Biography of the Twelve Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt

Biography of the Twelve Imams is drawn from the Kitāb al-Irshād of al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 413 AH / 1022 CE), among the earliest and most trusted lives of the Imams. Abridged by Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri and set in clear modern English, it sets aside the chains of transmission but keeps the eyewitnesses, so the reader stands where they stood.

The geese cry out at dawn as ʿAlī steps into his courtyard on the morning he is struck: “Leave them — they are wailing mourners.” On the road to Iraq the poet al-Farazdaq tells al-Ḥusayn that “the hearts of the people are with you, but their swords are against you.” A boy of nine, al-Jawād, leaves the judge Yaḥyā ibn Aktham stammering before the caliph. Al-Riḍā walks barefoot through Marw to the ʿĪd prayer, and the city is shaken with weeping.

Between the narratives, the Imams speak for themselves in sermons, prayers and counsels.

A short and inviting way into the lives of the Imams, and the companion to Biography of Imam ʿAlī.