Mamun made every effort to tarnish the dignity and status of Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) in the eyes and hearts of the people, using all possible tricks to drag him into corruption, but he was unsuccessful. One of these attempts was the marriage of Umm al-Fadl, the daughter of Mamun, to Imam Jawad (peace be upon him).
One might ask why Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) agreed to marry the daughter of Mamun. To understand the answer to this question, we need to look at the religious movement that the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) were leading, and the stage that this movement had reached during the time of Imam Reza (peace be upon him) and his son, Imam Jawad (peace be upon him).
During the caliphate of Mamun, the religious movement had turned into a political movement capable of entering the government. By being under the protection of the government, it could take advantage of this position, while the infallible leaders did not stop their mission. In other words, they did not accept the caliphate, nor did they cooperate with it. The evidence for this claim is the position of Imam Reza (peace be upon him) regarding the issue of the succession, which he accepted under the condition of not interfering in governmental matters.
However, Imam Jawad (peace be upon him), when he married Mamun’s daughter, became the son-in-law of the caliph and used this opportunity to fulfill his mission. What could it mean to become the son-in-law of the caliph?
Anyone who enters the government palace might become the governor of a region or the ruler of a city, or at least attain the position of chief judge. However, Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) was not seeking any of these positions. Therefore, through this familial alliance, Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) actually achieved two goals:
Firstly: By accepting the marriage with Mamun’s daughter, he deterred him from plotting to kill him.
Secondly: This marriage limited the ability of the caliphate and its agents to harm the leaders and members of the Shiite religious movement.
Nevertheless, the Imam did not hide his dissatisfaction with the existing situation. Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) was not pleased to live in the palaces of the Abbasids in comfort and luxury while neglecting the religious affairs of the Shi’ah and the Muslims. It seems that if the conditions for leaving Baghdad were more favorable, he would not have stayed there for long.
One of his companions narrates that he visited Imam Jawad (peace be upon him) in Baghdad and reflected on the ease and luxury in which the Imam was living. He thought to himself: “This man will never return to his homeland!” The Imam lowered his head and then, raising it with a pale face, said: “Eating barley bread and crushed salt in the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) sanctuary is more pleasing to me than the comfort you see me living in now.”[1]
Thus, with these words, the Imam expressed his dissatisfaction with living in Mamun’s court, but for the higher purpose of preserving God’s religion and spreading Islamic teachings, he had to endure these conditions.
(Excerpted from the book Guides of the Path of Light – The Life of Imam Muhammad Taqi (peace be upon him), authored by Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Taqi Modarresi (summarized))
Footnote:
[1] Al-Khara’ij, Vol. 1, p. 381.