Musa al-Kazim

Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim (Arabic: مُوسَىٰ ٱبْن جَعْفَر ٱلْكَاظِم, romanized: Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar al-Kāẓim), was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the seventh imam in Twelver Shia Islam. Born in 745 CE in Medina, he is known by the title al-Kazim (lit. 'forbearing'), a reference to his patience and mild demeanor. His father, Ja'far al-Sadiq, died in 765 without publicly designating a successor to avoid the wrath of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur. The subsequent crisis of succession later resolved in favor of al-Kazim, while another group, now known as the Isma'ilis, separated from the mainstream Shia. Musa al-Kazim remained in Medina after the death of al-Sadiq, where he kept aloof from politics and engaged in teaching. He was nevertheless tightly restricted by the Abbasid caliphs and spent much of his adult life in their prisons. To counter these restrictions, he established an underground network of local representatives to organize the affairs of his followers across the Abbasid empire and collect their religious donations. His final imprisonment circa 795 ended with his death in 799 in a Baghdad prison, possibly poisoned at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. The shrine of al-Kazim and his grandson, Muhammad al-Jawad, is a popular pilgrimage destination for Twelver Muslims in Kazimain, Baghdad.

Musa al-Kazim مُوسَىٰ ٱلْكَاظِم Seventh Imam of Twelver Shi'ism
Calligraphic inscription of al-Kazim's name
7th Shia Imam
In office 765 – 799 CE
Preceded by	Ja'far al-Sadiq
Succeeded by	Ali al-Rida
Title	al-Kazim (lit. 'the forbearing') al-Abd al-Salih (lit. 'the holy servant')
Personal
Born	c. 8 November 745 CE (7 Safar 128 AH) Medina, Umayyad Caliphate
Died	c. 31 August 799(799-08-31) (aged 53) (25 Rajab 183 AH) Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Resting place	al-Kazimayn shrine, Baghdad, Iraq 33°22′48″N 44°20′16.64″E
Religion	Shia Islam
Spouse	Najma (or Tuktam)
Children	List of children Ali al-Rida Ahmad Abbas Fatima Ibrahim Isma'il Muhammad Zayd
Parents	Ja'far al-Sadiq (father) Hamida Khatun (mother)
Other names	Musa ibn Ja'far

Musa al-Kazim played a key role in eradicating extreme views (ghuluww) from the Twelver thought. His answers to legal questions have survived in Wasiyya fi al-aql, and he is credited with numerous supplications. Musa al-Kazim is also revered for his piety in Sunni Islam and considered a reliable traditionist. He is a link in the initiatic Golden Chain of Suffis, some of whom are often associated with him. Various nonprophetic miracles are attributed to him, often emphasizing his precognition. He was succeeded to the imamate by his son, Ali al-Rida.

Life

Birth and early life

Musa was born in 8 November 745 CE (7 Safar 128 AH), either in Medina, or in the nearby al-Abwa', located between Medina and Mecca. Other alternatives are September 745 and 746–747. His father was the Twelver imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, a descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima, who were the cousin and daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, respectively. His mother was Hamida Khatun, a Berber slave-girl, who is often referred to as al-Musaffat (lit. 'the purified'). This was perhaps a reference to her religious learning as she is said to have taught jurisprudence to women in a seminary in Medina. Musa was about four years old when al-Saffah overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and founded the Abbasid dynasty in 750. Musa continued to live in Medina under the authority of his father al-Sadiq, until the latter died in 765, after being poisoned at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 754–775), according to the Shia.

After the death of al-Sadiq

Musa al-Kazim remained in Medina, where he kept aloof from politics, similar to most of his predecessors. As with his father, he instead engaged in teaching there. Over time, he also established an underground network of representatives (wukala) to collect religious donations from his followers and organize their affairs.

The Abbasids were generally hostile to the Shia imams, especially after the abortive revolt in 762 of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, another descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib. In particular, Musa al-Kazim was contemporary with the Abbasid caliphs al-Mansur, al-Hadi, al-Mahdi, and Harun al-Rashid. Unlike his father, who often taught freely in Medina, al-Kazim was highly restricted by the caliphs, and spent much of his adult life in Abbasid prisons in Iraq. By one Shia account, al-Kazim had even discouraged his followers from greeting him in public, probably to avoid alarming the Abbasids.

