SMHMShaheed Mudassir Hussain Mehdi
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محمد الجواد

Imam Muhammad al-Jawad

peace be upon him

الجوادal-Jawadthe generous
التقيal-Taqithe God-fearing
أبو جعفر الثانيAbu Ja'far al-Thanithe second Abu Ja'far, after Imam al-Baqir
جواد الأئمةJawad al-A'immathe generous one of the Imams
ابن الرضاIbn al-Ridathe son of al-Rida
المرتضىal-Murtadathe one with whom God is pleased
القانعal-Qani'the content
الراضيal-Radithe one content with God's decree
المختارal-Mukhtarthe chosen
المنتجبal-Muntajabthe selected
باب الحوائجBab al-Hawa'ijthe gate of needs

His life

  1. The son of Imam Ali al-Rida and the ninth Imam of the Shia. His mother was Sabika, from the family of Mariya al-Qibtiyya, the wife of the Prophet; some sources name her Khayzuran, Nawbiyya or Rayhana (al-Kafi; Bihar al-Anwar; Manaqib Ibn Shahrashub). His kunya was Abu Ja'far, and the narrations call him Abu Ja'far al-Thani so that he is not confused with Imam al-Baqir.
  2. Born in Medina in 195 AH (811) (al-Irshad of al-Shaykh al-Mufid; I'lam al-Wara). The well-known day, 10 Rajab, is given by al-Shaykh al-Tusi (Misbah al-Mutahajjid); other reports give 15 or 19 Ramadan.
  3. Imam al-Rida had no child before him, and some spread the rumour that the line of the Imamate would be broken (al-Kafi). When the newborn was brought to him, Imam al-Rida called him the most blessed child ever born for the Shia (Bihar al-Anwar).
  4. Imam al-Rida named him his successor many times. Asked who would come after him, he pointed to the boy standing before him; and he said: This is Abu Ja'far; I have seated him in my place (al-Irshad of al-Shaykh al-Mufid). Al-Kafi, al-Irshad, I'lam al-Wara and Bihar al-Anwar each give a chapter of narrations on his Imamate.
  5. He became Imam when his father was martyred in 203 AH (818), at about eight years of age (Firaq al-Shi'a of al-Nawbakhti). Some Shia turned to his uncle Abd Allah ibn Musa, until they questioned him and found him unable to answer; most of Imam al-Rida's companions accepted Imam al-Jawad (Firaq al-Shi'a).
  6. To those who doubted an Imam so young, the answer came from the Qur'an: John was given judgment while still a child (19:12), and Jesus spoke from the cradle. Imam al-Rida had said that Jesus was younger than his son when given prophethood, and Imam al-Jawad himself cited Solomon, whom David made his successor while still a boy tending sheep (al-Kafi).
  7. Shia from Baghdad and other cities who came to Medina for the Hajj put their questions to Abd Allah ibn Musa, whose answers were wrong, and then to Imam al-Jawad, who answered them correctly, and they rejoiced and prayed for him (Dala'il al-Imama; Bihar al-Anwar).
  8. When al-Ma'mun proposed to marry his daughter Umm al-Fadl to the Imam, the Abbasid nobles objected, and a session was arranged in Baghdad in which the chief judge Yahya ibn Aktham would test him. Yahya asked about a pilgrim in ihram who kills game. The Imam set out the different cases the question could mean and asked which one he intended; Yahya could not answer, and the Imam gave the ruling for every case. The Abbasid scholars and courtiers acknowledged his mastery of the law (al-Ihtijaj of al-Tabrisi).
  9. Nine of his debates are reported, four of them with Yahya ibn Aktham and one with Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad, the chief judge of Baghdad, on the Hajj, divorce, the penalty for theft and questions of belief (al-Ihtijaj of al-Tabrisi). In one, when Yahya cited reports in praise of Abu Bakr and Umar, the Imam answered with the Prophet's instruction to measure any hadith attributed to him against the Book of God and his Sunna, and showed that one of those reports contradicts the verse: We are nearer to him than his jugular vein (50:16) (al-Ihtijaj).
  10. Al-Ma'mun married his daughter Umm al-Fadl to the Imam at his own request, in 202 AH (Tarikh al-Tabari) or 215 AH (Ithbat al-Wasiyya of al-Mas'udi); the Imam set the dowry at that of Sayyida Fatima, 500 dirhams (Manaqib Ibn Shahrashub). Al-Shaykh al-Mufid attributes the marriage to al-Ma'mun's regard for him (al-Irshad); some researchers see in it a means to watch the Imam and his ties with the Shia.
