Documents of the Right Word

Abbasid Rulers put the Imâms of Ahl-i-Bayt into dungeons. It
was forbidden to visit them or to talk to them. No one was allowed
to go in and see them. Scholars of Ahl as-sunna would risk the
danger and visit them. Thus they would acquire knowledge and
receive fayz from them. It is stated in all history books that when
hadrat Mûsâ Kâzim ‘rahmatullâhi aleyh’ was in dungeon,
Muhammad bin Hasan Sheybânî and Qâdî Abû Yûsuf
‘rahmatullâhi alaihimâ’, two Sunnite scholars, frequently visited
him, asking and learning from him what they did not know. Having
the courage of visiting hadrat Imâm at such a critical time would
require strong love and ikhlâs. These facts are written in Shiite
books, too. A scholar belonging to the Imâmiyya group of Shiites
wrote a book titled Fusûl, in which he relates hadrat Mûsâ Kâzim’s
kerâmets. One of them, which he narrates from Imâm Muhammad
and Imâm Abû Yûsuf, reads as follows: Hârûn Reshîd imprisoned
hadrat Imâm Mûsâ Kâzim. One day we two visited him. We were
sitting in his presence, when one of the guardians entered and said,
“If you need something tell me! I’ll bring it with me tomorrow.”
Hadrat Imâm answered that he did not need anything. When the
man left the Imâm turned to us and said, “This man surprises me.
He asks me if I need anything and says he will bring it tomorrow.
Yet he is going to die suddenly tonight.” Later we heard that he
had died that night.
It is stated in the book Kâmûs-ul-a’lâm, “Imâm-i-Ja’fer Sâdiq
is a grandson of hadrat Alî’s grandson. His mother, Umm-i-
Ferwa, was a daughter of Qâsim, hadrat Abû Bekr’s grandson.
Therefore, the Imâm (Ja’fer Sâdiq) ‘rahmatullâhi aleyh’ attained
not only the maturities of Wilâyat coming through hadrat Alî but
also the perfections of Nubuwwat coming through hadrat Abû
Bekr. He bestowed plenty of both sources of perfection on Imâmi-A’zam
Abû Hanîfa. Imâm-i-Ja’fer Sâdiq was learned in jefr,
chemistry and other sciences. Jâbir, the celebrated Muslim
Chemist, was a pupil of Imâm Sâdiq’s. Abû Muslim Khorasânî,
who had been fomenting an insurrection against the Umayyads,
wanted to declare Imâm-i-Ja’fer Sâdiq Khalîfa in order to be
successful in this attempt. Hadrat Imâm would not accept his
suggestion. In fact, he burned Abû Muslim’s letters. Ismâ’îl, the
oldest of his seven sons, had died before his father’s death.
Therefore the Imâm was succeeded by his second son Mûsâ
Kâzim ‘rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ’. A group of people who called
themselves Shiites took a different course and recognized Ismâ’îl
and his sons as successors to the Imâm. These people were called
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