When Imam Reza died while traveling with Caliph al-Mamun from Merv to Baghdad, it was unclear to some Shi’ites who was his successor. He had one son, and only one, who had been born when he was well over 40. The child’s mother was a freed slave from Nubia, that is Sudan; she is said to have been from the same family as Muhammad’s Egyptian wife. Since Reza’s mother had also been Sudanese, we should picture both Reza and his son with very dark skin, looking more African than Arab. The infant’s skin was so dark that some Shi’ites had at first challenged his paternity. This child had many names, but he is best known to history now as al-Jawad (Javad in Farsi-influenced sources).
Imam Reza had been teaching little Jawad since he was an infant and proclaimed him as the next Imam when he was only three. When Jawad was four or five, Reza was removed from their home in Medina by the Caliph’s men. After that, the child received regular letters from his father. Shi’ites believe that esoteric understanding of Allah had been handed down from father to son since the earliest days, and Reza had only a limited time to pass it all to this very young child.
Jawad proclaimed himself to be the 9th Imam when he was not yet eight years old. Shi’ites believe that he was gifted with supernatural knowledge not only beyond his years, but beyond his sight. He passed a number of challenges to his authority, impressing those around him until Caliph al-Mamun came to meet him, too. The Caliph insisted on having his daughter married to Jawad, although they were both children. He saw it as a new opportunity to heal the rift between the Abbasid and Alid branches; his grandchild would be of Ali’s family, too.
Jawad went back to Medina and continued the scholarly life of a Shi’ite Imam. He studied and taught not only Islamic law but types of science; many books are attributed to him and his companions. When he reached puberty, he married a slave girl, as had his father and grandfather. By the time he was brought back to Baghdad to accept the Caliph’s daughter as a full wife, he had a two-year-old son. He stayed in Baghdad until it was time for the Hajj, then he and the Caliph’s daughter went to Mecca, then home to Medina.
The Imams of this time sent out representatives to the cities of the empire, promoting their faith and staying in touch by letters. Shi’ite beliefs reached into Egypt during Jawad’s time. There was a major Shi’ite uprising in Qom, Iran, during these years.
When al-Mamun died, his brother Mu’tasim inherited the Caliphate over his son Abbas. As a way to quell Shi’ite uprisings, he ordered Imam Jawad and his royal wife to return to Baghdad. Before he left, Jawad introduced his oldest son al-Hadi to the Shi’ite leaders in Medina as the next Imam. Hadi was about seven years old, only a little older than Jawad had been.
True to form, Caliph Mu’tasim allowed Jawad to live for only a short time in Baghdad. After not quite a year had passed, there was a meeting of Islamic judges to decide for the Caliph how much of a thief’s hand should be cut off. That penalty had not been enforced for so long that nobody could remember. Various judges gave opinions about cutting at the wrist or farther up the arm, and then the Caliph insisted on Jawad giving an opinion. Very reluctantly, he gave the opinion that the Quran forbade the palm of a hand to be removed, since then the man could not prostrate in prayer. The Caliph chose this opinion, and the thief’s fingers alone were removed. But the other judges were so ashamed of being overruled that one finally urged the Caliph to get rid of Jawad.
Jawad was fed a poisonous meal at the home of a leading official, though some also suspected that his childless Abbasid wife might have been involved. He died within a day; he was 25 years old. Eight-year-old Hadi became the next Imam.
- A Historical Research on the Lives of the Twelve Shi’a Imams. Mahdi Mahgrebi.