Reign of al-Mansur (r. 754–775)

Caliph al-Mansur is blamed in Shia sources for the death of Ja'far al-Sadiq, who did not publicly designate an heir, likely fearing the Abbasid reaction. The caliph may have indeed ordered his governor of Medina to kill the heir to al-Sadiq, a plan that was thwarted when the governor reportedly found out that al-Sadiq had appointed four or five legatees. The resulting crisis of succession after al-Sadiq ultimately resolved in favor of al-Kazim, who spent the first ten years of his imamate under al-Mansur. This crisis nevertheless weakened the mainstream Shia and al-Mansur may have therefore left al-Kazim unmolested. He was still kept under surveillance, even though the restrictions imposed by al-Mansur were not as intense as what was to come.

Reign of a-Hadi (r. 785–786)

Musa al-Kazim did not lend his support to the 786 revolt of al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Abid, another descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib. A letter attributed to al-Kazim even warns al-Husayn about his violent death, but the imam was nevertheless accused of complicity by al-Hadi, who was dissuaded from killing al-Kazim only by the intervention of the judge Abu Yusuf. The caliph died soon after and thus survived al-Kazim, who then composed the supplication Jawshan (lit. 'coat of mail') in gratitude, according to the Twelver jurist Ibn Tawus (d. 1266).

Reign of al-Mahdi (r. 775–785)

During the ten years of the reign of al-Mahdi, al-Kazim still remained under surveillance in Medina. He was arrested at least once by the caliph, who briefly imprisoned him around 780 in the Abbasid capital Baghdad in Iraq. There Musa was placed in the custody of the prefect of police, al-Musayyab ibn Zuhayr al-Dabbi, who later became a follower of al-Kazim. According to the Sunni historian al-Tabari (d. 923), al-Mahdi had a dream in which Ali ibn Abi Talib berated him for imprisoning his progeny, which compelled the caliph to set al-Kazim free, after he pledged not to revolt.

Reign of Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809)

The persecution of the Shia reached a climax during the caliphate of Harun, who is said to have killed hundreds of the descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Harun arrested al-Kazim, brought him to Baghdad, and was apparently intent on killing him but then set him free as a result of a dream, it is said. Harun was perhaps provoked by an earlier incident, reported by the Sunni historian Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282): When the two men visited the tomb of Muhammad in Medina, Harun, intent on showing his family ties to the prophet, had reportedly said, "Salutation unto thee, O prophet of God, unto thee who art my cousin!" Musa al-Kazim apparently countered with, "Salutation unto thee, O my dear father!" This angered Harun, who retorted, "O Abu al-Hasan [al-Kazim], such glory as thine is truly to be vaunted of!"

The final imprisonment of al-Kazim is said to have been plotted by Yahya ibn Khalid, the vizier of Harun. The vizier was reportedly threatened by the growing influence of Ja'far ibn Muhammad, who was entrusted by the caliph with the custody of his son and heir, Amin. Yahya then tipped the caliph about the secret Shia disposition of Ja'far and also suborned a relative of al-Kazim to testify that the imam secretly collected religious dues from Shias. Alternatively, Harun may have found dangerous the views of the theologian Hisham ibn al-Hakam, a disciple of al-Kazim, who argued for the right of al-Kazim to the caliphate, thus implying that the Abbasids were usurpers of his right. In any case, Harun had al-Kazim arrested in 793, or in 795, and he was brought to Basra in Iraq, where he was imprisoned for a year under the custody of its governor Isa ibn Ja'far ibn al-Mansur. Harun then ordered al-Kazim to be killed but Isa evaded the order, apparently impressed by the piety of al-Kazim. Isa instead arranged for his house arrest in Baghdad under Fadl ibn al-Rabi' and then by Fadl ibn Yahya al-Barmaki. During his house arrest, al-Kazim may have continued to direct the Shia affairs. When Harun learned about the relatively comfortable conditions of al-Kazim, he gave Fadl a written order to kill al-Kazim. By one account, Fadl refused the order and was given a hundred lashes. Musa al-Kazim was then handed to al-Sindi ibn Shahik, the prefect of police in Baghdad, who is said to have poisoned the imam.

