The Fourteen Masomeen:
The Purified Souls Who Light Every Age

Muhammad ☉ was born into the noble Quraysh tribe, to the clan of Banu Hashim — a family honoured in Arabia for generations. Orphaned early, he was raised first by his grandfather Abdul Muttalib and then his uncle Abu Talib. Long before prophethood, the people of Makkah called him Al-Amin — the Trustworthy — a title earned entirely by character.

At forty years of age, in the Cave of Hira, the Angel Jibreel descended with the first revelation: "Read in the name of your Lord Who created." For twenty-three years, he carried the weight of prophethood without faltering — through boycotts, exile, the loss of his beloved Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib, through the battles of Badr, Uhud, and Khandaq, and ultimately through the triumph of the Conquest of Makkah.

The capstone of his mission came at Ghadir Khumm on 18 Dhul Hijjah, 10 AH, where before over 100,000 companions he raised the hand of Imam Ali (as) and declared: "Of whomsoever I am the Mawla, Ali is his Mawla." Within seventy-seven days, the Prophet ☉ departed this world, leaving behind the Holy Quran and his blessed Ahlulbayt as the two eternal guides for humanity.

Fatimah (sa) was the only child of the Prophet ☉ and Bibi Khadijah (sa) to survive into adulthood — and in her, the divine lineage of the Prophet continued. She grew up in the house of prophethood, absorbing its light at every breath. The Prophet ☉ would stand when she entered a room and say: "Fatimah is a part of me. Whoever angers her, angers me."

She married Imam Ali (as) in a ceremony of divine simplicity. Together they brought into the world Imam Hasan, Imam Husain, Zaynab, and Umm Kulthum — four souls who would each reshape Islamic history. After the Prophet's ☉ passing, Bibi Fatimah (sa) stood as the sole voice defending the rightful succession of Imam Ali (as). Her famous Khutbah-e-Fadakiyya stands as one of the most powerful speeches in all of Islamic history. She lived only seventy-five to ninety-five days after her father's passing, dying of injuries sustained in the tragic events that followed. She was buried at night, in secret — her grave remains unknown to this day.

No one in Islamic history entered the world quite like Imam Ali (as) — born inside the sacred Kaaba itself. He was the first male to accept Islam, and the one who slept in the Prophet's bed on Laylat al-Mabit — offering his life without a moment's hesitation so that the Prophet ☉ could safely escape to Madinah.

A warrior of unparalleled bravery, Imam Ali (as) fought in nearly every major battle of early Islam. At Khaybar, when all others had failed, he uprooted the fortress gate with one hand. Yet the same hands that wielded Dhulfiqar also wrote the Nahj al-Balagha — sermons so profound that scholars have spent centuries in their interpretation — and ground grain through the night to feed the orphans of Madinah. Our Fiqh Jaffari course is rooted entirely in the authentic teachings transmitted through Imam Ali (as) and the Imams who followed him.

On the 19th of Ramadan, 40 AH, while prostrate in the Fajr prayer in Kufa, he was struck by a poisoned sword. He died two days later on the 21st of Ramadan, his last words a reminder of the poor and the orphan.

Imam Hasan (as) was the first grandchild of the Holy Prophet ☉ — and the Prophet's love for him was so intense that he would interrupt his own sermon to carry the young Hasan in his arms. "Hasan and Husain are the masters of the youth of paradise," the Prophet ☉ declared.

Following the martyrdom of Imam Ali (as), Imam Hasan (as) faced Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan's massive army and betrayal within his own ranks. To protect the lives of the Shia and prevent massacre, he signed a historic peace treaty with Muawiyah — all conditions of which Muawiyah subsequently violated. In 50 AH, his own wife poisoned him on Muawiyah's orders. He was forty-seven years old.

If the life of Imam Husain (as) could be compressed into a single sentence, it would be his own words on the plains of Karbala: "I did not rise to cause corruption or to seek fame. I only rose to seek reform in the nation of my grandfather." Of him the Prophet ☉ said: "Husain is from me, and I am from Husain."

When Yazid demanded the Imam's allegiance — which would have been a stamp of legitimacy on tyranny — Imam Husain (as) refused, saying: "A person like me cannot give allegiance to a person like him." With his family and a small band of companions, he was intercepted at the plains of Karbala by an army of thirty thousand. For ten days the camp was surrounded. On the 7th of Muharram, the water supply was cut off — even from the women, children, and infants.

On the morning of Ashura, after the dawn prayers, the battle began. One by one, his companions, brothers, nephews, and sons fell. The baby Ali Asghar (as), just six months old, was struck in the throat by an arrow while the Imam held him in his arms, asking for water for the child. Finally, Imam Husain (as) stood alone — wounded, thirsty, exhausted — and fought until he could fight no more. He fell on the ground of Karbala, and that night the tents of the women and children were burned. Karbala did not end Islam — it saved it.

The sole adult male survivor of Karbala, Imam Zain al-Abidin (as) was gravely ill on the day of Ashura — a sickness that, by divine mercy, prevented him from fighting and thus ensured the continuity of the Imamate. He witnessed the massacre of his father, brothers, uncles, and companions. Taken captive and paraded through Kufa and Damascus, it was he who delivered a speech in the very court of Yazid that shook the palace walls and exposed the regime's crimes.

Returning to Madinah, Imam Sajjad (as) chose the weapon of du'a — supplication — as his mode of revolution. The result was the Sahifah al-Sajjadiyyah — a collection of his prayers so profound in theology and love for Allah that scholars have called it the Psalms of the Prophet's Family, and the third most important text in Shia Islam after the Quran and Nahj al-Balagha.

Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (as) was given the title Al-Baqir — the one who splits open knowledge — by the Prophet ☉ himself, decades before his birth, through the companion Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari. He presided over a period of relative political respite and used it to establish the first formal university of Islamic sciences — training scholars in Quranic tafsir, jurisprudence, theology, medicine, and natural philosophy.

He revived and codified the authentic teachings of Islam at a time when Umayyad manipulation had distorted the religion almost beyond recognition. His transmission of hadith filled libraries, and he began the systematic articulation of Fiqh Jaffari — the jurisprudence of the Ahlulbayt — which his son Imam al-Sadiq (as) would bring to full flower.

Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (as) built upon what his father Imam Baqir (as) had begun and established the most comprehensive school of Islamic learning the world had yet seen. His school in Madinah had over four thousand students, including Malik ibn Anas (of the Maliki madhab) and Abu Hanifa (of the Hanafi madhab). Abu Hanifa famously stated: "Were it not for the two years, Nu'man would have perished" — referring to his time studying under Imam Sadiq (as).

Imam Sadiq (as) codified Fiqh Jaffari in its complete and systematic form, covering every domain of Islamic law with precision and depth. He also defeated atheist and Mu'tazilite thinkers in open debate. Families wishing to raise their children in authentic Fiqh Jaffari can explore our Fiqh Jaffari online classes taught by qualified Shia scholars.

Imam Musa al-Kadhim (as) lived most of his Imamate under Abbasid surveillance and oppression. Caliph Harun al-Rashid imprisoned him multiple times, the final imprisonment lasting years in the dungeons of Baghdad. Despite these chains, those who guarded him often converted to Shia Islam after witnessing his extraordinary patience, constant worship, and kindness even to his jailers.

He was finally martyred by poison on the orders of Harun al-Rashid, and his body was shamelessly dumped on the Bridge of Baghdad. He is buried in Kadhimiyah, Baghdad — a shrine that to this day draws millions of pilgrims who call out to him as Bab al-Hawa'ij — the Gateway of Needs.

The Abbasid Caliph Mamun al-Rashid summoned Imam Ridha (as) from Madinah to Khorasan and declared him Crown Prince of the Caliphate — a calculated political move to neutralise the Imam's independent religious authority. Imam Ridha (as) accepted only under duress, publicly stating that he would take no role in government appointments or policies. He remained a witness, not a participant.

Despite these constraints, the Imam turned the royal court into a school. His famous theological debates with scholars of every religion — Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Mu'tazilites — are preserved in Uyun Akhbar al-Ridha and stand as monuments of Islamic intellectual tradition. He was poisoned by Mamun in 203 AH and is buried in Mashhad, Iran — which grew around his shrine to become one of the holiest cities for Shia Muslims worldwide, drawing tens of millions of pilgrims annually.

Imam al-Jawad (as) assumed the Imamate at approximately eight or nine years of age — making him the youngest Imam in the history of the Twelver Shia. His young age was seized upon by opponents as proof that Imamate could not rest in a child. The Imam silenced all doubts in the famous scholarly debate convened by Mamun, where before the assembled theologians of Baghdad, he answered every question with a mastery that left scholars speechless. He was martyred at just twenty-five years of age — the youngest of all the Masomeen to be martyred.

Imam Ali al-Hadi (as) spent over twenty years under forced house arrest in Samarra, Iraq, relocated there on the orders of the Abbasid Caliph Mutawakkil who wanted him under direct military surveillance. Despite this, he managed his community through a sophisticated network of agents and representatives, and his letters of guidance directed the Shia of every province. He is buried alongside his son Imam Hasan al-Askari (as) in the shrine complex known as Al-Askariyain — the Two Askaris — in Samarra.

Imam Hasan al-Askari (as) lived the entirety of his Imamate — just six years — under the most intense surveillance of any Imam before him. The Abbasid regime knew that the twelfth Imam — the promised Mahdi — would be born from this generation of the Ahlulbayt, and they watched his household constantly. Despite this, Imam al-Askari (as) secretly raised and protected his son Muhammad al-Mahdi (as), concealing the child's existence until the moment of his own martyrdom. He was poisoned at the age of twenty-eight — among the youngest of the Masomeen to be martyred.

He is the son of Imam Hasan al-Askari (as), born on the blessed night of 15 Sha'ban, 255 AH in Samarra. His birth was kept secret from the Abbasid regime. He first appeared to the Shia community at the funeral of his father, leading the prayers — a moment witnessed by dozens of companions who immediately recognised him as the promised Imam.

He entered the Minor Occultation immediately after, communicating with the Shia community through four successive deputies. With the death of the fourth deputy in 329 AH, the Major Occultation began and continues to this day. The Prophet Muhammad ☉ prophesied his coming in over two hundred narrations found in both Shia and Sunni collections — a descendant of Fatimah (sa), who will emerge at the end of times to fill the earth with justice and equity after it has been filled with injustice and tyranny.

He is alive. He is present among us — though hidden. The scholars of Shia Islam teach that he sees us, knows our needs, and that his prayers are a continuous mercy upon the community. Every Friday prayer, Shia Muslims around the world pray for the hastening of his reappearance. Those who wish to raise their children with a deep and living connection to the Imam of our time can begin today with our Shia online Quran academy, where every lesson carries the light of authentic Wilayah.