Past eventOther · The Lantern of the Path · Session 31

Imam al-Sadiq: The Sword of Knowledge and the Shield of Prudence

Wednesday, 20 August 2025

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Imamah, Part 11 He ran an underground network that reached from Khurasan to Morocco, and almost no one in power ever proved it existed. When Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, inherited the Imamate, the ruling dynasty was collapsing from within and a rival dynasty was rising on a borrowed promise of loyalty to his own family. His father had already given him the title Qa'im, "the one who rises" — carried by every Imam who takes up the struggle in his own time, not only the awaited Imam. He did not raise an army. He built three things at once: a public claim, a school, and a network no government ever fully mapped. At Arafat, before the whole gathered Hajj, he struck his chest three times and named himself Imam aloud, naming five Imams before him in the same breath — a challenge to both dynasties contesting the caliphate, delivered where no one could claim not to have heard it. In Madinah, his school trained thousands, producing the jurisprudence that still carries his name. Beneath both, representatives collected khums, the one-fifth religious levy, holding a scattered community together through the discipline he called an article of faith: taqiyyah, strategic prudence. How do you keep a movement alive when saying its name out loud can get people killed? What the evening covers The title Qa'im. Carried by every Imam who rises against oppression, given to Imam al-Sadiq directly by his father. Arafat. The chest struck three times, naming six Imams in one breath before the whole pilgrim crowd. The school of Madinah. Thousands of students, and jurisprudence that would carry his name for fourteen centuries. The hidden network. Representatives, khums, and a strategic prudence he called an article of faith.

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بِإِرْثٍ مَغْصُوبٍ وَ وِلاءٍ مَسْلُوبٍ وَ أَمْرٍ مَغْلُوبٍ وَ دَمٍ مَطْلُوبٍ وَ سَمٍّ مَشْرُوبٍ اللَّهُمَّ وَ كَمَا صَبَرَ عَلَى غَلِيظِ الْمِحَنِ وَ تَجَرَّعَ غُصَصَ الْكُرَبِ وَ اسْتَسْلَمَ لِرِضَاكَ وَ أَخْلَصَ الطَّاعَةَ لَكَ وَ مَحَضَ الْخُشُوعَ وَ اسْتَشْعَرَ الْخُضُوعَ وَ عَادَى الْبِدْعَةَ وَ أَهْلَهَا وَ لَمْ يَلْحَقْهُ فِي شَيْ ءٍ مِنْ أَوَامِرِكَ وَ نَوَاهِيكَ لَوْمَةُ لائِمٍ صَلِّ عَلَيْهِ صَلاةً نَامِيَةً مُنِيفَةً زَاكِيَةً تُوجِبُ لَهُ بِهَا شَفَاعَةَ أُمَمٍ مِنْ خَلْقِكَ وَ قُرُونٍ مِنْ بَرَايَاكَ وَ بَلِّغْهُ عَنَّا تَحِيَّةً وَ سَلاماً وَ آتِنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ فِي مُوَالاتِهِ فَضْلاً وَ إِحْسَاناً وَ مَغْفِرَةً وَ رِضْوَاناً إِنَّكَ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَمِيمِ وَ التَّجَاوُزِ الْعَظِيمِ بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ.

With an inheritance usurped, a sovereignty seized, an authority overcome, blood demanded, and poison administered. O Allah, just as he bore patience through the severity of afflictions, drank the cup of sorrow and calamities, submitted to Your good pleasure, purified obedience for You, made his humility sincere, took meekness as his emblem, showed enmity toward innovation and its people, and was not affected by the blame of any blamer in any of Your commands and prohibitions—send blessings upon him, blessings ever-growing, exalted, and pure, by which You make incumbent upon him the intercession for nations of Your creatures and multitudes of Your creation. And convey to him greetings and salutations on our behalf, and bestow upon us from Yourself, in our devotion to him, grace, benevolence, forgiveness, and good pleasure; for verily You are the Possessor of all-encompassing grace and abundant pardon, by Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful.

Mafatih al-Jinan, Visitations (Ziyarat), Salawat upon Imam Musa al-Kadhim (AS), Line 2