Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

The Ninth Chapter: Imam Sajjad

Talking and writing concerning Imam Sajjad (A.S) is a very difficult task. This is because the basis of people’s awareness regarding this Imam is very bad. Many historians and analyststhink that this great Imam had secluded himself in a corner and spent his whole life in worshiping and never interfered with politics.

Some of the historians and researchers have explicitly elaborated this matter. As for those who have not explicitly said this issue, they don’t understand anything else from the life of this Imam other than this. This can be clearly understood from the titles that they have given him.

Some people have given him the title of ‘a sick’ person. This is while his illness was only in the tragic event of Karbala and after that he got cured. Anyway, this is an obvious thing that each and every person gets sick in his lifetime. All in all the sickness of this Imam was for the sake of Allah’s course. This was in order to excuse him from the jihad and struggle in the way of Allah. The reason behind this was to make him carry the heavy burden of imamate as he lived for thirty four or thirty five years after the martyrdom of his father. He lived at the hardest time of the imamate period.

If you pay attention to the events in the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S), you will see a lot of interesting issues just like the life of the other Imams. But suppose we gather all of them together, we shall not find any of them similar to that of Imam Sajjad (A.S). The character sketch of each person can only be fully understood when we know the general motive of that person.

After that we can now look at the trivial issues in his life. If that general motive is perceived, then the trivial issues will also be clearly understood. Likewise if that general motive is not understood or it is wrongly understood, those trivial issues will also not be well understood. And this is not something that is specific to Imam Sajjad (A.S) or any other Imam, but this is a principal thing in the lives of everybody.

Concerning Imam Sajjad (A.S), his letter to Muhammad ibn Shahab can be sighted as an example of an event in his life. This is a letter written by a person that belongs to the holy progeny (A.S) to a person that is regarded as one of the great scholars of that time. A lot of opinions can arise from this matter. This letter can be deemed as a part of a major war.

It can also be taken as a simple issue of prohibiting the evil and propagating good deeds. It can also be seen as an objection from one person to another just like we see in history objections between two or many people. When we look at this matter on its own without considering other issues of that time, it cannot be understood.

My opinion is that if we look at the trivial issues without paying heed to the general motive of the Imam, the biography of the Imam shall not be fully understood. Our first discussion shall be about the motive of the Imam in his life. We shall mention this by the help of analogies from his expositions and biography. We shall also get help by mentioning the general life of the Imams and we will explain them in details.

According to our view, after the peace treaty of Imam Hassan (A.S) that took place in the 40th year of Hijrah, the holy progeny (A.S) were not satisfied with staying indoors and teaching the Islamic laws. In fact during the beginning of the treaty, the program and motive of all the Imams was to prepare reasonable grounds. This was in order for an Islamic government to be formed in that way that they wanted. And this is something that can be clearly depicted from the sayings and expositions of Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba (A.S).

The task accomplished by Imam Hassan (A.S) was a fundamental one. The Imam persevered with that circumstance for ten good years. During this period, he had gathered people around him and had trained them. Some of them opposed the regime of Mu'awiyyah by their opposing statements against him. Some were martyred by the oppressive rulers and at last they weakened them.

After that, it was the turn of Imam Hussein (A.S). That great Imam used the same style in Medina, Mecca and other places. This went on till the time that Mu'awiyyah passed away and the tragic event of Karbala took place. Even though the event of Karbala was a major step for the future of Islam, but it slowed the motives that Imam Hassan and Hussein (A.S) had. Instead of putting the companions and soldiers of these two Imams together, they were instead shot with arrows. This made the oppressive regime to gain more control and this is a result that was expected.

If things wouldn’t have happened like this for Imam Hussein (A.S), there is a strong feeling that after him, an Islamic and Shiite government would have come into power. Of course this does not mean that the revolution of Imam Hussein (A.S) should not have happened. In fact the conditions that he had, meant that there was no choice other than revolting and there is no doubt in this matter. But suppose those conditions were absent and Imam Hussein (A.S) was not martyred, then it is clear that sooner than later, the motives of Imam Hassan (A.S) would be accomplished.

The Imams were always after this aim and they used to struggle in order to achieve an Islamic government. When Imam Hussein (A.S) was martyred in the event of Karbala, and Imam Sajjad (A.S) was taken captive in that condition whereby he was ill, in reality the responsibility of Imam Sajjad (A.S) began at that point. If we say that up to that time, Imam Hassan and Imam Hussein (A.S) were supposed to have secured the future, then Imam Sajjad (A.S) would have been forced to revolt from that time and the Imams after him.

Therefore, in the whole life of Imam Sajjad (A.S), we ought to look for this major aim and policy. We also have to be sure that Imam Sajjad (A.S) was after accomplishing the same aims as Imam Hassan and Hussein (A.S).

Imam Sajjad (A.S) attained the position of imamate on the tenth day of themonth of Muharram in the 61st year of Hijrah. He was martyred by poison in the 94th year of Hijrah. In all this period of his life span, he was always after achieving those aims. Now, let us look at the trivial issues in the efforts of this Imam with this view. We want to see the stages that he went through and the tactics that he used and the results he achieved by this.

We have to translate and explain all his expositions, his actions, the supplications that he recited and the silent prayers that have been compiled to make the book -Sahifatu as-Sajjadiyah - according to that major motive. We shall also look at his attitude during the period of his imamate.

His attitude towards‘Ubeidullah Ibn Ziyad and Yazīd which was extremely courageous and sacrificial.

His attitude towards Musrif ibn ‘Aqabah. This is somebody who in the third year of Yazīd’s caliphate, spoilt Medina and confiscated the properties of people by the order of Yazīd. Here the Imam was very calm.

The attitude of the Imam towards ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. This was the strongest and the most intelligent Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. Here the Imam was at times harsh and at times calm.

His attitude towards ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz.

His attitude towards his companions and helpers and his advice to his friends.

His attitude towards scholars connected to the oppressive dynasty.

All of these issues must be researched with attention. My opinion concerning this is that by considering this general motive, all the trivial issues will be clearly understood. And if we look at the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S) by this view, we shall find out that the Imam put all his efforts in accomplishing this great task.

It was the task of forming an Islamic government in the world and offering Islam its identity. He used all his efforts and moved the religion of Islam which was in the worst level to a better one. And he took the full responsibility - which shall be explained later on - which our Imams were in charge of them,to the end. He accomplished his duty by observing politics, courage, attention and elegance.

And just like all the prophets and the successful people in history, after thirty five years of tireless struggle and by preaching the message of Allah, he died with great eminence. After him, the responsibility was passed on to the next Imam - Imam Baqir (A.S).

Designating the imamate to Imam Baqir (A.S) and the task of establishing an Islamic government is something that has been explicitly said in the traditions. We have it in our traditions that Imam Sajjad (A.S) gathered all his children. He then pointed at Muhammad ibn 'Alī - Imam Baqir (A.S) - and said: “Take this box and this weapon. This is a parcel given to you in trust.”

When he opened the box he found the holy Qur'an and a book. My opinion is that the weapon symbolically referred to the leadership of the revolution. The book referred to the Islamic thoughts and ideologies. So the Imam gave those things to the Imam after him and passed away with utmost tranquiity. This was the description of the general life of Imam Sajjad (A.S).

The period of Imam Sajjad (A.S) begins with many difficult problems. The event of Karbala was a serious blow to the Shiites and in fact to the whole religion of Islam. Killing, punishment, oppression and torturing were all normal things. But killing the son of the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w), taking captives his holy progeny (A.S), circulating them from city to city and mounting the head of the son of Faṭimah Zahra (A.S) on a lance!

This was while there were still people present that had witnessed the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a) kissing those lips. This was something that astonished the whole world of Islam. No one could believe that people could go to such an extent.Suppose this poem attributed to Zeinab (A.S) is true, it points to this issue which anyway is the opinion of everybody;

ما توهّمت یا شقیق فوادیکان هذا مقدّرا مکتوبا

“O the incomplete moon that experienced the lunar eclipse and turned dark. O part of my soul! I never thought that this was also decreed and predestined.”

Suddenly people felt that the politics was a different one altogether. Oppression had gone to a higher level. Things that could not even be imagined were imagined and done! So, a great terror had hit the whole Islamic world except Kūfah. This was because of the blessing from the repentance of people and later on due to the emergence of Mukhtar.

Were it not for these, that terror that started from the event of Karbala was present in Medina and other places. It was even in Mecca with the fact that ‘Abdullah ibn Zubeir led a revolution after some times. This was a terror that had never been experienced in the history of the Islamic world.

Therefore, the manner of thinking, this moral corruption, and the political corruption was also another factor. Most of the great people had been drowned in the pompous world of materialistic gains. This was being accomplished by the officials of the oppressive dynasty.

Great personalities like Muhammad ibn Shahab Zahrī who was at one time one of the students of Imam Sajjad (A.S) was connected to the regime. That famous letter that the Imam wrote to him is a historical letter which can be found in the book -Tuhaf al-Uqūl - and other books. This shows that to what extent were great personalities connected to the oppressive regime.

The likes of Muhammad ibn Shahab were many in number. The late Majlisī in the book -Bihar al-Anwar - narrates a statement from Jabir. Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah says that Imam Sajjad (A.S) said:

ما ندری کیف نصنع بالناس ان حدّثناهم بما سمعنا من رسول الله (صلی الله علیه وآله) ضحکوا وان سکتنا لم یسعنا.[100]

“We don’t know what to do with people if we narrated to them what we heard from the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a). Not only shall they refute, but they shall also laugh. And if we keep quiet, it will be unbearable for us.”

