Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jawad (, ), also known as Muhammad al-Taqi, was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the ninth of the Twelve Imams, succeeding his father Ali al-Rida. Born in Medina around 810, al-Jawad was the only child of al-Rida, the eighth Imam. When al-Rida left Medina after being summoned to Khorasan by the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun to assume the position of heir apparent, he did not take any of his family members with him. Al-Jawad was only four years old when his father reluctantly left Medina. Therefore, al-Jawad spent most of his childhood away from his father. Al-Rida's appointment provoked strong opposition among the Abbasids in Baghdad, which forced al-Ma'mun to return to the capital Baghdad in 818. On the way back, al-Rida suddenly fell ill and died mysteriously in Tus, likely poisoned by order of al-Ma'mun as he made concessions to the opposition.
Upon the death of al-Rida, the succession of his only son al-Jawad to the Imamate at the age of seven became controversial, but most recognized his knowledge and religious authority. At the time, some instead turned for leadership to al-Jawad's uncle, Ahmad ibn Musa, and some others joined the Waqifites, but the succession of al-Jawad did not create any permanent divisions. Shia sources often justify the Imamate of the young al-Jawad by drawing parallels with Jesus and John the Baptist, both of whom in the Quran received their prophetic missions in childhood. Like most of his predecessors, al-Jawad kept aloof from politics and engaged in religious teaching, while organizing the affairs of Shia Muslims through the network of representatives (Wokala) that his grandfather and the seventh Imam, Musa al-Kazim, had established. The extensive correspondence of al-Jawad with his followers on questions of Islamic law has been preserved in Shia sources, and numerous pithy religio-ethical sayings are attributed to him.
In 830, al-Jawad was summoned to Baghdad by al-Ma'mun, who married his daughter Umm Fadhl to the former. This marriage, however, was to be without issue and might have been infelicitous. His successor, Ali al-Hadi, was already born to Samana, a freed slave (). In 833, al-Ma'mun died and was succeeded by his brother, al-Mu'tasim, who summoned al-Jawad again to Baghdad in 835 and hosted him and his wife, possibly to investigate any links between al-Jawad and new Alid revolts. Al-Jawad died in the same year at the age of about twenty-five. All Sunni sources are silent about the manner of his death, while Shia authorities are unanimous that he was poisoned by his disaffected wife, Umm al-Fadl, at the instigation of her uncle, caliph al-Mu'tasim. Al-Jawad is buried next to his grandfather in the Al-Kazimiyya Mosque, a holy site in Shia Islam.
Titles Muhammad ibn Ali, the ninth of the Twelve Imams, is occasionally known in Shia sources as al-Taqi (), but more commonly as al-Jawad () for his munificence. The Imam is cited in the Shia hadith literature as Abu Ja'far al-Thani (), with the title Abu Ja'far reserved for his predecessor, Muhammad al-Baqir (), the fifth of the Twelve Imams. His is Abu Ali (), though he was also known by his contemporaries as Ibn al-Rida () because he was the only child of Ali al-Rida. Muhammad is also known as Javad al-A'imma (lit. 'generous among the Imams'), a devotional title reflecting his reputation for generosity and benevolence.
Life Birth () Muhammad al-Jawad was born in Medina, or in a village near Medina founded by his grandfather, Musa al-Kazim (). Sources seem to agree that he was born 195 AH (810–811) but the exact date is disputed. Most Twelver sources record mid-Ramadan 195 AH (mid-June 811) as the birthday of Muhammad but Ibn Ayyas () favors 10 Rajab 195 AH (8 April 811). This latter date agrees with , a supplication attributed to Muhammad al-Mahdi, the last of the Twelve Imams. It is this date that the Shia celebrate annually. His father Ali al-Rida, the eighth of the Twelve Imams, was a descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib () and Fatima (), who were the cousin and the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, respectively. Most records agree that the mother of Muhammad al-Jawad was a freed slave () from Nubia, though her name is given differently in sources as Sabika or Durra (sometimes Khayzuran). She might have belonged to the family of Maria al-Qibtiyya, a freed slave of the prophet and the mother of his son Ibrahim, who died in childhood.
Reign of al-Ma'mun () Marriage () Muhammad stayed behind in Medina when his father al-Rida traveled to Merv in Khorasan at the request of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (). The caliph designated al-Rida as the heir apparent in 202 AH (817), and also changed the official Abbasid color of black to green, possibly to signify this reconciliation between the Abbasids and the Alids. To form a political alliance, the caliph also married one of his daughters, named Umm Habib, to al-Rida in 202 AH (817) and promised another daughter, named Umm al-Fadl, to Muhammad, who was still a minor at the time, aged about seven. Among Sunni historians, al-Tabari (), Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur (), and Ibn al-Athir al-Jazari () agree on this report. It is likely that Muhammad was absent from the ceremony, even though Abu'l-Hasan Bayhaqi () relates that he visited his father in Merv in 202 AH (817). In contrast, the Sunni historian al-Khatib al-Baghdadi () and the Shia-leaning historians Al-Masudi () and Ya'qubi () place the betrothal of Muhammad after the death of al-Rida in 204 AH (819), following the return of al-Ma'mun to his capital Baghdad. In particular, al-Mas'udi in his Ithbat al-wassiya writes that al-Ma'mun summoned Muhammad to Baghdad, settled him near his palace, and later decided to marry him to his daughter, Umm Fadl, whose given name was Zaynab. According to al-Baghdadi, Muhammad was about nine years old at the time of this betrothal.