  11. He had no children from Umm al-Fadl; all his children were from Samana al-Maghribiyya (Manaqib Ibn Shahrashub). Al-Shaykh al-Mufid names four: Ali, who became Imam al-Hadi, Musa, Fatima and Amama (al-Irshad); other sources add daughters named Hakima, Khadija and Umm Kulthum.
  12. In Baghdad al-Mu'tasim asked the jurists from where a thief's hand is cut; some said the wrist, others the elbow. Pressed for his view, the Imam said only the four fingers are cut, citing: The places of prostration belong to God (72:18). Al-Mu'tasim adopted his ruling (Tafsir al-Ayyashi; Bihar al-Anwar).
  13. Asked by Abu Hashim al-Ja'fari about the verse The sights do not apprehend Him (6:103), he rejected the claim that God can be seen with the eyes: the imaginings of the heart are finer than sight, and if they cannot grasp Him, the eyes cannot see Him (al-Kafi). He also disowned the exaggerators (ghulat), such as Abu l-Khattab and his followers (Ikhtiyar Ma'rifat al-Rijal of al-Kashshi).
  14. His title al-Jawad, the generous, is tied to his giving (Hayat al-Imam Muhammad al-Jawad of al-Qarashi). From Khurasan Imam al-Rida wrote telling him not to leave by a side door to avoid those who came asking, but to carry gold and silver and give before anyone asked (al-Kafi).
  15. Under the watch of the government he reached the Shia mostly through agents and letters. He had agents in Baghdad, Kufa, Ahvaz, Basra, Hamadan, Qom, Rey, Sistan and Bust, among them Ali ibn Mahziyar, Zakariyya ibn Adam al-Qummi and Safwan ibn Yahya (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi; Rijal al-Najashi); much of his teaching survives in his written answers to their questions.
  16. Al-Shaykh al-Tusi lists 117 of his companions (Rijal al-Tusi), among them Abd al-Azim al-Hasani, Ali ibn Mahziyar, Ahmad ibn Abi Nasr al-Bazanti and Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Barqi. About 250 hadiths are narrated from him (Musnad al-Imam al-Jawad of al-Atarudi).
  17. Al-Mu'tasim summoned him from Medina to Baghdad. He entered the city on 28 Muharram 220 AH and was martyred there in Dhu al-Qa'da of the same year (835), at twenty-five, the youngest of the Imams at his martyrdom (al-Irshad of al-Shaykh al-Mufid). Some sources give the last day of Dhu al-Qa'da (I'lam al-Wara), others 5 or 6 Dhu al-Hijja (Tarikh al-A'imma of Ibn Abi l-Thalj).
  18. The reports name his killers differently. Al-Mas'udi records that al-Mu'tasim and Ja'far, the son of al-Ma'mun, plotted his death, and that Umm al-Fadl, urged by her brother, gave him poisoned grapes, then wept in remorse (Ithbat al-Wasiyya). Another report says al-Mu'tasim, turned against him by the judge Ibn Abi Duwad, had him poisoned (Tafsir al-Ayyashi); another, that al-Mu'tasim's servant Ashnas pressed a poisoned drink on him (Manaqib Ibn Shahrashub; Bihar al-Anwar). Al-Shaykh al-Mufid wrote that the poisoning was reported but not proven to him (al-Irshad).
  19. He was buried beside his grandfather Imam Musa al-Kazim in the cemetery of Quraysh in Baghdad (Manaqib Ibn Shahrashub; Bihar al-Anwar); the shrine is called al-Kazimayn, and also al-Jawadayn, after the two Imams buried there.
  20. Sunni scholars praised his knowledge, piety and generosity; some wrote that al-Ma'mun chose him as son-in-law because, young as he was, he surpassed all the scholars in knowledge and forbearance (Tadhkirat al-Khawass of Sibt ibn al-Jawzi; al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqa of Ibn Hajar al-Haytami).
  21. Many Shia seek his intercession for their livelihood and worldly needs and call him Bab al-Hawa'ij. Al-Allama al-Majlisi records that Abu l-Wafa al-Shirazi, imprisoned and in fear for his life, saw the Prophet in a dream telling him to turn to his son al-Jawad for such needs (Da'awat al-Rawandi; Bihar al-Anwar).
  22. Asked by letter about visiting the graves of Imam al-Husayn, Imam al-Kazim and Imam al-Jawad, Imam al-Hadi answered that Imam al-Husayn comes first, and that visiting all three is complete and greatly rewarded (al-Kafi).

