INTRODUCTION
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful
All praise belongs to Allah who guided His creatures on the right path; and to His chosen leaders, especially the last of the prophets, Muhammad (sawas) and his holy progeny.
Allah created human beings and blessed them with wisdom and the power to think. It is this wisdom which helps a man to find the right path and distinguish between right and wrong; in doing so he chooses the right for his own betterment and fulfils his desires with its help. He (the Lord) made wisdom as proof for His creatures, taught them what they did not know and in this way enabled each individual to reach the perfection appropriate for himself. Also, He made them aware of their targets and responsibilities.
The Holy Book of Allah (the Qur'an) made clear the ways of divine guidance and its elements and necessities. On the one hand, this Book is concerned with reasons; while on the other hand, it has made clear their results. It says:
قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللَّـهِ هُوَ الْهُدَىٰ
“... Say: Verily, the guidance of Allah, that is the (true) guidance.”
وَاللَّـهُ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاءُ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
“... For Allah guides whom He will to a path that is straight.”
وَاللَّـهُ يَقُولُ الْحَقَّ وَهُوَ يَهْدِي السَّبِيلَ
“... But Allah tells (you) the truth, and He shows the (right) way.”
وَمَن يَعْتَصِم بِاللَّـهِ فَقَدْ هُدِيَ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
“... Whoever holds firmly to Allah will be shown that which is straight.”
قُلِ اللَّـهُ يَهْدِي لِلْحَقِّۗ
أَفَمَن يَهْدِي إِلَى الْحَقِّ أَحَقُّ أَن يُتَّبَعَ أَمَّن لَّا يَهِدِّي إِلَّا أَن يُهْدَىٰۖ
فَمَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ
“... Say thou: Allah alone guides towards the Truth. Is then He more worthy to be followed, or he who finds not guidance (himself) unless he is guided? What then is the matter with you? How judge ye?”
وَيَرَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ هُوَ الْحَقَّ وَيَهْدِي إِلَىٰ صِرَاطِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ
“And those to whom knowledge has come see that the (Revelation) sent down to thee from thy lord is the truth, and that it guides to the path of the Exalted (in Might), Worthy of all praise.”
وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّنِ اتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ بِغَيْرِ هُدًى مِّنَ اللَّـهِۚ
إِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ
“And who is more astray than one who follows his own lusts, devoid of guidance from Allah?”
Yes, the Great Lord is the fount of real guidance; He is the One who guides human beings along the right path. Wisdom also confirms this; and a wise man surrenders himself wholeheartedly to it. Allah the Almighty has put the inclination for perfection and beauty into man's nature. Having done this, He did him another favour by enabling him to find the path to perfection. Thus He says:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
“I have created the jinn and mankind only that they may serve me.”
As worship is undone if there is no knowledge of he who is being worshipped, the only way to perfection is to worship God almighty and to know Him.
Allah the Almighty has armed every person with two powers: anger and desire. These powers are given to a man to enable him to move towards perfection. He (Almighty God) has not released man from the domination of these two powers and their product; the sensual desires. Where there is a man, there are these two powers accompanying him! Therefore, a man not only needs the power of reason and other abilities which have been given to him by Allah the Almighty - but also something which can guard and protect his vision so that the last divine proof and the blessing of guidance can be confirmed; he can be provided with all the things necessary for him as he chooses, for himself, the right or wrong path.
Hence, the real purpose of divine guidance is to support human reason together with the guidance of the leaders chosen by Allah the Exalted, on the road towards divine revelation, in every aspect of a man's life.
From the very first day of the history of mankind, the Prophets (as) have been given the responsibility to carry the divine light of guidance so that the servants of Allah do not remain without a guide and leader. The divine words which are also confirmed by human reasoning say the same thing:“The earth is never without divine proof. Divine proof is before, after and with its creatures, in such a way that if only two persons remained on the surface of the earth, one of them would be “divine proof”
for the other one. The Holy Book of Allah also says:
إنَّمَا أَنتَ مُنذِرٌۖ
وَلِكُلِّ قَوْمٍ هَادٍ
“... Thou art a warner only, and for every man a guide.”
