Imam Muhammad al-Jawad, son of Imam ʿAli ibn Musa al-Rida (a), is the ninth of the pure Imams, whom Allah the Exalted purified with a thorough purification. He was born in the City of the Messenger of Allah (s) in the year 195 AH, on the tenth of the month of Rajab[1]. He assumed the office of the divine Imamate after his father Imam al-Rida (a), when his age at that time had not exceeded eight; thereby the miracles of the Imamate appeared, its light dawned, and blessings shone upon the Muslims, so that he became the newborn of greatest blessing upon Islam. Part of that blessing was that most of the Shiʿa united upon his Imamate, after the signs of wilayah and knowledge had appeared at his hands while he was at an early age.
His Imamate lasted seventeen years, during which he undertook the leadership of the community by teaching it the law of Allah the Exalted and the teachings of the Master of the Messengers (s). He confronted the sects that had deviated from the path of guidance, and he prevailed over the debates that aimed to undermine him; he crushed falsehood with the light of truth and silenced the obstinate with the force of argument. Many miracles and wonders appeared at his hands, and he was a conclusive proof for whoever sought guidance and uprightness.
The scholarly and leadership ascendancy that Imam al-Jawad (a) attained did not please the Abbasid tyrants, so al-Muʿtasim the Abbasid set about poisoning him, and he was martyred at the age of only 25 years. Because he was in Baghdad at the end of his life, he was buried beside his grandfather Imam Musa ibn Jaʿfar al-Kazim (a).
Among his best-known titles are (al-Jawad), (Ibn al-Rida), (al-Taqi), (al-Qaniʿ), (al-Radi) and (al-Muntajab).
His noble shrine in Baghdad, with his grandfather Imam al-Kazim (a), is a beacon of the Imamate and a qibla for visitors from all the countries of the world, and it grows in loftiness with the passing of the years.
The Merit of Visiting Him (a)
1 – Maintaining His Noble Grave
His noble grave is a spot among the spots of Paradise. The greatness of maintaining his grave and attending to it regularly with veneration and visitation, seeking nearness to Allah, becomes manifest in the believer’s attaining to being singled out for the intercession of the Prophet (s); and for those who visit him there is bliss such as no eye has seen and no ear has heard.
It is reported from al-Tahdhib: From Abu ʿAmir al-Saji, the preacher of the people of the Hijaz, who said: I came to Abu ʿAbd Allah Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad (a) and said to him.. until he said, from Imam ʿAli (a): I said: O Messenger of Allah, what is there for one who visits our graves, maintains them and attends to them regularly?
He said to me: O Abu al-Hasan, Allah has made your grave and the grave of your children spots among the spots of Paradise and a courtyard among its courtyards; and Allah has made the hearts of the noble ones of His creation and the elect of His servants yearn for you and bear humiliation and harm for your sake. So they maintain your graves and visit them frequently, seeking nearness to Allah and out of love for His Messenger. Those, O ʿAli, are the ones singled out for my intercession and the ones who will come to my Pool, and they are my visitors tomorrow in Paradise.
O ʿAli, whoever maintains your graves and attends to them regularly, it is as though he helped Solomon son of David in building Bayt al-Maqdis; and whoever visits your graves, the equal of that for him is the reward of seventy Hajj pilgrimages after the obligatory Hajj, and he comes out of his sins, so that he returns from visiting you as on the day his mother bore him. So rejoice, and give glad tidings to your friends and those who love you of bliss and delight of the eye such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has never occurred to the heart of a human being.. vol. 6, p. 22.
2 – Visiting Imam al-Jawad (a) Is Like Visiting the Messenger of Allah (s)
In al-Kafi: from Zayd al-Shahham, who said: I said to Abu ʿAbd Allah (a): What is there for one who visits one of you? He said: Like one who visited the Messenger of Allah (s). vol. 4, p. 579
3 – Whoever Visits al-Jawad (a) Is Like One Who Visited al-Husayn (a)
It has been reported in Thawab al-Aʿmal that Imam Jaʿfar al-Sadiq (a) said, concerning visiting him and visiting his pure forefathers and descendants (a)—among them Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (a): Whoever visits one of us is like one who visited al-Husayn (a). p. 98.
