Stories from Imam al-Kazim's Life Everyone Should Know | Sayed Ahmed Qazwini

[music] >> Tonight we discuss the life of the seventh Imam of Ahlul Bayt. And that is Al Imam Musa ibn Jafar. The Imam that was titled Al Kazim, the one who restrained his anger, the one who had forbearance. Musa ibn Jafar Al Kazim Alayhis Salaam, who's buried today in the city of Baghdad. Al Imam Al Kazim Alayhis Salaam was born in the year 128 after the Hijra. So, almost 120 years after Rasulullah. He was born in the city or village of Al Abwa. Al Abwa was a village between Mecca and Medina. Al Imam Al Sadiq Alayhis Salaam one year, he's coming back from Hajj. He finished Hajj, so from Mecca he's going north to Al Medina. He stops in the village of Al Abwa. And who's buried in Al Abwa? Amina, the mother of Rasulullah. He stops there, his wife all of a sudden goes into labor, Al Imam Al Sadiq's wife, and Al Imam Al Kazim Alayhis Salaam is born in Al Abwa. So, Al Imam Al Kazim Alayhis Salaam spent the first 20 years of his life with his father Al Imam Al Sadiq. His mother was a very noble woman. Her name was Hamida Al Barbariya or Hamida Al Maghribiya. Hamida was not your ordinary woman. Number one, she was a non-Arab. She was non-Arab. And number two, she was a slave. So, Al Imam Al Sadiq Alayhis Salaam, with all the women in Al Medina, all the Arabian women in the Arabian Peninsula, he chooses to marry a woman that is from another country, from another ethnicity, and who's a slave. And when the Imam did that, he was sending a message to his Shia that I, Jafar ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq, don't just speak of nobility. I don't speak of equality only. There is many people that speak of equality. But when it comes to implementing it on their own lives, you find they fail. The Imam al-Sadiq alayhis salaam denounced racism, not just through his words, but through his actions. All of us, we say all Muslims are equal. But how many of us are willing to marry someone that is from a lower social class than us, but they have iman, they have akhlaq. The Imam was sending a message that virtue, nobility, has nothing to do with your race. You can have the best person from being the non- non-Arab, being very poor, and the worst people being from the Arab. So, al-Imam al-Sadiq alayhis salaam was sending this message. And the story of his marriage resembles the story of the marriage of al-Imam al-Askari, the mother of the Imam of our time, Sahib al-Asr wa al-Zaman. I mentioned that couple of months ago when we discussed the life of the 12th Imam. Al-Imam al-Baqir alayhis salaam calls some of his companions, and he tells them that a slave trader, you know, there were people that used to trade slaves for a living. They would travel, buy slaves, bring them to Medina, Mecca, wherever, and they would sell them. So, the Imam tells his companions, the fifth Imam, he says that today a slave trader will Allah from North Africa to Medina, and he will have with him a special woman. He takes out a pouch. There is a certain amount of money in it. He gives it to them. He tells them, "I need you to go to that slave that slave trader, and I want you to purchase a specific slave from him, female slave." His companions take the money. They go to the market. They see, indeed, a slave trader has just arrived from North Africa, and he is selling a slave from that area. They tell him, "We want to buy this one, this slave." He says, "Yes. How much?" He says, "70 dinars." They say, "This is too much." They try to bring the price down, negotiate, but he does not relent. 70, not a dinar less. They tell him, "Look, we're buying this for someone else. There is money in the pouch. Whatever is in this pouch, we will not pay anything extra." They open the pouch that al-Imam al-Baqir gave them, and they see exactly 70 dinars in it, which was the exact price that he wanted. He takes the money. They bring this lady, noble lady, to al-Imam al-Baqir. Al-Imam al-Baqir greets her. He asks her about her journey from North Africa to Medina. How did her master, the slave trader, how he treated her? And she told him that I witnessed a miracle. Every time he tried to assault me or abuse me or touch me, she says, "Allah would send someone, a figure, an angel, and he would prevent him and beat him. So, he would not come close to me out of all the slaves. And that's why al-Imam al-Sadiq alayhis salaam, when he spoke about his wife, who he named Hamida. Hamida is the praised one. He said about her, "Hamidatun fid dunya wa mahmudatun fil akhira." She's praised in the dunya and in the akhira. Al-Imam al-Sadiq said that my wife Hamidah is pure from all impurities, like a bar of pure gold. And then he said, "Allah protected my wife. He protected her through angels so that she would be pure for me, for the Imam, and so that she would be pure for the next Imam, because she would be the mother of the seventh Imam of Ahlul Bayt alayhis salam. So, al-Imam al-Baqir in numerous verses praises her. Al-Imam al-Sadiq alayhis salam praises her that this is a very noble woman. And from this marriage, al-Imam al-Sadiq alayhis salam has his son, al-Imam Musa al-Kazim alayhis salam. Now, as I said, some of the people, companions of the Imam, may have been surprised. "Ya ibn Rasul Allah, why do you marry a slave? What's the worth of a slave back then? Nothing. And she's a non-Arab when you have so many choices." Like we said, the Imam was teaching a lesson. Look for iman. Look for taqwa. Look for character, akhlaq. It doesn't matter what language they speak. This is a message that all of the Imams taught. And more than one Imam, they married non-Arabs, and some of them were even slaves. But unfortunately, what you find in our community today is that not all the Shi'a of Ahlul Bayt, they follow these teachings of Ahlul Bayt. Many times I receive young men and