Death (799)

Shrine of al-Kazim in Kazimiyan, Baghdad

The wooden tomb of Musa al-Kazim, dated to the eleventh century, kept in the Iraqi national museum

Musa al-Kazim died in 799 in the al-Sindi ibn Shahiq prison of Baghdad, after being transferred from one prison to another for a few years. He may have been poisoned by order of Harun, an order conveyed to al-Sindi through Yahya al-Barmaki, who had visited the caliph in Rakka to intercede for his son, Fadl, when the latter reportedly disobeyed earlier orders to kill al-Kazim. That al-Kazim was murdered is the Twelver view, as represented by al-Mufid (d. 1022), a prominent Twelver theologian, while the famous Sunni historian al-Tabari (d. 923) does not mention the cause of his death, thus implying that al-Kazim died from natural causes, a view preferred by most Sunni authors. The date of his death is often given as 13, 31 August, or 1 September 799 (6, 24, or 25 Rajab 183 AH), while Twelvers annually commemorate this occasion on 25 Rajab.

Shrine

Harun brought several public figures to examine the body and testify that al-Kazim had died naturally. The caliph also publicly displayed the body of al-Kazim in Baghdad, perhaps to dispel the rumors that he had not died and would return as the Mahdi, the Messianic figure in Islam. He was later buried in the Quraysh cemetery in northwest Baghdad, which is now located in the city of Kazimayn. At first a dangerous site for Shia visitors, his tomb in time became an important center for Shia pilgrimage, together with the tomb of his grandson, Muhammad al-Jawad. A shrine has stood over their graves since the time of the Buyid dynasty, though the present complex dates to the Safavid Shah Isma'il (r. 1501–1524), the Twelver ruler of Iran. The shrine of al-Kazim has also acquired a reputation as a place where prayers are fulfilled, that is, a gate to the fulfilment of needs (bab al-hawaij), as attested by the Sunni imam al-Shafi'i (d. 820). Also buried there are a number of medieval Shia scholars, including the polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 1274).

Redemptive suffering

By some Shia accounts, al-Kazim died for the sins of his followers. A tradition attributed to him in the hadith collection Kitab al-Kafi reads, "God became wrathful with the Shia, so he made me choose between them or myself and I shielded them, by God, with my soul," which may also suggest the precognition of al-Kazim about his death. These sins may have been disloyalty and abandoning taqiya (religious dissimulation), according to the Twelver traditionist al-Kulayni (d. 941), who adds that the latter sin revealed the activities of al-Kazim and led to his imprisonment. Harun indeed carried out a campaign of arrests in 795 to decimate the underground network of local Shia representatives (wukala), which may have led to the final arrest of al-Kazim.

Imamate

Designation

After the death of al-Sadiq in 765, his following fractured, for he did not publicly designate a successor to save him from the Abbasids' wrath. The majority of his followers, the antecedents of the Twelvers, ultimately accepted the imamate of his son al-Kazim, who also received the backing of some renowned students of his father al-Sadiq, including Hisham ibn al-Hakam and Mu'min al-Taq. Yet many may have expected the next imam to be Isma'il, the eldest son of al-Sadiq, who nevertheless predeceased his father. Some of them declared that Isma'il would return as the Mahdi or instead accepted the imamate of his son Muhammad ibn Isma'il. These were the progenitors of the Isma'ilis and they divided again when Muhammad died: Some awaited his return as the Mahdi and the rest traced the imamate through his descendants. The Isma'ilis energetically opposed the Abbasids, but remained of marginal importance until their rise to political power late in the ninth century. Their relations with the mainstream Shia was apparently tense at the time, as some have implicated them in the arrest of al-Kazim and the murder of some of his followers.

Isma'ilis believe that their eponym was the designated successor, and even his death in the lifetime of al-Sadiq did not annul his divine designation (nass), as that would have contradicted their belief in the omniscience of God. By contrast, the early Twelvers explained any changes in the divine will through bada', a notion similar to abrogation (naskh) in the Quran. Later Twelvers, such as al-Mufid, altogether rejected the claim that Isma'il was the designated successor before his death. They instead cited the qualifications of al-Kazim to support his fitness for the imamate after al-Sadiq. While the Twelvers and the Isma'ilis are the two sects that have survived, there were additional branches at the time: After the death of al-Sadiq, perhaps the majority of his followers initially accepted the imamate of his eldest surviving son, Abd-Allah al-Aftah, thus becoming known as the Fathiyya. Abd-Allah died anyway after a few months without a male heir and apparently lacked the scholarly prerequisites for the imamate. His followers then mostly returned to al-Kazim, although for some time they still counted al-Aftah as their seventh Imam. Many others who had split off after the death of al-Sadiq seem to have joined al-Kazim later.