4 - Visiting Him Is Like Visiting All the Other Imams
It is reported in Kamil al-Ziyarat from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Muslim, who said: I went in to al-Kazim (a) and said to him: Which is better: visiting al-Husayn ibn ʿAli, or the Commander of the Faithful (a), or of so-and-so [so-and-so] and so-and-so?—and I named the Imams one by one.
He said to me: O ʿAbd al-Rahman, whoever visits the first of us has visited the last of us, and whoever visits the last of us has visited the first of us; and whoever takes the first of us as guardian has taken the last of us as guardian, and whoever takes the last of us as guardian has taken [has taken] the first of us as guardian.. p. 336
5 - Visiting Him with His Father, alongside Visiting al-Husayn, Is More Comprehensive and Greater
Al-Mufid in the book al-Muqniʿa: Ibrahim ibn ʿUqba narrated, saying: I wrote to Abu al-Hasan the Third (a), asking him about visiting Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Husayn[2] (a) and visiting Abu al-Hasan Musa and Abu Jaʿfar[3] Muhammad ibn ʿAli (a) in Baghdad. He wrote to me: Abu ʿAbd Allah (a) is foremost, and these two are more comprehensive and greater[4] in reward. p. 483.
6 - Visiting Imam al-Jawad on Behalf of the Ahl al-Bayt (a)
Al-Tusi in al-Tahdhib: from Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, from ʿAbd Allah, from Ahmad ibn Muhammad, from Dawud al-Sarmi, who said: I said to him—meaning Abu al-Hasan al-ʿAskari (a): I visited your father and dedicated that to you. He said: For you there is from Allah a great wage and reward, and from us, praise. vol. 6, p. 111.
The Recommended Times for Ziyarah
Visiting Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (a) is recommended (mustaḥabb) at all times; however, there are certain particularities of the noble days on which visiting him (a) is emphasized, among them:
(1) The recommendation of visiting Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (a) and all the Infallibles is emphasized on Fridays, even from afar, as al-Shahid al-Awwal mentioned in al-Durus[5].
(2) Some jurists held that visitations are emphasized on the noble days and on the days specific to the Imam himself, as ʿAllama al-Majlisi said: (And the day of the birth of al-Jawad (a), which is the tenth of Rajab according to the narration of Ibn ʿAyyash, or the seventeenth of the month of Ramadan, or its middle; the day of his death, which is the last day of Dhu al-Qaʿda, or the eleventh of it; and the day of his Imamate, which is the martyrdom of his father (a))[6]. Perhaps what confirms this is that visiting him (a) on his noble days is an instance of reviving his remembrance; in fact, it is among the highest instances of revival, because of the renewal of the covenant it contains.
(3) It can be said that the recommendation of visiting him (a) is emphasized on all noble days without restriction, namely the days of Allah, the days on which the believing person turns to worship, to thanking Allah the Exalted, and to glorification, because his noble sanctuary is among the houses of which Allah the Exalted has said: (In houses Allah has allowed to be raised and wherein His Name is celebrated; He is glorified therein, morning and evening) (Qurʾan 24:36).
(4) Sayed Ibn Tawus, in Jamal al-Usbuʿ, assigned Wednesday to the recommendation of visiting Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (a), and he composed a special ziyarah for this day, which he mentioned in his book. This was based on the narration of al-Saduq in al-Khisal from Imam al-Hadi (a), in which he divides the assignment of the days of the week among the Imams (a); from this he inferred that visiting him (a) is emphasized on Monday.
It is as follows:
Al-Shaykh al-Saduq in al-Khisal, from Imam ʿAli al-Hadi (a), in a hadith, where he said:
We are the days, as long as the heavens and the earth stand. Saturday is the name of the Messenger of Allah (s); Sunday is an allusion to the Commander of the Faithful (a); Monday is al-Hasan and al-Husayn; Tuesday is ʿAli ibn al-Husayn, Muhammad ibn ʿAli and Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad; Wednesday is Musa ibn Jaʿfar, ʿAli ibn Musa, Muhammad ibn ʿAli, and I; Thursday is my son al-Hasan ibn ʿAli; and Friday is my son’s son, and to him the band of truth will gather, and he is the one who will fill it with equity and justice as it has been filled with oppression and tyranny. This is the meaning of the days; so do not be hostile to them in this world, lest they be hostile to you in the Hereafter.. vol. 2, p. 395
(5) It can also be said that the recommendation is emphasized at a time of need, in order to seek intercession through him (a), because they are the doors we have been commanded to knock at for our needs, since they are the means to Allah the Exalted. It has become well known among people that Imam al-Jawad (a) is the Door of the Desired (Bab al-Murad), that is, a door for the fulfillment of people’s needs, because of the wonders they have seen in his noble visitation.
