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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 htmlirations; 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 htmlects, 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
htmlects 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. |