Imam Musa al-Kazim – Life, Harun al-Rashid and Martyrdom

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Who is Imam Musa al-Kazim?

Born	745, Medina
Martyred	799, Baghdad (Kadhimiya)
Age	55
Father	Imam Jafar al-Sadiq
Mother	Hamide
Wives	Necime and Tahire

Imam Musa al-Kazim served as Imam for a full 34 years, from 765 to 799 CE, in the time of the second Abbasid caliph Cafer-i Mansur (al-Mansur), the third caliph al-Mahdi and the fourth caliph Harun al-Rashid.

Imam Musa al-Kazim in the time of Caliph al-Mahdi

After al-Mansur, his son al-Mahdi kept Imam Musa al-Kazim under constant watch throughout his caliphate. As soon as the Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi had taken his father’s throne, the flatterers around him began to disparage the Imam to him. Caliph al-Mahdi, who had constantly heard within his family that the descendants of Ali were dangerous, had always heard bad things about the Imams and had grown up under this influence. The enemies of the Ehl-i Beyt (Ahl al-Bayt, the family of the Prophet) around him kept urging him to do away with Imam Musa al-Kazim, who lived in Medina:

“You are the Commander of the Faithful (Emirü’l-Müminin)! You are the legitimate caliph! To be without a rival is your natural right. But as long as Musa, the son of Jafar al-Sadiq, lives in Medina, your caliphate remains merely theoretical. In reality all Muslims recognise Musa al-Kazim as the true caliph and Imam. They look upon you and your line as usurpers.”

“When they need something, they turn to him. They follow the rulings and decisions he gives. They love him and believe in him. Strive as much as you like: as long as this man is not removed, you cannot bind the people to yourself. Had these people wished you well, would your late father, whose abode is paradise, have had his father poisoned and killed? Every day that passes is a loss. To treat them mercifully means bringing about your own end. The moment you kill him, the Islamic world will recognise you as the true caliph.” Thus they kept inciting him.

Influenced by these suggestions, the caliph thought of first having Imam Musa al-Kazim brought from Medina and imprisoned. After that, he calculated, he could do what was necessary at his ease. With this in mind he wrote a letter of invitation and sent it to the Imam with an envoy. When Imam Musa al-Kazim received the letter of invitation, he realised that nothing good was in store. He thought about it for a long time and came to the conviction that going to this invitation would be better than not going. Then he decided to tell his friends and relatives around him about the invitation as well, and he did so. They advised him not to go and even wanted to stop him. But Imam Musa al-Kazim decided that he would go to this invitation whatever happened. In the face of his friends’ insistence he told them: “I know very well that I shall return safe and sound from this invitation. I also know that I shall not be well received there. That is of no importance. Perhaps I may even suffer injustice there for a time. But if I go a second time, it may not be possible for me to return.”

As the Imam was travelling to Baghdad with the envoys who had come, he met Ebu Halid Zubali. Ebu Halid understood the situation as soon as he saw him and grew sad. The Imam asked: “O Ebu Halid, why are you grieved?” Ebu Halid: “O grandson of the Prophet, I know where they are taking you; how should I not grieve? The tyrants there, wretches who have strayed from the path, may do you every kind of harm.” The Imam: “O Ebu Halid, on this journey no disaster will happen. And I shall return before long.” Ebu Halid: “Ah, if only I could believe what you say!” The Imam: “If I say it, believe it. On such-and-such a day, at such-and-such an hour, wait for me at such-and-such a place; I shall call on you.”

Interrogation and prison in Baghdad

As soon as Imam Musa al-Kazim arrived in Baghdad, he was immediately interrogated. People of evil nature and wicked soul accused him of crimes beyond imagination. What were they? Supposedly he was preparing a revolution. His aim was to gather the entire Islamic world around himself, march on Baghdad and capture it. Just as the Umayyads had been eliminated, he was preparing to eliminate the Abbasids as well.

There were many more slanders of this kind. But there was no evidence at all to confirm the slanders. When the lying people who made these slanders were confronted with the Imam, they all said the exact opposite of what they had alleged and contradicted one another. Caliph al-Mahdi realised that Imam Musa al-Kazim was facing slander. Even so, he did not release the Imam but had him thrown into prison.

