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Birth
and Demise
Historians disagree a great deal about the year of his
birth and even in determining the month as well, and
they also disagree about determining the year and the
month of his death. Their disagreements are not confined
to the limit of a short span of time but they may be
five years apart, and the disagreement is so confusing
that it is very difficult to determine clearly such
matters; however, we shall point out the statements
recorded in this regard without favouring any of them
due to the lack of purpose of such favouring which
naturally requires research and investigation and a
proof for selecting what seems to be the most accurate.
He was
born in Medina on Friday, or Thursday, Zi-Qadah 11, or
Zil-Hijjah, or Rabi'ul-Awwal, of the Hijri year 148 or
the year 153. He died on Friday, or Monday, near the end
of the month of Safar, or the 17th of Safar, or Ramzan
21, or Jamadi-al-Awwal 18, or Zil-Qadah 23, or the end
of Zi-Qadah, of the year 202 or 203 or 206. In his
'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rida, al-Saduq states: "What is
accurate is that he died on the 13th of Ramadan, on a
Friday, in the year 203."
What
is most likely is that his death took place in the year
203 as stated by al-Saduq. It is the same year in which
al-Mamoon marched towards Iraq. To say that he died in
206 is not to agree with the truth because al-Mamoon
marched towards Baghdad in the year 204, and the Imam
died while he was heading in the same direction.
His
early Life
Imam
Ali ar-Riza(a.s.) lived in the care of his father for
almost 35 years. He imbibed from his father his
knowledge, morals and good manners. He was, thus, the
most acknowledged scholar and the most qualified to be
the leader and the guide of Muslims. He would later lead
and feed the school of Ahl al-Bayt(a.s.) with knowledge
and religious sciences.
Every
Imam made public the name of the Imam who would succeed
him so that Muslims would know and follow him, ask him
about what they did not know from the shari'ah and
Islamic sciences, and receive his guidelines and
teachings. Imam Musa Kazim(a.s.), accordingly, explained
the position of his son Imam Ali ar-Riza(a.s.),
emphasizing that he was the inheritor of his office, the
trustee of his school and the Imam to whom Muslims
should refer after him. Imam Musa al-Kazim(a.s.) was
well aware of the aggressive designs of the government
in power against the Imamate and therefore, during his
lifetime he declared Imam al-Riza(a.s.) as his successor
in the presence of 171 prominent religious men and
called upon his sons and his family to submit to him and
refer to him in all matters after him. He also left
behind a written document declaring the succession of
Imam ar-Ridha duly signed and endorsed. by not less than
16 prominent persons. All these necessary steps were
taken by the great Imam to avoid any confusion that may
have arisen after his death.
Period
of Imamate and conditions
The
period of his imamate coincided with the caliphate of
Harun al-Rashid and then his sons Amin and Ma'mun. After
the death of his father, Ma'mun fell into conflict with
his brother Amin which led to bloody wars and finally
the assassination of Amin, after which Ma'mun became the
caliph. Until that day the policy of the Abbasid
caliphate toward the Shi'ites had been increasingly
harsh and cruel. Every once in a while one of the
supporters of Imam Ali(a.s.) (alawis) would revolt,
causing blood wars and rebelions which were of great
difficulty and consequence for the caliphate
The
Shi'ite Imams would not cooperate with those who carried
out the these rebellions and would not interfere with
their affairs. The Shi'ites of that day, who comprised a
considerable population, continued to consider the Imams
as their religious leaders to whom obedience was
obligatory and believed in them as the real caliphs of
the Holy Prophet(pbuh&hf). They considered the caliphate
to be far from the sacred authority of their Imams, for
the caliphate had come to seem more like the courts of
the Persian kings and Roman emperors and was being run
by a group of people more interested in worldly rule
than in the strict application of religious principles.
The continuation of such a situation was dangerous for
the structure of the caliphate and was a serious threat
to it.