The prophets (as) and their successors have the responsibility of guiding human beings. Their responsibilities are as follows:
They have to receive the divine revelation in the most perfect manner, which requires the prophet (as) to be perfectly ready to receive it. Therefore, Allah the Almighty chooses the divine messengers Himself. The holy Qur'an has clearly talked about this, saying:
اللَّـهُ أَعْلَمُ حَيْثُ يَجْعَلُ رِسَالَتَهُ
“Allah knoweth best with whom to place His Message.”
[وَ]لَـٰكِنَّ اللَّـهَ يَجْتَبِي مِن رُّسُلِهِ مَن يَشَاءُ
“But Allah chooseth of His messengers whom He will...”
They have the responsibility to make people aware of the divine mission, which needs perfect ability. The other necessities for this responsibility are to be completely aware of it, to know the goals and targets of this mission and to be free from every kind of mistake and sin:
انَ النَّاسُ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً فَبَعَثَ اللَّـهُ النَّبِيِّينَ مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنذِرِينَ وَأَنزَلَ مَعَهُمُ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ فِيمَا اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ
“Men were one community. God sent messengers to give glad tidings to the good and warn the bad. He sent the book in truth so they might judge justly in their disputes...”
They have to create a nation which is stable and faithful to the divine mission and make this nation ready to follow their leader. To carry this meaning, the holy book of Allah has utilized two words,“training”
and“education”
.
وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ
“(He might) purify them from the filth of ignorance and evil characteristics and teach them the Law contained in His book.”
Here“purification”
simply means training a man to move towards the perfection appropriate for him. Such training needs a role model enjoying everything required for perfection:
لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّـهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّـهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّـهَ كَثِيرًا
“Verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example for him that looks unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah much.”
They should keep their mission free of all kinds of deviations, misleading things and distortion. To fulfil such a duty successfully, it is necessary for the prophet (as) to be equipped with educational and spiritual perfection which is known as“infallablelity”
.
They should try to put the spiritual targets of the divine mission into effect and should give the ethical values dominance regarding the human soul; also human society. This is only possible within the framework of divine rules and by practising the religious laws. However, such practice needs a political basis in order to build upon the divine values. In order to act upon such plans and put these laws into effect successfully, a leader is needed with abilities such as wisdom, bravery, extraordinary constancy, awareness and information about the psychology of different classes of people within a society; the leader must know of their intellectual, political and social conduct in addition to being aware of the laws related to training and education and the way to live a happy life. These specialties can also be called“educational abilities”
which are different from“infallablelity”
which is also known as“spiritual ability”
.
The prophets (as) and their successors did not waste time but strove to achieve their goals and targets which Allah the Almighty had commanded them to achieve. Some of them lost their lives in the process. They faced trouble and did not squander time on leisure activities. Allah Almighty perfected their constant struggles with the prophetic mission of the last Prophet Mohammed (sawas), the son of Abdullah. Allah the Exalted gave the responsibility of guiding all of mankind to His last Prophet (sawas). The Holy Prophet (sawas) took some astonishing steps during his prophetic mission. Eventually, within a very short period of time, he was able to achieve amazing results. The outcome of twenty-three years of the Prophet's (sawas) endeavours can be summarized as follows:
Presenting a perfect mission with all the necessary elements of durability and survival to man.
Equipping that mission with the necessary requirements to keep it safe from all kinds of deviations and distortions.
Forming a Muslim Ummah which accepted Islam as their school, the Prophet (sawas) as their leader and the divine laws as their laws of life.
Creating an Islamic Government which put the divine laws into effect and raised the Islamic flag.
Presenting the wisdom of divine guidance to the people and becoming a perfect model for such guidance.
The fulfilment of prophetic targets was based on tasks such as:
A just leader possessing the ability to practise the divine mission and keep it safe from the hands of selfish individuals. Making it durable and providing it with continuity.