After Imam Musa al-Kazim had been thrown into prison, Caliph al-Mahdi was seized by headaches and an unbearable restlessness. However many medicines the physicians of the day prepared, they could not cure him. Finally he saw in a dream that this came from Musa al-Kazim. He woke up in the middle of the night, called Rabi, the palace steward, and ordered: “Bring the Imam to me at once!” The palace steward Rabi went, brought Imam Musa al-Kazim out of the prison and led him into the caliph’s presence. On the way he was very afraid that the tyrant might do the Imam some harm. But when they came before him, Rabi was astounded to see the caliph embrace the Imam, ask after his health, apologise to him and seat him beside himself.

Rabi, who was following events in astonishment, received another order: “Quickly give the Imam three hundred gold pieces, take trustworthy people with you and hand him over safe and sound to his family in Medina.” Rabi did exactly as he had been ordered and brought Imam Musa al-Kazim to Medina and handed him over. As the Imam had said before going to this invitation, he returned home safe and sound.

The uprising of Hüseyin bin Ali and the caliph’s oath

Imam Musa al-Kazim lived quietly, teaching knowledge and wisdom (ilim and irfan) in the madrasa his father had founded, while also helping the poor and needy. Precisely at this time he learned that Hüseyin, the son of Ali, from the descendants of Imam Hasan, was preparing an uprising against the oppressive order of the Abbasids. Although Imam Musa al-Kazim was against this uprising, he could not prevent it. The enemies of the Ehl-i Beyt around the caliph said: “Imam Musa al-Kazim certainly has a hand in this uprising. Otherwise Hüseyin, son of Ali, would not have dared such an uprising. If Hüseyin succeeded with this uprising, he would leave no Abbasid alive and would bring Imam Musa al-Kazim to the office of the caliphate. Now that such an opportunity has fallen into your hands, your task is to leave none of Ali’s descendants alive. What you must do is have Imam Musa al-Kazim brought here at once and thrown into prison, and then kill all the men among them.”

Influenced by these incitements, Caliph al-Mahdi swore: “If I leave him alive, may God take my life.” Yakup ibni Yusuf, one of the friends of the Ehl-i Beyt whom Caliph al-Mahdi loved and respected, hurried to the palace as soon as he heard of this. To calm Caliph al-Mahdi, he advised him that there was no need to be angry and that with patience, in time, he would think everything over more soundly. He explained to him that an oath sworn in such a fit of anger was unbelief and a sin. Angered by these words, the caliph said: “Don’t you dare ask me to pardon Musa al-Kazim!” Yakup replied: “No, that is not what I meant! I can only prove that Musa al-Kazim has nothing whatsoever to do with this uprising. Musa al-Kazim, just like his father Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, has devoted himself to learning; he has no eye for worldly power and is the most eminent of the descendants of the Ehl-i Beyt. To intend any evil against him or to kill him would be the greatest injustice you could do to the Islamic world. The descendants of Ali have never had their eyes on the caliphate or on power. Had it been so – Ebu Müslim (Abu Muslim) had first offered the office of the caliphate to Imam Jafar al-Sadiq. Can you imagine? Why should those who did not accept it when the opportunity was in their hands now go chasing after the caliphate? Some unbelievers and enemies of Islam around you, by creating such an atmosphere, want to make the people of Hashim kill one another. If you believe me, give up this anger.”

The caliph said, “I have sworn an oath; I shall certainly kill him,” and sent an envoy to Medina for the Imam to come to Baghdad. The envoy who went to Medina conveyed the caliph’s order to the Imam. The friends around the Imam were suspicious of this invitation and grieved. But the Imam was in no hurry at all to set out. When the envoy asked why he was not preparing for the journey, he said: “There will be no need to go to Baghdad; that is why I am not preparing.” The envoy and those around, on receiving this answer, suspected that the Imam might be going to defy the caliph’s order. Not even two days had passed after this answer when news came from Baghdad of the death of Caliph al-Mahdi. In these circumstances there was no longer any need for the Imam to go to Baghdad. The people of Medina breathed a sigh of relief. In this way everyone also understood the reason for the answer Imam Musa al-Kazim had given the envoy.

The eras of al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid

As a result of Caliph al-Mahdi’s death, his son al-Hadi ascended the throne. Unlike his father, al-Hadi openly mistreated the descendants of Ali. He even cut off the stipend his father had granted them.

On the other side, however, Hüseyin – the son of Ali, son of Hasan-ı Müsennâ, from the descendants of Imam Hasan and thus of the lineage of the Ehl-i Beyt – came forward with a claim to the caliphate under the influence of certain people around him. Imam Musa al-Kazim wanted to prevent this uprising but could not. As the Imam had foreseen, the Abbasid armies (of al-Hadi) suppressed this uprising in a bloody manner. In history this is called the massacre of Fakhkh (Fahh).