He therefore quotes an instance whereby the Imam narrated a tradition to a group of people. A person in that group mocked the Imam and did not accept that tradition. He then says that Sa’īd ibn Musayyib and Zahrī were among the people that had gone astray.

Of course I personally do not accept this matter concerning Sa’īd ibn Musayyib. There are other proofs that show that he was among the major companions of Imam Sajjad (A.S). But as for Zahrī and others, they had indeed gone astray.Later on, Ibn al-Hadīdcounts a lot of narrators of that time and says that all of them had deviated from the course of the holy progeny (A.S).

The religion of people ought to have been amended. The moral of people should have been corrected. People should have been saved from this drowning in the ocean of corruption. The major spiritual motive should have been revived in the community. Thus, when you look at the expositions of the Imam you see devotion. One of his detailed sayings begins as follows;

انّ علامة الزّاهدین فی الدنیا الرّغبین فی الآخرة.[101]

“Surely the sign of the pious people in the world is that they are aspiring for the hereafter.”

In that saying, there is a famous motive that we had mentioned.

اولا حرّ یدع هذه اللّماظه لاهلها یعنی الدنیا، فلیس لانفسکم ثمن الّا الجنّة فلا تبیعها بغیرها.[102]

“Is there no free man to leave this ‘left-over of the dog’ to the people that deserve them - (meaning the world)?! The price of your life is nothing other than paradise. Therefore do not give trade that for anything else other than paradise.”

Most of the expositions of the Imam are mainly about devotion, knowledge. Again we see this knowledge in the form of supplications. This is due to the reason that we had mentioned.During that time, they did not want the Imam to openly speak with the people. Not only did the regime prevent this, but also the people never wanted it.

That society was unworthy and spoilt which required to be rebuilt. Thirty four or thirty five years, from the 61st year to the 95th year of Hijrah, is how the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S) was spent. Of course step by step the situation improved and that is why we see the tradition from ImamṢadiq (A.S) that he says;

ارتدّ النّاس بعد الحسین ثمّ انّ النّاس لحقوا وکثروا.

People turned their backs against after the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (A.S) and later on , then they joined together and this is what we are seeing. When the turn of Imam Baqir (A.S) came, the situation was already different. This was due to the struggle that Imam Sajjad (A.S) had done in the period of thirty five years.

Some think that if Imam Sajjad (A.S) wanted to revolt against the Umayyad dynasty, then he ought to have taken a flag. He should have either joined Mukhtar or ‘Abdullah ibn Handhalah or be their leader and would have revealed his opposition.By taking into consideration the situation of Imam Sajjad (A.S), we understand that this kind of thought in regards to the aims of the Imams is a wrong thought.

If the Imams and in particular Imam Sajjad (A.S) wanted to oppose the government in that situation, indeed the root of Shiites would have been uprooted. Therefore, neither ground would have remained for the growth of the sect of the holy progeny (A.S), nor for the formation of an Islamic government. All of that would have been destroyed and nothing would have remained at all.

This is why we do not see the Imam publicly announcing his support for Mukhtar. Although we see in some of the traditions that the Imam had a direct relationship with Mukhtar, but there is no doubt that he had no open bond with him. It has also been said in some of the traditions that Imam Sajjad (A.S) talked negatively about him. And this is very normal as it seems it was based on dissimulation (taqiyyah ) so that their relationship might not be disclosed.

Of course assuming that Mukhtar would have succeeded, he would definitely have handed over power to the holy progeny (A.S). On the contrary, if he would have failed and had an open relationship with the Imam, then Imam and his Shiites in Medina would have actually suffered the pain of failing. The roots of Shiites would have been cut. Thus Imam Sajjad (A.S) kept his relationship with him a secret.

It has been narrated that in the event of Hurrah, when Muslim ibn ‘Aqabah was coming to Medina, no one doubted that the first person to be punished would have been 'Alī ibn al-Hussein (A.S). But the Imam acted according to his wisdom and thus saved himself from this calamity. Consequently the Imam remained and so did the general motive of the Shiites.

Of course we have some traditions in the book -Bihar al-Anwar - which depict that Imam Sajjad (A.S)was humiliated by Muslim ibn ‘Aqabah. I am opposed to this kind of traditions due to the following reasons;

These traditions do not have any correct and authentic proofs

We have other traditions that oppose the context of these traditions.

We have a lot of traditions concerning the meeting of Imam Sajjad (A.S) and Muslim ibn 'Aqabah which none of them tallies with the other. Since some of those traditions tally more with the system of the holy progeny (A.S), we accept them. When we have accepted them the other traditions will turn null and void. I have no doubt that these traditions are incorrect.

All in all, the way some of those traditions have depicted the behavior of the Imam towards Muslim ibn 'Aqabah, is a lie. But there is no doubt that the Imam did not act with enmity towards him. This is because if he would have behaved in that way, he would have killed the Imam.

And this would be a severe blow to the ideological course of Imam Hussein (A.S). Thus we see that Imam Sajjad (A.S) remained calm and as it has been narrated by Imam Ṣadiq (A.S), little by little people started coming to him. At long last their number was great. The task of Imam Sajjad (A.S) - in reality - begins at this difficult and unfavorable point.

Of course,most of the thirty five years of Imam Sajjad (A.S) was taken by the caliphate of ‘Abd al-Malik. The regime had gone ahead by deployed some spies to check the life of the Imam. They were even reporting about his private life to them.

The Aims of the Imam.

Now that the ground for the task of the Imam has become clear, he wants to begin his task in this ground and condition. Here, I shall point in brief at the aims and tactics that the Imams used. After that I shall elaborate the trivial issues in the life of that Imam in this style.

There is no doubt that the aim of the Imam was to form an Islamic government. According to that tradition from Imam Ṣadiq (A.S), Allah Had decreed the seventieth year to be the year of the Islamic government. Since Imam Hussein ibn 'Alī (A.S) was martyred in the 61styear, it was postponed to the 147th and 148th year.

This is because the aim of Imam Sajjad (A.S) as well as the other Imams was to form an Islamic government. But how was it possible to form an Islamic government in that situation? This needed some factors:

The Islamic thought which is in the hands of the holy progeny (A.S) and one that should be the fundamental of this government should be taught and spread.

The Islamic community had been separated from the ideology of the holy progeny (A.S) for many years, how was it possible to form a government based on the right Islamic ideology? This was while the ground for the ideological thought had not been prepared in people.

The biggest task of Imam Sajjad (A.S) was to teach and propagate the main pillars of Islam; Oneness of Allah (tauhid ), prophet-hood (Nubuwat ) the spiritual part of mankind, the relationship of mankind with Allah and the rest. And this is the most important role that the book -Sahifatu as-Sajjadiyah - plays.

Take a look at the book -Sahifatu as-Sajjadiyah - and then look at the ideological view of the people of that time. You will notice the great difference between them. That was a time when everybody in the Islamic world was drowned in the materialistic gains. They used to go after the pomp of this world.

People were seeking the materialistic benefits from the Caliph - ‘Abd al-Malik Marwan. This was even seen from the scholars close to him like Muhammad ibn Shahab Zahrī. This is a scholar that we shall later on talk about. Imam Sajjad (A.S) addresses people and says:

اولا حرّ یدع هذه اللّماظه لاهلها.

“Is there no free man to leave this ‘left-over of the dog’ to the people that deserve them?!

The definition of the Islamic ideology in this statement is: Considering the spiritual gain as the main aim, moving towards achieving it and creating a relationship between man and Allah and his religious responsibilities. This was an issue that served as a stumbling block in the people’s quest for the materialistic benefits. This is just an example that I have sighted and the Imam ought to have done more of this.

This was in order for the right Islamic ideology to be retained in the environment of the Islamic society to an extent that it will never go away. This was the first task of Imam Sajjad (A.S).

Informing the people concerning the right person that should be in charge of the government. This was while propagation against the holy progeny (A.S) in the span of tens of years till the time of Imam Sajjad (A.S) had been going on. The Islamic world was filled with numerous forged traditions ascribed to the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w).These traditions opposed the actions of the holy progeny (A.S). Some of them were in fact abuses and curses to the holy progeny (A.S) and had been spread amongst the people. On the other hand, people did not also know the true spiritual position of the holy progeny (A.S). With all of this in mind, how was it possible to form an Islamic government?

Therefore, one of the major aims of Imam Sajjad (A.S) was to inform people concerning the truth about the holy progeny (A.S). To explain that they were the people who had the right to guide and rule the people. To tell people that they were the right successors to the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a) and people should know these issues. Even though this matter is a part of the Islamic ideology, it has the political effect which opposed the oppressive dynasty.

The Imam should have established some organizations to pose as the main axis for the future. This was a society whereby people were affected by poverty, spiritual and material pressure, loneliness, oppression and segregation. Even the Shiites were under that pressure. How would the Imam begin his work alone or with the few people that he had?

Therefore, another task of Imam Sajjad (A.S) was to establish Shiism. This is something that according to our belief was present even during the time of Amīr al-Mu'uminīn 'Alī (A.S). During the event of Karbala, Hurrah and that of Mukhtar their bases were weaken and scattered. So this needed to be rebuilt.

Firstly: They needed to teach the Islamic ideology in the correct way and the way it was revealed by Allah. This was after many years of deviation and forgetfulness by the people.

Secondly: Proving to people that the holy progeny (A.S) have the right to form the Islamic government. They also had to tell people that they are the right and worth successors to the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w).

Thirdly: Establishing the organizations harmonious for the followers of the holy progeny (A.S) - the Shiites.

