Imams Muhammad al-Jawwad and Ali al-Hadi Ordered Assassination of their Opponents

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

والصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدى يا رسول الله

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

The astray Twelver Shiah claim that each and every one of the Twelve Imams are infallible and perfect guides for humanity. Yet they are apprehensive about ordinary people studying too deeply and seriously the lives of many of the Twelve Imams, especially the latter among them, for it will seriously call into question their doctrine of infallibility of the Imams. Many facts will come to light which will serve to embarrass the Shiah. For instance, the ninth Imam, Muhammad al-Jawwad, reportedly ordered one of his followers, Ishaq al-Anbari, to covertly assassinate two individuals, Abu ul-Samhari and Ibn Abi il-Zarqa. These two were accused of making fitnah and lying upon the Imam:

قَالَ سَعْدٌ وَ حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عِيسَى بْنِ عُبَيْدٍ قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي إِسْحَاقُ الْأَنْبَارِيُّ قَالَ قَالَ لِي أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ الثَّانِي (ع) مَا فَعَلَ أَبُو السَّمْهَرِيِّ لَعَنَهُ اللَّهُ يَكْذِبُ عَلَيْنَا وَ يَزْعُمُ أَنَّهُ وَ ابْنَ أَبِي الزَّرْقَاءِ دَعَاهُ إِلَيْنَا أُشْهِدُكُمْ أَنِّي أَتَبَرَّأُ إِلَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ مِنْهُمَا إِنَّهُمَا فَتَّانَانِ مَلْعُونَانِ يَا إِسْحَاقُ أَرِحْنِي مِنْهُمَا يُرِحِ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ بِعَيْشِكَ فِي الْجَنَّةِ فَقُلْتُ لَهُ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ يَحِلُّ لِي قَتْلُهُمَا فَقَالَ إِنَّهُمَا فَتَّانَانِ يَفْتِنَانِ النَّاسَ وَ يَعْمَلَانِ فِي خَيْطِ رَقَبَتِي وَ رَقَبَةِ مَوَالِيَّ فَدِمَاؤُهُمَا هَدَرٌ لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ وَ إِيَّاكَ وَ الْفَتْكَ‌ فَإِنَّ الْإِسْلَامَ قَدْ قَيَّدَ الْفَتْكَ وَ أُشْفِقُ إِنْ قَتَلْتَهُ ظَاهِراً أَنْ تُسْأَلَ لِمَ قَتَلْتَهُ وَ لَا تَجِدَ السَّبِيلَ إِلَى تَثْبِيتِ حُجَّةٍ وَ لَا يُمْكِنَكَ إِدْلَاءَ الْحُجَّةِ فَتَدْفَعَ ذَلِكَ عَنْ نَفْسِكَ فَيُسْفَكَ دَمُ مُؤْمِنٍ مِنْ أَوْلِيَائِنَا بِدَمِ كَافِرٍ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالاغْتِيَالِ قَالَ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عِيسَى فَمَا زَالَ إِسْحَاقُ يَطْلُبُ ذَلِكَ أَنْ يَجِدَ السَّبِيلَ إِلَى أَنْ يَغْتَالَهُمَا بِقَتْلٍ وَ كَانَا قَدْ حَذَّرَاهُ لَعَنَهُمَا اللَّهُ

Narrated Ishaq al-Anbari, he said, Abu Jafar the Second (peace be upon him) said to me: “What did Abu ul-Samhari, may Allah curse him, do? He lies about us and claims that he and Ibn Abi il-Zarqa invited him to us. I call you to witness that I disavow them before Allah, the Almighty, the Majestic. They are two cursed mischief makers. O Ishaq, relieve me of them. May Allah, the Almighty, give you a comfortable life in Paradise.” I said to him, “May I be sacrificed for you, is it permissible for me to kill them?” He said, “They are two mischief makers who tempt people and work to sever my neck and the necks of my followers. Their blood is forfeit to the Muslims. Beware of killing, for Islam has restricted killing. I fear that if you kill him openly, you will be asked why you killed him and you will not find any evidence. The way to establish an argument, and you cannot provide an argument, so you refute that from yourself, so the blood of a believer from among our friends is shed for the blood of a disbeliever. Upon you is assassination.” Muhammad bin Isa said, so Ishaq kept seeking that, to find a way to assassinate them by killing them, and they had warned him, may Allah curse them both (Rijal al-Kashshi, p.375)

Likewise, it is narrated that the son of Imam Muhammad al-Jawwad, namely Imam Ali al-Hadi, called for the assassination of an agent of his that had gone rogue, Faris bin Hatim:

