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seventeen persons from among the children of ‘Ali and Fatima. He
asked us to bear witness that ‘Ali his son was his testamentary trustee and
representative during his lifetime and after his death.”[1] The Imam,
peace be on him, appointed over them the Imam after him. He did not neglect
the affair of the Imamate. So he guided his Shi‘ites to the way of the truth
and correctness.
8. His Commandments
Imam Musa, peace be on him, appointed his son Imam al-Rida, peace be on him,
as his testamentary trustee. He entrusted him with the succession after him.
He wrote him two kinds of commandments. They included his authority over his
endowments and his deputyship on his behalf over his personal and general
affairs. He asked some believers to bear witness for it. As for the first
group of the commandments, I (the author) have not found it. As for the
second group, it has been mentioned by a group of great figures. Before he
stated and recorded it, he summoned the witnesses who are: Ibrahim b.
Muhammed al-Je‘feri, Ishaq b. Muhammed al-Je‘feri, Ishaq b. Ja‘far b.
Muhammed, Ja‘far b. Salih, Muhammed al-Je‘feri, Yehya b. al-Husayn b. Zayd,
Sa‘d b. ‘Umran al-Ansari, Muhammed b. al-Harith al-Ansari, Yazid b. Sulayt
al-Ansari, Muhammed b. Ja‘far b. Sa‘d al-Aslemi, who wrote the first group
of his commandments. When these people were present, the Imam, peace be on
him, mentioned his commandments, which are as follows:
“Surely Musa bears witness that there is no god but Allah, the One without a
partner, that Muhammed is His servant and His Apostle, that the Hour will
come without doubt, that Allah will resurrect those in graves, that the
resurrection after death is true, that the Promise is true, that the
reckoning is true, that the decree is true, that the standing before Allah
is true, that what Muhammed, may Allah bless him and his family, has brought
is true, and that what the Trusted Spirit brought down is true. In that I
will live and die; and in it I will be raised from the dead, Allah willing.
I have made them bear witness that this will is mine and that I have written
it in my handwriting. I have copied the will of my grandfather-the Commander
of the faithful, ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, peace be on him. I had copied the will
of Muhammed b. ‘Ali before that; and the will of Ja‘far b. Muhammed is
similar to that. I have entrusted my will to ‘Ali along with my children
after him. If he willed, found rightness in them, and liked to recognize
them, then that is up to him. They have no command in his presence. I have
entrusted him with endowments, my properties, my retainers, my boys whom I
have left behind, and my sons to Ibrahim, al-‘Abbas, Qasim, Isma‘il, Ahmed,
and Um Ahmed. (I have entrusted) the affair of my womenfolk to ‘Ali, one
third of the endowment of my father, and two thirds he places where he sees,
and places in it what the possessor of a property places in his wealth. So
if he likes to sell or to grant or to donate or to
[1] Zayd al-Shaheed, p. 199.
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