Pars Today

Heartiest congratulations to you all on a joyous occasion. Today, the 10th of Rajab is the birth anniversary of the 9th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

Now we have a special feature titled: “Birthday of the dispenser of pearls of wisdom”.

 “If the ignorant keep silent, people will never differ.”     

These words could indeed be described as Bezels of Wisdom. They are worth pondering and contemplating upon. They teach us how to control our tongue and not to open our mouths on issues of which we lack proper knowledge and sufficient information, or for concerning matters that do not concern us.

Even a cursory glance at the environment around us and the tumultuous course of human history and civilization, proves the sagacity of these golden words in view of the fact whatever bad blood has been created and the streams of blood that have been made to flow incessantly from human veins are all due to the babbling of the ignorant.

But who expressed these words of wisdom, since these are not the ideas of some starry-eyed philosopher unable to put into practice thoughts that randomly flashed across his mind?

This phrase was in fact expressed by a person who was knowledge personified. Yet he kept his silence for prudence’s sake on many issues. But whenever he spoke it was with authority, and the books of history and hadith are filled with the intellectual pearls that he scattered for the benefit of all.

He was heir to an inexhaustible legacy and was generous in imparting to all those who came in contact with him the jewels of virtue that he earned the epithet “al-Jawad” or the Generous. At the same time he was so spotlessly pure of character and constantly conscious of Almighty God every single moment of his brief life, that he became famous as “at-Taqi” or the God-fearing.

The identity of this great person should now be clear to our listeners.

As we said earlier, he was the Prophet of Islam’s 9^th Infallible Successor, whose birthday we are celebrating today on the 10th of Rajab.

Named Mohammad after the Prophet, he graced Planet Earth in the year 195 AH corresponding to 811 AD. He was the son of an equally immaculate father as Imam Reza (AS).

It was indeed a moment of joy for Medina, a rejoicing that continues to make waves around the world by filling the hearts of the faithful with happiness despite the passing of a millennium and over two centuries. He continues to gain admirers and followers not just because of the aphorism we recited, which is only mere drop from the unfathomable ocean of knowledge he possessed, but because of the authority invested in him by the Almighty Creator for the guidance of human societies since it is against the principle of justice to leave mankind groping in the dark.

Divine Providence had decreed that the imamate be entrusted to him at the young age of 8 years following the martyrdom of his father in distant Khorasan. In the manner of Prophet Yahya or John the Baptist and Prophet Jesus (peace upon them), who were also tender in age when bestowed with divine authority, he set about expounding truth, because he was not one of those ordinary child prodigies, but the proof of God upon earth.

The sceptics tried to test his wisdom. To their amazement he made the chief ideologue of the Mu’tazalite or rationalist school, Yahya ibn Aktham speechless and stuttering for words. The gathering at the Abbasid court, although mortal enemies of his and his household, could not stop showering praises upon him. The full text of the lively debate is found in all authoritative texts especially Shaikh Mufid’s monumental “al-Irshaad” written a thousand years ago.

This was Imam Mohammad Taqi al-Jawad, who for the next 17 years of his imamate unraveled the mysteries of faith and creation, which act as a catalyst to the scientific mind of the modern man in his endeavours to discover facts of life.

A whole generation of scholars was groomed by the 9th Imam in different branches of science whose books are prized possession of many a rich private and public library. Some of these luminaries are Husain bin Sa’eed (author of 30 books), Khaled al-Burqi (who wrote some hundred books and treatises) and Ahmad bin Muhammad Bizanti, who as his surname suggests was of Greek Byzantine stock and whose masterpiece is the encylopaedic work Jam’e al-Bizanti.

Thus, when we speak of Imam Jawad (AS), whose auspicious birthday we are celebrating today, several scenes vividly flash across our mind from the life of the Prophet’s 9th Infallible Successor.

For instance, the first accidental encounter with his father’s assassin sees the caliph gaping wide in disbelief at the sight of a lad standing calm and unperturbed as other boys of the same age flee in awe and reverence at the approach of fearsome Mamoun and his heavily armed escort, all mounted on caparisoned horses.

