The birthday of Imam Ali bin Muhammad al-Naqī, al-Hādī (212 A.H. / 828 A.D.)

The birthday of Imam Ali bin Muhammad al-Naqī, al-Hādī (the tenth Imam) (212 A.H. / 828 A.D.)

On Saturday, the 22^th of June 2024 A.D. (the 15^th of Dhū al-Hijjah 1445 A.H.)

Imam Ali bin Muhammad (the tenth Imam) was born on the 15^th of Dhū al-Hijjah in Medina in 212 A.H. / 827 A.D. His honorable father is Imam al-Jawād (the ninth Imam) and his respected mother’s name is Samānah. His father Imam al-Jawād named him Ali like the blessed name of his two great grandfathers Imam Ali (the first Imam) and Imam Ali bin al-Hussain (the fourth Imam). Also his two famous titles are al-Hādī and al-Naqī, and his agnomen is Abū al-Hassan al-thālith.

To do the ceremony of his birth, Imam al-Jawād performed the special rituals for his blessed newborn son. He performed Azān in his right ear and Iqāmah in the left, and slaughtered a ram as ʹAqīqah, as it was the norm for the Imams to do with their children when they were born. Narrators described that he was black-eyed, with thick hands, wide chest, hooked nose, pretty face, and good body odor. He was stout in body like his grandfather Imam al-Bāqir, neither short nor tall, with wide shoulders, big organs and straight stature. _{(Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 13, p. 127)}

The Imam was six years old when his father martyred and at the age of eight in 220 A.H., like his father, he was also elevated to the rank of Imamate in his childhood. So, after having seen his father’s example, the Shi’a community had no more problems in accepting such a young Imam. The period of his Imamate lasted 33years old. During his lifetime (42 years), the tenth Imam was contemporary with seven of the Abbasid Caliphs: al-Ma'mūn, al-Mu'tasim, al-Wāthiq, al-Mutawakkil, al-Muntasir, al-Musta'īn, and al-Mu'tazz. In 243 A.H. / 857 A.D, after al-Mutawakkil ordered one of his government officials to invite the Imam from Medina to Samarra, north of Baghdad (Iraq), which was then the capital, the Imam immigrated to Samarra and stayed there for twenty years. The Imam poisoned by al-Mu'tazz at the age of 42 in 254 A.H. / 868 and buried in Samarra.