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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Biography of Imam Muhammad Bin Ali (a.s.)(al-taqi) Chapter Three : Imam Muhammad Taqi (a.s.): His Character INTRODUCTION: All Imams are born Imams. The excellence of their characters therefore appear since their childhood. However, with the exception of our last four Imams (Imam Muhammad Taqi (A.S.), Imam ali Naqi (A.S.), Imam Hasan Askari (A.S.) and Imam Mehdi (A.S.), all other Imams had the fortune of spending with their fathers.

Their duties as Imam of time came in their adulthood. They did not face the challenge of leading the Ummah which was reluctant to accept them owing to their tender age. Imam Muhammad Taqi (A.S.) was the first Imam to face this challenge. To enable our Imam (A.S.) to conduct his duties well, Allah endowed him with some special qualities while he was still a child.

In this way the Imam (A.S.) could convince the genuine but confused followers of his "Imamat" We shall examine these unique qualities of our nineth Imam under the light of his character. CHARACTER We all love children! How many of us however, would entrust them with the safety and security of our lives? Imam Muhammad Taqi (A.S.) proclaimed his Imamat at the tender age of nine. Even the most genuine followers of Imam Reza (A.S.) found it hard to accept him.

Imam Taqi (A.S.) needed to conduct himself in an exceptional way to convince even the most sympathetic followers that, indeed, he was their spiritual leader and the representative of Allah on earth. He did this through the excellence of his character. The greatest strength of Imam's personality was his intelligence.

Not only was he the most knowledgeable person of his times, but his knowledge was also supported by three other qualities: Ability to think very fast and give immediate answers; Excellent speaking manners that would charm even his most avowed enemies; and Ability to explain difficult ideas in a simple language using common examples. To see how these qualities in the Imam (A.S.) worked, consider again his question-answer session in Mamoon's court with Kazi Yahya Bin Aksam.

Notice how politely but firmly did he deal with both Mamoon and Kazi Yahya despite their age and position. As a matter of fact, his charm, his confidence and his courage melted the hard hearts of his enemies, the Bani Abbas, like heat melts butter. They all accepted his supremacy in knowledge and wisdom, despite their prejudices.