Determining fair ways of training the people which could be applicable in every era without becoming outdated. Such training can only be done by educators with educational and spiritual abilities; people whose conduct resembles that of the prophets (as).
That is why Allah Almighty willed the Prophet (sawas) to train chosen people from among his holy Progeny for the continuation of this mission. The prophet (sawas) was required to clarify their holy names and hand over the authority of continuing the divine guidance with His permission so that they could protect the religion from being twisted by ignorant deceitful people, and train future generations regarding divine values. This divine program is reflected in the words of the Holy Prophet (sawas) when he says:
“Verily I am leaving among you two precious things [Thaqalayn]: the Book of Allah and my progeny [itrah], the members of my household [Ahl al-Bayt]. If you hold fast to them, you will never go astray. These two will never be rent asunder until they meet me at the Pool [hawd] (of Kawthar)”
.
The Infallible Imams (as) were the people chosen by the Prophet (sawas) to lead the people after his demise, with the permission of Allah. Their conduct showed the genuine method of Islam. When we research their lives, we come to know about the two-dimensional movement of Islam; a movement within the souls and spirits of the Muslims. Of course, after the demise of the Prophet (sawas), this movement became slower and weaker. That is why the Infallible Imams (as) attempted to instil awareness among the people. However, during their mission they did not deviate from the path, which is essential for both the leaders and the people. The Infallibles guided the strength of the people along the right path and raised their level of awareness as well as strengthening the revolution which was brought about by the Prophet (sawas). They also motivated people to use their strength in upholding the society of the Prophet (sawas).
The Holy Infallibles also based their lives on the Prophet's (sawas) conduct. People consulted their Imams (as) accepting them as bright beacons of guidance. In this manner, the religious leaders guided the people towards truth and righteousness. They were very constant in their efforts. Also, they strove harder than others to reach the peak of perfection. Their lives were full of struggle, surmounting difficulties and bearing the oppression inflicted by opponents and enemies. To an extent, they preferred martyrdom to living with meanness among their oppressors. At last, after great struggles and strife, they left this world and met their Lord with a feeling of success.
Historians will never be able to draw a complete picture of the lives of these great people. However, we will try to benefit from research and present a satisfactory outline of their lives and conduct.
Our research starts with a description of the Prophet's (sawas) life and ends with a description of the last divine administrator, the Imam of the present era, Imam al-Mahdi (as). We hope that one day Allah the Exalted will lighten the earth with the light of justice of our twelfth Imam (as), inshallah.
The present volume of our research is on the life of Imam Muhammad bin Ali al-Jawad (as) - the ninth Imam of the Holy Household (as).
He was the eleventh Infallible of the divine leaders in Islam, who presented a practical example of the religion in all aspects of his life by his thoughts, way of life and methods. His life, as those of his father and forefathers (as) before him, was a model of divine law in both words and actions.
We are very pleased to be able to present another well-researched product from the Ahl al-Bait World Assembly entitled“A'lam al-Hidayah”
. This book is the result of great efforts on the part of the researchers of this institution. Finally, we acknowledge all those people who contributed towards making this book possible and presenting it to the world, specifically the author, S. Munthir al-Hakim, and his co-author the honourable brother, Wissam al-Baghdadi.
We would like to thank Mr. Yunus 'Aghlah al-Musawi, who has taken on the responsibility to re-check all the historical records of the book, and accomplished it for the fifth completed edition, and Mr. al-Baghdadi, who undertook responsibility to type the digital version of the book, along with Mr. Hussain al-Salehi, who has examined the final version of the text with Mr. Abi Baqir al-Azraqi. The final linguistic check was done by Mr. Jawad al-Tahir, and for all of them we pray that Almighty Allah (swt) will accept their pure efforts, and hope that He will support them in their life's fields of struggle, and to Him is our sincere thanks.
Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) World Assembly
Holy Qum
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Author: Editorial Board