These are three major tasks that we ought to look at and see during the era of Imam Sajjad (A.S), which one of these was possible for him to accomplish. Along these three tasks, there were also other small tasks that needed to be attended to. Some of them included expressions and actions from the Imam or his companions. These were done in order to at least open up that environment.

We see that most of the actions that the Imam or his companions do in the society - of course this was during the time that their affairs was more firm - are mostly for sake of breaking that strangled environment. Apart from this, they alsowanted to let in some fresh air to come in that gloomy and veiled air. This is one of the minor tasks that we shall mention its examples.

Another example of their minor tasks was to deal politely with the dynasty or the people connected to it. A good example is the issue between Imam Sajjad (A.S) and ‘Abd al-Malik that took place severally.Another example is the issue between the Imam and the deviated scholars who were in touch with ‘Abd al-Malik like Muhammad ibn Shahab Zahrī. Other than these, there were some of the conflicts that emerged between the companions of the Imams and the Caliphs. The aim of all these was to at least open up the tight situation that used to exist.

Suppose with these explanations that I have given, one looks at the moral expositions, sermons, letters and other traditions narrated by Imam Sajjad (A.S) or the events that took place in his life, he will understand all of them. He will see that all the actions are within these three aims that we have outlined. He will also see that all of these are for the sake of forming an Islamic government.

Of course the Imam was not of the opinion that they have to form this government during their era. This is because they were aware that this will take place in the future, that is, during the imamate period of Imam Ṣadiq (A.S).

With these three major tasks, it was possible to form an Islamic and in particular a Shiite government. Of course I had earlier on said and I am now repeating here that, Imam Sajjad (A.S) contrary to Imam Ṣadiq (A.S), was not of the opinion that they were going to change the regime and put in place an Islamic one. The reason behind this was that the sufficient ground for this would not have been achieved during the period of Imam Sajjad (A.S).

Oppression, poverty, evilness and pressure were too much for them to change that in a span of thirty years. In fact Imam Sajjad (A.S) was preparing the ground for the future. We can also understand through analogies that even Imam Baqir (A.S) had no intention of forming an Islamic government during his time.

This means the period from the 61st year till the 95th year of Hijrah which marks the martyrdom of Imam Sajjad (A.S). And from the 95th year till the 114th year of Hijrah which marks the martyrdom of Imam Baqir (A.S).None of these two thought about forming this government during their lifetimes. Thus they were working for the sake of the future. Therefore just as it has been mentioned,the system of Imam Sajjad (A.S) was meant for the future.

Right now we want to look at the expositions and sayings of Imam Sajjad (A.S) and take a step aside from what we have said about him. This is because when we analyze the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S), the most important source is his sayings and expositions.

We shall use this same style as we have used in the lives of the other Imams. We take the actions and the sayings that have been narrated from these Imams as the best source for learning about their lives. We had earlier on said that we can fully understand these sayings after only knowing the motive and the policy of the Imam in their struggle. Contrary to this, we shall not understand the right meanings of the sayings that I am going to quote. Now that we are well acquainted with them, and of course this has also been achieved by explanation from their own sayings, we shall see how properly we can understand the sayings of the Imams.

Before we start our discussion, we have to remember a small matter. And that matter is that since the Imam was living in an difficult era and was not able to elaborate his sayings openly and explicitly, he used the system of sermons and supplications. The supplications are related to the book -Sahifatu as-Sajjadiyah - which we shall later on mention. As for the sermons, they are related to the expositions and sayings which have been narrated from that Imam.

In most or all of the expositions of the Imam, the tone is that of a sermon. And in the process of giving his sermon and advice, the Imam elaborates what I had previously said. When you shall look at these expositions, you will notice the intelligent and wise style that the Imam uses. By using that style in the process of advising the people, he inspires into the minds of people that thing which he wants. And this is the best way of transferring the right thoughts and ideologies.

The Expressions of Imam Sajjad, as the Epiphany Point of Political Struggle and Combat

Here we shall elaborate the expositions of Imam Sajjad (A.S) that have been narrated in the book -Tuhf al-Uqūl . In these statements that have been narrated from Imam Sajjad (A.S), we are witnessing some issues that we ought to elaborate.

One is the style that has been used which is a sermon to the general people. It is vividly clear from the expositions that the listener and the readers are not among the special companions of Imam Sajjad (A.S).

In this speech where by the audience is the common people, the Holy Qur’an has been used as the base of ratiocination. This is because the common people not only view Imam Sajjad (A.S) as an Imam, but they also need proofs and reasons from him. It is due to this that the Imam is using the Holy verses directly or metaphorically. In this tradition perhaps fifty or more verses from the Holy Qur’an have been used directly or indirectly.

But this is not the case in the next exposition, since the people addressed are the believers. Imam Sajjad (A.S) knows them and because they accept the words of the Imam, we see that the verses of the Holy Qur’an have not been used. When we look from the start to the end, we see that very few verses of the Holy Qur’an have been used.

There is a detailed tradition in the book -Tuhf al-Uqūl - as follows;

موعضته لسائر اصحابه وشیعته وتذکیره ایّاهم کلّ یوم جموعه.[103]

This is one of those lectures whereby the companions, Shiites and the friends of that Haḍrat used to read on every Friday in their gathering or individually.Here the circle of the listeners is a big one. This is clear from the analogy that has been used in this detailed tradition.

First of all this detailed tradition has not begun in the form of “O the believers!” or “O you brothers!” but is in the form of “O you people!” which is a speech to all the people. This is while some other traditions have been directed to the believers. Therefore this is a speech for the common people.

Secondly, there is nothing from this tradition that has been explicitly rebuked. It is only explaining the matters related to faith. It is explaining what man is supposed to know; thus reminding him of the Islamic knowledge. And just like I had said before, all of them are in a form of lecture as they begin as follows;

ایّها الناس اتّقوا الله واعلموا انّکم الیه راجعون.

The statement begins in a lecture tone and it says: “You shouldbe fearful of Allah and you should know that you shall return to Him.”

Here it explains the Islamic faith and it is a reminder to the people that they should understand the religion of Islam properly. This means that they don’t know the religion of Islam as they are required. In reality, in this exposition, the urge to know about the religion is ignited in the hearts of the people.

For instance look at the interesting way in which Imam Sajjad (A.S) has used here when he says:

الا وانّ اوّلما یسألانک عن ربک الذی کنت تعبده.

“You should fear the time that you shall be taken to the grave and then Nakīr and Munkar[104] will come to you. The first thing that they will ask you about is concerning your God, the one that you worship.”

Here the urge to know Allah and understanding the oneness of Allah (Tauhid ) is ignited in the brains of the listeners.

وعن نبیّک الّذی ارسل الیک.

“They shall also ask you concerning your prophet that was sent to you by Allah.”

Here the urge to know about the matter of prophet-hood is also ignited in the hearts of the listeners.

وعن دینک الّذی کنت تدین به.

“You shall also be questioned concerning your religion.”

وعن كتابك اللاي كنت تتلوه.

“And you shall also be questioned regarding your book.”

Then while mentioning these pillars of religion; oneness of Allah, prophet-hood, Holy Qur’an and religion, he also elaborates his major agenda -

وعن امامك الّذی كنت تتولّاه.

“You shall also be questioned concerning the Imam that you used to follow.”

Here he elaborates the issue of imamate. When the Imams talk about the issue of imamate what they mean is the issue of governorship. There is no difference between the issue of guardianship and imamate to the Imams. Even though there might be a slight difference between the meaning of a guardian (Walī ) and an Imam, to the Imams they mean the same thing.

Here the Imam in question is that person who has the duty of guiding people to the right path in the matters of religion and also in the worldly matters. This means that he is the successor of the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.).

Imam is the leader of the nation. He is that person who we ought to follow for guidance in the religious and worldly affairs. Obedience to him in the religious and worldly affairs is compulsory for us.

But look at the Shiite community through-out the centuries and see how this matter has been wrongly understood. People used to think that one person in the community is a ruler and all the worldly affairs are in his hands. He is in charge of everything, he fights, makes peace, he does anything that he likes and gives orders to the people.

There is also another person in the community who is in charge of the religious matter of the people! The first person is the ruler, while the second person, during the centuries after the occultation (Gheibat )is a scholar and during the periods of the Imams, he is an Imam. This means that we used to view him as an Imam during the times of the Imams and as a scholar in the absence of the Imams. Of course this is a wrong viewpoint.

The meaning of the word Imam is a leader. When Imam Ṣadiq (A.S) used to come to Mina or Arafat, he used to exclaim:

ایّها النّاس انّ رسول کان الإمام.

“O people! Surely the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.) was an Imam.”

An Imam is that person who is in charge of the religious and worldly affairs of people. In the Islamic community, during the reign ofAbdul-Malik Marwan when Imam Ṣadiq (A.S) was alive, this wrong view was firm among the people. To be an Imam means to be in control of the matters pertaining to the life of people. This includes restoring laws and order which is a vital role of the imamate.

This important role was usurped from the people who were worth it and it was given to the people who were not worthy of this at all. So the people used to refer to them as the Imams during this period. This means that people used to call Abdul Malik, who was presided by Marwan, who was presided by Yazīd as Imam.

This was also the case for the other people who succeeded Abdul-Malik; they were also referred to as the Imam. They also used to consider them as the leaders of the nation and the people in charge of order in the community. This view was so firm in the brains of people.

When Imam Sajjad (A.S) says that you shall be asked in the grave concerning the Imam, he means to ask: “Did you choose the right Imam? And that person that used to rule the community was he in reality an Imam? Indeed, is he the person that Allah was pleased to see him rule the community? By this it means, the Imam is waking people on a very sensitive matter.

