[51] Putting the Nasibi’s Claim to Death with a Shattering Proof: Al-Kāẓim (peace be upon him)’s Dungeon-Cells, and a Falsehood in Ruins

إِعْدَامُ النَّاصِبِ بِالْبُرْهَانِ القَاصِمِ: طَوَامِيرُ الكَاظِمِ (عليه السلام) وَزُورٌ مُتَهَادِمٌ

Putting the Nasibi’s Claim to Death with a Shattering Proof: Al-Kāẓim (peace be upon him)’s Dungeon-Cells, and a Falsehood in Ruins

By His Eminence al-ʿAllāmah Shaykh Ḥasan al-Gharawī al-Kāshānī

Baqiyyat Allāh Institute – The Netherlands
December 2025

In the Hands of a Nasibi Who Falsifies History:
An Investigation Exposing the Flimsiness of Attempts to Exonerate Hārūn from the Blood of Imam al-Kāẓim (peace be upon him)

The inheritors of Nasb and hostility toward the Prophet’s Household (may Allah bless him and his family) have not been content merely with having participated historically in their oppression. Rather, a band of them today has risen to “wash the hands” of Hārūn (the fool) from the blood of our master Imam al-Kāẓim (peace be upon him), and to portray his days in the dungeons of prisons as though they were a royal outing—relying, in all that, on a mutilated and fabricated text.

I came across their words and placed their “proof” under the microscope of investigation, to show you how fallacies are smuggled through:

First: Interpreting the text without disclosure

This claimant relies on a passage he quotes from Shaykh al-Yūsufī in his encyclopedia, which states:
“Indeed, Hārūn allocated for al-Kāẓim (peace be upon him), during the days of his imprisonment each year, three hundred thousand dirhams, and for his nuzlah (his guests) twenty thousand.”
(Source: Mawsūʿat al-Tārīkh al-Islāmī, al-Yūsufī, vol. 7, p. 503.)

On careful examination of this quotation, it became clear to me that al-Yūsufī—regrettably—did not observe scholarly integrity in verbatim transmission. Rather, he exercised personal interpretation of the text and inserted the word (his guests) from himself as an explanation of the phrase, without stating or even indicating that this wording is not part of the original report—thereby plunging those who quote from him into a serious misconception.

Second: The reality of the text in the intermediary source

To verify this, I returned to the source upon which al-Yūsufī relied—Tadhkirat al-Khawāṣ—and found the text as follows:
“And that he has [each month] twenty thousand.”
(And in the margin: In some manuscripts: anzalah.)
(Source: Tadhkirat al-Khawāṣ, Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzī al-Ḥanafī, vol. 2, p. 480, World Assembly edition.)

So there is no occurrence of the word nuzlah—which he explained as “his guests”—in the source. Rather, what appears is lahu (“for him”) in some manuscripts, or anzalah in others. And the phrase “for him,” in a prison context, means what is disbursed to keep the prisoner alive (bread and water) and for the wages of the guards assigned to him.

Here the effect of al-Yūsufī’s failure—may Allah forgive him—to observe scholarly integrity becomes evident in turning realities upside down: he added the word nuzlah and interpreted it as “his guests,” lending a beautifying gloss to this expenditure, when in reality that money was spent on the jailer and on the necessities of the prisoner.

Third: Who is “al-Ṣūlī,” the author of the primary source?

I then ascended to the claimed primary source to which the report is attributed: al-Awrāq by Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī. Before telling you what I found, let me introduce this man so you understand the value of his testimony: he is Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā (d. 335 AH), the court companion of three Abbasid caliphs (al-Rāḍī, al-Muktafī, and al-Muqtadir). He was a skilled wine-seller and gambler, to the point that he became known for it—“and he was among the best of people at playing chess, until he became known as ‘the chess-player.’” Ibn al-Nadīm wrote his biography in Akhbār al-ʿUlamāʾ and explained his status as one close to the court. As for his book al-Awrāq, he devoted it to reports about caliphs and poets, focusing especially on showcasing Abbasid generosity, robes of honor, and gifts.

In other words, we are dealing with an author of Abbasid inclinations—a companion of caliphs—who devoted his pen to praising them.

Fourth: The knockout blow (the report has no basis!)

After exhausting searching in the verified edition of al-Awrāq by al-Ṣūlī, we found that there is no such report anywhere in the book—indeed, there is no mention of Imam al-Kāẓim in it at all (as indicated by the index of names included in the verified edition).
(Source: Kitāb al-Awrāq, Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī, ed. Ḥaytham Khalīfa.)

Here the proponent of this “doubt” falls into the worst of his deeds: he is arguing from a narration that does not exist, attributed by copyists to a man (al-Ṣūlī) who—had this story had any basis—would have flown with it in joy to prove the generosity of his masters, yet he never mentioned it!

Fifth: The language of numbers exposes the absurdity of the “favor”

Then I say to whoever promotes this doubt: suppose the report were authentic—though it is a lie—do you really think that a sum of 300,000 dirhams to sustain a prisoner for a full year counts as an honor in Hārūn’s court? I examined al-Awrāq itself to learn the scale of Abbasid spending, and here is a list of what was lavished on fools and poets, so you may compare it with what they claim was given to the Imam:

1. Yaḥyā ibn Khālid gave the translator of Kalīlah wa Dimnah (Abān ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd) one hundred thousand dirhams. (al-Awrāq, vol. 1, p. 38.)
2. Al-Mahdī ordered for ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā twenty thousand thousand dirhams (20 million) merely for relinquishing the succession. (al-Awrāq, vol. 3, p. 318.)
3. At the marriage of the son of the caliph al-Muttaqī, the dowry was set at 500,000 dirhams, and dinars were scattered over him in profusion. (al-Awrāq, vol. 2, p. 233.)
4. Jaʿfar ibn Yaḥyā gave the poet Marwān ibn Abī Ḥafṣah 30,000 dirhams for a single poem. (al-Awrāq, vol. 1, p. 86.)
5. The handwriting of Ibn Yāqūt was purchased for wealth said to be three thousand thousand dirhams (3 million). (al-Awrāq, vol. 2, p. 65.)
6. Al-Faḍl ibn Yaḥyā granted a poet who sought his favor with three verses 30,000 dirhams—10,000 per verse—and wrote to him: “Had you increased in speech, we would have increased in money.” (al-Awrāq, vol. 1, p. 159.)
7. Ibn Shīrzād allotted the clan of Banī Ṭayyāb one thousand thousand dirhams (one million). (al-Awrāq, vol. 2, p. 132.)
8. Al-Rashīd ordered 20,000 dirhams for a poet who was brief in praising him, and 10,000 for each of his companions. (al-Awrāq, vol. 1, p. 76.)

What an irony of fate! You make the price of “a prisoner’s bread” and the expenses of his jailers into an honor, while millions are spent on poets, singers, and jesters?!

What the proponent of this doubt has presented is an exposed scientific collapse, built upon an untrustworthy transmission, from a deluded intermediary source, from an alleged primary source empty of the report.

In what court—governed by fairness and justice—does one rely on a statement that a deviant person falsely attributed to the companion of the killer to exonerate the killer? Or to the panegyrist of the oppressor to absolve him of oppression? Their souls made it easy for them to perpetrate this slander against the wronged, martyred master (peace be upon him), whose leg was crushed by the ring of shackles in the pitch-dark underground cells!

Such is their paltry merchandise—and such is the tragic wronging of our Imam al-Kāẓim (peace be upon him), which no veil of forgery can conceal.