4. Death in Prison
DuringHārun’sreign,ImamMusaal-Kādhim(a.s.)livedinverydifficult
times,inhiding,untilfinallyHārunwentonthehajjandinMedinahad
theImamarrestedwhileprayingintheMosqueoftheProphet.Hewas
chainedandimprisoned,thentakenfromMedinatoBasraandmadea
prisonerinthehouseof‘IsabinJa‘far,thegovernorofthatcity.‘Isawas
somuchimpressedbytheImam’spersonalitythatherequestedHārun
torelievehimof thisresponsibility.Imam al-Kādhim(a.s.)wasmoved
fromBasratoBaghdadwhereforyearshewastransferredfromonepris-
on to another.
* * *During his imprisonment in Baghdad, he was taken to meet Hārun
fromtimetotime.Inonesuchmeeting,aninterestingconversationtook
place. We will reproduce just a section from that conversation:
Hārun:“Whydoyouallowthepeopletoaddressyoubywordslike‘O
son of the Prophet’ while you are in reality sons of ‘Ali? People are
mostlyknownbytheirpaternallineage;whereasyourarerelatedtothe
Prophet through your grandmother [i.e., Fātimah].”
Imam(a.s.):“IftheProphetbecomesaliveandcomestoyou,andasks
for the hand of your daughter in marriage — would you accept his
proposal?”
Hārun:“PraisebetoAllah!Whynot?Thatwouldbethegreatestpriv-
ilege for me over all the Arabs and non-Arabs!”
Imam (a.s.):“The Prophet would neveraskformy daughter’shand;
nor would I accept his proposal.”
Hārun: “Why?”
Imam(a.s.):“BecausetheProphet ismydirectancestor(eventhough
from my grandmother’s side); but he is not your ancestor.”
The Imam wassayingthat all the descendants of Fātimahwould be
consideredthe children ofthe Prophet,and, therefore,itwouldbe un-
lawfulfortheProphettomarryanyoneofthem.Whereasthe‘Abbasids
descendedfromtheProphet’suncle‘Abbas,sotheyarenotdirectlyre-
latedtohim;theProphet,ifhewished,couldmarrythedescendantsof
hisuncle.ThisdifferenceshowsthattheImamsofAhlu’l-Baythadfull
right to be addressed as “the son of the Prophet”.