During that period whereby the Ummayads did not want people to talk about this matter of imamate, the Imam uses a tone of lecture to awake the people. In one exposition, he talks to the general people and ignites this matter in their brains. This is one of the simple and calm styles that the Imam use. Later on we shall discuss his more direct and sharp approaches.

Therefore we are seeing that in the expositions directed to the common people, the Imam is using a tone of a lecture. He uses this to ignite his vital beliefs in the minds of people and to keep them alive. He stresses that people ought to know these matters.

We learn 2 extremely important points from this speech:-

The first point is that the exposition that has been directed to the common people is not an act of teaching but a reminder. Here the Imam neither explains the issues of oneness of Allah to the people nor does he explain the matter of Prophet-hood. But he is rather reminding them of these issues.

Why does he remind them regarding the issue of Prophet-hood? This is because during the period of Imam Sajjad (A.S), there was no such big gap between him and the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w) to enable deviation in the religious beliefs.

During that period, most of the people had seen the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a). They had also seen the period of the four rightly guided Caliphs (Khulafau Rashidīn). They had also seen our great Imams; Amīrul-Mu'uminīn 'Alī, Imam Hassan and Imam Hussein (A.S).

In the social order, the situation was not that bad to make people deviate on the issues regarding oneness of Allah, Prophet-hood, resurrection (Ma’ad ) and Holy Qur’an. Yes, they had forgotten. The worldly life had made them forget Islam and the matters pertaining to the pillars of religion.

So many incidents had taken toll on the community that exerted tremendous pressure on the people. This made them to forget that life is meant for people to mature spiritually and attain completion. This is a matter that was completely out of the thoughts of people and no one was interested in gaining these achievements.

And if any one achieved them, it was only for showing off. The understanding that people had during the time of the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w) and shortly after his demise, regarding the oneness of Allah, was no longer present in these people. They needed to be reminded of these issues in order to regain that level of understanding. There was nothing that had been deviated to make it necessary to be corrected.

This is contrary to the period of Imam Ṣadiq (A.S) whereby things were not like this. During that time there were many theologians and philosophers with different titles. They would sit in the great mosques like the mosques of Medina, Haram and that of Syria and teach their deviated beliefs. For example, somebody like Ibn Abī al-‘Aujaī.He was a pagan and used to teach and propagate ‘disbelieving and lack of faith in Allah’.

Therefore, when you look at the expositions of Imam Ṣadiq (A.S), you will see that he has elaborated the oneness of Allah, Prophet-hood and so on by the use of logical inferences and deductions. There is need to come up with a logical argument whenever an enemy comes up with one.[105]

But in the expositions of Imam Sajjad (A.S), we do not see this. The Imam does not want to use logical inferences to elaborate the religious matters, but rather reminds the people about them.

When he says that one shall be asked in the grave concerning the oneness of Allah and Prophet-hood, you notice that this is to ignite the urge in people to learn about these matters and to remember what they have forgotten.

In summary, during the period of Imam Sajjad (A.S) there was nothing suggesting that something had been deviated from the religion even by the rulers. Of course, there is one incident that comes to my mind and that is the poem of Yazīd. This was during the time that the heads of the Holy progeny (A.S) were brought to him. He was drunk and thus recited the following verses;

لعبت هاشم بالملوک فلاخبر جاء ولا وحی نزل.[106]

Bani Hashim were playing with the kingdom. And the issue of religion and revelation were nothing but lies.

In this place it can be said that if Yazīd made a mistake, he did it while he was intoxicated. Otherwise, people like 'Abdul-Malik or Hujaj were not people who openly opposed the issues regarding the Oneness of Allah or Prophet-hood. Abdul-Malik Marwan was a person that used to recite the Holy Qur’an to an extent that he was known to be one of the reciters. But when he was informed that he is the Caliph and the governorship is in his hands, he kissed the Holy Qur’an and said:

هذا فراق بینی و بینک.[107]

“This is the end between me and you.”

And this was surely what happened as he never recited again the Holy Qur’an. Hujaj ibn Yūsuf whom you have all heard about his oppression and surely, what you have heard is much little than the oppression he carried out. When he used to give sermons at the pulpit, he sued to invite and encourage people towards piety.

Therefore, in the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S), his main role was to remind people. His aim was to remove people from the urge of the worldly pleasures and take them back to the thoughts of Allah, religion and the Holy Qur’an.

The second point is that one which I had earlier on said. Here the Imam in this exposition to the general people, suddenly pops up the matter of imamate. This is to mean that while talking about the religious matters, it is like during the past regimes whereby someone tells you; “O people! You should think about Allah, the Oneness of Allah, Prophet-hood and governorship.”

You will definitely realize that the Imamate that we understand here is needless of the explanation of the Imam. We see that this word - governorship - in the past regimes, is a dangerous thing. If a person wanted to tell people that they should think about the governorship, this is not a thing that would have easily been forgiven. But when it is said in a tone of a speech and by a pious person and a believer, it can be easily accepted. This means that it is not so sensitive. This is the first style.

The second style consists of exposition meant for his special companions. Even though it is not clear who is being addressed but it is clear that they are meant for a special group. This is a group that was against that oppressive regime. In reality, they were the companions of the Imam and believed in the governorship of the Holy progeny (A.S).

Luckily in the book -Tuhf al-Uqūl - there is one example of this exposition narrated from Imam Sajjad (A.S). I am saying one example because even if we take a look at the other books, we shall not find any more than this exposition of Imam Sajjad (A.S).

But a person can feel that in the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S) there were more expositions like this. Due to the incidents that took place like strangling, attacking, harassing, killing and martyring the companions of the Holy progeny (A.S), this kind of expositions disappeared and we only received these few ones. The second type begins as follows;

کفانا الله وایّاکم کید الظّالمین وبغی الحاسدین و بطش الجبارین.

“May Allah protect you and us from the deceit of the oppressors, the rebellion of the jealous people and from the movement of the oppressors.”

This depicts that the Imam is together with this group. All of them are in the danger of being molested by the regime. It is clear that this matter concerns only a special group of people. This group includes the believers who have faith in the Holy progeny (A.S), their friends and relatives.

In this kind of speech, they begin with “O you who believe!” If the past expositions begun by ‘O people!’ or ‘O the son of Adam!’ here it begins by ‘O you who believe!’. This shows that the Imam is confessing to the faith possessed by the people that he is addressing. They are the true believers and have a firm faith in the Holy progeny (A.S).

When the Imam begins his exposition; his statement also clearly reveals that his listeners are believers - the people that are close to the Holy progeny (A.S).

ایها المومنون لا یفتننکم الطواغیث واتباعهم من اهل الرغبة فی للدنیا، المائلون الیها، الفتونون بها، المقبلون علیها.[108]

“May you not be duped by the oppressors, their followers who are the people that are after the manifold worldly pleasures and carnal desires and let them deviate you from the right course? These are the people that have been cheated by the world. ”

Here the main agenda is to protect them and prepare the framework for the future. It is clear that there was a great conflict between the followers of the Imam and the followers of the regime.The followers of the Holy progeny (A.S) used to suffer a lot. Naturally those who were against the regime had a difficult life while those supporting it had good life. The biggest danger that they were faced with was to be attracted to that good life of pomp and pleasure. This kind of life could only be achieved by surrendering the struggle against that oppressive regime.

The Imam stresses that his companions should not be lured by the pompous life of these people. This is because such kind of life can only be achieved by supporting that oppressive regime. Thus you can see in this and many expositions and short sayings of Imam Sajjad (A.S) this type of tone. You see that the Imam is urging people to piety and avoid following the materialistic world.

What does it mean to urge people not to follow the world? It means that people should not be attracted to the incidents that improve their way of living in order to decrease their faith. And he is given privileges so that he can leave the struggle against oppressive regime. This is a speech to the believers.

In the speech directed to the common people, we do not see this at all. As we had earlier on said, what we see when the Imam is addressing them is that: “O people! Remember Allah, the grave and the Day of Judgment. Prepare yourselves for the hereafter and so on.”

Thus, what is the aim of the Imam from this second type of exposition? His aim is to prepare the necessary frame work from the believers to be used when required. This is why he is warning them against being duped by the love of power and being attracted to the materialistic pleasures.

In this second type of exposition the Imam severally mentions the oppressive regime while in the first type, he was not explicitly saying it. Here we see that Imam Sajjad (A.S) mentions it repeatedly and in a bad way and puts it next to Satan. For instance he says:

انّ الامور الواردة علیکم فی کلّ یوم و لیلة من مظلمات الفتن وحوادث البدع وسنن الجور وبوائق الزّمان.

What you are facing day and night is from the sedition (fitnah ), new religious innovation (bid’ah )- innovations that have been put into place by the oppressive regime - from the culture of the oppressive and hardships of the generations.

وهیبة السّلطان، و وسووسة الشّیطان.

“And from the imposing presence of the Caliph and the whispers of Satan.”

The Imam immediately mentions the whispers of Satan after mentioning the Caliph. Here he explicitly mentions the current Caliph and put him next to Satan!

He goes ahead and narrates a very interesting statement. I will mention it because it is very important. This statement is indicating what we had earlier on said.

لتثّبّط القلوب عن تنبّهها.

“These incidents that are happening in the days and night -in these fearful periods - are taking away the hopes from the hearts. And they decrease the urge to fight against the oppressive regime.”

وتذهلها عن موجود الهدی.

“And they want to eliminate the presence of guidance from the community - the guidance that is within the community.”

ومعرفة اهل الحق.[109]

“They want to hinder people from recognizing the people who are on the right and they do not want the righteous people to remain in the community.”

