Musa al-Kazim

'''Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim''' (; 745–799) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the seventh imam in Twelver Shia Islam. Musa is often known by the title al-Kazim (), apparently a reference to his patience and gentle disposition. He was born in 745 CE in Medina to Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Shia imam, who died in 765 without publicly designating a successor to save his heir from the wrath of the Abbasid caliphs. The subsequent crisis of succession was eventually resolved in favor of al-Kazim, with a dissenting group, now known as the Isma'ilis, separating from the mainstream Shia.

After the death of al-Sadiq, Musa al-Kazim remained in Medina, where he kept aloof from politics and devoted himself to religious teachings. He was nevertheless tightly restricted by the Abbasid caliphs and spent much of his adult life in their prisons. To counter these restrictions, he established an underground network of local representatives to organize the affairs of his followers across the Abbasid empire and to collect their religious donations. His final imprisonment, circa 795, ended with his death in 799 in a Baghdad prison, possibly poisoned at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. The shrine of al-Kazim and his grandson, Muhammad al-Jawad, is a popular pilgrimage destination for Twelver Muslims in Kazimayn, Baghdad.

Musa al-Kazim played a key role in eradicating extreme views and exaggerations () from Twelver thought. His answers to legal questions have survived in , and he is credited with numerous supplications. Musa al-Kazim is also revered for his piety in Sunni Islam and considered a reliable transmitter of prophetic sayings. He is a link in the initiatic Golden Chain in Sufism, and some Sufi saints are often associated with him. Various nonprophetic miracles are attributed to al-Kazim, often emphasizing his precognition. He was succeeded to the imamate by his son, Ali al-Rida. Provided by Wikipedia