women in the community. They come to me and they complain. They say, "Sayyid, I found this girl. I want to marry her. She has good akhlaq. She wears good hijab. She's modest. She's polite. She prays. She's practicing. Everything good about her. But my parents say no. Why? Because she is non-Arab. Because she's she's a Muslim, a Shia, but she's non-Arab. Or sometimes she's Arab but from a different country. Because I my parents are from this country but he but she is from a different country. Or sometimes the girl just recently, I remember a girl comes and she wants to marry a guy. She says, "Sayyid, he's from a different city, Shia practicing. There's a few scholars in that city. You can call all of them and ask. He's a very virtuous and pious person." But my father says no. Why? Simply because he's not Arab. And then I asked her who your father is. And I was surprised. This This father is at the masjid every day. I pick up the phone. I tell him, "Habibi, brother, you're a mu'min, you're a believer. But it is iman and Islam just in salah, just in this routine ibadah, this mechanical ibadah? Or do you not follow the teachings of Ahlul Bayt idhakum man tarzoona dinahu wa khuluqa? Didn't the prophet say dinan akhlaq? Do you have a problem with his din? No. Do you have a problem with his character, his akhlaq? Is he stingy? Is he have anger problems? He's never even met him. He doesn't want to meet him because he's not Arab. I told him, "If you're a true Shia with Imam al-Sadiq, you would not do this. If you're a true Muslim, you would not do this." So when the Imams they married, there were messages that they were sending us, lessons, that don't let this be a barrier. And Hamidah turned out to be one of the greatest woman in Medina. She would teach women in the same time that al-Imam al-Sadiq would teach the men, she would teach the woman. So, this was Hamidah, the mother of the seventh Imam, Al Imam Al Kadhim, alayhis salaam. Al Imam Al Kadhim lived for 20 years with his father, Al Imam Al Sadiq, alayhis salaam. And then at the age of 20, his father dies. He becomes the Imam for 35 years, and at the age of 55, Al Imam Musa ibn Ja'far dies, the year 183 after the Hijrah. We mentioned in the last sessions when we spoke about the lives of Al Imam Al Baqir and Al Sadiq, we said there was something unique about these two Imams. What's unique is we find so many hadiths narrated from them, more than any other Imam. What's the reason? We said because they lived at a time where they enjoyed freedom more than the other Imams. And the reason was because the government of their time was weak. And this was a common theme. As soon as the government is strong, what does it do? It starts restricting the freedom of Ahlulbayt. No classes, no students, no teaching. Bani Abbas, they're rising to power. Bani Umayya, they're losing power, they're declining. They're fighting against each other. So, there is a power vacuum. They're fighting, Al Imam Al Sadiq, and all Muslim scholars, they took this as an opportunity. I spoke about this in detail when we discussed the life of Al Imam Al Baqir and Al Imam Al Sadiq, alayhimus salaam. So, [snorts] these two Imams, they start teaching thousands of students, that's why we have all these hadiths. Now, this didn't continue for the entire life of Al Imam Al Sadiq. Many Shia have this misunderstanding. They think Al Imam Al Sadiq, his entire life, it was freedom. He had free access to classes, students can come to him. No. The last years of Al Imam Al Sadiq's life, everything changed because now Al Mansur Al Abbasi, this cruel dictator, he became powerful. Now he doesn't have any opposition. Now the government is solid and strong. So what does he do? They have nothing better to do, so they turn inwards. And he starts repressing the scholars and Al Imam Al Sadiq again. That's why the last years of Al Imam Al Sadiq's life, no classes. No one could come to Al Imam Al Sadiq's house except his family members and relatives. Al Imam Al Sadiq was isolated just like Al Imam Zayn Al Abidin, just like Al Imam Al Hussein Alayhis Salaam before Karbala, just like the later Imams in Samarra. His door is closed and the Shia cannot even access him. He becomes just like Al Imam Al Mahdi during the Ghaybah. We know there's an Imam living, but we can't access him. Things became so dire that Al Mansur decided to kill Al Imam Al Sadiq. He sent poison to Al Imam Al Sadiq. He poisons him. And he wants to completely eradicate this lineage now because he knows every time an Imam dies from this family, there's another one. So he sends a letter. You can find this in the book of Al Kafi. Al Mansur the Khalifa sends a letter to the governor of Medina. After he kills Al Sadiq, he said, "Find who his Khalifa is. Who's the next Imam after him? And execute him right away. No questions asked." >> [clears throat] >> Al Imam Al Sadiq Alayhis Salaam was through Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala's help, he was making his own plans to protect the life of Al Imam Al Kadhim. Al Imam Al Sadiq would no longer, the last years of his life, would longer mention his son al-Imam al-Kazim. Why? Because he knew the eyes would be on him and they will kill him right away. So, when al-Imam al-Sadiq dies, many of the Shi'a, they fell into a state of confusion. Who's the Imam? Al-Imam al-Kazim is nowhere to be found. Because it became a very dangerous time. The Shi'a school of thought entered a deep state of taqiyyah. Taqiyyah means conceal because if you reveal your beliefs, you would be killed. So, many people were confused. They didn't know who the Imam is. And what added to this problem is al-Imam al-Sadiq had another son by the name of Abdullah. They used to call him Abdullah al-Aftah. Aftah because he had a disability in his foot. Abdullah al-Aftah was older than Imam Musa ibn Ja'far. The Shi'a