There are different reports that he controlled his anger...

There are different reports that he controlled his anger against his enemies and people who hurt him [12] . In addition, the Imam (PBUH) was known for his attitude of unifying family ties. Sheikh al-Mufid in his al-Irshād has also considered Imam al-Kazim (PBUH) as persistent in keeping the family ties [13] . His Imamate After the martyrdom of the sixth Imam, Imam Ja’far in 148/765, Musa ibn Ja’far succeeded him at the age of twenty years old to become the seventh Shia Imam [14] .

His Imamate lasted for thirty-five years and the period of his leadership coincided with the periods of four Abbasid caliphs [15] : ten years in the period of the caliphate of al-Mansur’s (reign: 136/754-158/774-5); eleven years in the period of the caliphate of al-Mahdi al-‘Abbasi (reign: 158/775-169/785-6); one year in the period of the caliphate of al-Hadi al-‘Abbasi (reign: 169/785-6; -170/786-7); and thirteen years of it occurred in the period of caliphate Harun Rashid (reign: 170/786-7; -193/809) [16] .

After the martyrdom of his father, Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH), Imam Musa al-Kazim remained in Medina, where he kept aloof from politics and devoted himself to religious teachings. However, according to some sources, Imam al-Kazim (PBUH) emphasized the illegitimacy of the Abbasid caliphs in different ways, such as having debates and refusing to cooperate with them and thus he tried to undermine people’s trust in them [17] .

Therefore, he was tightly under strict restriction from the Abbasid caliphs and much of his adult life was spent in their prisons. However, to counter these restrictions, Imam al-Kazim (PBUH) established an underground network of local representatives to organize the affairs of his followers across the Abbasid Empire and to collect their religious donations.

His Imprisonment During the Imamate of Imam al-Kazim (PBUH), he was repeatedly summoned and imprisoned by Abbasid caliphs at different locations. This was because in any prison he was taken to, it would not take long for the prisoners there to become devoted to the Imam. For the first time, he was taken from Medina to Baghdad at the command of al-Mahdi al-‘Abbasi [18] . Harun al-Rashid also imprisoned the Imam two times.

According to Sheikh al-Mufid, Harun wrote a letter to ‘Isa ibn Ja’far in 180/796-7 and asked him to kill the Imam (PBUH), but he refused to do so [19] . After a while, he (PBUH) was moved to the prison of al-Fadl ibn Rabi’.