Forgiveness Of Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s)

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Zaid Ibn Ali Ibn Husayn was the half brother of Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s). One day when he came to the Imam, he found that the Imam was having some letters of Kufans before him saying that they have raised a powerful army and they invited the Imam to rise against Bani Umayyah. The letter writers pledged their loyalty and support. After reading the letters, the Imam said, “The letters only prove that those people have tried to have our rights restored and that they are having great concern for our hardships. Yet, it is not advisable for you to rise up in revolt. Just as the obedience of the Imam is incumbent on others, it is also incumbent on you. Eligible for obedience can be only the Prophet or his legatee and not every person. During the period of the rule of oppressors it is the command of Allah to His saints that they observe patience and dissimulation. O brother! I am worried that these people may not befool you and put you into some trouble. Their outward and inward is not the same. Do not be fooled by them.”

Hearing these words Zaid became very angry. He said, “That person from us Ahl ul-Bayt cannot be the Imam who keeps sitting at his home in complacence. Who neither performs Jihad himself nor permits others to do it. Rather, Imam is the one who fulfills the needs of the nation and wages Jihad in the way of Allah. Actually the letter writers mean to say that you are not the Imam, I am.” This diatribe of Zaid was so caustic that the Imam should have broken off relationship with him, but he did not. He forgave him, and when Zaid started for Kufa, the Imam came out to bid him adieu and said farewell to him with tearful eyes.

Reference :Akhlaq al-A’imma, Morals & Manners of the Holy Imams