Ali Al-Hadi - Character

Character

There were many times throughout the Imam's life that he exhibited extreme generosity. In one instance, two men came to the Imam, with one complaining of the others debt to him. To solve the problem, the Imam gave to both men 30,000 dinars. Another account described how a nomadic man came to Imam al-Hadi to tell him of how he was heavily in debt and in need of assistance. Imam al-Hadi, being short of money himself, gave the man a note saying that he was in debt to the nomad, and instructed him to meet the Imam in Samarra, where he had a meeting, and to insist that the Imam pay back the debt. The nomad did as he was told, and the Imam apologized to the nomad in front of those at the meeting for being incapable of paying him back. The officials at the meeting reported the Imam's debt to the caliph, al-Mutawakkil, who then sent the Imam 30,000 dirhams, with which he then presented to the nomad. Essentially, the way in which the Imam lived his life gives enough evidence to understand exactly why he was given the epithet at-Tayyib.

In Twelver Shi'ism, he is described as being endowed with the knowledge of the languages of the Persians, Slavs, Indians and Nabataeans in addition to foreknowing unexpected storms and as accurately prophesying other events. In the presence of al-Mutawakkil, he unmasked a woman falsely claiming to be Zaynab, daughter of Ali, by descending into a lions' cage in order to prove that lions do not harm true descendants of Ali (a similar miracle is also attributed to his grandfather, Ali ar-Ridha). A theological treatise on human free will and some other short texts and statements ascribed to al-Hadi are quoted by Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ʻAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Shuʻbah al-Harrānī.

The Imam worked on his farm to support and feed his family. Through working on the farm, he relieved himself and his family of any tendencies towards lavishness; whatever they needed they would provide for themselves. It was reported that when people would ask Ali al-Hadi why he worked on a farm, he would then state, "Who was better than me and than my father, worked with spade in his farm." When they would inquire as to who he was talking about, he would tell them that he was referring to the Prophet Muhammad; the fact that he emulated the Prophet Muhammad so much that he lived in the same manner that he did helps in understanding why he was given the epithet of at-Taqiy.