Ali ibn Yaqtin was a prominent Muslim scholar, narrator of hadith and statesman of the Abbasid period who became one of the trusted companions of Imam Musa…
Ali ibn Yaqtin was a prominent Muslim scholar, narrator of hadith and statesman of the Abbasid period who became one of the trusted companions of Imam Musa al-Kazim. Born in Kufa in the second Islamic century, he later lived in Baghdad and rose to a senior position in the administration of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. Despite his position at court, he maintained a close relationship with Imam Musa al-Kazim and is remembered in biographical sources for assisting members of the Muslim community and transmitting religious teachings from the Imam. The shrine in old Basra is traditionally regarded as his burial place. Local tradition holds that Ali ibn Yaqtin became ill while travelling through Basra on his way to the Hajj and died there, after which he was buried at this location. The site later developed into an established shrine and has been formally administered and rebuilt by Iraq’s General Secretariat for Shiite Shrines. There is, however, a real historical problem with the burial attribution. Early and later biographical works commonly state that Ali ibn Yaqtin died in Baghdad in 182 AH, and one tradition records that Muhammad al-Amin, son and heir of Harun al-Rashid, performed his funeral prayer. That conflicts with the modern Basra shrine tradition claiming that he died and was buried there. Even a study supporting the Basra shrine acknowledges the alternative Baghdad death tradition