Day of two blessed birthdays

Heartiest congratulations to you all on a day of double joy. We are celebrating two blessed birth anniversaries today, and although a period of one hundred and thirty five years separated them, their impact on the history of Islam and humanity has been immortal, inspiring the seekers of truth till this day.

Before we go into details, let us present you a passage of greetings for one of these blessed personalities:

“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 10^th 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 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, while his father Imam Husain (AS) raised him on his hands to demonstrate thebaby'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 6^th, 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 Mohammad at-Taqi al-Jawad (AS), who graced Planet Earth in the year 195 AH, and 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 8^th 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 proof the imamate of the 9^th Infallible Imam of the Ahl al-Bayt by citing ayahs of the holy Qur'an, especially from Surah al-Maryam, where God says how He entrusted the Boy-Prophet Yahya (or John the Baptist) with Book and Wisdom, and how He made the Virgin-Born Prophet Jesus (PuH), while still an infant in the cradle to speak to the Israelites, vouching the chastity of his mother Mary (peace upon her), and announcing his prophethood and the heavenly scripture entrusted to him.

The 17-year mission of Imam Jawad (AS) that ended in 220 AH, as a result of his martyrdom through poisoning in the prime of youth at the age of 25 years, was instrumental in enlightening the seekers of truth with sciences no scholar of the age could impart, besides acquaintance with the correct interpretation of the holy Qur'an and the genuine "Sunnah" and "Seerah" (behaviour and practice) of the Prophet of Islam, in the days of Abbasid tyranny when the rulers lived a life of debauchery, far removed from the teachings of Islam, while the people mired in poverty were confounded and misled by pseudo scholars pretending to possess the knowledge of the ancient Greek philosophers, but in fact knowing nothing.

It was an age when the self-styled caliphs indulged in sins such as adultery, singing, and dancing, without caring for afterlife. In such a state, the following letter of Imam Jawad (AS) to one of the governors of a far flung province, shows the torch of guidance that the Ahl al-Bayt held aloft. Part of this letter reads:

“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 9^th 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 9^th Imam and his supporters, by planting his daughter as a spy, and if possible tolure the then 15-year old Imam Mohammad 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 of the Ahl al-Bayt that has come down to us to salvage our faith. No wonder, there is no sign today of the pleasure palaces of the Abbasids, and not even their graves. Today, on the 10^th of Rajab, the hearts of the faithful are turned towards the twin-domed gold-plated mausoleum of Kazemayn (near Baghdad in Iraq) where the 9^th Imam reposes in eternal peace beside his grandfather, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS).

AS/ME