At the Abbasid court the family of Cafer Bermeki was responsible for the upbringing of Harun al-Rashid. Harun had been raised by Halid, the son of Cafer Bermeki, and his grandson Yahya. Harun al-Rashid’s father al-Mahdi had entrusted his son’s education and upbringing to the Barmakid family. After al-Mahdi died, his eldest son al-Hadi succeeded to the caliphate. During his caliphate al-Hadi, reckoning that Yahya Bermeki and his brother Harun would one day take this power from him, tried several times to have them killed, but he did not succeed. Finally Caliph al-Hadi also died, in the year 170 after the Hijra.

When his elder brother al-Hadi died, his brother Harun al-Rashid ascended the throne of the caliphate in his place. As his first act, Harun al-Rashid appointed as vizier Yahya Bermeki, who had raised him and in whose knowledge, pen and intelligence he trusted. Nor did he stop there: he gave the same powers to Yahya’s two sons, Fazl and Cafer, with whom he had grown up. When Harun al-Rashid ascended the throne of the caliphate, Imam Musa al-Kazim was alive and held the office of the Imamate.

The debate with Harun al-Rashid in Medina: “Es-selâmü aleyke yâ Ebe”

Harun had a harsher, prouder and more conceited personality than his father. Those who knew him believed that no great good would come to the Ehl-i Beyt from him either. Since Imam Musa al-Kazim went on pilgrimage (hajj) every year, he also went on pilgrimage in the year Harun became caliph. Caliph Harun, too, since it was his first year as caliph, went on pilgrimage with a large following. On this occasion the spiritual caliph of the Muslims and their worldly caliph came face to face for the first time.

After the pilgrimage they all went together to Medina the Radiant (Medine-i Münevvere) to visit the Prophet’s tomb. Together they entered the Prophet’s Mosque (Mescid-i Nebevi). Opposite the Ravza-i Mutahhara (opposite the Prophet’s grave) they stood side by side with hands folded. While everyone there should have said, “Es-selâmü aleyküm yâ Resulallah!” (Peace be upon you, O Messenger of God!), Caliph Harun greeted him: “Es-selâmü aleyküm, O son of my uncle!” By greeting him in this way he was expressing that he too was as close a relative of the Prophet as Imam Musa al-Kazim.

After Caliph Harun al-Rashid, Imam Musa al-Kazim greeted him thus: “Es-selâmü aleyküm, O Father (yâ Ebe)!” The whole congregation that heard this greeting was greatly stirred. With this greeting the Imam proved that he was closer to the Prophet than the caliph. Caliph Harun al-Rashid, unable to stomach this, said: “Are you not the children of Ali? Why do you deceive the people by saying you are the children of the Prophet? Lineage continues through the father; you are the children of Fatima. Do you have any proof that you are the children of the Prophet?”

Imam Musa al-Kazim: “Of course I can prove it.” Caliph Harun al-Rashid: “Prove it, then, and let us see.” The Imam: “Will you allow me to ask you a question?” The caliph: “Ask! Whatever you wish to ask, you may ask without hesitation.” Imam Musa al-Kazim: “If the Prophet asked you for your daughter’s hand, would you give her to him?” The caliph: “Of course I would. And what is more, I would be proud of it.”

The Imam: “The Prophet can ask you for your daughter’s hand and marry her. But he cannot ask such a thing of me.” The caliph: “Why?” The Imam: “Because I am his descendant.”

Caliph Harun al-Rashid said, “You are right,” but still could not stomach it. He turned and made a second attack: “Even so, you are the children of Ali; you have no right to call the Prophet ‘Father’. With this attitude you deceive the people; lineage continues through the father. You are the children of Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter. You have no right to call yourselves the Prophet’s grandchildren.” Knowing the evil intention of the tyrannical caliph, the Imam tried to close the subject. But Caliph Harun al-Rashid said: “O son of Ali, I expect from you a clear, convincing answer based on evidence. The proof you present must rest on the Holy Qur’an. Only then will your words be convincing.”

Imam Musa al-Kazim said: “Since you insist so much, I shall prove it.” He pronounced the Basmala and recited from the Holy Qur’an Sura al-An‘am (Enam), verse 84, whose meaning in Turkish reads: “Ve Davut ve Süleyman ve Eyüp ve Yusuf ve Musa ve Harun ve Zekeriya ve Yahya ve İsa onun zürriyetinde idi. Biz ihsan sahiplerini böyle mükâfatlandırırız.” (“And David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Zechariah, John and Jesus were among his descendants. Thus do We reward those who do good.”) After reciting this noble verse, he asked the caliph the following question: “Who is the father of the Prophet Jesus?”

