Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Riḍā (original) (raw)
b. Mūsā b. D̲j̲aʿfar. Abū D̲j̲aʿfar al-D̲j̲awād or al-Tāḳī , the ninth Imām of the Twelver S̲h̲īʿ a. He was born in Ramaḍān 195/June 811 at his grandfather’s estate Ṣurayyā (?) near Medina. His mother was a Nubian concubine called Sabīka who was reported to be of the family of Māriya al-Ḳibṭiyya [q.v.], the concubine of the Prophet and mother of his son Ibrahim. According to other reports, her original name was Durra and she was called al-K̲h̲ayzurān by the Imām ʿAlī al-Riḍā. Muḥammad is described as black-skinned, and the caliph al-Maʾmūn’s decision to marry his daughter Umm al-Faḍl to him seems to have been criticised partly on that ground. ʿAbbāsid opposition to the marriage was, however, more deeply motivated by disapproval of al-Maʾmūn’s pro-ʿAlid policies. At the time of ʿAlī al-Riḍā’s death (203/818), Muḥammad, his only son, was seven years old. His succession to the imāmate as a minor stirred up considerable controversy among the followers of his father. A group of them recognised ʿAlī al-Riḍā’s brother Aḥmad b. Mūsā as the successor. Another group joined the Wāḳifa, who recognised Mūsā al-Kāẓim [q.v.] as the last Imām whose return they expected, while others, who had backed ʿAlī al-Riḍā’s imāmate after his appointment as successor to the caliphate for opportunistic reasons, returned to their Sunnī and Zaydī communities. Of those who recognised Muḥammad as the Imām, some held that he had received the requisite perfect knowledge of all religious matters through divine inspiration from the time of his succession, irrespective of his age, while others maintained that he acquired it from the books of his father when he reached maturity. Muḥammad’s marriage with Umm al-Faḍl was contracted in his absence while he was still a child. Al-Ṭabarī (iii, 1029) reports it under the year 202/817, when al-Maʾmūn also gave his daughter Umm Ḥabīb in marriage to ʿAlī al-Riḍā, while al-Yaʿḳūbī (ii, 552-3) places it after al-Maʾmūn’s arrival in Bag̲h̲dād in 204/819. The actual marriage took place in 215/830 when al-Maʾmūn summoned Muḥammad from Medina and met him, on his way to lead a campaign against the Byzantines, at Takrīt in Ṣafar/April 830. Al-Maʾmūn ordered him to cohabit with Umm al-Faḍl, and the two resided in the house of Aḥmad b. Yūsuf, a secretary of al-Maʾmūn, on the banks of the Tigris in Bag̲h̲dād until the pilgrimage season (January 831), when the Imām left with his family and dependents for Mecca and then returned to his estate near Medina. His son and successor ʿAlī had already been born in 212/828 by a concubine, and the marriage with Umm al-Faḍl remained without issue. She is reported to have complained to her father about his preference for his concubines, but al-Maʾmūn rejected her complaint. A year after his accession, al-Maʾmūn’s successor al-Muʿtaṣim summoned the Imām, for unknown reasons, to Bag̲h̲dād. He arrived in Muḥarram 220/January 835 and died there towards the end of the same year (6 D̲h̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a/30 November 835 seems to be the best attested date). Al-Masʿūdī ( Murūd̲j̲ , vii, 115 = § 2798) appears to be mistaken in placing his death in 219/834. The alternative date mentioned by him (vii, 171 = § 2855), during the caliphate of al-Wāt̲h̲iḳ (227-32/842-47), was evidently deduced from the reports that the latter (heir-apparent in 220/835) led the funeral prayer for him. Some S̲h̲īʿī sources accuse al-Muʿtaṣim or Umm al-Faḍl of having poisoned him, but this is expressly denied by S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ al-Mufīd. He was buried near his grandfather Mūsā al-Kāẓim in the Maḳābir Ḳurays̲h̲ on the west bank of the Tigris, where the shrine of al-Kāẓimayn came to house the tombs of the two Imāms .
