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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Imam Al-kadhim(a.s) Political and Social Conditions During Imam's Time Imam Musa bin Ja'far (a.s.) was born in the closing years of the Umayyad rule. Imam al-Kadhim (a.s.) wasn't five years old when the Umayyads were overthrown. People were hoping that political and social conditions would get better. Ahlul-Bait (a.s.) and the offspring of Abu-Talib, in general, bore the bulk of the Umayyads terror and oppression.

The Umayyads shed the blood of Ahlul-Bait (a.s.) and the leading men from the descendants of Ali bin Abi-Talib and Fatimah al-Zahra' (a.s.) and dealt with them in the most brutal and savage ways.

The most bitter and painful tragedy for Ahlul-Bait (a.s.) was the massacre of Karbala' which was perpetrated by the Umayyad dictator Yazid bin Mu'awiyah, on the tenth of Muharram, 61 A.H, in which Imam Hussein bin Ali bin Abi-Talib (a.s.), the grandson of the Prophet (s.a.w.), along with a number of the members of his family and followers were martyred. The second heart-rending tragedy took place in 121 A.H, in the month of Safar.

Zayd bin Ali bin Hussein bin Ali bin Abi-Talib was martyred on the orders of the Umayyad ruler, Hisham bin Abd ul-Malik. Abul-Faraj al-Asfahani, the famous historian, mentioned 33 martyrs from the descendants of Abu-Talib, who were slaughtered at the hands of the Umayyad rulers.

The list begins with Imams Hassan and Hussein (a.s.), the two master youths of Paradise, and the sons of Imam Ali (a.s.) and Fatimah Mu'awiyah bin Abi-Sufyan, the first Umayyad ruler, was the first murderer of the sons of Abu- Talib. The victims were all descendants of Imam Ali (a.s.), Ja'far and Aqeel bin Abi-Talib, Imams Hassan and Hussein (a.s.) the two sons of Imam Ali (a.s.) and Fatimah al-Zahra' (a.s.), the Mistress of the Women of the World.

They were all looked at by the people as men of outstanding merits and piety. The Umayyads couldn't tolerate them and unjustly and brutally slaughtered them. They liquidated them because they wouldn't yield to oppression and hated to be humiliated, and for such considerations they declared war on the rulers, in defence of Islam, hoping to implement its teachings.

In his book Maqatil al-Talib (Murders of the Descendants of Abu-Talib), Abul-Faraj al-Asfahani says that 33 members of the family of Abu- Talib were killed as from the day Abul-Abbas al-Saffah seized power until the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim (a.s.).