The Imamate of Mūsā b. Jaʿfar عليه السلام

Al-Imāma wa’l-Tabṣira min al-Ḥayra|Volume 1|Book 2|Chapter 13

Al-Imāma wa’l-Tabṣira min al-Ḥayra

Book 2, Chapter 13

The Imamate of Mūsā b. Jaʿfar

Hadith #1

محمّد بن يحيى، عن محمّد بن أحمد، عن الحسن بن عليّ بن مهزيار، عن إبراهيم بن مهزيار، عن أخيه عليّ بن مهزيار، عن فضالة بو أيوب، عن أبي جعفر الضرير، عن أبيه، قال: كنت عند أبي عبداللّه عليه السلام وعنده إسماعيل ابنه، فسألته عن قبالة الأرض، فأجابني فيها. فقال له إسماعيل: يا أبة، انّك لم تفهم ما قال لك! قال: فشقّ ذلك عليّ، لأنّا كنّا يومئذ نأتمّ به بعد أبيه، فقال: إنّي كثيراً ما أقول لك: (الزمني، وخذ منّي) فلا تفعل. قال: فطفق إسماعيل وخرج، ودارت بي الأرض، فقلت: إمام يقول لأبيه: (انّك لم تفهم) ويقول له أبوه: (إني كثيراً ما أقول لك أن تقعد عندي، وتأخذ منّي، فلا تفعل!) قال: فقلت: بأبي أنت واُمي، وما على إسماعيل لأن لا يلزمك ولا يأخذ عنك؟ إذا كان ذلك وأفضت الأمور إليه، علم منها الذي علمته من أبيك حين كنت مثله؟! قال: فقال: إنّ إسماعيل ليس منّي كأنا من أبي. قال: فقلت: إنّا لله وإنّا إليه راجعون، ثمّ إنّا لله وإنّا إليه راجعون، فمن بعدك؟—بأبي أنت واُمي—فقد كانت في يدي بقية من نفسي، وقد كبرت سنّي، ودقّ عظمي، وجاء أجلي، وأنا أخاف أن أبقى بعدك. قال: فرددت عليه هذا الكلام ثلاث مرّات، وهو ساكت لا يجيبني، ثمّ نهض في الثالثة، وقال: لا تبرح. فدخل بيتاً كان يخلو فيه، فصلّى ركعتين، يطيل فيهما، ودعا فأطال الدعاء. ثمّ دعاني، فدخلت عليه، فبينا أنا عنده، إذ دخل عليه العبد الصالح، وهو غلام حدث، وبيده درّة، وهو يبتسم ضاحكاً. فقال له أبوه: بأبي أنت واُمي، ما هذه المخفقة التي أراها بيدك؟ فقال: كانت مع إسحاق يضرب يا بهيمة له: فأخذتها منه. فقال: أدن مني. فالتزمه، وقبّله، وأقعده إلى جنابه، ثم قال: إنّي لأجد بابني هذا ما كان يعقوب يجد بيوسف. قال: فقلت: بأبي أنت وأُمّي، زدني. فقال: ما نشأ فينا—أهل البيت—نشئ مثله. قال: فقلت: زدني. قال: فقال: ترى ابني هذا؟ إنّي لأجد به كما كان أبي يجد بي. قال: يا سيّدي زدني. قال: إنّ أبي كان إذا دعا، فأجبّ أن يستجاب له، وقّفني عن يمينه، ثمّ دعا وأمّنت، وانّي لأفعل ذلك بابني هذا، ولقد ذكرتك أمس في الموقف فدعت لك—كما كان أبي يدعو لي—وابني هذا يؤمّن، وإنّي لا أحتشم منه كما كان أبي لا يحتشم مني. قال: فقلت: يا سيّدي زدني. قال. أترى ابني هذا؟ إني لأئتمنه على ما كان أبي يأتمنني عليه. فقلت: يا مولاي، زدني. فقال: إنّ أبي كان إذا خرج إلى بعض أرضه، أخرجني معه فرآني ائعس في الطريق، أمرني فأدنيت راحلتي من راحلته، ثم وسّدني ذراعي، وناقتانا مقترنان ما يفترقان، فنكون كذلك الليلتين والثلاث، وإنّ ابني يصنع هذا، على ما ترى من حداثة سنّه، كما كنت أصنع. قال: قلت: يا مولاي، زدني. قال: انّ أبي كان يأتمنني على كتب رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وآله بخطّ عليّ بن أبي طالب عليه السلام، واني لأئتمنن إبني هذا عليه، فهي عنده اليوم، قال: قلت: يا مولاي، زدني. قال: قم، فخذ بيده فسلّم عليه، فهو مولاك وإمامك من بعدي، لايدّعيها—فيما بيني وبينه—أحد إلّا كان مفترياً. يا فلان، إن أخذ الناس يميناً وشمالاً، فخذ معه، فإنّه مولاك وصاحبك، أما إنّه لم يؤذن لي أوّل ما كان منك. قال: فقمت إليه، فأخذت بيده، فقبّلتها وقبّلت رأسه، وسلّمت عليه، وقلت: أشهد أنّك مولاي وإمامي. قال: فقال لي: أجل، وصدقت، وأصبت، وقد وفّقت، أما إنّه لم يؤذن لي في أوّل ما كان منك. قال: قلت له: بأبي أنت وأُمي، أُخبر بهذا؟ قال؛ نعم، فأخبر من تثق به، وأخبر به فلاناً وفلاناً—رجلين من أهل الكوفة—وأرفق بالناس، ولا تلقينّ بينهم أذىً. قال: فقمت فأتيت فلاناً وفلاناً، وهما في الرحل، فأخبرتهما الخبر. وأما فلان: فسلّم وقال: سلّمت ورضيت، وأما فلان: فشقّ جيبه وقال: لا والله، لا أسمع ولا أُطيع ولا أقرّ حتى أسمع منه. ثمّ نهض مسرعاً من فوره—وكانت فيه أعرابيّة—وتبعته، حتى انتهى إلى باب أبي عبداللّه عليه السلام. قال: فأستأذنّا، فأذن لي قبله، ثمّ أذن له، فدخل. فقال له أبو عبداللّه عليه السلام: يا فلان (أيريد كلّ أمرئ منكم أن يؤتى صحفاً منشّرة)؟ إنّ الذي أتاك به فلان الحقّ، فخذ به. قال: فقلت: بأبي أنت وأُمّي، أنا أُحبّ أن أسمعه من فيك. فقال: ابني موسى (عليه السلام) إمامك ومولاك (من—خ) بعدي، لا يدّعيها أحد فيما بيني وبينه إلّا كاذب ومفتر. قال: فالتفت إليّ—وكان رجلاً له قبالات يتقبّل بها، وكان يحسن كلام النبطيّة—فالتفت إليّ فقال: (رزقه). قال: فقال أبو عبداللّه: إنّ (رزقه) بالنبطيّة: خذ هذا، أجل خذها.

Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā, from Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Mahziyār, from Ibrāhīm b. Mahziyār, from his brother, ʿAlī b. Mahziyār, from Faḍḍāla b. Ayyūb, from Abū Jaʿfar al-Ḍarīr, from his father—Saʿdān [1]—who said: “I was with Abū ʿAbd Allāh , and with him was his son, Ismāʿīl. So, I asked him about the contractual liability on land leased for cultivation, and he gave me an answer to that, prompting Ismāʿīl to say to him: “O’ father, indeed you did not understand what was said to you!” Saʿdān said: “That disquieted me, because in those days we (thought we) would be taking him as the Imam after his father.” Imam al-Ṣādiq responded to Ismāʿīl: “Indeed, I often tell you: “Stay close to me, and take from me,” but you do not do so.” Abū Jaʿfar al-Ḍarīr’s father, Saʿdān, continued to narrate: “Ismāʿīl got up and left, and (I was so bewildered that I felt as if) the earth spun beneath me. I said: “The (future) Imam says to his father: “Indeed, you did not understand!,” so his father responds to him: “Indeed, I often tell you to sit with me and take from me, but you do not do so!” Saʿdān continued to narrate: “I said: “May my father and mother be made your ransom, what is the matter with Ismāʿīl that he neither holds fast to you nor takes from you? If that is (to remain) the case and the matters (of the Imamate) pass to him, will he know from it that which you came to know from your father when you were in his position?”[2] Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq responded: “Ismāʿīl is not to me as I was to my own father.” I said: “Indeed, to Allāh we belong, and to Him we shall return.” Then, again, “To Allāh we belong and to Him we shall return. So, who is it after you, may my father and my mother be your ransom?! There has remained in my hand only a vestige of my soul,[3] my age has become significant, my bones have become frail, my time has come, but I fear that I will nevertheless remain after you.” I repeated that statement to him thrice, but he remained silent and would not answer me. On the third time, he got up and said: “Do not leave.” So, he proceeded to enter a house in which he would seclude himself, and performed a two-unit prayer, both units of which he extended, and when he supplicated, he did so at length. Then he summoned me, so I entered upon him. While I was in the midst of his presence, the Righteous Servant came in,[4] and he was a young man in whose hand was a riding crop, and he was smiling and laughing. His father said to him: “May my father and my mother be your ransom, what is this switch I see in your hand?” He replied: “It was with Isḥāq [5] and he was striking his animal with it, so I took it from him.” Imam al-Ṣādiq said: “Come closer to me.” So, he held fast to him and kissed him affectionately, and sat him by his side, and then said: “Indeed, I find in this son of mine what Yaʿqūb found in Yūsuf.” I said: “May my father and my mother be made your ransom, give me more.” So Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: “None among us—the People of the House—have grown up like he has.” I said: “Give me more.” He continued: “Do you see this son of mine? Indeed, I find in him what my father found in me.” I said: “My master, give me more.” He stated: “Whenever my own father supplicated (to Allāh) and I wished his supplication to be answered, he would seat me on his right and then supplicate, and I would pronounce “Amen.” Indeed, I do the same with this son of mine. Just yesterday, I mentioned you at the standing place and supplicated for you, in the same manner that my father used to supplicate for me, and this son of mine said “Amen.” And indeed, I do not feel reserved around him, just as my father would not feel reserved around me.” I said: “My master, give me more.” He continued: “Do you see this son of mine? Indeed, I have entrusted to him the same things that my father would entrust to me.” I said: “O’ master, give me more.” Imam al-Ṣādiq said: “Whenever my father would go out to some of his lands, I would depart with him. Were he to see that I was drowsy while on the road, he would tell me to draw my mount closer to his in a way as to make my arm a pillow (for my head), and our camels would remain (as if they were) joined together, without separating. We would be like that for two nights or three. This son of mine does the same, despite his remarkable youthfulness which you see in him, just as I would do.” I said: “O’ my master, give me more.” He replied: “Indeed, my father would entrust to me the books of the Apostle of Allāh written by the hand of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib , and I have entrusted these books to this son of mine, and they are with him today.” I repeated: “O’ my master, give me more.” He instructed: “Stand, take him by the hand and greet him with deference, for he is your master and Imam after me. None shall make a claim (upon the Imamate) between him and me except a fabricator. O’ so-and-so, if people stray to the left or the right, remain adhering to him, for he is your master and your overseer. As for it, indeed I was not permitted to tell you when you first raised the matter.”[6] Saʿdān said: “So, I stood up and took him (Mūsā b. Jaʿfar) by the hand and kissed it, and I kissed him on the head, and greeted him with deference, and said: “I bear witness that you are my master and my Imam.” He said to me: “Indeed, you have spoken truthfully and correctly, and you have been furnished with success. As for it, indeed I was not permitted to tell you when you first raised the matter.” I said to him: “May my father and mother be made your ransom. May I inform others of this?,” so he replied: “Yes, inform whomever you trust. I bid you inform so-and-so and so-and-so, who are two men of the people of Kūfa. Be friendly to people, and do not cast harm among them.” So I got up and went to so-and-so and so-and-so. The two of them were at a wayhouse. So, I shared the news with both of them. As for one of them, he graciously accepted it, and said: “I accept it, and am satisfied.” As for the other, he tore his (shirt’s) collar and said: “No, by Allāh! I will neither listen, nor obey, nor affirm such, until I hear it from him directly!” He then got up at a moment’s notice, and hurried off, and he had something of a Bedouin character, and I followed him until we reached the door of Abū ʿAbd Allāh .” Saʿdān continued to narrate: “We sought permission (to enter), and I was allowed to enter before him, and then he was granted permission, so we entered the Imam’s house. Abū ʿAbd Allāh said to him: “O’ so-and-so, does every person among you desire to be given unrolled scriptures?[7] That which so-and-so has brought you is the truth, so take it!” The Bedouin relayed: “I said: “May my father and my mother be made your ransom, I would like to hear it from you.” So, Imam al-Ṣādiq replied: “My son, Mūsā , is your Imam and master after me.[8] None shall make a claim (upon the Imamate) between him and me except a fabricator.” Saʿdān narrated: “The Bedouin turned towards me—and he was a man who had contracts for land that he would lease out, and he could speak most beautifully in the Nabataean dialect. So, he turned towards me, and said to me: “Razqah.”[9] Saʿdān, the father of Abū Jaʿfar al-Ḍarīr, finished his narration: “Abū ʿAbd Allāh explained: “Razqah, in Nabataean, means: “Take this.” Yes, take it!”[10]