see that al-Imam al-Sadiq dies and they knew that there was a principle within the Shi'a school of thought. When an Imam dies, the next Imam is always the oldest son. Who's the oldest son? Abdullah is older than al-Imam al-Kazim. Al-Imam al-Kazim, in fact, he had two older brothers. Isma'il, we said he died during the life of al-Imam al-Sadiq. Abdullah is still alive. So, some Shi'a start believing that Abdullah is the Imam. And you know, al-Imam al-Kazim was the only Imam of Ahlul Bayt. This could be used on a quiz. Who's the only Imam of Ahlul Bayt who became the Imam while he had an older brother? Now, besides Imam Ali, because when he became the Imam after Rasulullah, his brother Aqil, who was older than him, was also alive. But after Imam Ali, it only happened once. Every Imam was always the oldest sibling, the oldest living sibling, except al-Imam al-Kazim. So, now the Shias are confused. The Imams have always told us the oldest sibling, the oldest sibling, the oldest sibling. Hisham ibn Salim is one of the companions of al-Imam al-Sadiq. He says, "Me and another companion, Mu'min al-Taq, he says, "When al-Imam al-Sadiq died, we saw the Shia going to the house of Abdullah. And he claimed that he was the Imam." They said, "Let's go and see if he's the Imam." Because remember, the Shia, they would never blindly accept another Imam. I mentioned this numerous times. Every time an Imam dies, another Imam comes, they would have to test him. And this is something that should make you proud, brothers and sisters. Being from a school of thought that we don't blindly follow anyone. Even the Imams that we know they're masoom, our predecessors, the Shia, when an Imam dies, another Imam is appointed, they would go and test him with the hardest questions. If he's able to answer, we follow you. If not, we're not going to follow you. They didn't blindly follow anybody. And that's why today we say follow the a'lam, the most knowledgeable of the maraja. Why? Because this is what the early Shia taught us. That always look for knowledge. Knowledge will show you where the truth is. It's the same principle and concept. So, Hisham ibn Salim, he says, "Me and Mu'min al-Taq, we went to the house of Abdullah. We saw all these Shia there. They're paying their condolences to Abdullah for the death of his father, al-Imam al-Sadiq." Hisham says, "I wanted to test him if he's the Imam or not." He said, "I asked them a question about zakat. I told them if someone has 200 dirhams, dirhams is always silver, 200 silver coins. How much zakat does he have to give? Anybody know? Any guess? Five, someone said five. Why five? 5%? No, five is not 5% of 200. 2 and 1/2%, right? And we've heard this that zakat is 2 and 1/2%. So, if you have 200 dirhams, how much is your zakat? Five dirhams. They ask him, Abdullah, you claim to be the Imam, how much is the zakat of 200? He says it's easy, it's five. Now, they ask him a tricky question. How much is the zakat of 100? What's the answer? Hm? 2 and 1/2. Any other answer? No other answer. The same answer that Abdullah gives. He tells them obviously, he uses the 2.5% um equation. He says 2.5. They look at each other, Muhammad ibn al-Hanafi and Hisham ibn Salim, they say la ilaha illallah. He failed. He doesn't know the answer. Abdullah is surprised. He's like, "No, it's 2%." They tell him, "Everyone knows, every Shia knows the answer. How You're the Imam and you don't know the answer?" They're like, "You're definitely not the Imam. You don't even know the basics." Now, why was his answer wrong? I'm sure you're mention you're you're wondering. Because when it comes to zakat of silver, the Imams made it clear there's a minimum threshold. If you don't make above that minimum, you don't pay anything. And that minimum is 200. So, if you have 199 dirhams, you pay zero. That 2.5% kicks in after 200. Abdullah didn't know this. He didn't have the full knowledge. So, he said, "2.5?" He should have said zero. They left him. They're like, he's not the Imam. Okay, so who's the Imam then? Al Imam al-Kazim is nowhere to be found. Remember taqiyyah. Because if the authorities knew Abdullah is not the Imam, so that's why they gave him some freedom. They knew he's not a real threat. Even though there were some Shia that followed him. And an entire sect within the Shia branch called the Fatahiyyah. You read about them in history. You know how we have the Zaidiyyah now? We have the Isma'iliyyah. There used to be an entire madhhab from the Shia that only believed in six Imams. Al Imam al-Sadiq, then instead of al Imam al-Kazim, Abdullah, his son. They eventually died out. There's absolutely no Fatahi today. It's one of the madhahib that went extinct. But some did follow until they realized that he's not a true Imam. So, anyway, they left. And they're like, "We're confused. What do we do? Who's our Imam? Is it possible al Imam al-Sadiq They know there is an Imam because they know there has to be an Imam of their time, but who is he? Why didn't the Imam al Imam al-Sadiq make it clear?" They started to lose hope. They sat down, distressed. All of the sudden, Hisham says, "I see an old man in the alley." He starts calling me, a mysterious man. "Come." Hisham, what does he think? He thinks this is one of the spies of Harun. Because Harun, I'm sorry, not Harun, Mansur, the Khalifa. Mansur sent so many spies so he could find out who are the loyal Shia of the Imams. So, he would arrest them, monitor them, surveil them. So, he said, "I'm sure this person is an agent of the government." He's calling me and I'm in deep trouble. So, he told Mu'min al-Taq and to go go on a let me go die by myself. He says, "I surrender to death. I started to say my shahadatain." The man told me, "Come with me. Come with me." I thought he's taking me to get executed. All of a sudden, he takes me to the house of Musa ibn Ja'far. He