Government's Attitude Towards the Imam
The
attitude of the then rulers towards Imam al-Rida(a.s.)
and the other Imams may provide us with a clear view of
the distinctions which raised their personalities to the
zenith. And it is essential to explain the phenomenon of
the government's attitude towards them which manifested
itself in the surveillance imposed upon them rather than
upon other distinguished dignitaries or chiefs of the
Alawides, monitoring their movements and counting their
steps in all their social and personal encounters. What
we can mention here to explain this phenomenon are the
following reasons:
1) The
belief of a large number of Muslims in their Imamate and
in their being the most worthy of the caliphate, and
their conviction that all other caliphs are considered
usurpers of authority, trespassers upon the rights
ordained by God to others. This is why the politicians
of the time considered them their competitors whose mere
presence increased the dangers surrounding them and
jeopardized the security of the very existence of their
government structure.
2)
Their being the magnet which attracted leading scholars
and thinkers who shrank in their presence despite their
intellectual advancement and distinction in the fields
of the arts and knowledge and despite their genius and
intellectual prowess. This caused the caliphs to feel a
stronger animosity towards them and be more grudgeful
towards them due to the public fascination by them and
to their attempts to be close to them and to being
emotionally distant from the center of the government.
3)
Their being the better alternative from the public's
political standpoint to take charge of the
responsibilities of government, bear its burdens, carry
out its obligations and doing all of that most
efficiently. This frightened the rulers and made the
obscure future seem to their eyes even more so.
4) The
vicious incitements about them by their opponents who
bore animosity towards them and who wished thereby their
elimination, and the tell-tales of even some of their
own kin whose judgement was blinded by jealousy, so they
kept fabricating stories and attributing them to those
Imams and telling them to the rulers who were pleased to
hear them since they became outlets to the grudge they
felt towards those Imams and, at the same time, found in
them the pretexts for annihilating and harassing them
and in the end a justification to put an end to their
lives and rid themselves of the complex they were
suffering from due to their existence.
By
these and by others can we explain the phenomenon of the
rulers pursuing them and desperately trying to alienate
them from the stage of events affecting the nation in
order to secure a distance from the ghost of competition
which could haunt them had they permitted the Imams to
do as they pleased. Thus can we understand the general
characteristics of the significant distinctions the
personalities of those Imams enjoyed in all sectors of
the society in its various centers of activity and in
its various aspirations; otherwise, how do you explain
this phenomenon, and why should those rulers pay the
Imams so much attention?
His
Knowledge
He
inherited the knowledge of his grandfather the Messenger
of Allah(pbuh&hf), thus becoming its pioneering
fountainhead that quenched the thirst of those who were
thirsty for knowledge. History narrates a great deal of
his scholarly stances and intellectual discourses in
which he achieved victory over those who opposed the
Divine Message, excelling in various branches of
scholarship with which he provided the seekers of
knowledge and the thinkers of the time.
Ibrahim ibn al-Abbas al-Suli is reported to have said:
"I never saw al-Riza(a.s.) unable to provide the answer
to any question he received, nor have I ever seen any
contemporary of his more learned than he was. Al-Mamoon
used to put him to test by asking him about almost
everything, and he always provided him with the answer,
and his answer and example was always derived from the
Holy Qur'an."
Rajaa
ibn Abul-Dahhak, who was commissioned by al-Mamoon to
escort Imam Riza(a.s.) to his court, said: "By God! I
never saw anyone more pious than him nor more often
remembering God at all times nor more fearful of God,
the Exalted. People approached him whenever they knew he
was present in their area, asking him questions
regarding their faith and its aspects, and he would
answer them and narrate a great deal of hadith from his
father who quoted his forefathers till Ali(a.s.) who
quoted the Messenger of Allah(pbuh&hf). When I arrived
at al-Mamoon's court, the latter asked me about his
behaviour during the trip and I told him what I observed
about him during the night and during the day, while
riding and while halting; so, he said: `Yes, O son of
al-Dahhak! This is the best man on the face of earth,
the most learned, and the most pious.'"
