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. |