حَدَّثَنِي الْحُسَيْنُ بْنُ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ بُنْدَارَ الْقُمِّيُّ قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي سَعْدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي خَلَفٍ الْقُمِّيُّ قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عِيسَى بْنِ عُبَيْدٍ أَنَ‌أَبَا الْحَسَنِ الْعَسْكَرِيَّ (ع) أَمَرَ بِقَتْلِ فَارِسِ بْنِ حَاتِمٍ الْقَزْوِينِيِّ وَ ضَمِنَ لِمَنْ قَتَلَهُ الْجَنَةَ فَقَتَلَهُ جُنَيْدٌ وَ كَانَ فَارِسٌ فَتَّاناً يَفْتِنُ النَّاسَ وَ يَدْعُو إِلَى الْبِدْعَةِ فَخَرَجَ مِنْ أَبِي الْحَسَنِ (ع) هَذَا فَارِسٌ لَعَنَهُ اللَّهُ يَعْمَلُ مِنْ قِبَلِي فَتَّاناً دَاعِياً إِلَى الْبِدْعَةِ وَ دَمُهُ هَدَرٌ لِكُلِّ مَنْ قَتَلَهُ فَمَنْ هَذَا الَّذِي يُرِيحُنِي مِنْهُ وَ يَقْتُلُهُ وَ أَنَا ضَامِنٌ لَهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْجَنَّةَ

Narrated Muhammad bin Isa bin Ubayd that Abu al-Hasan al-Askari (peace be upon him) ordered the killing of Faris bin Hatim al-Qazwini and guaranteed Paradise to whoever killed him. Junayd killed him, and Faris was a seditious man who tempted people and called to innovation. A statement came out from Abu al-Hasan (peace be upon him): This is Faris, may Allah curse him, who works on my behalf as a seditious man who calls to innovation, and his blood is forfeit to whoever killed him. So who is it that will relieve me of him and kill him! I guarantee him Paradise by Allah (ibid, p.372)

Such historical reports will likely shock and disturb ordinary and ignorant Twelvers who have grown up with a picture in their mind about the Imams being angel-like, infallible and perfect men incapable of even thinking something that is in error. But their own scholar and jurist, Hossein Modarressi, acknowledged these things, “in the time of Imam Ali al-Hadi in, or shortly before, 248/862 when one of the Imam’s chief agents in Samarra, Faris b. Hatim b. Mahawayh al-Qazwini, became embroiled in a dispute with another aide, the aforementioned Ali b. Jafar al-Humani. This dispute led eventually to bitter quarrels and mutual vituperation, which led in turn to uneasiness within the Shiite community and the unwillingness of some to pay their financial obligations to the Imam. Furthermore, local representatives of the Imam through these two aides no longer knew which one they could trust. The Imam sided with Ali b. Jafar against Faris and ordered his representatives to stop using the latter for their business with the Imam; at the same time, however, he asked his representatives to keep silent about his decision and to avoid provoking Faris. The Imam did this because Faris was an influential man. He was the main intermediary between the Imam and the Shiites of Jibal, the central and western parts of Iran, who normally sent their religious obligations to the Imam through him. Faris continued to receive funds from that region despite the Imam’s instructions to the contrary and no longer forwarded them to his putative master. At this juncture the Imam decided to make the matter public and asked his representatives to announce to the Shiite community that Faris was no longer associated with him and should not be given funds meant for the Imam. He then formally anathematized Faris in two letters, one dated Tuesday, 9 of Rabi I, 250/April 20, 864. Faris thereupon began an open challenge against the Imam. The sources provide no details about his activities other than to say that he became a major troublemaker, calling people to bida and seeking to win them over to his own faction. In a message sent to some of his followers who had come to Samarra from central Iran, the Imam charged Faris with having made ‘a wicked utterance.’ The gravity of the situation is seen in the Imam’s next move, an extraordinary, although not totally unprecedented, call by the Imam for the assassination of his rogue agent. The order was carried out by one of the Imam’s followers. Faris had been very much attached to Muhammad, the son of Ali al-Hadi who died one year or two after the assassination of Faris, presumably on the expectation that he would serve as the chief agent of the next Imam. After the death of Ali al-Hadi, the followers of Faris remained loyal to Muhammad and maintained that he was the true Imam in spite of the fact that he died before his father. This was, perhaps, partly an act of defiance directed against Ali al-Hadi, who had named Hasan as his successor, and partly against Hasan himself who, unlike Ali al-Hadi’s third son, Jafar, had supported his father’s actions against Faris. The followers of Faris, thus, formed their own splinter group within the Imamite community against Hasan’s followers and held that Muhammad had appointed his younger brother, Jafar, as his successor and that Jafar was the true Imam after Ali al-Hadi. There were claims that before his death Muhammad had received the sacred paraphernalia of the Imamate from his father as the designated successor and had given them to his servant Nafis who, in turn, passed them on to Jafar.” (Modarressi, Hossein. Crisis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shiite Islam, The Darwin Press, Inc. Princeton, New Jersey, 1993, pp.71-73)

These covert assassinations carried out by devoted followers of Imams Muhammad al-Jawwad and Ali al-Hadi are not unlike the assassinations of the opponents of the Nizari Imams when they were stationed at Alamut, managed by the terrifying and infamous Hasan al-Sabbah. Whether these Imams were justified in motivating their followers to kill Faris bin Hatim and the others, undoubtedly corrupt liars and troublemakers, is not for me to answer. Allah and His Apostle know best!