Just like I had said before, Imam Sajjad (A.S) is admonishing his people: “You should not allow these incidents to alter your position.” The Imam has severally mentioned the oppressive Caliph. He still says in another place:

وایّاکم وصحبة العاصین ومعونة الظّالمین.

“You should avoid sitting with the wicked people.”

What does he means by the wicked people? They are those that were attracted to the regime of 'Abdul-Malik. You should not go near them. You should not help the oppressors.”

Right now look at Imam Sajjad (A.S) from this point of view and see what kind of a person does he appear in your brain? Does he still appear to be that oppressed Imam who is less- talkative, sick and has nothing to do in life?

The Imam has gathered some of his companions, friends and relatives and is warning them in this manner. He is admonishing them against helping the current oppressive regime as he does not want them to be deviated in their struggle against them. He is preparing them in order to be ready when they shall be needed to form an Islamic regime.

One of the most interesting things according to my opinion that can be derived from these expositions of the Imam is whereby he reminds people of the afflictions of the Holy progeny (A.S). In this part Imam Sajjad (A.S) says: “Can you remember, or are you aware of how much pressure was exerted to you by the past oppressive regime?”

By pressure he is referring to the afflictions and calamities that the followers of the Holy progeny (A.S) went through. This was during the reigns of Mu’awiyyah, Yazīd and Marwan. Events like the tragedy of Ashūra, the martyrdom of Hujr ibn ‘Udey and Rushaid Hijrī. These and many other bitter experiences that the Shiites went through are still fresh in people’s memories.

By this, the Imam wants to use the past and bitter experience to remind them of these painful atrocities and to make them steadfast in their struggle.

Pay heed to this statement:

فقد لعمری استدبرتم من الامور الماضیة فی الایّام الخالیة من الفتن المترکمة والانهماك فيها ما تستىلّون به علی تجنّب الغواة.[110]

I swear by my soul! I am admonishing you from the past incidents in the past regimes which you have passed through, from the accumulated sedition and sinking in these seditions. You can use the experience gained from these events as a proof to avoid the wicked people and the religious innovators. This means that you have the experience in your hands. Are you also aware of what the people of the regime are capable of doing if they gain control over you?

By the use of the past experience, right now you know that you ought to separate from these people. You should take a distance from these people. The Imam uses this chance to explicitly elaborate the matter of imamate.

فقدّموا امر الله وطاعته وطاعة من اوجب الله طاعته

“You should give priority to the orders of Allah and also obey the person that Allah Has made it compulsory for you.”

Here the Imam explains the philosophy and the basis of imamate according to the Shiite viewpoint. Who is the right person to be followed after Allah? It is no one other than the person whose obedience has been made compulsory to us by Allah. If the people of that era wanted to reflect on this issue, then it would be very clear to them that obedience to ‘Abdul-Malik was not compulsory. This is because it is not possible for Allah to make it compulsory for people to obey such a person.

It is vivid that ‘Abdul-Malik who was an oppressor and all the mischief and wickedness that he had committed, was not suitable at all for being a Caliph. Here the Imam mentions the issue of imamate and apart from only removing the sole uncertainty in the minds of his listeners, he adds:

ولا تقدّموا الامور الوارده علیکم من طاعه الطّواغیث وفتنه زهره الدّنیا بین یدی الله وطاعته و طاعه اولی امر منکم.[111]

Do not give priority to the affairs that will come upon you from the oppressor -’Abdul-Malik - over the obedience to Allah, His prophets and chosen guardians over you.

We see again the Imam explicitly talks about the matter of imamate.In the first exposition and this one too, the Imam pays heed to two vital issues. In these two expositions, two matters from those three that I had earlier on mentioned have been said. One of them is reminding people concerning the beliefs of Islam and encouraging them to go back to their religion. The second one is about the political issue is the governorship of the Imam. This means the Islamic administration.

On that day, the Imam informed people on these two matters and in reality he was propagating the Islamic governorship. Another type of exposition from the Imam which is more interesting than these two, is that one whereby the Imam explicitly summoning the people concerning having a special Islamic governorship. Of course this address is only meant to his close companions otherwise if he wanted to address the common people about this, it would have turned out to be very bad. Luckily we have another example of this type of exposition in the book -Tuhfal-Uqūl .[112]

The Imam begins as follows;

انّ علامة الزّاهدین فی الدنیا الراغبین فی الآخرة ترکهم کلّ خلیط وخلیل ورفضهم کلّ صاحب لا یرید ما یریدن.[113]

“The sign of the ascetics in the world - those who pay no heed to the world - this means that they separate from anybody whose belief and thought does not tally with theirs.”

This is a clear invitation to the Islamic Shiite governorship. In this exposition the Imam teaches that people have to separate and leave those people whose beliefs and thoughts are different and do not have the urge to form an Islamic governorship.

Of course there exist an association between them but this type of association is like that of Iran during the period before the Islamic revolution. It is like for instance,the grocer in the resting place who knows that the police are in charge of people’s affairs. The Imam says that your association with those people that do not share your thoughts and beliefs must be an inhospitable one and you ought to avoid them.[114]

Another form of the exposition from the Imam is about the general matters and this does not have the specific aspect and nature that I have elaborated before. A good example is the book -Risalatual-Huqūq-Imam Sajjad (A.S) . The Imam has a letter which is very detailed. Risalah means a letter and what is termed asRisalatual-Huqūq is a letter from Imam Sajjad (A.S) to one of his friends. In it the Imam elaborates the rights of people upon each other.

In reality if it is translated and published, it will be a great book and maybe it has already been published. Here the Imam mentions all the rights that people have upon each other. For example he mentions the rights of Allah upon you. The rights of your body parts, flesh, eyes, tongue hands upon you.Then he mentions the rights of the Imam upon you and your rights upon him, your rights upon your friends, neighbors and family. All the rights that are suitable for running an Islamic governorship have all been elaborated here.

Here the Imam speaks in a calm tone and without mentioning the name of the future governorship. In this letter, he elaborates the foundations of a suitable administration of the future governorship. This is in order to inform people concerning the Islamic governorship that he will run if by any chance the Islamic governorship takes control in his era - of course this possibility had already ceased to exist - or after his era then the Muslims should be aware of their rights upon one another. So this is another exposition from Imam Sajjad (A.S) which is very interesting.

Another form is what we see in the book -Sahifatuas-Sajjadiyah. The subject inSahifatuas-Sajjadiyah is an elaborated and detailedone. It is very important for people to read this book.This is a book containing supplications (du’a )concerning all the issues that an intelligent person with great insight is faced with in his day to day life.

Most of these supplications are about the soul and the spiritual connections of a human being. There are numerous supplicationsand litanies (Munajat ) in this book. The Imam in these supplications, by using the tone of supplications, explains, ignites and revives the motives of an Islamic life in the minds of Muslims. One of the results that a supplication has and we have said it repeatedly is that it revives the right motives in our souls. When he says:

الّلهم اجعل عواقب امورنا خيرا.

“O my Lord! Make our ending to be a good one.”

This supplication revives the thought of the hereafter in your soul and reminds you concerning the Day of Judgment. At times, man becomes negligent about the hereafter. At the present time he is living, enjoying and has forgotten that the hereafter has a major role in determining the fate and predestination of man.

When you have recited this supplication, it suddenly reminds you of the Day of Judgment and it revives in you the motive of concentrating about the hereafter. So this will enable you to struggle in order to correct your hereafter. But how shall you correct it? This is another issue all together. All we wanted is to site an example showing how supplication plays a vital role in directing man to the right motives.

Yes, the book -Ṣahīfatu as-Sajjadiyah - from the start to the end is full of motives for man. Suppose man pays heed to them, this book is really enough to direct, correct and wake up the nation.If we leave this aside, there are several traditions narrated from Imam Sajjad (A.S) of which I have mentioned one of them before;

اولا حرّ یدع هذه اللّماظه لاهلها.

“Is there no free man to leave this ‘left-over of the dog’ to the people that deserve them?!

This exposition is so important. Therefore what is the meaning of the ‘left-over of the dog’? It means all these earthly vanities and pomp, the castles, ceremonies and the things that attracted the souls of the weak people during the reign of 'Abdull-Malik. These are what the Imam refers to as the ‘left-over of the dog’. All the people that used to serve ‘Abdul-Malik, or serve his servants did this for the sake of attaining these ‘left-overs of the dog’.

The Imam says: “O you, who believe! Do not seek these ‘left-overs of the dog’ lest you be attracted to ‘Abdul-Malik.”

There are a lot of interesting expositions similar to these from Imam Sajjad (A.S) and we shall elaborate them later. Similar to this, are his poems. Imam Sajjad (A.S) was also a poet and his themes were similar to these ones. We shall elaborate them too, by the will of Allah.

One of the things in the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S) that we should look at is whether this great Imam had an aggressive attitude towards the regime or no. In the past, I had talked about this issue in a brief way and now I shall explain it more.

The Tactics on the Stating of Third Period of Imams’ Movement

As far as I have looked into the biography of ImamSajjad (A.S) there is no instance where the Imam has used an explicit aggression like the other Imams for example,ImamṢadiq (A.S) during the Umayyad dynasty, or ImamMūsaibnJa’afar (A.S). The reason behind this is also clear. If they would have used an aggressive approach at the beginning of the third course of the revolution of the Imams, which starts with the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S), indeed the companions of the holy progeny (A.S) would not have achieved what they wanted.

