The life of Mūsā b. Ja‘far is a surprising and strange one. First, in the private life of Mūsā b. Ja‘far; the matter was clear for those close to the Imam (P.B.U.H.). There was no one from among those close to the Imam (P.B.U.H.) or the elite companions of the Imam (P.B.U.H.) that did not know what Mūsā b. Ja‘far was making an effort for and Mūsā b. Ja‘far himself showed this to others in his statements and allusions and the allegorical actions that he would take. Even in his place of residence, that special room where Mūsā b. Ja‘far would sit in was such that the narrator–who was one of his intimate companions–said, “I went in; I saw that there were three things in Mūsā b. Ja‘far’s (P.B.U.H.) room; a rough piece of clothing, a piece of clothing that was far from an ordinary affluent normal state. That is in our modern interpretation it could be understood and it could be said that it is a war uniform. Mūsā b. Ja‘far had placed this war uniform there, he was not wearing it; it was a symbolic thing. Then
«وسيفٌ مُعَلَّق»
[And a suspended sword] He has hung up a sword; he has suspended it from the ceiling or from the wall;
«والمصحَف»
[And a sacred volume] and a “Holy Qur’ān”. See what a symbolic thing and what a beautiful thing it is, in the Imam’s private room to which nobody has access except the intimate companions of that Imam, where signs of a man of war and a man of doctrine can be observed. There is a sword that shows that the goal is jihād. There is a rough piece of clothing that shows that it is a means of a tough, military, and revolutionary life; and there is a Qur’ān that shows that the goal is this; we want to achieve a Qur’ānic life through these means and we also endure these hardships, but the Imam’s (P.B.U.H.) enemies also guessed this.
Firstly, the life of Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.), that is the Imamate of Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.), started in the most difficult of periods. No period, in my opinion, after Imam Sajjād’s (P.B.U.H.) period, was more difficult than that of Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.). Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) attained the Imamate in the year 148 A.H. after the demise of his father Imam Ṣādiq (P.B.U.H.). The year 148 A.H. the conditions are such that the ‘Abbasids became disengaged after early conflicts; i.e., after the internal disputes and wars among the ‘Abbasids themselves during their early caliphate. The major insurgents who threatened their caliphate were people like Banī al-Ḥasan–Muḥammad b. ‘Abdullāh Ḥasan, Ibrāhīm b. ‘Abdullāh b. Ḥasan, and the rest of the descendants of Imam Ḥasan (P.B.U.H.) who were all among the rebels against the ‘Abbasids–were all thoroughly defeated and suppressed. The ‘Abbasids killed a large number of the leaders and rebels who were put in a repository and storage that was opened after Manṣūr ‘Abbāsī’s death, where it turned out that he had killed a large number of personalities and individuals and had put their corpses in a place where their skeletons were obviously seen. Manṣūr had killed so many of the Banī Ḥasan and the Hashemites, from among his relatives and of those who were among his close associates, prominent, and well-known people that it formed a warehouse of skeletons. When he was disengaged from all these, it was Imam Ṣādiq’s (P.B.U.H.) turn. Imam Ṣādiq (P.B.U.H.) was poisoned with a trick. No dust existed in the atmosphere of ‘Abbasids’ political life anymore. In such circumstances, where Manṣūr lived in full power and at the height of his apparent rule, time came for the caliphate of Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) who was a young person and with all that vigilance to the extent that those who wanted to find out to whom they must refer to now after the demise of Imam Ṣādiq (P.B.U.H.), they could barely find the way and find Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.); and Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) recommended them to be careful; [because] “if they knew that you have heard something from me and that you have been taught by me and were in contact with me, you would be killed.” It was under such circumstances that Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) attained the Imamate and began the struggle.
Now, if you ask, well, when Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) attained the Imamate, how did he start the struggle, what did he do, whom did he gather, what places did he go to, what events took place for Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) in those 35 years; unfortunately, this humble person does not have a clear answer and this is the very thing that is one of our worries that we do not find anything when we research into life in early Islam. No one has any information about an orderly and systemized life of this thirty-five-year period. That I say that no book has been written, nor has any research work been done yet as it should be done, is for this very reason. There are some scattered things from which one can understand much from them all in sum.
One is that during this thirty-five-year period of Imam Mūsā b. Ja‘far’s (P.B.U.H.) Imamate, four caliphs came to power (in their caliphate). One (of them) is Manṣūr ‘Abbāsī who ruled for the first 10 years of Mūsā b. Ja‘far’s (P.B.U.H.) Imamate. Then, there is his son Mahdī who ruled (as a caliph) for ten years. Then there is Mahdī’s son, Hādī ‘Abbāsī who also ruled (as a caliph) for one year; after him there is Hārūn al-Rashīd who ruled (as a caliph); and for thirteen years of Hārūn’s rule (in the position of caliphate), Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) was engaged in inviting (people to Islam) and propagating the Imamate. Each of these four caliphs placed a burden and inflicted pressure on Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.).
