Ijtihad Network Being Wise and Faithful Muslim in the Contemporary World
In the era of Imam Reza (peace be upon him), the continuation of Imamate came with concerns. The Shiites saw that there was no specific character of Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them) that he would hope for the continuation of the Imam of the Ahl al-Bayt, and that Imam Reza (peace be upon him) also had aged and had no son.
End to a long wait
In the era of Imam Reza (peace be upon him), the continuation of Imamate came with concerns. The Shiites saw that there was no specific character of Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them) that he would hope for the continuation of the Imam of the Ahl al-Bayt, and that Imam Reza (peace be upon him) also had aged and had no son.
Unlike some of the close companions of the Imams of the Ahlul Bayt (PBUH), the public was not aware of the prediction of a son’s birth for Imam Reza (peace be upon him).
The birth of Imam Jawad, was the brilliance of hope in the darkness, which took out the uncertainty and concern of the public shitte.
Shiite under the Light of the Glorious Divine Imamate
However, the birth of Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) did not remove all the concerns and put a new question in front of everyone. Given the high age of Imam Reza (pbuh), Imam Reza’s death and martyrdom was imminent, and the low age of Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) meant that after the disaster, Shi’ism should be given to a child!
This concern, which included all but the special companions of Imam Reza (peace be upon him), was due to a simplistic belief: that Imam is a wonderful man but a normal human being who should have the opportunity to study and acquire the virtues and qualifications necessary for leadership and imamate.
It was not possible to rectify this false belief and the exact plan of “divine Imamate” by description and explanation, which could have been considered as a justification and an exaggeration, and an attempt by the Shiites to show their leaders as divine and holy.
The first step, the emphasis of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt (PBUH) in various periods, is on the divine position of the Imamate and the attachment of knowledge and the virtues of theirs to the divine treasures and holy education, and unrelated to the age. Abu Basir one of the companions of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: “I entered Imam when my five year old son was taking my hand. Seeing that scene, Imam said: How will you be when a boy this age will be the imam for you chosen by Allah.[1]
The second step was the emphasis of Imam Reza’s warning regarding the absolute competence of his young child for imamate, and the reminder of the divine position of the Imamate as prophecy. In response to those who mentioned the young age of Imam Jawad, Imam Reza said: “The age of Jesus when he was granted prophecy was less than my son.”[2] Some of the great companions of Imam Reza (as) have narrated his implications for the Imamate of Imam Jaw’ad (a.s), including Ali ibn Ja’far, Safwan bin Yahya, Hussein ibn Sharbar, Ibn Abi Nasr al-Baznathi, Hasan ibn Jahm, and many others. Some of these narrations have been reported by Sheikh Mofid in al-Ershad, and their collection has been reported by the Allameh Majles in Bihar al-Anwar.[3]
The third step was the direct encounter of the elders and the general Shi’ites and the people having great respect for Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon him) with the tall height of imamate in the body of an eight-year-old child. During the lifetime of Imam Reza (a.s) and after the birth of Jawad Alaemah (peace be upon him), a number of Shia companions and elders who had a reliable relationship with Imam Reza (as) gained confidence in the Imamate of imam Jawad (a.s) due to the guidance of imam Reza (a.s). But the childhood (very young age) of Imam Jawad (AS) was a source of concern in a way that some people gave probability of the imamate of Abdullah ibn Musa (Imam Jawad’s uncle), but they did not consider him worthy of imamate and turned away from him. A small number came to Ahmad ibn Musa or joined to Vaqefiyah. According to Nobakhti, the reason for the emergence of this disagreement was that many still considered maturity as a condition of Imamate.[4]
Companions and Shiite elders had always been obliged to carefully examine all the qualifications of Imamate among probabilities.
Therefore, according to some traditions, eighty Shiite companions and elders gathered in Medina during the hajj days and discussed. At first, they went to Abdullah bin Musa and did not see the characteristics of Imamate, then they went to Imam Jawad (a.s) They raised various scientific and educational questions to Imam Jawad (pbuh), and even tested his knowledge of secrets and hidden things , in order to be sure of his non-aquisitive divine knowledge, which is necessary for the divine authority of immamate. he answered all their questions and they were convinced and glad of Imam’s responses as a clear indication of Imamate and divine knowledge. There were also other discussions and, finally, all doubts about his imamate were resolved.[5]
Ishaq bin Isma’il, who was with this group, said: “I also wrote in a letter of ten issues to ask the Imam, at that time my wife was pregnant,” I said to myself, “If he answered my questions, I would ask him to Pray Allah to put the child my pregnant wife a boy, when people raised their questions, I also took the letter and stood up to raise the issues. Imam saw me and said: O Isaac, put his name “Ahmed”. Following this, my wife gave birth to a boy and I named him Ahmad.[6]
The conversation of the Prophet with his famous judge Yahya ibn Aktham at the age of nine also reflects on his divine knowledge. When Ibn al-Akthtam asked him about the sentence of a person who had hunting at Ihram, Imam came up with different aspects for the case, and then he said: Tell me which aspect was it, as each has a different sentence. Yahya bin Akthmaz was astonished, and his weakness and sadness became apparent in his face.[7]
Various encounters with Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) caused astonishing anecdotes about the extent of knowledge and wisdom of Imam Jawad and showed that his science and ethics and his courage and guidance are at the level of Imamate and there is nothing in terms of the qualifications required to lead the Shi’ism, and mad every one sure that the origin of this knowledge and consciousness is not human. For a child of his age who does not have the opportunity to study science cannot, without connecting to divine science and the unexplained source, make such an extensive collection of verses, theology, and various fields of knowledge, and even the knowledge of secretive and hidden events as well as the prediction of future . Therefore, most of the companions of imam Reza (as) and Shiite elders believed in the Imamate of Imam Jawad (a.s).