Al-Hakim is quoted in Tarikh Nishapur as saying that the
Imam(a.s.) used to issue religious verdicts when he was
a little more then twenty years old. In Ibn Maja's
Sunan, in the chapter on "Summary Of Cultivating
Perfection," he is described as "the master of Banu
Hashim, and al-Mamoon used to hold him in high esteem
and surround him with utmost respect, and he even made
him his successor and secured the oath of allegiance for
him."
Al-Mamoon said this once in response to Banu Hashim: "As
regarding your reaction to the selection by al-Mamoon of
Abul-Hassan al-Riza(a.s.) as his successor, be reminded
that al-Mamoon did not make such a selection except upon
being fully aware of its implications, knowing that
there is no one on the face of earth who is more
distinguished, more virtuous, more pious, more ascetic,
more acceptable to the elite as well as to the
commoners, or more God-fearing, than he (al-Riza,a.s.)
is."
Abul-Salt al-Harawi is quoted saying: "I never saw
anyone more knowledgeable than Ali ibn Mousa
al-Riza(a.s.). Every scholar who met him admitted the
same. Al-Mamoon gathered once a large number of
theologians, jurists and orators and he (al-Rida, A.S.)
surpassed each and every one of them in his own
respective branch of knowledge, so much so that the
loser admitted his loss and the superiority of the
winner over him."
He is
also quoted saying: "I have heard Ali ibn Mousa
al-Riza(a.s.) saying, `I used to take my place at the
theological center and the number of the learned
scholars at Medina was quite large, yet when a question
over-taxed the mind of one of those scholars, he and the
rest would point at me, and they would send me their
queries, and I would answer them all."
Al-Manaqib records the following: "When people disputed
regarding Abul-Hassan al-Riza(a.s.), Muhammad ibn 'Isa
al-Yaqtini said, `I have collected as many as eighteen
thousand of his answers to questions put forth to him.'
A group of critics, including Abu Bakr the orator in his
Tarikh and al-Tha'labi in his tafsir and al-Sam'ani in
his dissertation and in al-Mu'tazz in his work, in
addition to others, have all quoted hadith from him."
We do
not need the testimony of anyone to convince us of the
distinction enjoyed by Imam al-Riza(a.s.) due to his
knowledge over all others. Suffices us to review the
books of hadith which are filled with his statements and
dictation in various arts which every individual,
regardless of the loftiness of his degree of knowledge,
became dwarfed upon meeting him, feeling his inferiority
and the superiority of Imam al-Riza(a.s.).
Ma'mun's Problem and tactics
Ma'mun
thought of finding a new solution for the rapid growth
of Shiaism and revolt of the Alawis which the
seventy-year old policy of his Abbasid predecessors had
not been able to solve. To accomplish this end he
thought of choosing the eighth Imam as his successor,
hoping in this way to overcome two difficulties: first
of all to prevent the descendants of the
Prophet(pbuh&hf) from rebelling against the government
since they would be involved in the government
themselves, and secondly, to cause the people to lose
their spiritual belief and inner attachment to the
Imams. This would be accomplished by having the Imams
become engrossed in wordly matters and the politics of
the caliphate itself, which had always been considered
by the Shi'ites to be evil and impure. In this way their
religious organization would crumble and they would no
longer present any dangers to the caliphate. Obviously,
after accomplishing these ends, the removal of the Imam
would present no difficulties to the Abbasid.
Al-Ma'mun was also conscious of the fact that he would
not survive for long if he also did not express his
loyalty to the great leader and his intelligence
department had made it clear to him that the Iranian
people were truly and sincerely loyal to the Imam(a.s.)
and he could only win them over if he also pretended to
give respect and sympathetic consideration to Imam
al-Riza(a.s.). AI-Ma'mun was a very shrewd person. He
made a plan to invite Imam al-Riza(a.s.) and to offer
him the heirship to the throne. The Imam(a.s.) was
summoned by a royal decree and was compelled, under the
circumstances, to leave Medina where he was living a
quiet life and present himself at the royal court of
al-Ma 'mun.
