Mūsá al-Kāẓim موسى الكاظم (Arabic) 7th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam |
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Born |
c. CE (7 Safar 128 AH) Al-Abwa, Medina, Umayyad Empire |
10 November 745
Died |
c. 4 September 799 (25 Rajab 183 AH) Baghdad, Abbasid Empire |
(aged 53)
Cause of death | Death by poisoning according to most Shi'a Muslims |
Resting place |
Al-Kadhimiya Mosque, Iraq 33°22′48″N 44°20′16.64″E / 33.38000°N 44.3379556°E |
Other names | Mūsa ibn Ja'far |
Title |
List
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Term | 765 – 799 CE |
Predecessor | Ja'far al-Sadiq |
Successor | Ali al-Ridha |
Spouse(s) | Ummul Banīn Najmah and 3 others |
Children |
List
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Parent(s) |
Ja'far al-Sadiq Hamīdah al-Barbariyyah |
Mūsá ibn Ja‘far al-Kāzim (Arabic: موسى بن جعفر الكاظم), also called Abūl-Hasan, Abū Abd Allah, Abū Ibrāhīm, and al-Kāzim (the one who controls his anger), was the seventh Shiite Imam after his father Ja'far al-Sadiq. He is regarded by Sunnis as a renowned scholar, and was a contemporary of the Abbasid caliphs Al-Mansur, Al-Hadi, Al-Mahdi and Harun al-Rashid. He was imprisoned several times, finally dying in Baghdad in the Sindi ibn Shahak prison. Ali al-Ridha, the eighth Imām, and Fatemah Masume were among his children.
Musa al-Kadhim was born during the conflict between the Abbasids and Umayyads, and was four years old when As-Saffah, the first Abbasid Caliph, took the throne. His mother, Hamidah, was a former slave from either Berbery or Andalusia. Al-Kadhim was brought up in a large family, with nine sisters and six brothers. His oldest brother Ismail predeceased his father Ja'far al-Sadiq, who held the position of Imam. According to Twelver Shiites, Musa was chosen by divine order and decree of his father as the next Imam.
According to some sources, al-Kadhim was religiously minded as a child. Muhammad Baqir Majlisi relates an incident where Abū Ḥanīfa called on Ja'far al-Sadiq to ask his advice. While there, he encountered al-Kadhim, who was then five years old. Hanifa asked al-Kadhim the question meant for his father, saying: "Boy, from whom does disobedience (issue)? Does it issue from Allah or from the servant?" Al-Kadhim answered, saying: "Either it issues from God and not from the servant at all, so God does not punish the servant for what he does not do; or it issues from the servant and God, and God is a stronger partner. Therefore, the stronger partner has no right to punish the weak for a sin in which they are equal; or it issues from the servant and not from God. So if He wills to pardon (him), (He will pardon him), and if He wills to punish (him), (He will punish him); and God is He whose help is sought." Upon hearing this, Hanifa left, saying that the answer had been good enough for him.