From Ali ibn Ja’far to the Contemporary Jurisprudents
What is a golden leaf of the faith and ethics of Shiite elders is that after their confidence in his imamate, they were obedient to him without any suffering, jealousy or doubt, and they were completely humble in his presence.
Coleyni (ra) narrates from Mohammad ibn Hassan ibn Emad, who said: “I was in Medina in the presence of Ali ibn Ja’far (Imam Reza’s Uncle and one of the greatest scholars of Shi’a history), for two years I was in the mosque of the Prophet of Allah, (peace be upon him and his family), I would go to him and say the hadith that he had heard from his brother Imam al-Kadhim (peace be upon him), and I wrote (and I was his disciple). At this time, I suddenly saw Abu Ja’far (Imam Jawad, peace be upon him) At the age of childhood, in the mosque of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH & HP), once he entered, Ali ibn Ja’far [with that old age] immediate, stood up with a naked leg and without mantle went to Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) and kissed his hand and gave him great respect. His Holiness Jawad (peace be upon him) said to him: “O my uncle, God bless you.” Ali bin Ja’far said: “O my lord, how to sit down, while you are standing?” When Ali ibn Ja’far returned to his school, his companions and his students blamed him and told him: “You are the uncle of his father (Imam Jawad, peace be upon him), yet you show yourself that humble for him. ” Ali bin Ja’far said: “Be silent, then he took his beard and said:” If God did not know this white beard worthy (Imamat), and considered this child worthy and gave him such a position, I would deny his virtue? Refuge in God from your talk, I am His servant. “[8]
Such honest, faithful and ethical behavior, after the time of the imams of the Ahlul-Bayt (PBUH) and the beginning of the period of extinction, has been a continuous success for scholars and Shia elders.
At the time of the lawyers of the Prophet Sahib al-Amr, almost all Shi’a elders and religious authorities considered precedence of him over themselves, and did not feel scared to see themselves as followers of him. When Hussein ibn Rooh Nobakti became Imam’s deputy, Abu Sahl Nobakhti, one of the greatest Shiite clerks, asked: How this position was given to Hussein ibn Ruh in spite of your presence? he answered: “They knew better about their deputy,” he said. If I knew the location of the absent Imam as Abu al-Qasim knew, perhaps in the veil of controversy, I would have shown him to enemies; but if Abu al-Qasim hid Imam under his cloak He will never show him to anyone, even if he is cut to pieces with scissors.[9]
Ja’far ibn Ahmad bin Methil, who was not the second lawyer of the Sharif district of Mohammed bin Osman, who had always been his followers. After Muhammad b. Usman’s illness, which led to his death, all considered Ja’far ibn Ahmad as the third lawyer of the Imam, but he himself stated: “When Muhammad ibn. Othman was dying, I was sitting above him and was talking with him. Hossein ibn Ruhh was sitting next to his feet, when Muhammad ibn. Othman turned to me and said: “I have been ordered to introduce Hossein ibn Ruhh as my successor. When I heard this i moved from my pace took the hand of Hussein-ibn-ruhh and put him in my own place and then I sat below his feet.[10]
In various periods of authority, whenever absolute Shi’ite authority was crystallized into one of the jurists, other jurists and elders of his field were preceded him to themselves and tried to move under his flag.
Coordination and obedience of 3 scholars of Qom city, Sayyid Muhammad Taqi Khwansari, Ased Sadr al-Din al-Sadr and Sayyid Muḥammad Hojat Kuohkamareyi,
from Ayatollah Boroujerdi, is still spoken as great memories of the scholars of Qom.
In our days, we have seen great Marjas and great jurists and mystics, that regard themselves as the follower of the supreme leader and the leader of the Islamic system without any hardship, and call on everyone to follow him. This is the continual behavior that has continued from the time of the presence of the imams until their absence, and is a document of sincerity and ethics and faith of the Shiite jurisprudents and elders. May Allah have mercy on those of them who passed away and protect the ones who are still living!
This article was written by Hujjat al-Islam Mojtaba Elahi Khorasani.
……………………………………………………………………………
[1] Osol-kafi, v 1, p. 214
[2] Kollini, al-Kufi, 1407 AH, v. 1, p. 322
[3] Baharalanvar, p. 50, p. 99 and later
[4] To see the difference and its significance, see: Novakhati, Farah-al-Shi’a, 1404 AH, pp. 77-78; Bin City of Ashube, Mangibeq Al-Abitaleb, Allameh Publication, vol. 4, p. 383.
[5] Tozh- alvasileh, v. 210 and 213; Beharalanavar, p. 50, pp. 90 and 99; alekhtesas, p. 102; Delay al-Amama, p. 206
[6] Ethbat al-vasile-p.215
[7] Ershad,v. 2, p. 272; Ekhtesas, p. 99; Ehtejaj.v 2, p. 241
[8] Osol-al-kafi, v.1, p. 322
[9] Tusi, al-Gheiba, 1411 AD, p
[10] Baharalanvar,v. 13th, p. 98