says, "Go inside." He says, "I went inside and I see a holy face of Musa ibn Ja'far, alayhis salam." While they were confused and distressed, they started to speak to themselves, Hisham ibn Salim and Mu'min al-Taq, "Where do we go to now? Should we leave Tashayyu'? Should we go find another madhhab? Should we become Kharijis? Should we become There was another madhhab called Murji'ah? Should we become Qadariyyah? What do we do?" It's as if the Shi'a school of thought is no use anymore. He says, "As soon as I entered and saw the Imam, the Imam told me, 'Do not go to the Kharijis. Do not go to the Qadaris. Do not go to the Murji'ah, bal ilayya, ilayya. Come to me. Come to me.'" How did the Imam know that? He says, "Subhanallah." He says, "All of a sudden, a deep sense of awe, haybah, entered my heart even more than the haybah that al-Imam al-Sadiq, alayhis salam, had." So, he's like, "I was sure this is the Imam." I asked him, "Your father, al-Sadiq, died?" "Yes." "Are you the Imam of your time?" Al-Imam al-Kazim, either being humble or maybe because of the danger of the situation, he didn't say yes, nor he said no. He just said, "And Allah will guide you to the path." He asked him a second way. He He gave him the same answer until he asked him a clever question to get the answer. He told him, "Do you have an Imam above you that you have to follow?" Imam al-Khadim said, "No." But if you're the Imam, you don't have an Imam. When he said that, he was like, "I was so sure that he's the Imam of his time." But yet, even though he's already seen a miracle because he told him of their conversation, where do we go to? Ilayya ilayya. He said, "I want to test you some questions." He said, "Every question I asked Musa ibn Ja'far, I found him a deep never-ending ocean like his father, al-Imam al-Sadiq." He says, "I praised Allah, alhamdulillah, that the knowledge of Muhammad and Aal-e-Muhammad of al-Imam al-Sadiq is preserved." After that, I told him, "Yabna Rasul Allah, I want you to pay attention to this." I told him, "Yabna Rasul Allah, your Shia are lost. It's a very dangerous time. They don't know who their Imam is. Can I go and tell them that you, Musa, the son of Sadiq, Ja'far, you are the Imam?" He says the Imam told me clearly, "Anyone that you tell them I am the Imam now, you have to get a pledge of secrecy from them. If you trust them 100% and you take a pledge, yani they have to swear to keep it a secret from the authorities and not to tell anyone unless it's someone who they trust, then yes. Or else," he says, "the Imam pointed to his neck." He said, "Wallahi wa Allahu wa dhab." Or else, you will be slaughtered. Yani only for the fact that you believe in al-Imam al-Khadim, you could be slaughtered. Can you imagine a time of taqiyya that was more difficult, that was more strict than the time of al-Imam al-Khadim? They just know you're Shia. You're You're following al-Imam al-Khadim. You are You believe in him. He's the Imam of your time. The Imam says that you will be killed. You know, there's no questions asked. There's no joke, no kidding. So, only if you trust someone, or else your life will be in danger. His life will be in danger. So, he says, "I want only the closest companions, the ones that I could fully trust." The ones I would trust with my life, I told them, "Musa ibn Ja'far is the Imam, and you can only meet him in secrecy. Nothing can be done public. And that's why you find from this stage and on, the Shia school of thought became an underground madhhab. Because anything public would be completely destroyed and killed. Similar to the era of Saddam, you've heard that the Shias lived in a time of taqiyya. Many people would be afraid to go and visit the shrines of Ahlul Bayt alayhim as-salam. People were afraid to visit the maraja' in Najaf. Simply visiting a marja' would be a crime. You would go to jail. You could get executed. Visiting the shrines of Ahlul Bayt was a big crime. So, they started this secretive movement, underground movement. They had to use codes. That's why they wouldn't call Al Imam Al Kadhim Al Kadhim. Obviously, the the authorities will know. They used to use code names. Like what? We see them in some of the hadiths. Al 'Abd as-Salih. I saw Al 'Abd as-Salih. I saw the noble, virtuous servant of Allah. Who's that? Could be anybody. But, this was a code between the Shia. They met Al Imam Al Kadhim alayhi as-salam. And that's why you find we don't have too many hadiths from Al Imam Al Kadhim. Why? Because there was barely any access to him. In addition, he spent years in prison that we'll get to. So, you don't have too many hadiths. Now, the Hadiths that we do have, how were they written? There's a tradition that a Sayyid ibn Tawus, a scholar from eight centuries ago, narrates from one of the companions of al-Imam al-Kazim, Abdullah ibn Zaid. You know how they used to write the Hadiths of al-Imam al-Kazim? He says, "We only the inner circle, the closest of the closest companions, we would visit the Imam with the pretext of reselling some food." You know, you had those vendors that came to the house. He's selling cucumbers, he's selling tomatoes, he's selling that. He says, "We come with the excuse that we're selling something, and within our sleeves, we would hide a piece of paper and pencil or pen." "We enter, we only have a few minutes before they will know." And Imam al-Kazim quickly, he teaches us a Hadith. Rasulullah said this, Imam Ali said this, this is how you do your wudu, this is how you do this, this is how you do that. They would quickly write it, hide it in their sleeves, and it was very secretly passed through generations. You see, brothers and sisters, what our madhhab had to go through? You see the fear and terror that our grandparents, our forefathers, the early Shia had to go through. And yet, you find they were so devoted. So, al-Imam