The caliph replied: “Jesus has no father.” The Imam: “You speak truly; the Holy Qur’an states it clearly. Although he has no father, according to the ruling of the Qur’an he is accepted as a descendant of the Prophet Abraham. To claim the opposite would mean rejecting the rulings of the Holy Qur’an. It is on this very ruling that our right to be the descendants of the Messenger of God rests.”

Imam Musa al-Kazim wished to close the discussion here, but Caliph Harun al-Rashid said: “Tell me whatever you know, so that I too may know why you claim to be the children of the Messenger of God. Who gives you this right? I want to learn and understand.” This time the Imam recited Sura Al ‘Imran (Ali İmran), verse 61, revealed in the debate with the Christians of Najran (Mercan) about the divinity of the Prophet Jesus, whose meaning in Turkish is: “Sana bilgi verildikten sonra, yine de seninle uğraşırlarsa. De ki! Oğullarımızı, oğullarınızı çağıralım; Kadınlarımızı, kadınlarınızı çağıralım; biz gelelim, sizde gelin. Sonra yalancı tarafı Allah’ın lânetine havale edelim, hangi taraf yanlış yapıyorsa Allah onlara büyük bir azap versin.” (“If, after knowledge has come to you, they still dispute with you, say: Let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women; let us come, and you come too. Then let us commit the lying side to God’s curse; whichever side is in the wrong, may God inflict a great punishment on them.”) In this noble verse, “our sons” are Hasan and Husayn; “our women” is Fatima al-Zahra (Fatima’tül Zöhre); “we” are Muhammad and Ali. For the Messenger of God had taken only these with him; he had taken no one else with him as his family.

As the Imam was trying to continue, the caliph said: “Enough, there is no need to go on. However much you pride yourselves on being the children of the Messenger of God, you are right.” Those around him who knew him wondered whether his accepting such a defeat was a good sign. The incomparable knowledge, patience and forgiveness of Imam Musa al-Kazim are an example for others. The epithet “al-Kazim”, given to him after his name Musa, comes from the fact that he always restrained his anger, was patient and forgiving. Beside this beautiful quality of the Imamate that he bore, the caliphate weighed very lightly.

The prison years, his martyrdom and Kadhimiya

For this reason Caliph Harun al-Rashid was greatly disturbed by the love and respect the people showed Imam Musa al-Kazim, the descendant of the Prophet. Unable to bear it, the caliph went almost mad whenever he thought that his office might one day slip from his hands. That is why the years of Imam Musa al-Kazim’s life that fell in Harun al-Rashid’s time were spent entirely in prisons. Harun al-Rashid had Imam Musa al-Kazim poisoned by the jailer Sindi bin Şahiki and thus martyred in 799 CE.

According to the sources, Imam Musa al-Kazim had 9 sons and 3 daughters. His first son was Imam Reza, then Seyit Abbas, Seyit Kasım, Seyit Ahmet, Seyit Muhammed, Seyit Hamza, Seyit Abdullah and Seyit Zeyd. Unfortunately we cannot find the names of his daughters.

The Vaakifiye (Waqifiyya) tribe, who did not believe that the Imam had died by poison, regarded him as the last Imam, the Mahdi. According to them the Imamate ended with Musa al-Kazim. Imam Musa al-Kazim had not died and would not die until he reappeared (zuhur). After a certain time he would reappear. When Harun al-Rashid heard that this tribe was defending such a claim and trying to spread it among the people, he gave his vizier Yahya bin Halid Bermeki the following order: “You will not bury the body of Imam Musa al-Kazim at once! Place his body on the bridge of Baghdad so that all who pass by may see it for three days; then bury it in the ground.” After this order of the caliph had been carried out exactly, he was buried in a grave at the place called Kadhimiya (Kâzımiye) today. His shrine is right next to the city of Baghdad, in the town of Kadhimiya.

Source: Seyit Derviş Tur, Erkânname – Aleviliğin İslam Yorumu ve Alevi Erkânları (The Alevi Interpretation of Islam and Alevi Rites), expanded 3rd edition (ISBN 975-6791-52-7).

Translated from the Turkish original by Seyit Derviş Tur.