Representatives

Map of the Abbasid Caliphate circa 744, before the independence of the Maghreb (present day Morocco and parts of Algeria) as well as the Andalus (present day Spain and Portugal)

Map of Iraq and the neighboring Khuzestan, with inserts on the vicinities of Baghdad and Samarra, during the Abbasid period

As a Twelver imam, the activities of al-Kazim were tightly controlled by the Abbasid caliphs. He instead appointed a network of local representatives (wukala, SG wakil) to organize the affairs of the Shia and collect their religious dues, particularly Khums (lit. 'one-fifth'). This underground network across the Abbasid empire was likely established by al-Kazim, although there is some evidence that an earlier network might have existed under his predecessor, al-Sadiq. During the imamate of al-Kazim, new Shia centers were also established in Egypt and north-west Africa, in places like Akhmim and the Maghreb.

It appears that al-Kazim permitted cooperation with the Abbasids if it furthered the Shia cause. In particular, he allowed his companion Ali ibn Yaqtin to hold the vizierate as long as he could promote justice and social welfare, or perhaps so that he could save other Shias in times of danger. In line with the principle of taqiya, al-Kazim even instructed Ali ibn Yaqtin to practice the Sunni (instead of the Shia) ablution (wudu') because he had come under suspicion by the Sunni ruler. In another Shia report, al-Kazim instructs Ali to withhold some goods destined for him so as to foil a plot aimed at exposing the Shia tendencies of Ali, thus saving his life through precognition. Ali ibn Yaqtin was nevertheless finally arrested and died in prison in the same campaign of arrests that led to the imprisonment and death of al-Kazim. Some other Abbasid officials whose loyalty rested with al-Kazim were Abbas ibn Ja'far al-Ash'ath, governor of Khorasan, and Waddah (or Wadih), who was involved with the governmental mail (al-barid) in Egypt.

Succession

After the death of al-Kazim in 799, the mainstream Shia acknowledged his son Ali al-Rida as the next imam. These were the antecedents of the Twelvers, known at the time as the Qat'iyya because they confirmed the death of al-Kazim. In contrast, some followers of al-Kazim came to believe that he would return as the Mahdi, citing a hadith ascribed to al-Sadiq to the effect that the seventh imam would be the Mahdi. These became known as the Waqifiyya (lit. 'those who stop'), although many of them later returned to the mainstream Shia, declaring al-Rida and his descendants as the lieutenants of al-Kazim. This sect and its beliefs disappeared eventually, beginning in the ninth century. The Waqifiyya also included the Bushariyya, named after Muhammad ibn Bashir, the Kufan exaggerator (ghali, extremist) who considered al-Kazim to be divine and claimed to be his interim successor. Ibn Bashir was later charged with heresy and executed by the caliph.

The formation of the Waqifiyya may have had a financial dimension as some representatives of al-Kazim declared him the last Imam probably to avoid forwarding to al-Rida what was entrusted to them when al-Kazim was alive. These rogue representatives included Mansur ibn Yunus al-Qurayshi, Ali ibn Abi Ḥamza al-Bata'ini, Ziyad ibn Marwan al-Qandi, Uthman ibn Isa al-Amiri al-Ruasi (Ruwasi), and Hayyan al-Sarragh, although al-Ruasi may have later returned the possessions to al-Rida. The term Waqifiyya or Waqifite is also applied to any Shia group who denied or hesitated over the death of a particular imam, thus refusing to recognize his successors. Ali al-Rida was not challenged by any of his brothers, even though some of them revolted against the Abbasids, including Ahmad ibn Musa.