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Title:
Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Riḍā
First-online:
24 Apr 2012
ISSN:
1573-3912
Publisher:
Brill
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Table of Contents
b. Mūsā b. D̲j̲aʿfar. Abū D̲j̲aʿfar al-D̲j̲awād or al-Tāḳī , the ninth Imām of the Twelver S̲h̲īʿ a. He was born in Ramaḍān 195/June 811 at his grandfather’s estate Ṣurayyā (?) near Medina. His mother was a Nubian concubine called Sabīka who was reported to be of the family of Māriya al-Ḳibṭiyya [q.v.], the concubine of the Prophet and mother of his son Ibrahim. According to other reports, her original name was Durra and she was called al-K̲h̲ayzurān by the Imām ʿAlī al-Riḍā. Muḥammad is described as black-skinned, and the caliph al-Maʾmūn’s decision to marry his daughter Umm al-Faḍl to him seems to have been criticised partly on that ground. ʿAbbāsid opposition to the marriage was, however, more deeply motivated by disapproval of al-Maʾmūn’s pro-ʿAlid policies. At the time of ʿAlī al-Riḍā’s death (203/818), Muḥammad, his only son, was seven years old. His succession to the imāmate as a minor stirred up considerable controversy among the followers of his father. A group of them recognised ʿAlī al-Riḍā’s brother Aḥmad b. Mūsā as the successor. Another group joined the Wāḳifa, who recognised Mūsā al-Kāẓim [q.v.] as the last Imām whose return they expected, while others, who had backed ʿAlī al-Riḍā’s imāmate after his appointment as successor to the caliphate for opportunistic reasons, returned to their Sunnī and Zaydī communities. Of those who recognised Muḥammad as the Imām, some held that he had received the requisite perfect knowledge of all religious matters through divine inspiration from the time of his succession, irrespective of his age, while others maintained that he acquired it from the books of his father when he reached maturity. Muḥammad’s marriage with Umm al-Faḍl was contracted in his absence while he was still a child. Al-Ṭabarī (iii, 1029) reports it under the year 202/817, when al-Maʾmūn also gave his daughter Umm Ḥabīb in marriage to ʿAlī al-Riḍā, while al-Yaʿḳūbī (ii, 552-3) places it after al-Maʾmūn’s arrival in Bag̲h̲dād in 204/819. The actual marriage took place in 215/830 when al-Maʾmūn summoned Muḥammad from Medina and met him, on his way to lead a campaign against the Byzantines, at Takrīt in Ṣafar/April 830. Al-Maʾmūn ordered him to cohabit with Umm al-Faḍl, and the two resided in the house of Aḥmad b. Yūsuf, a secretary of al-Maʾmūn, on the banks of the Tigris in Bag̲h̲dād until the pilgrimage season (January 831), when the Imām left with his family and dependents for Mecca and then returned to his estate near Medina. His son and successor ʿAlī had already been born in 212/828 by a concubine, and the marriage with Umm al-Faḍl remained without issue. She is reported to have complained to her father about his preference for his concubines, but al-Maʾmūn rejected her complaint. A year after his accession, al-Maʾmūn’s successor al-Muʿtaṣim summoned the Imām, for unknown reasons, to Bag̲h̲dād. He arrived in Muḥarram 220/January 835 and died there towards the end of the same year (6 D̲h̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a/30 November 835 seems to be the best attested date). Al-Masʿūdī ( Murūd̲j̲ , vii, 115 = § 2798) appears to be mistaken in placing his death in 219/834. The alternative date mentioned by him (vii, 171 = § 2855), during the caliphate of al-Wāt̲h̲iḳ (227-32/842-47), was evidently deduced from the reports that the latter (heir-apparent in 220/835) led the funeral prayer for him. Some S̲h̲īʿī sources accuse al-Muʿtaṣim or Umm al-Faḍl of having poisoned him, but this is expressly denied by S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ al-Mufīd. He was buried near his grandfather Mūsā al-Kāẓim in the Maḳābir Ḳurays̲h̲ on the west bank of the Tigris, where the shrine of al-Kāẓimayn came to house the tombs of the two Imāms .