Having discovered the identity of the boy-Imam the crafty caliph is rather relieved that the one who punctured his pomp and grandeur was not an ordinary Arab but a member of a family known for its steadfastness right from the cradle as one could envision from the childhood of the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb, Imam Hasan, Imam Husain (peace upon them) and other infallible Imams.

The next scene that brightens our mind’s eye, despite the passing of a millennium and two centuries, is the further bewilderment of Mamoun when his hopes of belittling the boy-Imam by pitting him in a scholarly debate with the Mu’tazalite ideologue Yahya ibn Aksam are shattered.

To the astonishment of the whole court the Prophet’s young successor coolly provides elaborate answers to the complicated questions posed by Yahya but when it is the latter’s turn to reply to the Imam’s queries, he is short of words and stutters for answers that appear beyond his comprehension until the boy-Imam himself explains.

Mamoun is clearly stupefied. He is at his wit’s end. But it is little he can do to confront the God-given knowledge and wisdom beyond years of a lad who is actually demonstrating to the people of his age, the Power of the Almighty.

The reason the treacherous caliph decides to give his daughter in marriage to the youth is not out of any sincerity for the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt but to try to keep the 9th Imam under surveillance and prevent the populace from recognizing their true and rightful leader as he had done by forcing Imam Reza (AS) to accept being his heir, leave Medina and come to live at his capital in Merv.

However, despite Abbasid stratagems, so magnanimous was the 9th Imam that when his mortal enemy Mamoun requested a supplication to keep him safe in the wars he frequently fought for expansion of his realm, he readily obliged. He taught him the Herz-e Jawad, a talisman the faithful wear till this day to successfully ward off evil, long after Mamoun and the Abbasids have passed into oblivion without any success since all their endeavours were evil. Without purity of purpose and sincerity of intention no prayer or supplication works.

There are several other momentous scenes, whether in Baghdad or in Medina, during the 17-year mission of Imam Mohammad Taqi (AS), whose generosity with both knowledge and whatever worldly things he possessed, is known to all.

Volumes would be required to go into details. How astutely he checked Abbasid oppression. How he transmitted to the ummah the genuine hadith and pristine sunnah of his ancestor the Prophet. How he expounded the exact meanings of the Revealed Word of God (the Holy Qur’an). And on this firm basis how he unravelled the dynamism of the shari’ah ranging from social norms to the correct form of punishment for habitual thieves, whose four fingers ought to be cut off – after due warning and probing of the case – and not the entire hand as some misconstrue. The fact is that, the culprit is after all a creature of God, in need of the mercy of God and therefore cannot be deprived of the right way to prayer, which requires the placing of both the palms on the ground during prostration.

We end our brief radio programme by recalling another vivid scene from the life of the 9th Imam. The place is the Prophet’s Mosque (Masjid an-Nabi) in Medina. A serious discussion on important religious issues is in progress. The centre of the gathering is a venerable old man. He is Ali ibn Ja’far, the son of the Prophet’s 6th Infallible Successor Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS).

At this moment a lad enters. The elderly gentleman instantly stands to his feet. Without bothering to put on the cloak on his shoulders as is customary, he comes forward barefoot and kisses the lad on his forehead. He addresses him in a most respectful manner and places him on his own seat. The people chide Ali ibn Ja’far for behaving in such a humble way to the grandson of his late brother Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS).

Ali ibn Ja’far rebukes them saying: How can I not respect him when it is God Almighty, Who has placed divine Trust in this boy.

The 9th Imam, who reposes in eternal peace beside his grandfather Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) in the twin golden-domed mausoleum of Kazemayn in Baghdad, passed away at the young age of 25 years. As a matter of fact, he was forced to leave the world, a martyr at the young age of 25 years by those ignorant minds whose seditious words and deeds have unfortunately plunged human societies into disputes and bloodshed.  

AS/ME