The little garden of the holy progeny (A.S) was still being skillfully watered and nurtured by the Imam. They had not yet achieved that firmness that was required. Just as we had earlier on explained concerning ImamSajjad (A.S), he had very few followers. At that time, it was not possible for this little group whose biggest duty was to administer the Islamic regime, to expose them to the claws of the enemies and getting them killed.

If we want to draw a similarity, then we ought to assimilate it to the era of the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w) during the beginning of his propagation in Mecca. That is the first years whereby his propagation was not public. We can assimilate the era of ImamBaqir (A.S) to the second era of Mecca - the era of public propagation - and the era after that to the later eras. Thus, due to this, an aggressive approach would not have been an appropriate one.

Surely, if ImamSajjad (A.S) would have used the aggression that we see in some of the expositions of ImamṢadiq, Kaẓim and Riḍha (A.S), then ‘Abdul-Malik who was at the apex of his power, would have easily terminated the propagation of the holy progeny (A.S). Thus this would not have been a logical move. But together with all this, we see in the various folds of the expositions from Imam Sajjad (A.S) aggressive hints towards the regime.This was probably during his last days of life and the end to his lengthy period of imamate.[115]

This aggressive approach was in different manners. One of them was in elaborating the stand and position of the Umayyad in hindering the teaching of the normal religious lessons. We have a tradition from the Imam whereby he says:

انّ بنی امیّة اطلقوا للنّاس تعلیم الایمان و لم یطلقوا تعلیم الشّرک لکی اذا حملوهم علیه لم یعرفوه.

“The Umayyad dynasty has opened the way for people to learn faith but have closed the way for people to learn polytheism. They have done so in order for people not to realize polytheism, when they drag them into it.”

This means that the Umayyad dynasty used to allow the religious scholars and in particular the holy progeny (A.S) to teach people concerning prayers, Hajj, Zakat, fasting, worshipping and so on. Likewise they also allowed them to teach and propagate the oneness of Allah, prophet-hood and the Islamic laws concerning these matters.

But at the same time, they never allowed them to teach people concerning the truth, signs and aspects of polytheism. This was because if they taught people about these issues concerning polytheism, people would have realized that they were polytheists. It would be clear to people that what the Umayyad dynasty was propagating was nothing other than polytheism.

People would have immediately recognized that ‘Abdul-Malik and the other Umayyad rulersare nothing but oppressors. These are people that have raised a flag in war against Allah and anyone that followed them has actually accepted polytheism. It was due to these reasons that they never allowed people to learn issues concerning polytheism.

In Islam when we learn about the oneness of Allah, one of the most important matters that we talk about is polytheism and a polytheist. What is an idol and who is an idol worshipper? The late grand scholar Majlisi (r.a) in his book -Biharal-Anwar - says:

انّ آیات الشّرک ظاهرها فی الاصنام الظّاهرة وباطنها فی خلفاء الجور الّذین اشرکوا مع ائمه الحقّ ونصبوا مکانهم.[116]

“The verses concerning polytheism in the holy Qur’an explicitly points to the idols but their inward meaning is about the oppressive rulers. These are the people who usurped the caliphate and ruled the Islamic nation and used to claim the right over the ruler-ship of people together with the righteous Imams.”

The sole polytheism with the righteous Imam is polytheism with Allah. This is because the righteous Imams are the chosen guardians of Allah and their speech is the word of Allah the Almighty. Therefore since the oppressive rulers, have taken the place of the righteous Imams and are unanimous with them in claiming imamate, they are idols and oppressors. And anyone that follows them has in reality turned to be a polytheist.

Of course the grand scholar follows that with an interesting explanation. After saying that the verses of the holy Qur’an are not only bound to the era of the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w), butalso cover all the eras, he says:

فهو یجری فی اقوام ترکوا طاتة ائمة الحق و اتبعوا ائمة الجور.

“This terminology - polytheism - can also be justified upon the people that have left the righteous Imams and followed the oppressive rulers.”

لعدولهم عن الادلّة العقلیّة والنقلیة و اتباعهم الاهواء وعدولهم عن النّصوص الجلیّة.[117]

This is because these people have deviated from the logical inferences, traditions and Qur’anic verses which proved that for example, ‘Abdul-Malik cannot be a Caliph and leader of the Muslim nation. They deviated from the verses of the holy Qur’an and the logical inferences and followed their carnal desires. People used to see that trouble-less life wasso easy and comfortable based on the aggression from the regime.

Consequently, due to their love of pomp and pleasure, they followed the oppressive rulers and so they too, became polytheists. Due to this, we see that when the Imams want to talk about polytheism, they will have a slight aggression towards the regime. We see this in the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S) and in his expositions.

We see another instance of these aggression in some of the writings between Imam Sajjad (A.S) and ‘Abdul-Malik - the authoritative Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. I shall elaborate two of those instances;

One: One day ‘Abdul-Malik wrote a letter to Imam Sajjad (A.S). He was rebuking the Imam for marrying his freed slave. The Imam had a female servant whom he freed and later on married her. ‘Abdul-Malik wrote to him a letter and reproached the Imam concerning this matter. Of course the action of the Imamwas human and Islamic.

This is because he had freed a slave from and then honored that same slave by marrying her. This action is verykind and interesting. But the aim of ‘Abdul-Malik in writing the letter, apart from being aggressive to the Imam, he also wanted to reveal to him that he was aware of the personal issues in his life.

Thus this was a threat. Imam Sajjad (A.S) in reply, wrote a letter and said this at the introduction: “There is no problem at all in this action and our elders also did this. The Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w) did this and so there is no blame.

فلا لوم علی مسلم، انّما اللوم الجاهلیة.[118]

“There is no humility and abjectness for a Muslim but it is rather for the people of the period of ignorance.”

In a great ridicule and beautiful way, the Imam has reminded him of the ignorance of his forefathers during the pre-Islamic period of ignorance (Jahiliyyah ).This means that it is ‘Abdul-Malik who belongs to the family of the ignorant, polytheist and enemy of Allah and thatcustom is in him. If one is supposed to regret, he ought to regret for that (pre-Islamic period of ignorance) otherwise there is no regret in marrying a Muslim lady.

When ‘Abdul-Malik received the letter, his second son - Suleiman - was together with him. When he read the letter his son also heard the ridicule and irony of the Imam. He looked at his father and said: “O Amīrul-Mu’uminīn! Look at the way 'Alī ibn al-Hussein has boasted over you.

He has stated in this letter that all his forefathers were believers while your forefathers were polytheists. He wanted to encourage his father to punish the Imam due to this letter. His father was clever than him and knew that he is not supposed to enter into a conflict with the Imam because of this issue. Thus he told his son: “Do not say anything my son! This is the word of BaniHashim which splits the rock asunder. I mean they are very strong in logical inferences and are so eloquent.

Two: A second example is another letter that was exchanged between Imam Sajjad (A.S) and ‘Abdul-Malik and its story is as follows; ‘Abdul-Malik came to know that the sword of the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w) is in the hands of Imam Sajjad (A.S). This was very interesting because it was a souvenir of the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w) and a source of pride.

Furthermore, the presence of that sword in the hands of the Imam was a danger to ‘Abdul-Malik. This was because it attracted people towards him. Thus, in the letter that he wrote to him, he requested him to send that sword to him. He had also written to him that if he had any wish, he was ready to fulfill it! This means that he had already taken into consideration a gift for the bestowal of that sword.

The Imam gave a negative reply. ‘Abdul-Malik wrote another letter threatening him that if he doesn’t send the sword, he will deny him his right from the treasury (baytul-Mal ).[119] The Imam replied as follows;

“Allah the Almighty Has taken charge to protect His believers from what is harmful to them and to provide them with sustenance from where they do not even expect. Indeed Allah does not like any ungrateful and unfaithful person.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ خَوَّانٍ كَفُورٍ[120]

“Indeed, Allah does not love the ungrateful traitor.”

Now look and tell me between the two of us, who does this verse of the holy Qur’an’s justify the most?”

This tone was very aggressive towards the Caliph because anyone who read the letter would understand; first of all, Imam Sajjad (A.S) neither consider himself to be a traitor nor ungrateful. Secondly, no one thought or had such an opinion concerning the Imam. This was because the Imam was an honorable and distinguished person from the holy progeny (A.S) and this verse could not justify him.

So the opinion of Imam Sajjad (A.S) was that ‘Abdul-Malik was an ungrateful traitor! So the Imam would be aggressive to this level. These are some of the examples of the aggressive approach from Imam Sajjad (A.S) towards the regime.

Three: Suppose we want to add another instance, we ought to bring the poems narrated from Imam Sajjad (A.S) or from his companions. These too are also a kind of aggressions. This is because assuming that the Imamwas never aggressive but his close companions used to be. Therefore this can be counted as an aggression from the Imam.

There are a number of poems from the Imam which are very harsh. The famous poem of Farzadaq is another example. The historians and narrators of traditions have narrated the story of Farzadaq. Its summary is as follows; Hisham, the son of ‘Abdul-Malik went to Mecca before the period of his caliphate.

He was busy performing circumambulation (ṭawaf ) and so he wanted to touch the black stone (hajar al-Aswad ) because it is a recommended act (mustahab ) to touch it while circumambulating.

Since the people around the black stone were so many, no matter how hard he tried, he could not touch it. This was while he was the son of the Caliph and had some bodyguards. But people paid no heed to his position and pushed him like anyone else. And this was a person who had been nurtured by pomp and pleasure and so could not hustle or push in order to touch it just like the other people.

In brief, he was not able to touch the black stone. He therefore went and sat on a high place atMasjid al-Haram and decided to watch the people. Some people had also sat next to him. At this time, he saw a person amongst the people circumambulating who appeared to be very pious.

