Mūsā ibn Muḥammad al-Mubarqaʿ ( Arabic: موسى بن محمد المبرقع) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Musa was the son of Muhammad al-Jawad ( d. 835) and the younger brother of Ali al-Hadi ( d. 868), the ninth and tenth Imams in Twelver Shia. He is known to be a common ancestor of the Ridawi sayyids, who descended from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Ali al-Rida ( d. 818), the eighth Imam in Twelver Shia and Musa's grandfather. He was known by the title al-Mubarqaʿ (Arabic: المبرقع) probably because he covered his face with a burqa' (Arabic: بُرقَع, lit. 'veil') to remain anonymous in public. Traditions narrated by him are cited by some Twelver scholars, including al-Kulayni and al-Mufid.

Biography

Musa al-Mubarqa' was the younger son of Muhammad al-Jawad ( d. 835), the ninth Imam in Twelver Shia. ^{[1] [2] [3]} His elder brother Ali al-Hadi ( d. 868) succeeded their father al-Jawad as the tenth Imam. ^[3] Musa had two or four sisters, named variously in the sources. ^[1] The Twelver theologian al-Mufid ( d. 1022) names them as Fatima and Amama, while the biographical source Dala'il al-imama lists them as Khadija, Hakima, and Umm Kulthum. This book is attributed to al-Tabari al-Saghir, the eleventh-century Twelver scholar. The Sunni historian Fakhr Razi ( d. 1209) adds Behjat and Barihe to these names, saying that none of them left any descendants. ^[4] The children of al-Jawad were all born to Samana, ^[4] a freed slave ( umm walad) of Moroccan origin. ^[5] It is through Ali and Musa that the lineage of al-Jawad continued. ^[4] In particular, the Ridawi line of sayyids leads to Musa. These are the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Ali al-Rida ( d. 818), the eighth Imam in Twelver Shia and Musa's grandfather. ^[6]

Musa was a small child when his father al-Jawad died in 835 CE at the age of about twenty-five, probably poisoned at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim ( r. 833–842). ^{[7] [1] [8]} The will attributed to al-Jawad stipulates that his elder son Ali would inherit from him and be responsible for his younger brother Musa and his sisters. This will can be found in Kitab al-Kafi, a collection of Shia traditions compiled by the prominent Twelver traditionist al-Kulayni ( d. 941). ^{[2] [3]} There was also an oral designation ( nass) of Ali as the next Imam, delivered to a close confidant by al-Jawad. ^{[9] [9]} After his death, this testimony was corroborated by a small assembly of Shia notables, ^[10] and the majority of his followers thus accepted the imamate of Ali, ^{[7] [11]} who is commonly known by the titles al-Hadi ( lit. 'the guide') and al-Naqi ( lit. 'the distinguished'). ^[5] A small group also gathered around Musa but soon returned to his brother Ali after the former dissociated himself from them. ^{[3] [11]} Musa later settled in Qom, ^[6] a rising Shia center in the modern-day Iran. ^{[12] [5]} Traditions narrated by him are cited by some Twelver scholars, including al-Kulayni in his al-Kafi, al-Mufid in his al-Ikhtisas, and Shaykh Tusi ( d. 1067) in his Tahdhib al-osul. ^[6] Musa was known by the title al-Mubarqa' (Arabic: المبرقع) probably because he covered his face with a burqa' (Arabic: بُرقَع, lit. 'veil') to remain unidentified in public. He died in Qom in 909 CE and the construction of his current shrine was sponsored by the Safavid king Tahmasp I ( r. 1524–1576). ^[6]

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