Shrine of Imam Musa Kazim (A.S.) the 7th Imam & Imam Muhammad Taqi (A.S.) the 9th Imam
Musa al-Kazim
Died: 799 AD, Baghdad, Iraq
Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad & the seventh imam in Twelver Shia Islam. Musa is often known by the title al-Kazim, apparently a reference to his patience & mild demeanor. He was born in 745 CE in Medina to Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Shia imam, who died in 765 without publicly designating a successor to save his heir from the wrath of the Abbasid caliphs. The subsequent crisis of succession was eventually resolved in favor of al-Kazim, with a dissenting group, now known as the Isma'ilis, separating from the mainstream Shia.
After the death of al-Sadiq, Musa al-Kazim remained in Medina, where he kept aloof from politics & devoted himself to religious teachings. He was nevertheless tightly restricted by the Abbasid caliphs & 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 & to 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 & his grandson, Muhammad al-Jawad, is a popular pilgrimage destination for Twelver Muslims in Kazimayn, Baghdad.
Musa al-Kazim played a key role in eradicating extreme views & exaggerations (ghuluww) from Twelver thought. His answers to legal questions have survived in Wasiyya fi al-aql & he is credited with numerous supplications. Musa al-Kazim is also revered for his piety in Sunni Islam & considered a reliable transmitter of prophetic sayings. He is a link in the initiatic Golden Chain in Sufism & some Sufi saints are often associated with him. Various nonprophetic miracles are attributed to al-Kazim, often emphasizing his precognition. He was succeeded to the imamate by his son, Ali al-Rida.
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