Name:Muhammad Taqi A.S
Birth: Madina, 10th Rajab 195 Hijri (12.4.811 AD).

Death: Baghdad Iraq 29th Dhul Qadah 220 Hijiri, aged 25 years

Buried: Baghdad, Iraq.

Period of Imamat: 17 years.

At the time of the death of Imam Ali Al-Reza (AS) our 9th Imam was only 9 years old. Some people from among the followers of Ahlulbayt and others, doubted Imam’s eligibility to become Imam at this young age. Kulaini in his Kafi relates that the Mutawalli of the Holy Ka’aba questioned Imam for several days before he was satisfied and accepted him as the Imam of the Time.

It is an undeniable fact that the whole episode of the call for Imam Ali Al-Reza (AS) to Tus, and his appointment as heir apparent to Mamoun was a game played for political convenience to get the sympathies and support of the Persians to get his empire back from his step brother Amin. Once this was achieved Mamoun had the Imam poisoned to get him out of his way.

Most significant for the life of Imam Muhammad Taqi(AS) was the fact that Mamoun’s favours towards the Ahlulbayt did not cease because of their scholarly and intellectual approach to Islam. Although after arriving in Baghdad Mamoun replaced the Hashemite Green colour to the black colour of the Abbasids on flags and court dresses, he still encouraged the intellectuals to engage in open discussions about the concept of power and authority. Indeed he took that action as political necessity for he did not want to alienate his Persian friends and supporters. For not only prominent friends of Ahlulbayt were appointed to responsible positions, but particular public favour was shown to the family of the deceased Imam Ali Al-Reza (AS).

Mamoun died in 218 Hijri (833 AD). As long as he lived no harm came to the Imam. Mamoun was succeeded by his brother Mu’taman, the second heir-apparent after Imam Ali Al-Reza (AS). He came to be known as Al-Mu’tasim billah Abbasi.

For one year after the Imams’s arrival in Baghdad, Mu’tasim did not do anything. He was hoping that the Imam would conform to the Royal ways of living and then this would be a source of infamy for the Ahlulbayt. But when he realised that the man was becoming more popular in Baghdad with his scholarly discourses with the scholars there, he had to act to stop this as all his ancestors did before him and use the silent weapon of poison to eliminate that thorn in his heart. The Imam died of poison on the 29th of Zeeqa’ad 220 Hijiri (24.11.835 AD). He was buried by the side of his grandfather Imam Musa ibn Ja’far. It is because of the two Imam’s who were famous for their suppression of anger that the place was called Kazemain, the two Kazims, the enduring ones.