Do not be an apparent friend of Allah in open and a secret enemy of His in private.
Imam Jawad (A)
Excerpt from 'The Life of Imam Muhammad Al-Jawad':
Imam al-Jawad (a.s) had not died a natural death but al-Mu'tasim, the Abbasid caliph, had assassinated him.
Historians had disagreed on the person whom al-Mu'tasim had instructed to poison Imam al-Jawad (a.s). Here are some of the historians’ sayings:
1. Some narrators mentioned that al-Mu'tasim had instructed one of the scribes of his viziers to invite Imam al-Jawad (a.s) to his house and insert poison to him. The scribe invited Imam al-Jawad (a.s) but Imam al-Jawad (a.s) apologized that he could not respond to the invitation. The scribe insisted on Imam al-Jawad (a.s) to come to him to have the honor of his visit and told him that one of the viziers wanted to meet him. He could not but to accept the invitation. When he ate from the food, he felt the poison and then he asked for his sumpter to leave the house. The owner of the house asked him to stay with him but Imam al-Jawad (a.s) said to him, 'My leaving your house is better to you.'
2. Some narrations declared that al-Mu'tasim had incited his niece Ummul Fadhl, the wife of Imam al-Jawad (a.s), by giving her some monies and she put poison in the food of Imam al-Jawad (a.s).
Anyhow, al-Mu'tasim, through poisoning Imam al-Jawad (a.s), had cut the ties of kinship and had not regarded the sanctity of the Prophet (a.s) through his progeny. The poison had affected Imam al-Jawad (a.s) strongly. It reacted with all parts of his body and he began suffering unbearable pains. His intestines had been cut out of pain. He had told those who were with him in that night that he would die. He said to them, 'We are a group of people that if Allah does not please this world to anyone of us, He takes us near Him.'
Pains affected him severely. He was in the prime of youth. When he felt death near to him, he began reciting some suras from the Holy Qur'an. He breathed his last while his tongue was still mentioning Allah the Almighty. By his death a shining sun of the imamate and of the intellectual, thinking leadership in Islam had gone out.