This person went to the black stone. The people too, in a very natural way, gave way to him and the Imam touched and kissed it without any difficulties. He then returned and continued to do his circumambulation. This was so painful to Hisham to see that he was the son of the Caliph yet no one cared about this, as they pushed and kicked him and never gave way for him to touch the black stone!

On the other hand, a person comes and with utmost respect is given way to peacefully touch and kiss it. He angrily asked: “Who is this person?” The people around him knew that he was 'Alī ibn al-Hussein (A.S) but they never said. The reason behind this was that they knew there was a dispute between the Umayyad dynasty and the clan of BaniHashim.

Their rivalry had a long history. They never wanted to tell him that, that person was the leader of his clan’s enemy, who people loved so much. Since this would have turned into insolence towards Hisham. Farzadaq, who was a poet and a lover of the holy progeny (A.S) was also present.

When he saw that these people were pretending that they did not recognize 'Alī ibn al-Hussein (A.S), he went in front and said: “O the Emir! If you grant me the permission, I will tell you who he is.”

Farzadaq recited a poem which is one of the most famous poems concerning the holy progeny (A.S). It is full of praise of 'Alī ibn al-Hussein (A.S) from the beginning to the end. It starts as follows;

هذا الّذی تعرف البطحاء وطاتهوالبیت یعرفه والحلّ والحرم. [121]

“If you don’t know who he is, he is that person that the land of Mecca knows his footsteps. He is that person that is known by house of Allah and its surrounding. He is that person that is known by Zamzam and Safa. He is the son of the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a). He is the son of the best person.”

He decided to praise him in one poem and thus mentioned the characteristics of that Imam one by one. Each of the words of that poem was like a knife in the heart of Hisham. Hisham hated Farzadaq from that day onwards and banished him. Imam 'Alī ibn al-Hussein (A.S) sent him some money but he did not accept them. He said: “I recited this poem to attain the pleasure of Allah. I shall not accept any money from you.”

Aggressions of this kind could be seen from the companions of the Imam. Another case is that of Yahya ibn Umm Salamah Ṭawīl even though this is not a poem.

Yahya ibn Umm Salamah Ṭawīl was one of the most courageous and devoted youths in regards to the holy progeny (A.S). He always used to travel to Kūfah. He would then gather people and shout: “O people! People who are after the Umayyad dynasty, we are infidels to you! We shall not accept you till the time that you believe in Allah.”

We can deduce from this statement that he used to refer to people as polytheists. He used to address them as polytheist and infidels. This kind of aggression can be witnessed in the biography of Imam Sajjad (A.S) and his companions.

Intense [Bitter] Stand of Imam Sajjad toward the Official Scholars.

In perpetuating our discussion on the matters related to the biography of Imam Sajjad (A.S) and his tactics, here we are after a favorable ground for a major Islamic movement. A movement that is capable for laying ground for an Islamic government and we shall elaborate that.

In summary, this kind of tactic of explaining matters for a particular group, organizing another group and offering guidance for another group was being summarized. This means that the image we had about Imam Sajjad (A.S) shows him as a tolerant and patient person. This is someone who in the span of thirty to thirty five years struggles to change a ground that is totally unfavorable for the Islamic government. He changes it to one that he himself or his successors would be able to put efforts that will lead to a formation of an Islamic government. Suppose we subtract thirty five years of struggle of Imam Sajjad (A.S) in the life of the Imams, definitely we shall not see the kind of direct and explicit approach from Imam Ṣadiq (A.S) towards the Umayyad dynasty or later on towards the Abbasid dynasty.

For the sake of creating an Islamic nation, the most important and essential matter is the ideological basis. And this ideological basis in those conditions of that Islamic world, was the reason behind delaying it for a long period of time. And this is exactly the work that Imam Sajjad (A.S) accomplished with all his strength and power.

Along with this, we see other forms of struggle in the life of that Imam which actually shows his progress compared to the past basis. The major part of this struggle was mainly political and at times it was so acute. An example of this is about the attitude of the Imam towards the courtiers and the great hadith narrators. These were people that used to work for the oppressive regime. This discussion concerns this area.

One of the main seditious topics in the life of the Imams, is their attitude towards great scholars and thinkers in the Islamic nation. This refers to the scholars[122] and poets. These are people that used to guide the way and manner of thinking of the people. They used to propagate to people what the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasty wanted. They would therefore make people to respect their commands. This kind of attitude in the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S), just like the other Imams, is an interesting and important matter.

Just as we are aware, in order for the oppressive regime to rule the people that had faith in Islam, they had no alternative other than attracting their souls. This was to make them do as they wanted. This was because at that time, along period had not elapsed from the coming of Islam. The faith of people to Islam was still strong.

People were not aware that the allegiance they paid to these oppressive regimes was a wrong one. They also did not know that these oppressors were not the justified successors to the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a). Otherwise, they would not have obviously surrendered to them.

If we don’t accept this issue concerning everybody, indeed in the Islamic socety, there were many people that due to their faith, were persevering with the oppressive government. This means that they were thinking that this is an Islamic government.

It was due to this that the oppressive caliphs took great advantage in using the narrators of hadiths and Islamic scholars of that time. They used to persuade them to do what they wanted. Thus they beseeched them to forge traditions in their favor and ascribe them to the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a) and his great companions.

In this area we have a lot of instances that are extremely shocking. I will quote this tradition as an example. During the time of Mu'awiyyah, a person met with Ka’ab al-Ahbar.[123] In order for Ka’ab al-Ahbar to have a good relationship with Mu'awiyyah and the governor of Syria, he asked this person: “Where are you from?”

He replied: “I am from Syria.”

Ka’ab said: “Perhaps you belong to that group of seventy thousand people that shall enter paradise without reckoning of deeds!”

The man asked: “Who are those people?”

Ka’ab said: “They are the people from Damascus.”

The man said: “No, I am not from Damascus.”

Ka’ab said: “Perhaps you belong to that group of people that Allah the Almighty looks at them twice in every day?”

The man asked: “Who are those people?”

Ka’ab said: “They are people from Palestine.”

Maybe if that man said that he is not from Palestine, then Ka’ab al-Ahbar would have forged a tradition for people from Ba’alabak, Tarabils and the rest of the cities of Syria. The reason behind this, was just to depict these people as honorable and worthy and are people that shall enter paradise!

Ka’ab al-Ahbar used to narrate this kind of traditions to create friendship with the governors of Syria. This was in order for him to get a lot of help and favors from them. He could also be narrating them because of his great enmity towards Islam. He wanted to forge traditions so that people would find it cumbersome to recognize the traditions of the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a).

Several stories like this one can be found in the books -Tadhkirah andRijal Hadith . One of them is a story concerning the Emir whose son had gone to the library. The librarian beat this child and so he returned home while crying. He reported the matter to his father who got annoyed and said: “Right now I am going to order for a tradition to be forged against this librarian. This is to make him never repeat this mistake!”

We can deduce from this story that the matter of forging traditions was so easy. This was to an extent that even for the pity of the tears of one’s child, a person was ready to forge a tradition against the librarian or his city.

All in all, this matter was responsible for the creation of a complex, apocryphal and incorrect ideology and culturein the Islamic world. And the sources of this wrong ideology are those narrators of traditions and the scholars who used to serve the oppressive rulers of that time. Therefore, in such a situation, the attitude towards this group is a very vital action.

We shall now mention an example of this action in the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S). This is about the attitude of the Imam towards Muhammad ibn Shahab Zahrī.[124] First of all this was one of the students and companions of Imam Sajjad (A.S).

This means that he was one of the people that learnt and used to narrate traditions from the Imam. But due to the courage that he had, slowly by slowly he got close to the governors and started serving those oppressive rulers. He is among the scholars and narrators of traditions that the Imams stood against.

We shall elaborate some traditions concerning him in order to make clear his personality. One of those traditions is the one that he says:

کنّا نکره کتابة العلم حتّی اکرهنا علیه هولاء المرا فراینا لا یمنعه احد من المسلمین.[125]

“In the beginning, we used to hate writing. This was until the rulers forced us to write what we knew in a form of a book. We then thought that a Muslim should not prevent another one from doing this. This is in order for knowledge to be continuously written.”

We can deduce from this statement that till that time, these narrators of traditions never used to write the traditions that they knew. Likewise it is also clear that Muhammad ibn Shahab Zahrī used to serve the Emirs and they forced him to write traditions in their favor.

A person by the name Muammar says: “Before Walīd[126] was killed, we used to think that we have narrated a lot of traditions from Zahrī. After Walīd was killed, we saw a lot of books being carried by camels. They were being removed from the store of Walīd and they were saying: “These are the writing and knowledge of Zahrī!”

This means that Zahrī had written a lot of books full of traditions - in favor of Walīd - to an extent that when they wanted to remove them from his store, they had no choice but to use camels to carry them. What kind of traditions were these that filled books under the order of Walīd? Without doubt, there was no tradition that was against Walīd. In fact these are traditions that used to praise the deeds of Walīd and his likes.

We have another tradition from Zahrī which definitely has something to do with Zahrī’s connection to the government. Ya’aqūbī in his book -Tarikh - says as follows;

انّ الزّهری یحدثکم انّ رسول الله انّه قال: لا تشدّ الرّحال الاّ الی ثلاثة مساجد، المسجد الحرام، المسجد مدینه والمسجد القصی، وانّ الصّخره التی وضع رسول الله قدمه علیها تقوم مقام الکعبة.

