IMAM MUHAMMAD AL-JAWAD (A.S.)

One day in Baghdad, some children were busy playing on a street. Among them was our 9^th Imam (as).  Suddenly the children saw Mamoon ar-Rasheed, the Abbasid ruler passing by with his soldiers. The children quickly dispersed from that place. However, our Imam (as) did not run away, rather he (as) stood at his place. When Mamoon arrived at that spot, he looked at the young boy and asked, “Haven’t you recognized me? Why didn’t you move from this place?” The young child replied, “The path is not narrow that it would become wider by moving aside, nor have I committed any crime that I should run away from you. Moreover, I do not think that you are the sort who would punish someone who is innocent”.

This hit Mamoon very hard. He stared at the handsome and illuminated face of this young child for sometime; and was wonderstruck. He realized that this child couldn’t be an ordinary child so he asked, “Tell me what is your name?” The child said,   “I am Muhammad”. “Whose son are you?” asked Mamoon. The child replied, “I am the son of Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (as)”.

When Mamoon heard this, he praised the 8^th Imam (as) and left. After this brief meeting with our Imam (as), Mamoon proceeded to a nearby forest for hunting. There, he released his eagle, which flew and returned after a while with a small live fish in its beak. Mamoon was quite surprised by this. As he returned and passed by the same spot where he had met our Imam (as), he found this young child again at the same place. So he halted and asked him, “O Muhammad! Tell me what do I have in my hand?” Imam (as) replied,

“Allah (SWT) has created many vast oceans from which clouds are formed. When clouds are forming, they absorb small live fish which are caught by the eagles of the kings, who then use them to test the Imams of their times”.

Mamoon was dumbfounded by this reply and said, “Indeed you are the son of Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (as) – for such miracles are not impossible from his son”. (Ahsan al-Muqaal)

SOME OF HIS SAYINGS:

“He who listens to a caller is serving him. If the caller was Allah’s representative, he is then serving Allah. If the caller was Satan’s representative, he is then serving the Satan”. (Tuhaf al-‘Uqool)

“Three features cause love: being fair in association; comforting in misfortunes and having a good (generous) heart”.

                                                                   (Jawharaat al-Kalaam)

“There are three things that whoever had will not regret: avoiding hastiness, consulting with others and relying on Allah when determining. He, who advises his brother secretly, does him good and he, who advises his brother openly, does him wrong”.

                                                                         (Hayaat Imam al-Jawad)

“Let the guardian of Allah in the openness not be an enemy to Him in privacy. He, who pretends to be faithful before people and disobeys Allah secretly, is a liar and a hypocrite”. (Hayaat Imam al-Jawad)

“Beware of accompanying an evildoer because he is like a drawn sword whose look is nice but its effect is bad!” (Hayaat Imam al-Jawad)

mulla@almahdi.org.uk