al-Kazim alayhis salam lived at a very delicate time. He was guiding the Shia just to make sure they live, they're not killed. And they had to fully, many times, conceal the fact that they were Shia of Ahlul Bayt alayhim al-salam. And in the same way that al-Imam al-Sadiq alayhis salam, not only did he teach, but he also served as a guide for the Shia helping them, guiding them, supporting them in every way possible. And Imam al-Kadhim followed in the same footsteps. Listen to this beautiful story. Ali ibn Muhammad al-Naysaburi a man that lives in the city of Nishapur. Nishapur was right outside of Mashhad, present-day Mashhad where the eighth Imam is buried. He says, "During the life of Imam al-Sadiq, towards the end of his life, the Shia wanted to send their khums. Now, khums has sahm al-Imam. So, who's the Imam? Imam al-Sadiq. They wanted to send their money from Nishapur to Medina to give it to Imam al-Sadiq. So, all the Shia came, everyone brought money. Some people brought thousands, hundreds, until there was about, I think the hadith says 30,000 dinars. That's a lot of money. They chose me to go to Medina and deliver it to Imam al-Sadiq. He says, "Before I left, an old woman came by the name of Shatita. Some of you have heard her story. She says, 'Wait, wait, wait, I want to give you my khums to give to the Imam.' He delayed her, he waited for her, waited for her, and then she comes and she brings one dirham. One dirham is like a quarter. He has a bag filled with 30,000 dinars. Like, imagine a million dollars, and then some lady wants us keeping me up because she wants to send a quarter. When he sees it's one dirham, he's like, "Are you serious? This is ta'ib. I'm embarrassed to give this to Imam al-Kadhim." She tells him, "If you're embarrassed, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, inna Allaha la yastahi min al-haqq. Allah is not embarrassed. Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, when it's when it's about haqq, it's haqq, even if it's one cent. So, ya'ni khalas, just take it to the Imam." He belittled her, but he's like, "Yallah, let me just take it." He takes it and he goes to first the city of Al Kufa to visit, possibly visit Amir al-Mu'minin Alayhissalam's grave. While he's in the city of Kufa, he's sitting with some Shia, a man comes from Medina, he tells he brings them the news that Al Imam al-Sadiq has died. La ilaha illallah, everyone starts crying. What do we do? Inna lillahi I have all this money that I'm supposed to give to Al Imam al-Sadiq. What do I do now? He says, "I continued. I arrived to the city of Al Medina, the same problem that Hisham ibn Salim. Who's the Khalifa? I see everybody telling me it's Abdullah. Remember? Unfortunately, that son that unjustly claimed he was the Imam. He says, "I went to Abdullah. I asked him a couple of questions. I noticed this man is ignorant. He's not the Imam. Once again, I'm confused. All of these amanat, trust, what do I do with it? Possibly that same old man. He says, "I see someone in the street. He calls me. Come. I will take you to where you need." He says he takes me to the house of Al Imam al-Kazim Alayhissalam. He says, "I see the nur in the face of Al Imam al-Kazim. I asked him some questions. I realized that his ilm is the same ilm of Al Imam al-Sadiq Alayhissalam and I gave him all the money. But he says that one dirham I had put it in my pocket, not in the bag because it's just, you know, so small. He says, "I gave him the money. Allah Assalamualaikum. As I was leaving Al Imam al-Kazim told him, "Oh Ali ibn Muhammad, where is the dirham of Shatita?" There were people that gave maybe 5,000 dinars as their khums. Those, you know, rich, wealthy Shias of Nishapur. Al Imam did not ask about any of them. He asked only about this woman Shatita. "Where is that dirham?" "Oh, I'm sorry, Rasulallah. I forgot. It's only one dirham." The Imam said, "Yes, this one dirham this one dirham was given fi sabilillah. She wants no recognition. She gave this one dirham and that's the only thing she owned and this is very precious in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then the Imam he says, "When you go back, wait. All these Shia gave thousands, he only chooses Shatita to send her a gift." First of all, 40 dirhams. Second of all, he gives her a kafan. That kafan was was taken from There was an area called the village of Fatima al-Zahra. It was from the cotton of that village. He tells him, "This will be the kafan of Shatita, my gift to Shatita." He takes it. He He's baffled. All these people gave that money. This lady that gave one dirham, she gets all this treatment? And he tells him, "Give her my salaams and tell her the Imam of your time sends the salaam." He says, "I felt" This is yani between parentheses, probably felt jealous. He goes back to a Shatita. He tells her the Imam thanks you, sends her salaam, "and he gives you 40 dirhams and this kafan for you to be buried in." Subhanallah, weeks, months later, she falls ill. And this woman dies. Al-Imam al-Kazim is where? In Medina. She is in Nishapur. Look at the map between Nishapur or Mashhad and Medina, it's a very long way. Even today, I think it's probably like a 3-hour flight. It's like you're going to South Florida or almost, you know, Arizona, California. So, it would take probably weeks to get there on a horse. Al-Imam al-Kazim, while they were burying her in the janazah in the graveyard all of a sudden they see Al-Imam al-Kazim coming on a horse. All that way from Medina to attend the funeral of Shatita. He comes down. He has with him the Hadith says turba turab from the grave of Imam Hussein alayhis salaam. And he starts dispersing it on the body of al-Sayyida Shatita. He does dua for her. Subhanallah. And all of those Shia are shocked. This is a nobody. Who even knows Shatita? She's just some old lady. Nobody even