“Zahrī has ascribed a tradition to the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a) that he said: “One should not walk with honor and grandeur except when going to three mosques; Masjid al-Haram, Masjid al-Medina and Masjid al-Aqṣa. And that stone that is in - Masjid al-Aqṣa - whereby the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a) stepped on, takes the position of the holy Ka’abah!”

My concern is in this last part of the tradition whereby he is considering this stone to be Ka’abah. He has placed the significance and holiness of the Ka’abah upon it! This is a tradition that belongs to the era whereby ‘Abdullah ibn Zubeir was in control of Mecca. Whenever people wanted to go for pilgrimage, they were forced to stay in an area in Mecca which was under the control of ‘Abdullah ibn Zubeir for a period of time. This was a great opportunity which was being given to ‘Abdullah ibn Zubeir for him to preach against his enemies and most notably, ‘Abd al-Malik Marwan.

On the other hand, ‘Abd al-Malik Marwan neither wanted people to be affected by this propagation against him nor go to Mecca. Therefore the best and easiest way he saw was forging a tradition. A tradition that would show the holinessand significance of Masjid al-Aqṣa is equivalent to that of Mecca and Medina. And to make matters worse, saying that the stone in Masjid al-Aqṣa has the significance of the holy Ka’abah!

This is while we know in the common law (urf ) and Islamic culture that there is no place in this world that can rival the respect of the holy Ka’abah. Likewise there is no stone in this world that can replace the black stone (Hajar al-Aswad ) in the holy Ka’abah.

Therefore, the reason behind forging this tradition was to prevent people from going to house of Allah and Medina. This is because those places were probably the arenas for propagating against the governorship of ‘Abd al-Malik. So by preventing people from going there, they encouraged them to go to Palestine. This was because it was a part of Syria and under the rule of ‘Abd al-Malik.

Now, in order to find out how much were people affected by this tradition, we have to look at history. This is in order to see whether there was a given time whereby people used to go to Beit al-Muqaddas instead of Mecca for pilgrimage or such a thing never happened!

Suppose such a thing happened then the main criminal or one of the main criminal should be Muhammad ibn Shahab. This is because by forging such a tradition, he is responsible for the people’s mistake. And this too was due to political gains by ‘Abd al-Malik Marwan.

Now that we have proved that Muhammad ibn Shahab served the oppressive government, there was nothing to hinder him from forging traditions against Imam Sajjad (A.S) and his holy progeny (A.S). In this field, we shall look at two traditions that I found in the book -Ujūbatu Masail Jar Allah - by the late Seyyid ‘Abd al-Hussein Sharaf ad-Dīn.

In one of these traditions, Muhammad ibn Shahab claims that Amīr al-Mu'uminīn 'Alī (A.S) was a follower of the Jabariyyah sect.[127] He goes ahead by saying that the Holy Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a) said that the word (Insan) in the following verse refers to Amīr al-Mu'uminīn 'Alī (A.S)! (May Allah forbid);

وَكَانَ الْإِنسَانُ أَكْثَرَ شَيْءٍ جَدَلًا[128]

“The human is the most disputatious of things.”

In another tradition, he narrates that Hamza, Seyyidu Shuhada’a (Master of the martyrs ) had drunk alcohol. The reason behind forging these two traditions was only for the purpose of getting protection from the Umayyad dynasty against the holy Imams (A.S). He also did not want people to consider the holy progeny (A.S) who were standing against this dynasty as the best people. He wanted them to be considered in the matters of accomplishing the Islamic laws as normal people, weak or lower than the common people!

Imam Sajjad (A.S) showed an extremely aggressive attitude towards this person. This was in a form of a letter. Of course, it is possible for one to wonderto what extent can a letter show this kind of aggression.The context of this letter to Muhammad ibn Shahab and also to the rulers, is so extreme. This letter is not only meant for him as it shall also fall in the hands of other people. Slowly by slowly it will spread by word from one person to another and it will remain forever in history.

Nevertheless, it has remained in history and today after more than 1300 years, we are talking about that letter. By taking this matter into consideration, we can see how this letter is can be a great blow for the satanic ideologies to this kind of scholars. Of course this letter is an address to Muhammad ibn Shahab but it also includes other people like him.

It is obvious that when such a letter gets into the hands of Muslims especially the Shiites of that era and it circulates among them, the insignificance of this kind of scholars would be known for all. Now we shall narrate some parts of that letter which is as follows;

کفانا الله وایّاک من الفتن ورحمک من النّار.

“May Allah protect you and us from sedition and may He protect you from hell fire.”

In the second part of this statement, the Imam addresses him alone. This is because everybody can be affected by sedition including the Imam himself. The only difference is that the Imam cannot drown in sedition. This is while Muhammad ibn Shahab can both be affected and drowned in it.

As for the hell fire, it cannot reach the Imam and so he relates this to Muhammad ibn Shahab. Commencing this letter in such a tone, is a proof to show the attitude of the Imam towards him. It is both humiliating to Zahrī and shows the enmity of the Imam towards him. He then goes ahead by saying;

فقد اصبحت بحال ینبغی لمن عرفک بها ان یرحمک.

“You are in such a position whereby whoever knows it, must pity you.”

Pay attention to which person is being addressed here. This is an address to a person that everyone used to admire. He was one of the most knowledgeable scholars loved by the rulers.But the Imam considers him to be so weak and abject that he says:“Whoever knows you in this condition has to pity you.”

After that the Imam counts for him the favors that Allah Has bestowed upon him and the proofs that He has shown him. He then says: “With all these favors that you have been granted by Allah, can you tell Allah how you benefitted from them or no?”

After that, he mentions a verse from the holy Qur'an and says: “Allah will never forgive you for your shortcomings. This is because Allah wants the scholars to tell people the truth;

لَتُبَيِّنُنَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلاَ تَكْتُمُونَهُ [129]

“You shall make it clear to the people, and not conceal it.”

After this introduction, he goes ahead:

واعلم انّ ادنی ما کتمت واخفّ ما احتملت ان آنست وحشة الظاّلم وسهّلت له طریق الغیّ بدنوّک منه حین دنوت واجابتک له حین دعیت.

“Know that the least thing that you have concealed and the lightest thing that you have endured is that you have turned the panic of the oppressors into familiarity. You have also provided a means for them to go astray. You have done this for the sake of attaining nearness to him and you answered his call whenever he invited you.”

Here the Imam rebukes his closeness to the rulers as he says:

انّک اخذت ما لیس لک ممّن اعطاک.

“You have taken things from them that were not meant for you.”

ودنوت ممّن لم یردّ علی احد حقّا ولم تردّ باطلا حین ادناک.

“And you have come close to a person that has never bestowed any right upon its owner - the oppressive rulers - and when they brought you close to them, you never corrected any of their wrong doings.”

This means that you cannot give an excuse by saying that I went close to them in order to propagate good and to forbid evil! During the time that you have been with them, there is no evil that you have stood against. This is while the regime is full of evils.

واحببت من حادّ الله.

“And you have befriended an enemy of Allah.”

The most shocking statement of Imam Sajjad (A.S) in this letter is whereby he says:

ا و لیس بدعائه ایّاک - حین دعاک -جعلوک قطبا اداروا بک رحی مظالمهم وجسرا یعبرون علیک الی بلایاهم وسلّما الی ضلالتهم داعیا الی غیّهم سالکا سبیلهم یدخلون بک الّشکّ علی العلاماء ویقتدون بک قلوب الجهّال الیهم.

“Was it not like this and were you not aware that when they brought you close to them, they used you as an axis for them to accomplish their oppression. And they used you as a bridge for them to cross over to their evil deeds. They used you as a ladder to climb to their abjectness. You were the propagator for their deviation. They have used you to create doubt in the minds of scholars and have used you to attract the souls of the fools towards themselves.

This means that you are responsible for causing uncertainty in the minds of the scholars. They are asking whether there is a problem for them to join the oppressive rulers or no? At times, some of them have fallen into this trap. And you are responsible for causing the fools to be easily attracted to the oppressive rulers.”

He then says:

فلم یبلغ اخص وزرائهم ولا اقوی اعوانهم الا دون ما بلغت من اصلاح فسادهم. [130]

“By propagating their evils as good before the eyes of people you offered them more help than even what their closest viziers and strongest helpers could offer them.”

In this letter that is extremely aggressive and full of sense, Imam Sajjad (A.S) disgraces this ideological power and theoretical authority which had been helped by the political and social authority. People that were ready to conform with this regime, were faced with questions. These questions remained in the Islamic society of that era and they shall remain forever.

I consider this to be one of the most important parts in the life of Imam Sajjad (A.S). I also strongly feel that the Imam was not satisfied with an educational revolution of small number of people. He also tried a go at a political revolution.

This is a summary of the biography of Imam Sajjad (A.S). Of course let me also elaborate this matter.The Imam in his difficult period of imamate which lasted for thirty four years, he did not have an open and direct aggression with the rulers. But he accomplished his task by teaching and training many of his companions and propagating the teachings of the holy progeny (A.S).

By carrying out his duties, the Umayyad dynasty hated him a lot. This was to an extent that the dynasty aggressed against him. One of these instances is whereby they manacled the Imam and moved him in this state from Medina to Syria.

This story whereby the Imam was manacled refers to that famous tragic event of Karbala. It is not yet a certain issue that in the event of Karbala that chain were tied on the neck of the Imam. But what is certain is that he was manacled by chains. This means that the Imam was mounted on a camel and taken to Syria. This was while he was manacled. In a lot of other circumstances, he was severally tortured by the rulers. At long last in the 95thof Hijrah - during the caliphate of Walīd ibn Abd al-Malik - he was poisoned by the officials of the regime and thus martyred.