Karamat

Often viewed as evidence of his divine favor, various nonprophetic miracles (karamat, SG karama) have been attributed to al-Kazim in Shia sources. He is considered knowledgeable of all languages, and he also counted this ability as a sign of the true imam in a tradition. Indeed, similar miracles of speech are attributed to all of the Twelve Imams. This included the ability to communicate with animals, following the precedent of Surat al-naml, a chapter in the Quran, in which Solomon speaks with birds and ants. Musa al-Kazim is thus said to have prayed for a wild beast to ease the childbirth labor for its partner. By other accounts, Musa spoke in his cradle, revived a dead tree with his touch, and brought back to life the dead farm animal of a poor family. By another account, he showed to a disciple the spirit of al-Sadiq, who had died some years earlier, seated in the entryway to his house.

Ghulat

The Ghulat (lit. 'exaggerators') believed in the divinity of the Shia imams, including Muhammad ibn Bashir who held this view about al-Kazim. He and his father al-Sadiq seem to have successfully rooted out this belief from the Shia thought, as evidenced by its absence in later Shia writings. Yet there remained at the time other groups with extreme views (ghuluww) embedded within the mainstream Shia, such as the Mufawwida, who believed that God had delegated (tawfiz) the affairs of this world to the prophet and the Shia imams. For instance, such beliefs were championed by al-Mufaddal ibn Umar al-Ju'fi, a financial agent of al-Kazim, even though there is no evidence that he or the rest of the imams subscribed to these views.

Descendants

Isma'il (r. 1501–1524), the first Safavid ruler of Iran, claimed descent from al-Kazim

The historian Dwight M. Donaldson (d. 1976) wrote that al-Kazim had eighteen sons and twenty-three daughters, whereas others have cited early reports for thirty-three to sixty children. According to Donaldson, these children were all born to freed slaves (umm walads), including Najma (or Tuktam) who bore al-Kazim his son and successor, Ali al-Rida. Three of his sons, namely, Zaid, Ibrahim, and Isma'il, participated in the 815 unsuccessful revolt of Abu'l-Saraya against the Abbasids, while Ali al-Rida was briefly the heir to the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833), and another son Abbas was appointed by him as the governor of Kufa.

The shrines of some children of al-Kazim are sites of pilgrimage in Iran, including those of Fatima al-Ma'suma in the city of Qom, Ali al-Rida in Mashhad, Husayn in Qazvin, and Ahmad in Shiraz. The Safavid dynasty (r. 1501–1736) in Iran also claimed descent from al-Kazim, though this claim has been doubted. His lineage may also account for seventy percent of the descendants of the prophet (sayyids) in Iran. A tradition implies that al-Kazim allowed (at least one of the) women in his household to attend religious teaching circles, even though his brother reportedly did not approve of her education.

Character

Musa is often referred to by the honorific al-Kazim (lit. 'forbearing' or 'he who restrains his anger'), perhaps because he was mild and patient in his temperament, or perhaps because he kindly treated an abusive opponent who subsequently changed sides. He was also known by the title al-Abd al-Salih (lit. 'the holy servant' or 'the righteous servant of God'), possibly a reference to his piety, for he is said to have spent most of his life in prayer and solitary contemplation. Among his predecessors, al-Kazim has been compared in benevolence and asceticism to Ali ibn Husayn al-Sajjad, the fourth of the Twelve Imams. The kunya of al-Kazim was Abu al-Hasan, the first, so as to distinguish him from the eighth and the tenth imams in Twelver Shia who shared the same kunya. His other kunya was Abu Ibrahim.

The Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz, Iran, is the burial site of Ahmad, son of Musa al-Kazim, and the site of a deadly terrorist attack in 2022 by Sunni militants

The Sunni historian Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282) praises al-Kazim in his biographical Wafayat al-a'yan, "He [al-Kazim] entered one evening into the mosque of God's Apostle and, just as the night was setting in, he made a prostration [in worship] which lasted until the morning, and during that time he was heard to request without intermission, 'O thou who art the object of our fear! O thou whom it becometh to show mercy! Let thy kindly pardon be granted to me whose sin is so grievous!''' Therein also al-Kazim is extolled as generous and benevolent, "When a man had spoken ill of him, he sent him a purse containing one thousand dinars," and, "He used to tie up in packets sums of three hundred, or four hundred, or two hundred dinars and distribute them in the city of Medina." Musa al-Kazim was also probably a gifted polemicist: The celebrated Sunni jurist Abu Hanifa (d. 767) was apparently once silenced by a young al-Kazim, while a group of Christians who came to dispute with him about religion accepted Islam.