really cares about her. The Imam leaves The Imam wouldn't leave for any to Shia any funeral if it was that far. But the Imam was teaching his Shia a lesson that with Ahlulbayt alayhimus salaam we look for sincerity. It's not just about the numbers. Don't think that with Ahlulbayt alayhimus salaam we can fool them with the exterior, with what I'm wearing and what I'm pretending to do. It's about the purity of the heart. If you have a heart as pure as Shatita, the Imam tells them that I will come to your janazah. The Imam of your time will come and that's why brothers and sisters sometimes someone in the community dies. Nobody really knows them. I've been to those funerals, to those asabiyyah where you find only two rows of people. Say haram this person, you know. And you just go to some funerals masha Allah you see people standing. You see a thousand people in that funeral. Which funeral do you think Imam al-Mahdi would attend if theoretic theoretically he would attend? Maybe it could be that the Imam doesn't look for the chaos. The Imam doesn't look for the numbers. The Imam looks for that clean heart. If I want the Imam to attend mine inshallah after Allah all prolongs your life then purify your heart and gives what you have peace learn and come to the Imam will recognize you. Very beautiful story of a sayeda shatita. Now al Imam al al kadhim alayhi as-salam he had out of all the Imams he had the most amount of children. Very high number, almost 35 kids, children. One of them, the oldest and most important, Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha alayhi as-salam that we already talked about. And from the girls, the most notable of the daughters of al Imam Musa ibn Ja'far was al sayeda Masuma alayha as-salam. Who knows al sayeda Masuma? She is the daughter of al Imam al Kadhim buried in the city of Qom, Iran. She has a magnificent shrine, beautiful, beautiful shrine. Al Imam al Sadiq, there's hadith spoke of her even before, not before she was born, before her father was born. Who's her father? Al Imam al Kadhim. You only before al Imam al Sadiq had his son al Kadhim and then Kadhim had sayeda Masuma, Fatima al Masuma. A hadith is narrated by one of the Shia al Imam al Sadiq, he says we visited the Imam one day in his house and he said these words, inna lana ahlul bayt we ahlul bayt have a haram sanctuary. Wa huwa baldat Qom. Al Imam al Sadiq spoke of Qom, the city of Qom and how it would be a sanctuary for the Shia of ahlul bayt and for the Imams of ahlul bayt. And then the Imam says, wasa tutfan fiha imra'atun min waldi. And a woman from my lineage will be buried in the city of Qom. Whoever visits her grave in Qom, wajabat lahu al-jannah. I guarantee that Allah will grant them paradise. Al-Imam al-Sadiq says this. This is probably 30, 40 years before Sayyida Masuma is born. And subhanallah, 1,300 years later, you see millions of people flock to the shrine. And she's not a masum. She's not an Imam. She's a daughter of the Imam, but she receives, subhanallah, probably more rewards than some of the Imams of Ahlul Bayt. Which shows you her high position in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. As for the knowledge of al-Imam al-Kazim alayhis salam, so many stories. I'll just mention one story. There's a hadith that al-Kulayni narrates in al-Kafi. He says that there was a Christian man that lived in Damascus for 30 years. He was a very noble person, sincere. For 30 years, he would pray and ask Allah to guide him to the true religion. But he himself was a Christian priest and scholar. He says until he saw a dream. It's a long dream. We don't have to mention it. Within that dream, he saw signs of, you know, going to Medina. Something telling him go to Medina to find the truth. And he even heard from some people of the city that told him go to Medina and you will see a a person who will guide you to the truth. So finally, he made his way all the way from Damascus to Medina until he was able to find al-Imam al-Kazim alayhis salam. When he saw the Imam, he told him that I have come from a very far place looking for knowledge that I have not found anywhere. And I hope that I can find that knowledge with you. He says, "Yes. Ask whatever you want." He asked him some questions about the Quran. And the Imam answers all of his questions. He asked him some questions the Hadith says about the Torah. The book of Musa of Jews. He answers all the questions. He asked him questions about the Injil. He answers all those questions. Now that he's done Al Imam al Kadhim says, "Okay, now it's my turn to ask you. You're a Christian scholar. I'm a Muslim scholar." He tells him, "I'll ask you four questions about Jesus and Maryam. Let me see if you can answer them." He says, "Go ahead." He says, "Number one, the first question, what was the name of Maryam's mother?" Who knows the name of Maryam's mother here? What is it? Hannah? Hannah? No. I don't know which religion you follow, but no. Because Christians nor Muslims don't believe in this. Christians have a name, Muslims have a name, and it's not Hannah. So, this is number one. What's the name of Mary's mother? Number two, what day was Jesus conceived? The day that the angel Jibril came, the spirit, and he gifted her Jesus and she became pregnant. What day was that? Tell me. Number three, on what day of the week was Jesus born? And number four, when she gave birth Maryam, she gave birth next to a river. What river was that? This Christian priest thinks. He does not know the answer of any of them. Imagine a Christian man comes to you and he asked you four questions about Islam and you don't know any of them. That's very awkward. It's I don't know one. He doesn't know any of them. He says, "I don't know. None of them." He says, "As for the first one, the name of the mother of Maryam was in your language, i.e. in the language of