Seerah

The qualities of Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) were like the qualities of his fathers who were distinguished by them over all people. All elements of honor and dignity met together in him. He got all virtues and excellences. It sufficed him that he was one of the infallible imams of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) whom Allah had purified and kept uncleanness away from them. Here we shall talk in brief about some attributes of his honorable personality:

Imamate

Imamate is a kindness from Allah to His people that He does not give except to His loyal slaves whom He has tried by faith, and purified from all kinds of injustice and defects. In our books on the lives of the infallible imams we have discussed “imamate” in details in some of them and in brief in others. In this book we talk in brief about imamate and refer to some of its sides.

The need to imamate

Imamate is an affair from the affairs of the Islamic life. Without imamate the Islamic life does not go on properly; not only because it runs the religious life, but also it runs the economical, political, and social life, and achieves to the nation independency and freedom and secures safety, ease, and peace.

Perhaps, the most important reason behind the need to imamate is to make spiritual powers dominate and to spread virtue and good between people and resist bad tendencies of selfishness, haughtiness, greed, envy and other kinds of deviation. All good powers in the world are based on the faith in Allah, because this is the only way that protects the world from destruction and disasters of wars. The faith in Allah is the strongest weapon in the earth that keeps the world safe from misfortunes.

The infallible imams cared much for this side. They raised the banner of faith high, and struggled in the way of Allah too hardly. They left luminous works in the way of inviting to Allah. Nahjol Balagha of Ameerul Mo’mineen (Imam Ali) is full of fragrances of true faith. It invites people to ponder on the creation of everything in the world that leads to the inevitable faith. It also invites to good morals and high qualities and warns of evil tendencies that lead to backwardness and deterioration. We also find spiritual nourishment in as-Sahifah as-Sajjadiyya of Imam as-Sajjad (a.s.) which is considered as the Bible of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and it is a fertile source to faith. In all supplications transmitted from the infallible imams (a.s.) we find this spiritual nourishment that purifies the soul from the dregs of ignorance and pride.

In the books of argumentation you find irrefutable evidences the infallible imams offered on monotheism that confuted the enemies of Islam who denied the Creator. Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) praised the jihad of his fathers in the fields of faith and the invitation to Allah in his Ziyarah called “al-Jami’ah”. He said,

“Peace be on the propagandists to Allah, the guides to the contentment of Allah, the residents in the command of Allah, the absorbed in the love of Allah, the loyal in monotheism, the manifesters of the mission of Allah…’

He added, ‘You honored His glory, exalted His standing, glorified His generosity, kept His mention, assured His covenant, confirmed His obedience, were sincere to Him secretly and openly, called unto His way with wisdom and good exhortation, sacrificed your selves to please Him, were patient with what afflicted you for Him, offered prayers, gave zakat, enjoined the good, forbade the wrong, struggled truly in the way of Allah until you announced His mission, declared His obligations, spread His laws, fixed His verdicts, and became by that in the eye of His contentment, submitted to His fate, and believed in His past prophets…’

These wonderful lines expressed the struggle that the infallible imams undertook to raise the word of monotheism and defend the values of Islam and faith. They offered their lives as pure sacrifice to Allah looking forward just to His reward.

Infallibility of the imams

The infallibility of the twelve imams (a.s.) is an important element in the Shiite doctrine. Some people deny this concept claiming that it cannot be realized. In our studies on the lives of the infallible imams (a.s.) we have confuted the deniers of this concept and proved the reality and possibility of infallibility. He, who reads the lives of the infallible imams, does not doubt their infallibility at all. They had never committed any kind of sin or disobedience whether intentionally or unintentionally. No one of them had ever deviated from the right path or sound conducts. All of them were absolutely pious. Al-Mutawakkil, the Abbasid tyrant, tried his best with all the means he had to deceive Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) in order to make him walk in his own deviate way and enter into the fields of amusement and debauchery, but Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) abstained from all that and at last al-Mutawakkil failed to tempt him. With his great situations, Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) proved his and his pure fathers’ infallibility that the Twelver Shia believe in.

Adapted from the book: "The Life of Imam ALI bin Muhammad AL-HADI" by: "Baqir Shareef al-Qurashi"