The Devotional Acts of the Noble Sanctuary
It is fitting for the devotee to seek out the finest deeds and the approved words among the rites of the noble shrine, which he ought to perform while he is honored with visiting the shrine of Imam al-Jawad (a), so that through them he may make the most of the opportunity of visiting him and color with them the rites of his visitation, and avoid the prohibited words and deeds while on his blessed journey.
In this summary we try to mention the acts of the visitor of Imam al-Jawad (a), relying on what has been reported from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) specifically or generally. We will explain the type of act, mentioning by way of allusion the basis and the evidentiary source for it, so that the honored visitor may become acquainted with the culture of his documented acts of worship and keep away from the chaos of transmission with which our present age has been afflicted.
The Etiquette of the Sanctuary
Concerning specifically the visitation of the sanctuary of al-Jawad (a), there has been reported, among the etiquette the visitor ought to observe, from Abu al-Hasan al-Hadi (a): (When you wish to visit Musa ibn Jaʿfar and Muhammad ibn ʿAli (a), perform the ritual bath, clean yourself, and put on your two pure garments)[7].
Among the etiquette is what has been taken, by way of the underlying criterion, from the narrations that spoke about visiting Imam al-Husayn (a) and the rest of the Ahl al-Bayt (a), and from the rule that venerating the pure sanctuary is obligatory and violating its sanctity is forbidden. So the visitor strives for humility, for seeking blessing, and for constant remembrance and glorification of Allah while he is the guest of the Imam (a).
The Manner of Visiting Imam al-Jawad (a)
The texts with which the visitor may visit the grave of Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (a) are varied; they are as follows:
(1) The First Ziyarah
The narration in which Imam al-Hadi (a) mentioned the ziyarah of Imam al-Kazim (a), then said: And you greet Abu Jaʿfar (a) with it—that is, Imam al-Jawad (a)
From Muhammad ibn ʿIsa ibn ʿUbayd, from someone he mentioned, from Abu al-Hasan (a), who said: You say in Baghdad:
Peace be upon you, O friend of Allah. Peace be upon you, O proof of Allah. Peace be upon you, O light of Allah in the darknesses of the earth. Peace be upon you, O you concerning whose affair badaʾ occurred for Allah. I have come to you knowing your right, an enemy to your enemies; so intercede for me with your Lord.
And supplicate to Allah, and ask for your need.
He said: And you greet Abu Jaʿfar (a) with this[8].
Ibn al-Mashhadi mentioned, after mentioning this ziyarah: Then you pray the prayer of ziyarah, and when you have finished it, you recite the tasbih of al-Zahraʾ Fatimah (a), and you say:
O Allah, to You I have raised my hand, and in what is with You my longing has grown great. So accept, O my Master, my repentance, forgive me and have mercy on me, and grant me a share in every good and a way to every good.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, hear my supplication, and have mercy on my entreaty, my abasement, my humility and my reliance on You; for I am in submission to You. I do not hope for success, nor well-being, nor honor except by You and from You. So favor me by bringing me to this noble place next year, while I am safe from every hateful and dreaded thing, and help me to obey You and to obey Your friends whom You have chosen from Your creation.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, keep me safe in my religion, extend my term, and make my body healthy. O He who has had mercy on me and given to me, and by His grace made me free of need, forgive me my sin, and complete Your blessing upon me in what remains of my life, until You take me while You are pleased with me.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, and do not take me out of the creed of Islam, for I have held fast to Your cord; so do not entrust me to other than You.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, teach me what benefits me, benefit me by what You have taught me, and fill my heart with knowledge and with fear of Your assaults and Your retributions. O Allah, I ask You with the asking of one in dire need of You, apprehensive of Your punishment, fearful of Your chastisement, that You forgive me, envelop me, show me tenderness by Your mercy, and turn to me
with Your forgiveness, discharge on my behalf what You have made obligatory, make me free by Your grace from asking any of Your creation, and protect me from the Fire by Your mercy.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, hasten the relief of Your wali and the son of Your wali, grant him an easy victory, and help him with a mighty help.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, make his proof manifest through Your wali, and revive his Sunna through his appearance, so that through his appearance all Your servants and Your lands may become upright, and no one may hide anything of the truth. O Allah, I beseech You for his noble and honorable state, by which You strengthen Islam and its people and abase hypocrisy and its people.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, and make us, in it, among those who call to Your obedience and those who triumph in Your way, and grant us the honor of this world and the Hereafter. O Allah, whatever of the truth we do not recognize, make it known to us, and whatever of it we fall short of, enable us to reach it.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, answer for us all that we have supplicated You for, give us all that we have asked of You, make us among those who are grateful for Your favors and among those who remember Your bounties, and forgive us, O best of those who forgive, and do with us and with the believers what befits You, O most merciful of the merciful.
