Let’s review the Shi’ite Imam line that’s going on outside the spotlight, all this time. Ali is counted as the first Imam, since he claimed that title when he became Caliph—saying that “Caliph” had become corrupt, so he would be only the Imam, the one who stood in front. His son Hassan is counted as the second Imam, and Husayn as the third.
Husayn died at Karbala with his son and grandson present, and both of them survived. His son became the fourth, known as Imam al-Sajjad, and was poisoned by Caliph Walid. The fifth Shi’ite Imam, Husayn’s grandson who was at Karbala as a four year old child, was known as al-Baqir. He was poisoned by order of Caliph Hisham, the Umayyad who ruled the longest just before their overthrow by the Abbasids.
Life actually got harder under the Abbasids, because they were distant relatives of the Imams, therefore the Imams were a greater threat to their claims to secular rule. The Umayyads at least didn’t try to claim descent from the Prophet, but the Abbasids argued that descent from his uncle was good enough. Once the Umayyads had been overthrown in favor of the Abbasids, the same forces could overthrow the Abbasids in favor of the Alids — the descendants of Ali and Fatima. So the Abbasids had very mixed feelings about them. Sometimes, they acted friendly, but other times, they murdered these relatives.
The sixth Imam al-Sadiq lived through the Abbasid Revolution by staying out of all controversy. Even so, eventually the second Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur ordered him to be poisoned. Imam al-Sadiq had three sons, but he favored his son Musa, who became known as al-Kazim, Imam #7. Kazim (or Kadhim) meant confined or self-controlled. Imam al-Kazim had to be Imam only in secret, whereas his father and grandfather could be open about it as long as they stayed non-political. The secrecy of his appointment is one reason why Ismailis believe that his brother, Ismail, was the actual choice to be Imam. (They trace a line of Imams from Ismail’s son down to today’s Aga Khan.)
Imam al-Kazim tried to meet with students in a more indirect way, and he controlled alms funds also indirectly, trying to make it unclear to the Caliph whether he or someone else was in charge. He told his followers to have nothing to do with the government, not even to take government contracts for work. There was one exception, an official placed high in the Baghdad government. This man used his position to try to rescue or help Shi’ites who were arrested or illegitimately taxed.
Caliph al-Mahdi arrested the Imam once, but it was his son Harun al-Rashid who had more contact with the Imam. It was a mix of good and bad contacts. Considering himself a family member of the Prophet, Harun al-Rashid decided to honor the grave of Ali at Najaf. Until that time, the location was a closely-guarded secret among his descendants. There were other times when Harun al-Rashid met with the Imam and asked him questions, something all of the Caliphs had periodically done.
But at last, Harun al-Rashid arrested Imam Kazim. A careless (and possibly bribed) Alid relative told the Caliph that Kazim was the Shi’ite leader and accused him of making his own coins. Imam Kazim was arrested in the mosque and sent under guard to Basra — while a decoy caravan went to Kufa in case there were rescue attempts. In Basra, he was imprisoned in the house of the governor, the Caliph’s cousin. This cousin kept him in solitary confinement but did not want to kill him.
Imam Kazim was moved to Baghdad, imprisoned in the houses of two courtiers, then passed on to Sindi ibn Shahak, the chief of the royal police. Sindi ibn Shahak kept him for several years. Later, Sindi’s grandson became a prominent Shi’ite, so it’s likely that as severe as the imprisonment may have been, a grandson was able to get in to visit the inmate.
After about four years of these imprisonments, Harun al-Rashid gave orders for Kazim to be fed poisoned dates while he himself was out of town. Sindi wanted Kazim’s death to appear natural, even propping up the dying man in view of some court officials to show what a nice soft bed and good care he had. Kazim unexpectedly piped up and said that he had been poisoned. After death, Harun’s uncle took charge of the body and gave it a full burial, because he was afraid there would be a Shi’ite uprising. A Baghdad neighborhood still bears Kazim’s name.
Imam Kazim’s son Ali became the eighth Imam, although the family had many other sons. He was known as al-Reza, the Contented or Pleasing one. His mother had been a slave from Sudan, so we should imagine him as biracial. She was freed and married to the Imam as a reward for conspicuous piety. Imam al-Reza, unlike his father, did not face conflict over which son was chosen, because in spite of the danger, Kazim named him in his will. Still, Reza stayed in the shadows. Later, he became quite public: but that’s another story that we’ll come back to.
- A Historical Research on the Lives of the Twelve Shi’a Imams. Mahdi Mahgrebi