedition amongst the Ummah.
Glory to God Who has not left the seekers of truth stumbling in the dark and has provided Beacons of Divine Light for our guidance as is evident by the passages mentioned at the beginning of this column from the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), by none other than his sixth in lineal descent worthy heir, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) – the Prophet’s 7th Infallible Successor – famous by his epithet of "Bab al-Hawa’ej” or the Gateway to Allah for fulfillment of the deserving needs of the believers.
Born in Abwa between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in the years 128 AH (745 AD) on either the 7th of Safar, or according to another report on the 20th of Zi’l-Hijjah, he was named Musa in honour of Prophet Moses, by his illustrious father, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) – the Reviver of the Prophet’s genuine practice and behaviour (Sunnah wa Sirah).
He was twenty years old when God entrusted him with the Divine Trust of imamate on the martyrdom of his father through poison by Mansour Dawaniqi the second self-styled caliph of the Abbasid usurper regime.
A point to note is that like Prophet Joseph he had several older brothers, who were all alive except for the eldest Ismail who predeceased his father. This means Imamate like Prophethood is neither hereditary nor mandatory, and solely depends on Divine Will.
Of course, the preceding Imam knows his successor, and in view of political conditions might not publicly proclaim him, in order to confound the enemies and frustrate their plots.
This was the reason, the tyrant Mansour could neither determine nor kill the successor of his victim.
The 7th Imam, whose period of imamate spanned thirty-five years and saw the reign of four Pharaonic caliphs – Mansur, Mahdi al-Abbasi, Hadi al-Abbasi and the lecherous tyrant Haroun Rasheed – acquired the epithet of "al-Kazem” which means "Restrainer of anger or emotions”, since he patiently endured hardships upon the Muslims and upon himself, including intermittent bouts of imprisonment.
Nonetheless he ably piloted the ship of Islam through the stormy waters of Abbasid misrule, enlightening all those who came in contact with him with the genuine teaching of Islam.
He held debates with the scholars of other religions, like the Christians and the Jews, convincing many of them of the truthfulness of Islam.
At the same time, his political acumen prevented many a catastrophe in those crucial days when frequent uprisings were staged against the Abbasids by several descendants of the Prophet, such as establishment of the Idrisid state in what is now Morocco by his distant cousin, Idris, the survivor of the bloodbath of Fakhkh near Mecca, where the Abbasids massacred many of the offspring of Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS). The Imam also remained silent about the uprising of another distant cousin Yahya ibn Abdullah in Tabaristan on the Caspian Sea coast of Iran.
The 7th Imam’s prudence prevailed and was instrumental in preserving the life and dignity of the majority of the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, to whom he bequeathed bezels of knowledge that have since continued to serve the cause of Islam till this day.
Although Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) was martyred through poisoning in the prison of Baghdad by the tyrant Haroun in 183 AH and was succeeded by his Divinely-designated Heir, Imam Ali ar-Reza (AS), the 7th Imam continues to rule the hearts and minds of the seekers of truth from his majestic mausoleum in Kazemain, Iraq, while there are no traces of the graves of the imposter caliphs, let alone their palaces.