Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) was a pure branch from the tree of prophethood

Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) was a pure branch from the tree of prophethood and a shiny bough from the tree of imamate. By him and his fathers Allah has consolidated Islam and exalted monotheism. Before talking about the aspects of his great personality, we talk about his pure origin, birth, and upbringing.

The origin and the birth

His father

The father of Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) was Imam Muhammad al-Jawad bin[1] Ali bin Musa bin Ja’far bin Muhammad bin Ali bin al-Husayn bin Ali bin Abu Talib (peace be upon them). It is the most exalted lineage in Islam. Humankind, throughout all its ages, has never had a lineage more honorable and more exalted than this lineage that has lit the world with the essence of Islam and faith. From this great, honorable family Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) came to the existence. His father, Imam al-Jawad (a.s.), was the wonder of the world through his talents and geniuses. He, after the death of his father Imam ar-Redha (a.s.), assumed the general religious authority and leadership of the nation while he was seven years 

and some months. The Abbasid government seized this opportunity and charged Yahya bin Aktham, who was one of the great ulama at that time, to test Imam al-Jawad (a.s.) and refute him so that the fact that the imam was the most knowledgeable one of his age, which was and is one of the basic elements in the Shiite doctrine, would come to nothing. Yahya asked Imam al-Jawad (a.s.) before a big crowd of scholars, viziers, and officials of the Abbasid government about a jurisprudential question and Imam al-Jawad (a.s.) ramified the question into many branches. Yahya was astonished and he felt a failure and acknowledged the exceptional scientific abilities of Imam al-Jawad (a.s.). The news of this event and of others circulated in the meetings of Baghdad and everywhere.