Ali al-Hadi ibn Muhammad (alaihimus-salam)

Imam Ali al-Hadi ibn Imam Muhammad al-Jawad ibn Imam Ali al-Rida, alaihim Assalam. 

He was known by the titles al-Hadi (the guide) and al-Naqi (the pure one). His nickname was Abul-Hasan (al-Thalith, the third).

Ali al-Hadi was born on 15th  Zulhijja 212 AH (6 March 828) in Soraya, a village near Madina founded by his great-grandfather, Imam Musa al-Kazim.

His mother was Sumana, a freed slave of Maghribi origin.

After the death of his father, al-Jawad, most of his followers acknowledged his son, Ali al-Hadi, as the next Imam. As with his father, Ali was still very young when he succeeded to the Imamate at the age of eight.

The Imamate of al-Hadi overlapped with the reigns of the brutal Abbasid governors, al-Mu'tasim, al-Wathiq, al-Mutawakkil, al-Muntasir, al-Musta'in, and al-Mu'taz. 

In his early years, al-Hadi lived in Madina and was engaged in teaching Islamic knowledge attracting a large number of students from Hijaz, Iraq, Persia, and Egypt.

During his reign, al-Mutawakkil intensely prosecuted the Muslims who belonged to the Mu'tazila school and the Ahlul-Bayt supporters school. 

According to some reports, al-Mutawakkil openly cursed Imam Ali ibn Ali Talib, alaihis salam, and ordered a clown to ridicule Imam Ali in his banquets. By his orders, the shrine of Imam Husain, alaihis salam, was demolished in Karbala, and water was turned upon the blessed tomb, and the ground of the tomb was ploughed and cultivated to remove any trace of it.

It was during the reign of al-Mutawakkil that his governor on Madina, Abdallah bin Mohammad, wrote to the caliph and warned him about the subversive activities of Imam al-Hadi, claiming that he had concealed a quantity of arms and letters for his followers. When al-Hadi learnt about this, he wrote to al-Mutawakkil and denied the accusations. In response, the caliph requested that al-Hadi and his family relocate to Samarra, a military garrison town not far from Baghdad.

The Imam's residence in Madina was first searched by the caliph's General, Yahya bin Harthama, without finding any evidence of subversion, but still al-Hadi was arrested and brought to the caliph in Samarra. 

 When al-Hadi approached Baghdad, many people gathered to see him and he was received warmly by the governor who rode out of the city to welcome him and stayed with him for a while. Imam al-Hadi arrived in Samarra on 23rd Ramadan 233 H.

The caliph did not immediately receive him but assigned a house for his residence in the Askar military quarter of the city, which was chiefly occupied by the army.

Al-Hadi lived in Samarra under constant surveillance until his death, some twenty years later.

He died on 3rd Rajab, 254 AH/868 CE, after being poisoned by the Abbasid caliph, al-Mu’taz.

Al-Mutawakkil was engaged in his nightly drinking and frolics and once asked the Imam to join him. Imam Ali declined replying, “A liquor such as that was never yet combined with my flesh and blood”.

The half-drunk caliph asked the Imam to recite some poetry. Imam said that he did not indulge in such habits. But when the caliph insisted, the Imam recited a few Arabic lines, which translate into the following:

“Protected by valiant warriors they passed the night on the summit of their mountains, but these mountains did not protect them.

 After all their power and pomp they had to descend from their lofty fortresses to the custody of the tombs. 

O’ what a dreadful change! their graves had hardly received them when a voice heard exclaiming, Where are the thrones and the crowns and the robes of State?

Where are now the faces of the delicate, which were shaded by veils and protected by curtains. 

To this the tomb replied, The worms are now reveling upon these faces. Long were these men eating and drinking, but now they are eaten by the worms in their turn.

Many wept listening to these words uttered by the Imam. The caliph left the Imam alone for a while, but still kept him under house arrest. In the end, Mutawakkil died at the hands of his guards, the Turkish guards, at the order of his own son, al-Muntasir, who became the next caliph.

Some of his miracles were well documented. 

Like his fathers the Imams, Ali al-Hadi was fluent in the languages of the Persians, Slavs, Indians, and Nabataeans. al-Tabarsi writes that al-Hadi was articulate in seventy-three languages.

When he was informed that Mutawakkil was planning to kill him, Ali al-Hadi predicted the death of al-Mutawakkil before he could do anything to him.

The soldiers who were assigned to kill al-Hadi did not dare to harm him in any way due to "his awe-inspiring presence," and used to see around him a hundred raised swords in his defence.

 In the presence of al-Mutawakkil, al-Hadi debunked the claim of a woman who pretended to be Zeinab, daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib, in order to claim a lot of money. He said to the caliph that to prove her claim she should be put in the lions den for a while as Lion cannot attack Ahlul-Bayt descendants. When the woman refused, the caliph ordered that Ali al-Hadi himself should be put in the caliph's den of lions to prove that they do not harm true descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Of course, all lions sat still around the Imam and did not touch him. 

It is also reported that al-Hadi brought to life a picture of a lion on a rug, which then ate a juggler who had attempted to humiliate the Imam with his tricks by order of al-Mutawakkil. 

Another tradition states that he turned a handful of sand into gold for the poor.

 When he set out for Samarra, despite clear skies, al-Hadi prepared for heavy rain which indeed materialized within a few hours to the amazement of his escort.

After the Imam was killed by poisoning, the majority of his followers accepted the imamate of his son, Al-Hasan al-Askari, who was also detained in Samarra until his unexplained death a few years later. The tombs of al-Hadi and his successor, al-Askari, are located in the al-Askari holy Mausoleum in Samarra, Iraq.