When you gentleman mentioned that those great Imams lived much of their life away from their home, this is really the case. They were away from Madinah, from their family members and from an environment where they felt comfortable. There is another point about these three Imams – from Hazrat Jawad to Hazrat Askari – which is the fact that the closer we get to the era of Hazrat Askari, the lonelier they become.
During the time of those three Imams, the Imams were ten times as influential as the time of Imam Sadiq and Imam Baqir (greetings be upon them). And this is an astonishing fact. Perhaps, the reason why they pressured and oppressed them so much is this issue. After Imam Ridha moved to Iran – to Khorasan – that was one of the things that took place.
Perhaps, the eighth Imam (greetings be upon him) had taken this matter into account. Before his departure, the Shias existed everywhere more or less, but they were not in contact with one another. They were disappointed and hopeless and they did not see a bright future ahead of them. Besides, the caliphs had extended their rule everywhere. Before that, Harun used to live with his pharaoh-like power. When Imam Ridha moved to Khorasan and when he took that path, the people witnessed a personality who displayed knowledge, greatness, glory, sincerity and enlightenment before their very eyes. They had never seen such a thing before.
Before his departure, how many Shias could go from Khorasan to Madinah to see Imam Sadiq? However, on that long journey, people living in all those areas would see him up close. It was an astonishing phenomenon. It seemed as if one was seeing the Holy Prophet. That spiritual awe and greatness, that dignity, morality, piety, enlightenment and knowledgeability – whatever question the people had and whatever they wanted, he had it in his hands: something that they had not experienced before – it brought about a revolution.
The Imam arrived in Khorasan and Marv. Marv was the capital of the area which was located in today’s Turkmenistan. And after one, two years, Hazrat was martyred and the people mourned his loss. Both the arrival of the Imam – which was a reflection of things that the people had not seen and heard about – and his martyrdom which caused deep grief, helped Shias be in control of all those areas. This does not mean that everyone became a Shia, rather it means that everyone began to love the Ahlul Bayt (as).
Shias poured to those areas to work. All of a sudden, you notice that the Al-Ash’aris [a tribe who were living in Kufa some of whom were the companions of the Holy Prophet] emerged in Qom. Why did they – who were Arabs – go there? They went to Qom to promote Islamic hadith and Islamic teachings and to turn that place into a base. In Rey as well, the likes of Koleyni [one of the most well-known narrators of hadith in Islamic history] emerged. Someone like Koleyni does not move from a city without a reason. The Shia environment must be apt for such a decision to be made. There must be a religious environment so that such a young man with those qualities could be built until he turns into someone like Koleyni.
As the movement was gathering pace, Sheikh Saduq (may God bestow paradise on him) went as far as Herat, Khorasan and other cities to gather hadith for Shias. This is very important. What were Shia narrators of hadith doing in Khorasan? What were they doing in Samarkand? Who used to live in Samarkand at that time? Sheikh Ayashi Samarkandi, Ayashi Samarkandi used to live in Samarkand. They used to say, “his house was a source of elevation for Shias and for ulama.” This was mentioned by Sheikh Kashi.
Sheikh Kashi himself was from Samarkand. So, the movement of Imam Ridha (greetings be upon him) and his oppressive martyrdom helped the Imams (greetings be upon them) conquer that environment. And the Imams decided to get the most out of it. Their correspondence and their comings and goings did not take place in normal circumstances. All of that used to occur in a secret manner. If those actions had taken place in an explicit manner, the government would have cut off the people’s hands and feet.
Considering the drastic measures that Muttawakil would adopt and considering his ban on visiting Karbala, would he allow the people to have their religious issues and questions sent to the Imam and to receive their answers? Would it be possible to receive the people’s wujuhat [money given to religious authorities for various purposes] and to have it delivered to the Imam, to get receipts from him and to have them sent back to the people? These facts show the great promotional and educational network of those three great Imams.
After the martyrdom of Imam Ridha until the martyrdom of Hazrat Askari (greetings be upon them), this is what happened. Hazrat Hadi and Hazrat Askari had managed to coordinate all those communications with the world of Islam in the city of Samara. Samara was in fact a military camp. It was not a large city, rather it was a newly-founded capital which housed political authorities, the wealthy and some ordinary people who were there in order to satisfy the daily needs. When we look at the different dimensions of the lives of the Imams, we understand what they did.
Therefore, the issue was not only about answering people’s needs regarding daily prayers, fasting, taharat and nijasat. They used to adopt the position of the Imam in its Islamic sense, when they spoke to the people. In my opinion, this dimension of their work is noteworthy as well as other dimensions.
Notice that Hazrat Hadi was taken from Madina to Samara and he was martyred at a young age – at the age of 42. And Hazrat Askari was martyred at the age of 28. All these facts show the great movement of the Imams (greetings be upon them) and that of their Shias and followers throughout history. Despite the fact that the apparatus of the caliphs was an oppressive police regime, the Imams (greetings be upon them) succeeded like that. The point is that we should pay attention to their dignity and greatness as well as their sense of loneliness in a foreign land. God’s greetings be upon all of them.