Then prostrate, rub your cheeks in the dust, and go forth in the ease of Allah. (al-Mazar al-Kabir, Ibn al-Mashhadi, p. 541).
(2) The Second Ziyarah
In Kamil al-Ziyarat, from Imam al-Hadi (a), after mentioning the ziyarah of Imam al-Kazim (a) given above: Then greet Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad al-Jawad with these words—and begin with the ritual bath—and say: O Allah, bless Muhammad ibn ʿAli, the righteous, God-fearing, pure, well-pleased and well-pleasing Imam, and Your proof over those above the earths and those beneath the soil, with abundant, complete [growing], pure, blessed, continuous, successive and consecutive blessings, like the best of what You have blessed any of Your friends.
Peace be upon you, O friend of Allah. Peace be upon you, O light of Allah. Peace be upon you, O proof of Allah. Peace be upon you, O Imam of the believers [O Imam of the believers and heir of the prophets]. Peace be upon you, O vicegerent of the prophets and scion of the successors. Peace be upon you, O light of Allah in the darknesses of the earth.
I have come to you as a visitor, knowing your right, an enemy to your enemies and a friend to your friends; so intercede for me with your Lord, O my master.
Then ask for your need, for it will be fulfilled, if Allah the Exalted wills.
(3) The Third Ziyarah
In the same previous narration, Imam al-Hadi (a) mentioned a general ziyarah that suffices at all the sites, including at the grave of Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (a).
He said: And it suffices at all the sites that you say:
Peace be upon the friends of Allah and His chosen ones. Peace be upon the trustees of Allah and His beloved ones. Peace be upon the helpers of Allah and His vicegerents. Peace be upon the places of the knowledge of Allah. Peace be upon the dwellings of the remembrance of Allah. Peace be upon the manifestations of the command of Allah and His prohibition. Peace be upon those who call to Allah. Peace be upon those settled in the good pleasure of Allah. Peace be upon those sincere in the obedience of Allah. Peace be upon the guides to Allah. Peace be upon those such that whoever befriends them has befriended Allah, whoever is hostile to them has been hostile to Allah, whoever knows them has known Allah, whoever is ignorant of them has been ignorant of Allah, whoever holds fast to them has held fast to Allah, and whoever abandons them has abandoned Allah.
I call Allah to witness that I submit to you, am at peace with whoever is at peace with you and at war with whoever wars against you, believe in what is secret and what is open of you, and commit all of that to you. May Allah curse the enemy of the Family of Muhammad from among the jinn and humans, and I disavow them before Allah. And may Allah bless Muhammad and his Family.
This suffices at all the shrines. You invoke blessings abundantly upon Muhammad and his Family, name them one by one by their names, disavow their enemies, and choose for yourself, and for the believing men and the believing women, from the supplications. _Kamil al-Ziyarat, p. 302, from Imam al-Hadi (a)).
(4) The Unrestricted Ziyarahs
Imam al-Jawad (a) can be visited with the unrestricted ziyarahs of the Ahl al-Bayt (a), such as al-Ziyara al-Jamiʿa al-Kabira and al-Saghira, and other ziyarahs in which the address extends to the Household of Prophethood in general.
Or one may visit Imam al-Jawad (a) with the text of Ziyarat Amin Allah, which was reported for visiting the Commander of the Faithful (a); however, each Imam is visited with it specifically, with the address in it directed to him.