Isa, her name was Marta. And in English, it would be Martha. Who's heard that before? You've heard that? Good for you. So, her name is Martha in that language. Now, the Imam says with a ta, Marta, but it's you know, in English it would be equivalent to Martha. And in Arabic, he tells them it would translate to Wahiba, which means a gift. So, her name is Martha, Martha, Wahiba. Now, I was researching Chris You know what Christians believe her name is? Anne. Like, Google it right now. They believe her name is Anne. And where do they get this from? I have no idea. It's not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. And probably that's why that Christian scholar because he was someone who was sincere. He could have said Anne, but even Christians have no proof for this. It's not mentioned in the Bible what her name is, the mother of Maryam. It's not mentioned by Jesus, it's not mentioned by the disciples. There's absolutely nothing that proves it. 200 years after Jesus was born and he was taken to heaven, or as they believe was crucified, there was a book written about Christianity. Who's the author of that book? We don't know. Christians don't know. An unknown author wrote a book. In that mysterious, unknown book, it said that the name of the mother of Mary is Anne, and Christians just all went along until today. And Imam al-Kazim shows him that I know more about Maryam and Isa than you do. Number two, on what day was Isa conceived? He tells them it was a day of Friday. On Friday that story happened that Allah sent Jibril and she became pregnant. And then he tells them there is no day more entitled for us Muslims to celebrate than Friday. He says and that's why Allah Azza wa Jal considered it as a blessed day and Rasul Allah considered it as a blessed day and he commanded us Muslims to celebrate that day. How many people on Friday send you those very nice messages Jummah Mubarakah? Nice, sometimes, you know, meaning not so nice, you know. Those mass messages, right? 50 messages Jummah Mubarakah Jummah. Why is Jummah Mubarak? Why is Jummah blessed? Imam Kadhim says to honor Jesus. Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala wanted to honor Isa and the day that the miracle happened where he was conceived without a father and thus that day became a day of celebration. What day did did Maryam give birth? It was a day Tuesday. And finally, he tells which river was it? He tells them it was Al-Furat, the Euphrates. Now, the Euphrates is where? In which country? In Iraq. If you come back to the Bible, where was Jesus born? Palestine. And in detail, more specific, in Bayt Lahm, Bethlehem, right? And that's where she lived and that's where all the stories happened after that where baby Jesus started to speak, the miracle. So, how did she go to Iraq and there's I don't know how couple of thousand kilometers maybe between them. The tradition state that through a miracle of Allah, Allah Azza wa Jal transported her to Iraq by a river that the Quran says and there were trees of of dates, palm trees, and she gave birth by the Euphrates River. And Subhana Allah, when you look at the Quran, there is a verse that somewhat supports this because in one verse in Surat Maryam, Allah subhana wa ta'ala says uh about the uh you know, her birth, fa hamalat hu. And when she became pregnant, fantabazat bihi makanin qasiya. Then she left to a far place and she gave birth. >> [snorts] >> If she gave birth in Bethlehem, then what What does the Quran mean she went to a far place? Or some believe it was at the outskirts of Bethlehem. Far place means somewhere far and that would match with Iraq. And subhanallah, I seen a hadith from one of the Imams of Ahlul Bayt that says Allah subhana wa ta'ala took her to the city of Karbala. Next to the Euphrates where Imam Hussein would be killed and this is where Prophet Isa would be born. You see the connection, subhanallah, between the Prophets of Allah subhana wa ta'ala and the Imams of Ahlul Bayt. So, anyway, this man, this Christian man, when he saw so much knowledge from al Imam al Kadhim, he declared his shahada. And he became a student of al Imam al Kadhim, alayhis salaam. He would never leave al Imam al Kadhim in al Madinah until the day Harun summoned al Imam al Kadhim. He summoned him to Baghdad, first to Basra, then Baghdad, put him in prison. This man, the hadith says, when he saw al Imam al Kadhim is no longer in Madinah, he could no longer live. He could hardly breathe. He became depressed. And 28 days later, for years he was with al Imam al Sadiq, with al Imam al Kadhim. 28 eight days later, after the Imam was taken to the prisons of Harun, this man died in the city of Madinah. He was He died and he was buried in the city of al Madinah, subhanallah. Al Imam al Kadhim, alayhis salaam spent very difficult lives, my dear. Very difficult times, my dear brothers and sisters. He lived years in the dungeons of Harun because Harun could not tolerate, just like all the other Khulafa, he could not tolerate that Al-Imam-al-Kadhim, even though we are trying to repress him and deny his Shia, yet his Shia love him. Yet they try to come to him in every way. So he wanted to separate him from the Shia. So he was arrested and put in prison. And Al-Imam-al-Sadiq is probably Al-Imam-al-Kadhim, one of the only Imams that was put in prisons. He was put in dungeons. And not only that, but he was tortured in those dungeons. From one dungeon to another. And each dungeon, each prison would be much worse than the one before until he was taken to the worst of those prisons. The prison of As-Sindi ibn Shahik. A man who said used to hate Ahlul Bayt, Nasibi. Used to hate Ali ibn Abi Talib. Used to hate Fatima al-Zahra. You know how his prison was? His prison was underground. Yani it was a grave for the living. You had to go inside it. The Imam could hardly breathe in it. He