Days

  1. 195 AH811 CEBorn in Medina, 10 Rajab
  2. 203 AH818 CEBecomes Imam at about eight, on his father's martyrdom
  3. 212 AH828 CEBirth of his son, Imam al-Hadi
  4. 215 AH830 CEMarried to Umm al-Fadl, daughter of al-Ma'mun (some reports: 202 AH)
  5. 220 AH835 CESummoned to Baghdad by al-Mu'tasim, Muharram
  6. 220 AH835 CEMartyred in Baghdad at 25; buried in Kadhimiya

Family

علي الرضاImam al-Rida
محمد الجوادImam al-Jawad
سمانة المغربيةSamana al-Maghribiyya
علي الهاديImam al-Hadi
موسى المبرقعMusa al-Mubarqa'
حكيمةHakima
فاطمةFatima
أمامةAmama

In the Qur’an

يَٰيَحۡيَىٰ خُذِ ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ بِقُوَّةٖۖ وَءَاتَيۡنَٰهُ ٱلۡحُكۡمَ صَبِيّٗا ١٢

‘O John!’ [We said,] ‘Hold on with power to the Book!’ And We gave him judgement while still a child,

Maryam 19:12

وَأَنَّ ٱلۡمَسَٰجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلَا تَدۡعُواْ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ أَحَدٗا ١٨

The places of worship belong to Allah, so do not invoke anyone along with Allah.

Al-Jinn 72:18

لَّا تُدۡرِكُهُ ٱلۡأَبۡصَٰرُ وَهُوَ يُدۡرِكُ ٱلۡأَبۡصَٰرَۖ وَهُوَ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلۡخَبِيرُ ١٠٣

The sights do not apprehend Him, yet He apprehends the sights, and He is the All-attentive, the All-aware.

Al-An'aam 6:103

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ أَطِيعُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ ٱلرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي ٱلۡأَمۡرِ مِنكُمۡۖ فَإِن تَنَٰزَعۡتُمۡ فِي شَيۡءٖ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَٱلرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمۡ تُؤۡمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡيَوۡمِ ٱلۡأٓخِرِۚ ذَٰلِكَ خَيۡرٞ وَأَحۡسَنُ تَأۡوِيلًا ٥٩

O you who have faith! Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those vested with authority among you. And if you dispute concerning anything, refer it to Allah and the Apostle, if you have faith in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more favourable in outcome.

The verse of those vested with authority · An-Nisaa 4:59

Peace be upon you, O son of the Messenger of God.

Peace be upon you, O son of al-Rida.

Peace be upon you, O Abu Ja'far, Muhammad son of Ali, al-Taqi al-Jawad.

Peace be upon you, O martyred Imam, and the mercy of God and His blessings.

Sources