Death of his father ()
Ali al-Rida was a prominent Alid, a descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. The Alids were viewed as rivals for the caliphate by the Abbasids, who were the descendants of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, a paternal uncle of Muhammad. The appointment of the Alid al-Rida by the Abbasid caliph thus invoked strong opposition, particularly among the members of the Abbasid dynasty and the Iraqi supporters of Abbasid legitimism. These revolted and installed al-Ma'mun's uncle, Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, as an anti-caliph in Baghdad. The caliph and his entourage thus left Khorasan for Baghdad in 203 AH (818), accompanied by al-Rida. The latter died shortly in Tus after a brief illness, possibly after being poisoned. The death of al-Rida followed the assassination of al-Fadl ibn Sahl (), the Persian vizier of al-Ma'mun, who had become a divisive figure. Both deaths are linked in Shia sources to al-Ma'mun and viewed as concessions to the Arab party to smooth his return to Iraq. Modern scholars similarly tend to suspect the caliph in the death of al-Rida. After returning to Baghdad in 204 AH (819), al-Ma'mun reversed his pro-Shia policies, and restored the traditional black color of the Abbasids. Muhammad was about seven years old when his father died. There are multiple Shia reports that he told others about the death of his father before the news arrived in Medina, and some traditions indicate that he was miraculously present in the burial of al-Rida in Khurasan and prayed over his body.
Summoned to Baghdad () Soon after arriving in Baghdad in 204 AH (819), al-Ma'mun summoned the young Muhammad who then stayed at the court of the caliph. The betrothal of Muhammad and Umm Fadl or its proposal was apparently opposed by some of the Abbasids, reportedly because of the dark complexion of Muhammad. An account of their protests appears in the biographical Kitab al-Irshad by the Twelver theologian Al-Shaykh al-Mufid (), though the Islamicist Shona F. Wardrop suspects that it may actually refer to the designation of al-Rida as the heir apparent. In any case, al-Mufid suggests that the opposition actually feared the political rise of Muhammad similar to his father al-Rida, and the view of the Islamicist Wilferd Madelung is similar. Those opposed to the marriage arranged for a public debate where the chief judge Yahya ibn Aktam interrogated the young Muhammad with difficult theological questions to which he answered correctly. An account of this is given by al-Mas'udi, but the seventeenth-century hadith collection Bihar al-Anwar adds that Yahya also presented Muhammad with provocative questions about the status of the early caliphs Abu Bakr () and Umar (), including an alleged prophetic tradition that compares the two caliphs with the archangels Gabriel and Michael. These claims al-Jawad refuted in mild language. The attribution of this latter exchange to Muhammad al-Jawad is, however, uncertain since a similar exchange between al-Ma'mun and some Sunni scholars is described by the tenth-century hadith collection Uyoun Akhbar Al-Ridha. At any rate, it is at the end of this assembly that al-Ma'mun formally married his daughter to Muhammad, according to al-Mas'udi and al-Mufid. This episode is thus viewed by the Twelvers as evidence of the exceptional knowledge of Muhammad al-Jawad.
Kitab al-Irshad implies that Muhammad returned to Medina after this episode in Baghdad. By some accounts, however, he stayed in Baghdad for about eight years, primarily engaged in teaching, before returning to Medina with his family after the death of al-Ma'mun in 218 AH (833). This is viewed as house arrest by the historian Jassim M. Hussain, citing a report by al-Mas'udi. There is not much known about this period of his life.
Summoned to Baghdad (830) The marriage of al-Jawad to the daughter of the caliph was consummated in 215 AH (830), when al-Ma'mun invited the former to Baghdad from Medina. The couple stayed there until the Hajj season (January 831) when they returned to Medina after completing the Hajj ritual. Possibly hoping to blunt the Shia opposition through al-Jawad, the caliph is said to have displayed much affection towards the young man. By marrying his daughter to al-Jawad, the Twelver scholar Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai () suggests that al-Ma'mun might have wanted to keep a close watch on him from both outside and within his household. Hussain similarly suggests that al-Ma'mun intended to monitor al-Jawad and divide the Shia opposition, hoping thus to mitigate their revolts, including some fresh uprisings in Qom. This view is rejected by the historian Moojan Momen, who says that al-Ma'mun might have had little to fear from the revolts in Qom. Medoff believes that al-Ma'mun pursued a policy of simultaneously appeasing and containing pro-Alid groups, while Wardrop writes that the marriage was intended to discourage the Shia from revolution. Hussain and Esmail Baghestani say that the marriage did not win the Shia support for al-Ma'mun, nor did it stop the Shia revolts.
Reign of al-Mu'tasim ()