On his
arrival, al-Ma'mun showed him hospitality and great
respect, then he said to him: "I want to get rid of
myself of the caliphate and vest the office in you." But
Imam al-Riza(a.s.) refused his offer. Then al-Ma'mun
repeated his offer in a letter saying: "lf you refuse
what I have offered you, then you must accept being the
heir after me." But again Imam al-Riza(a.s.) refused his
offer vigorously. Al-Ma'mun summoned him. He was alone
with al-Fadhl ibn Sahl, the man with two offices (i.e.,
military and civil). There was no one else in their
gathering. Al-Ma'mun said to Imam al-Riza(a.s.), "I
thought it appropriate to invest authority over the
Muslims in you and to relieve myself of the
responsibility by giving it to you." When again Imam
al-Riza(a.s.) refused to accept his offer, al-Ma'mun
spoke to him as if threatening him for his refusal. In
his speech he said, "Umar ibn al-khattab made a
committee of consultation (shura) to appoint a
successor. Among them was your forefather, the Commander
of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib. (Omar)
stipulated that any of them who opposed the decision
should be executed. So there is no escape for you from
accepting what I want from you. I will ignore your
rejection of it."
In reply, Imam al-Riza(a.s.) said: "I will agree to what
you want of me as far as succession is concerned on
condition that I do not command, nor order, not give
legal decisions, nor judge, nor appoint, nor dismiss,
nor change anything from how it is at present."
al-Ma'mun accepted all of that. This event occurred in
200 AH/814 AD.
On the
day when al-Ma'mun ordered to make the pledge of
allegiance to al-Redha, one of the close associates of
al-Redha, who was present, narrates, "On that day I was
in front of him. He looked at me while I was feeling
happy about what had happened. He signalled me to come
closer. I went closer to him and he said so that no one
else could hear, Do not occupy your heart with this
matter and do not be happy about it. It is something
which will not be achieved. Quoting al-Allamah
ash-Shibli from his book al-Ma'mun, we get a very clear
picture of how al-Ma'mun decided to offer his leadership
to Imam al-Redha (a.s.)
Even
after the declaration of succession when there was every
opportunity for the Imam to live a splendid worldly
royal life, he did not pay any heed to material comforts
and devoted himself completely to imparting the true
Islamic conception of the Prophet's teachings and the
Holy Qur'an. He spent most of his time praying to God
and serving the people.
Taking
full advantage of the concessions given to him by virtue
of his elevated position in the royal court, he
organized the majalis (meetings) commemorating the
martyrdom of the martyrs of Karbala. These majalis were
first held during the days of Imam Muhammad Baqir(a.s.)
and Imam Jafar Sadiq(a.s.), but Imam al-Riza(a.s.) gave
the majalis a new impetus by encouraging those poets who
wrote effective poems depicting the moral aspects of the
tragedy and the suffering of Imam Hussain(a.s.) and his
companions.
decided once and for all to check his growing popularity
. , he was buried in Tus (Mashhad) and his Grand Shrine
speaks well for the great personality the Imam
possessed. Millions of Muslims visit his Shrine every
year to pay their homage to this Imam.
Martyrdom
Soon
Ma'mun realized that he had committed an error, for
there was a rapid spread of Shi'ism a growth in the
attachment of the populace to the Imam(a.s.) and an
astounding reception given to the Imam by the people and
even by the army and government agents. Al-Ma 'mun had
been very scared of the growing popularity of the Imam
and he had appointed him as his heir to the throne only
for the fulfilment of his own most ambitious and
sinister designs and getting the Imam's endorsement to
his tricky plans. But the Imam(a.s.) naturally refused
to give his endorsement to any such plans which were
against the teaching of Islam.
Ma'mun
sought to find a remedy for this difficulty and to
ensure his own survival by acting according to the old
traditions of killing the Imam. Wanting to do it in a
more subtle manner, he invited the Imam to dinner, and
fed him poisoned grapes. The Imam died on 23rd Zi-Qadah
2O3 AH. After his death the Imam(a.s.) was buried in the
city of Tus in Iran, which is now called Mashhad. |