(5) The Free Ziyarahs
These are the ziyarahs that scholars composed for visiting Imam al-Jawad (a) specifically, and they include the ziyarahs mentioned by the authors of the ziyarah manuals from among the eminent figures of the community without attributing them to the infallible Imam, as in Misbah al-Zaʾir, al-Mazar al-Kabir, the Mazar of al-Shaykh al-Mufid, and others.
Perhaps among them is what al-Shaykh al-Mufid mentioned in al-Muqniʿa; he said:
When you have visited his grandfather Musa ibn Jaʿfar (a), go in to him before you leave or do anything that invalidates your state of purity, and stand at his grave with your face turned toward his face—may Allah honor him—and say: Peace be upon you, O friend of Allah. Peace be upon you, O proof of Allah. Peace be upon you, O light of Allah in the darknesses of the earth. I bear witness that you maintained the prayer, gave the zakat, bade what is right and forbade what is wrong, recited the Book as it ought to be recited, waged jihad for the sake of Allah, a jihad which is worthy of Him, and bore harm patiently for His sake until certainty came to you. I have come to you, O my master, as a visitor, knowing your right, a friend to your friends and an enemy to your enemies; so intercede for me with your Lord.
Then kiss the grave, place your cheeks on it, pray two rakʿas at the head, and after them pray whatever you see fit; supplicate to Allah much, and move to the side of the feet and invoke blessings on Muhammad and his Family (a), and supplicate for whatever you like, if Allah wills. (p. 484).
(5) Invoking Blessings upon Him
The invocations of blessing upon him are counted among the ziyarahs, because they are of their kind; for we see that many of the ziyarah texts reported from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) contain invocations of blessing upon them. This is also understood from the implied sense of the verse (And never pray over any of them when he dies, nor stand at his graveside) (Qurʾan 9:84). Among these invocations is what has been reported from Imam al-Hasan al-ʿAskari (a) concerning the Twelve Imams (a); so Imam al-Jawad (a) may be visited with the text of the invocation of blessings specific to him in this narration, which, as in Misbah al-Mutahajjid, is:
O Allah, bless Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Musa, the banner of piety, the light of guidance, the mine of loyalty, the branch of the pure ones, the vicegerent of the successors, and Your trustee over Your revelation. O Allah, and just as You guided through him from misguidance, rescued through him from bewilderment, directed through him whoever was guided, and purified whoever purified himself, so bless him with the best of what You have blessed any of Your friends. Indeed You are the All-mighty, the All-wise[9].
The Farewell
Al-Shaykh al-Mufid mentioned in al-Muqniʿa, concerning bidding farewell to Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (a) after visiting him:
You stand at the grave as you stood at it when you began visiting him, and say: Peace be upon you, O my master, O son of the Messenger of Allah. I commend you to Allah and greet you with peace. We believe in Allah, in the Messenger, and in what you brought and guided to. O Allah, write us down among the witnesses.
Then I ask Allah not to make it the last time with you. Supplicate for what you wish, kiss the grave, place your cheeks on it, and leave when you wish, if Allah wills. (p. 484).
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[1] - This is the position of al-Shaykh al-Tusi, and it is the well-known view; some said the fifteenth of it, or the nineteenth of it.
[2] In b: “al-Husayn ibn ʿAli (a)”. And “al-Husayn” is not in (j).
[3] In d, z: “Abu al-Hasan Musa (a) and Abu Jaʿfar”. And in b: “Abu al-Hasan Musa ibn Jaʿfar and Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn ʿAli (a)”.
[4] In alif, h: “greater in wage and reward”.
[5] - al-Durus al-Sharʿiyya, p. 16.
[6] - Bihar al-Anwar, 99, p. 25
[7] - Kamil al-Ziyarat, p. 302.
[8] - al-Kafi, vol. 4, p. 578, and Kamil al-Ziyarat, p. 301. It may be said that the text of the ziyarah contains something specific to Imam al-Kazim (a), namely badaʾ (badaʾ occurred for Allah concerning your affair); it can be said as it is, out of devotional submission, for badaʾ may have included him in respects we do not know; and perhaps greeting him with that means with the same content. And Allah knows best.
[9] - Misbah al-Mutahajjid, vol. 1, p. 404.
Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