[1] An inference made from investigating Abū Jaʿfar al-Ḍarīr. See the following from al-Marjaʿ al-Iliktrūnī lil-Maʿlūmātiyya through the following link: https://ns1.almerja.com/more.php?idm=293551: ابو جعفر محمد بن سعدان بغدادي المولد كوفي المذهب ذكره ابن النديم في قراء الشيعة وقال: كان معلما للعامة وأحد القراء بقراءة حمزة توفي سنة 231 هـ يوم عرفة وله من الكتب كتاب القراءة. Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. Saʿdān—a Baghdādī by birthplace and adherent to the Kūfan school of thought. Ibn al-Nadīm mentioned him among the Shīʿī reciters of the Qurʾān, and said: “He was a teacher to the general masses (i.e. Sunnis) and one of those who would recite Ḥamza's recitation.” He died on the day of ʿArafa in 231 AH, and one of his books is a book on recitation.
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[2] The knowledge that comes with the position of Imamate.
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[3] A euphemism for the expectation that one will die soon.
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[4] Referring to Mūsā b. Jaʿfar al-Kāẓim, who is known by this title, transliterated from Arabic, as al-ʿAbd al-Ṣāliḥ.
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[5] Isḥāq b. Jaʿfar.
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[6] Referring to the utmost secrecy that had to be maintained by the Imam and his partisans (Shīʿa) in regard to the succession of the Imamate, considering the manifest hostility and suspicion of the Umayyads and then the Abbasids.
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[7] An allusion to Sūrat al-Muddaththir, verse 52: ﴿بَلْ يُرِيدُ كُلُّ ٱمْرِئٍۢ مِّنْهُمْ أَن يُؤْتَىٰ صُحُفًۭا مُّنَشَّرَةًۭ﴾ ﴾But everyone of them desires to be given unrolled scriptures [from Allāh]!﴿ [74:52] That the verse in its original context was about the criminals who did not pray, feed the poor or believe in the Day of Reckoning, and is being applied by the Imam to those who hesitate to affirm the truth that Mūsā al-Kāẓim صلوات الله عليهما is his true and rightful successor, validates the necessity of Imamate to the religion and its salvific gravity.
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[8] In some manuscripts, this part has been transcribed as “your Imam and master from after me.”
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[9] The expression is identified within the tradition itself as Nabataean, the vernacular Aramaic spoken in rural Iraq during this time, rather than any ancient Aramaic or Arabic from the Nabataean kingdom of antiquity centred around Petra in modern-day Jordan. Imam al-Ṣādiq صلوات الله عليه elaborates on this Iraqi Nabataean expression by saying « خذ هذا، أجل خذها »—“Take this. Yes, take it,” but its precise form is nevertheless uncertain, since the manuscripts of this book and parallel recensions in others (such as in Baṣāʾir al-Darajāt, vol. 7, ch. 11—“Regarding that the Imams عليهم السلام can Speak Every Language”—tradition no. 11/1,189, on p. 596 of the First Edition edited and published by the Imam al-Mahdī عليه السلام Institute in Qom, Iran, n.d.), variously transmit the Aramaic word as « زرقه »—zarqah, « دزفه »—dazfah, « درفه »—darfah, « درقه »—darqah, « رزقه »—razqah (as here) and « ذرقه »—dharqah.
Author: Haseeb Hassan
[10] Keeping in mind that al-Majlisī notes in vol. 47 of Biḥār al-Anwār (on p. 84) the following: والرزقه بالنبطيّة أي خذه إليك. Razqah, in Nabataean, means “take it upon yourself.” It is nevertheless curious that the Bedouin is saying this to Saʿdān, who appears to have already accepted Mūsā al-Kāẓim’s صلوات الله عليه Imamate. But perhaps the man was uncharitably characterised as “having something of a Bedouin character” and actually intuited that Saʿdān was still unsettled by having his longstanding expectation that Ismāʿīl would succeed Imam al-Ṣādiq صلوات الله عليه upended on such short notice.
Author: Haseeb Hassan

The Imamate of Mūsā b. Jaʿfar عليه السلام

Al-Imāma wa’l-Tabṣira min al-Ḥayra

Book 2, Chapter 13

Hadith #1

The Imamate of Mūsā b. Jaʿfar عليه السلام