Manṣūr invited the Imam (P.B.U.H.), that is, he exiled him or forcefully summoned him, to Baghdad. Of course, what I have mentioned is just some of those incidents. When a person looks at the life of Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.), he finds that these incidents are great in number. One of these instances is that he brought Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) from Medina to Baghdad. In Baghdad, he kept the Imam (P.B.U.H.) under surveillance and put pressure on him for some time. According to what can be implied from the narrations, the Imam (P.B.U.H.) has been put in manifold limitations. This is one time, how long did it take? It is not known for sure. One other time was apparently in the very era of Manṣūr’s caliphate when they brought the Imam (P.B.U.H.) to a place in Iraq called “Abjar”, where the Imam (P.B.U.H.) was exiled for some time. The narrator says, “I met with the Imam (P.B.U.H.) at that place; concerning these incidents, the Imam (P.B.U.H.) said this and did this”. In Mahdī ‘Abbāsī’s time, they brought his holiness from Medina to Baghdad at least once. The narrator says, “I was travelling on a route that Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) was traveling, they were taking the Imam (P.B.U.H.) to Baghdad for “the first time”–it is implied from this phrase that they had taken him (to Baghdad) several times, which I think it is likely that they had taken the Imam (P.B.U.H.) to Baghdad two or three times in Mahdī’s era. He says, “I met with the Imam (P.B.U.H.) and expressed (my) regret, I expressed (my) discomfort. He said, ‘No, do not be discomforted, I will return from this journey safe and sound, and they cannot harm me during this journey’.” This was Mahdī ‘Abbāsī’s era.
In Hādī ‘Abbāsī’s era, they wanted to bring the Imam (P.B.U.H.) back again with the intention to kill him, when one of the jurisprudents around Hādī ‘Abbāsī became upset, and felt sorry that they are placing the son of the holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. & H.H.) under pressure in this way, he interceded, Hādī ‘Abbāsī renounced the idea. In Hārūn’s era, they also brought the Imam (P.B.U.H.) to Baghdad and for a long time on several occasions, which I think it likely that, in Hārūn’s era also, they had separated the Imam (P.B.U.H.) from Medina more than once, but it is certain that it was once that they brought the Imam (P.B.U.H.) and imprisoned him in various places; and one of them, for example, was in Baghdad in various prisons, then in Sindī b. Shāhak’s prison where they martyred the Imam (P.B.U.H.).
You see that during these thirty-five, thirty-four years when Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) was engaged in propagating the Imamate and performing his duties and with his struggles, the Imam (P.B.U.H.) was brought (to Baghdad) several times. In addition to these, the caliphs of the time plotted against Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) several times with the intention to kill him. In the beginning, when Mahdī ‘Abbāsī, the son of Manṣūr, became caliph, he told his vizier or hājib (chamberlain), Rabī‘ that he must make arrangements to kill Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.). He felt that the main danger is from Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.). As I said, in the early days or at the beginning of his caliphate, Hādī ‘Abbāsī decided to murder the Imam (P.B.U.H.). He even wrote a poem, saying, “That time has passed when we were tolerant about the Hashemite; I am now bound and determined not to leave anyone of you remain [alive] and Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) will be the first of you that I will destroy.” After him, Hārūn al-Rashīd wanted to do the same and he did so; he committed this horrible crime. See what an eventful life this is, the life of Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.).
In addition to these, there are some very subtle and unclear points in the life of Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.). Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) was definitely living in a period of secrecy, an underground life that was not known where it was. At that time, the caliph of the time summoned some individuals, inquired from them if they had seen Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.), or if they had known where he was. And they answered, “No, they didn’t”. Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) even said to one of those individuals–as it is narrated–that “They will summon you, they will ask you about me as to where you saw Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.). Deny it completely. Say I did not see him.” That is exactly what happened; they imprisoned him; they took him in order to ask him where Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) was.
You see the life of a person is such, whose life is this? A person who just talks about [religious] issues and discusses Islamic doctrinal knowledge, who does not have anything to do with the government, and does not get involved in political struggles, such a person does not get under such pressures. In a narration I even saw that Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) was on the run and hiding in the villages of Shām,
«دَخَلَ موسی بن جعفر بَعض قُری الشّام هارِباً مُتَنَکِّراً فَوَقَعَ في غار»
(Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) entered some villages of Shām, and while he was escaping and hiding he ran into a cave), which is in a tradition; it is narrated that Mūsā b. Ja‘far (P.B.U.H.) had not been in Medina at all for some time, he was in villages of Shām while being prosecuted by the ruler’s apparatus and was being spied on by their spies. He was wandering from this village to that, from that village to this, in disguise and unidentified. In the meantime, he reaches a cave and enters that cave and there he meets a Christian man. The Imam (P.B.U.H.) debates with him. Even in that very moment he does not overlook his Divine obligation which is to explain the truth; he talks to that Christian and converts him to Islam and he becomes a Muslim.