could not tell the difference between night and day. But when Al-Imam-al-Kadhim went to prison, you know what he said? Can you imagine going in such prisons that you could hardly even breathe? You could hardly even move in them. I've even seen some people they I don't know if it's true or not, recently in the last couple of years, where they take you to to this like underground prison and they tell you in Baghdad, this is the prison of Al-Imam-al-Kadhim. It's a grave, brothers and sisters. It's like 50 ft under. Yani even those, you know, what do they call them? The the bombs, the B-2 bomber, but I don't think it could it could reach that low. That's why they say that Imam couldn't tell if it's night or day. He had to ask the guards, "Tell me when it's subah. Tell me when it's Maghrib." And yet the Imam spent his entire time in ibadah. When he was taken to that prison, you know what the Imam said? He did not complain once. All he said was alhamdulillah. Ya Allah, I would always ask you to give me time, free time, so that I could do ibadah. And I thank you that now you gave me the opportunity. He saw it as an opportunity. Because when you're in your house and you're busy with the community, you never have time for ibadah. You're always running from one errand to another, from one wedding to another funeral, to another birthday party, to school, to work, kids, family. When do you have time for ibadah, brothers and sisters? When do you have time to invest in your akhirah? We need some solitude. We need some time for ourselves. Al-Imam al-Kazim saw that now no one's going to bother me, no one's going to ask me questions. I have all the time I need and he spent it constantly in ibadah. They say he used to do a sujud after the sun rises and he would not lift his head until it was Dhuhr time. Yani, 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours sujud. The guards would come, all they would see is a man in sujud. This was al-Imam. Such that even the guards began to feel very, very guilty for imprisoning al-Kazim. Why has Harun brought this person to prison? This is the person, all he does is pray, all he does is du'a. One of those guards, he says, "I used to even eavesdrop on him. Wallahi, not once for months did he even do a du'a against Harun or against me. It was all general du'a, for him, for afiyah." with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But as-Sindi ibn Shahik, he began to intensify and he began to increase the torture on the Imam. They say that he brought chains, hundreds of pounds of chains. And he would tie the the the feet of Al Imam Al Kadhim with those chains, and it was tied very very very hard, very, you know, strictly. Such that it left so much marks on the body, it began to affect the bones of the Imam. And this is mentioned in one of the ziyarahs. May Allah grant to ziyarah Musa ibn Ja'far in Baghdad. In one of the passages of the ziyarah, when you say salaam to the Imam, you say this, the saq al-mardhudi bi halaq al-quyud. The saq means, you are the one whose feet was crushed by the chains of Harun. His feet was crushed, brothers and sisters. The saq al-mardhudi bi halaq al-quyud al-mu'adhdhabi fi qa'r al-sujun. He was tortured deep down in the dungeons. Wa dhulm wa dhulm al-mata- matamir. Al Imam Al Kadhim, alayhi al-salam, he had enough, and the straw that, you know, broke the camel's back is when one day he was trying to get some air. Sindhi ibn Shahak, there was a small opening that he could grasp some air. >> [snorts] >> The Sindhi ibn Shahak saw the head of the Imam, he came, he slapped the Imam on his face. The Imam fell down, and then he cursed Imam Ali and Fatima al-Zahra. They say that Al Imam Al Kadhim that night he did a du'a. It was the first time he did that du'a. And what he said? He said, Allahumma khallisni min sijni Harun. Ya Allah, you know how patient I've been for years. All I've been doing is praying to you, ya Allah, doing du'a. But but I have reached my capacity. I can no longer tolerate this humiliation and this pain and torture. Ya Allah, I ask you to please relieve me from the torture and the pain of Harun. Subhanallah, it was days after that they gave him poison. They put poison in his food and al-Imam al-Kadhim was killed. They brought his janaza, they threw it they threw it in the most disrespectful way on a bridge in Baghdad and then they cried out, "This is the Imam of the Rafidah." The Rafidah yani the Shia. So whoever wants to come and take it, they just left his janaza. The Shia of of al-Imam al-Kadhim heard that your Imam, they didn't even know, your Imam's janaza is laying on the bridge. No one is attending to it. No one is praying salat al-janaza. No kafan, no ghusl. Allahu Akbar, how's this possible? The Shia's they came in the hundreds. They saw al-Imam al-Kadhim alayhis salaam but his body is filled with injury and bruises. They could tell how much al-Imam al-Kadhim alayhis salaam was how much in pain and torture he was in these dungeons but what could they do? This is the path of Ahlul Bayt alayhimus salaam. Al-qatl lana ada wa karamatuna min Allah al-shahada. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us the knowledge and the wisdom and the patience that we can follow in the footsteps of Ahlul Bayt. It is not brothers and sisters, it is not an easy path to follow but wallahi it is the most most worthwhile and it is the greatest and most noble path that you can ever find, the path of Muhammad and Aal Muhammad. And no matter how much we have to sacrifice for them, wallahi they deserve much more for what they did and what they went through just to preserve our faith so that we can understand our religion. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us the ziyarah of al-Imam al-Kadhim in this life, his shafa'a in the next life wal arwah al-mu'minin wal mu'minat al-Fatiha ma'a salawat.