Legacy

Musa al-Kazim taught Shia beliefs to his disciples, and played a key role in eradicating extreme views (ghuluww) from the Shia thought. Some letters attributed to al-Kazim during his captivity have survived, and his answers to legal questions are available in Wasiyya fi al-aql. He is also credited with numerous supplications (ad'iya, SG du'a'), for he may have believed that supplication could even change for better that which had been predestined. His hadith, "The jurists (fuqaha) who are believers (mu'min, i.e., Shia) are the citadels of Islam," has been reinterpreted in recent times to encourage an active social role for religious scholars.

Musa al-Kazim is revered in Sunni Islam and considered a reliable traditionist by Sunni scholars, including Ahmad ibn al-Hanbal (d. 855), who quotes from him in support of the descendants of Ali. Some traditions attributed to al-Kazim were collected by the Sunni scholar Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah al-Bazzaz (d. 965) in his Musnad al-Kazim, which is extant. Musa al-Kazim is also venerated among the Sufis. Among them, Shaqiq ibn Ibrahim al-Balkhi (d. 809–810) regarded al-Kazim as a holy person (wali Allah, min al-abdal) and a devout worshipper, while Ma'ruf al-Kharkhi (d. c. 815) and Bishr al-Hafi (d. 841) were affiliated with the imam. In particular, al-Kazim is credited by one account for the spiritual awakening of Bishr. Musa al-Kazim is a link in the Golden Chain (Silsilat al-dhahab), which is the initiatic line connecting the Sufis with the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Quotes

• "God has two proofs over men: outward proof and inward one. As for the outward proof, it is the messengers, the prophets, and the imams. As for the inward proof, it is reason."
• "Believers are few and the unbelievers are legion."
• "Little work from a scholar is doubly accepted; much work from the men of low desire and ignorance is refused."
• "Try hard that your time may be four hours: one hour is for supplicating God, one hour for the affairs of the livelihood, one hour for associating with the brothers (friends) and the reliable ones who let you know your defects and who are inwardly loyal to you, and one hour for that you are alone with yourselves (and) for non-forbidden things. Through this hour you have power over the three hours."
• "Tell yourselves of neither poverty nor a long lifetime, for whoever tells himself of poverty becomes miserly. Whoever tells himself of a long lifetime becomes greedy."
• "The generous and polite is under the protection of God; He does not leave him until He makes him enter the Garden. God sends out none as a prophet except the generous."
• "Misfortune is one for the patient and two for the impatient."
• "Silence is among the doors to wisdom; it brings about love and is a proof of all good things."
• "Good neighbor is not refraining from harm, but good neighbor is showing patience toward harm."
• Quoting Ali ibn Abi Talib, "God is not served through a thing better than reason. Man's reason is not perfect unless it has various qualities: unbelief and evil from him are safe [nonexistent]. Reason and good from him are hoped. The surplus of his money is spent [on charity]. The surplus of his speech is prevented. His share of the world is only daily bread. ... Abasement along with God is more beloved to him than exaltedness along with other than Him. Humbleness is more beloved to him than high rank. He regards as much the little good from other than him and as little his own good. He sees all men better than him, and that he is the most wicked of them in his soul."
• "How base is the world for people, unless God give them joy; and how great is this life, if God is not angry with them."
• "Our Shias [i.e., followers] see through the light (nur) of God and move through the mercy of God and succeed through the grace (beneficence, karama) of God."
• "The occultation of the Lord of this Cause (Sahib al-zaman, i.e., Muhammad al-Mahdi) is inevitable so that those who profess this cause may withdraw from it. This is a painful test that God has given to His creatures."
• "You [i.e., the Shia] have nothing to do with analogical reasoning (qiyas); those who came before you perished because of such reasoning. When it comes to a case about which you have received information, speak about it; otherwise, keep silent."

See also

• Ali al-Rida
• Fatimah bint Musa
• Hajar Khatoon Mosque
• Ja'far al-Sadiq
• Isma'il ibn Jafar
• Muhammad al-Dibaj
• Abd-Allah al-Aftah
• List of extinct Shia sects

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External links

Kazimain holy shrine

Quotations related to Musa al-Kazim at Wikiquote