Historical Aspect of the Emam's Biography
His Distinctions and Characteristics
Lineage
He is Ali son of Mousa son of Ja'fer son of Muhammad son of Ali son of
al-Husayn son of Ali son of Abu Talib (A.S.), eighth in the series of
the Emams belonging to the Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.). His birthplace is Medina,
and his resting place is Toos (Iran).
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, Dhul-Hijja 11, or Dhul-Qi'da,
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 Ramadan 21, or Jumada I 18, or Dhul-Qi'da 23, or the end of
Dhul-Qi'da, 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 Emam
died while he was heading in the same direction.
His Mother
There is a great deal of dispute regarding the name of his mother. Some
say she was called al-Khayzaran; others say she was Arwi and that her
nickname was "the blonde of Nubia," while others say she was Najma and
her nickname was "Ummul-Baneen." Others say she was called Sekan the
Nubian; still others say she was called Takattam as may be proven from
the poetry in his praise which said:
The best in self and parenthood,
In offspring and in ancestry,
Is Ali al-Muaddam,
Eighth in series of the knowledgeable
and the clement,
An Emam descending from the Proof of God,
that is Takattam.
Offspring
Disputes exist also regarding the number of his offspring and their
names. A group of scholars say that they were five sons and one
daughter, and that they were: Muhammad al-Qani', al-Hassan, Ja'fer,
Ibrahim, al-Husayn, and 'Ayesha.
Sabt ibn al-Jawzi, in his work Tadhkiratul-Khawass, says that the sons
were only four, dropping the name of Husayn from the list. Al-Mufid
inclines to believe that the Emam did not have any son other than Emam
Muhammad al-Jawad (A.S.), and Ibn Shahr Ashoob emphatically states so,
and so does al-Tibrisi in his A'lam al-Wara. Al-'Udad al-Qawiyya states
that he had two sons, Muhammad and Mousa, and that he did not have any
other offspring. In his claim, he is supported by Qurb al-Asnad in which
the author says that al-Bazanti asked al-Rida, "For years I have been
asking you who your successor is and you keep telling me that it is your
son even when you had no son at all, but since God has now blessed you
with two sons, which one of them is he?" 'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rida indicates
that he had a daughter named Fatima.
We are not in the process of investigating, researching and pinpointing
with accuracy the number of his offspring and their names, but what
seems to be more reasonable is what al-Mufid states. What is established
as a fact with us is that Emam Muhammad al-Jawad (A.S.) was his son; as
regarding his other sons, nobody seems to be able to prove any facts
regarding them, and God knows best.
Personality and Characteristics
Generally speaking, an Emam enjoys a unique personality and distinctive
characteristics, in as far as Shi'a followers of the Emams are
concerned; therefore, he is not permitted to do what others are, such as
falling into error, or getting confused about a matter. Rather,
infallibility is essential in him since he conveys on behalf of the
Prophet (S.A.W.) what seems to others to be obscure of the Message and
its intricacies. Just as we proved the infallibility of the Prophet
(S.A.W.), we, by the same token, prove infallibility for the Emam as
well with one exception: the Emam conveys on behalf of the Prophet
(S.A.W.), whereas the Prophet conveys on behalf of the Almighty God. The
wisdom in this argument is that should falling into error be accepted
and expected from the Prophet (S.A.W.) or the Emam, then doubt will
result regarding the reliability of what they convey to people of
jurisdic rules and regulations and other such matters since they are
liable to err in their judgement or get confused about a particular
issue. Although the believers are not held accountable for doing what
they are not supposed to be doing due to such error of judgement, the
assumption of the error of judgement itself collides with the very
wisdom behind the reason why prophets were sent to people at all which
is to clarify to people, according to the way God Almighty intended them
to, without any error or confusion, what His Will is.
The topic of infallibility is a vast one the discussion of which has no
room here and which requires a dedicated research I may be able one day
to tackle. What I have to same fa here is that Emamate is characterized
by certain distinctive aspects such as infallibility which we cannot
discuss by itself with others except after both parties agree on the
basis from which it emerged; otherwise, our case would be like one who
discusses the necessity of performing the ritual prayers (salat) with
someone who does not believe in the message of the Prophet (S.A.W.).
The basic point upon which we have first and foremost to agree is the
definition of general Emamate, then the distinctions it requires and,
finally, the proofs which testify to these distinctions. It is only then
that disagreeing parties can conduct a reasonable discussion. Having
been convinced by unequivocal proofs of such infallibility, and having
seen the Twelve Emams (A.S.) to be fully qualified to be the only ones
in whom such infallibility could be observed, we became fully convinced
of their unshakable superiority over all others, and that they were the
ones adorned with absolute human perfection.
An Emam, according to this viewpoint, has got to be the most learned
among people and the most aware of the general needs of people such as
knowledge or other necessities of life, and that he has to be the most
pious, the most ascetic, the most perfect in personal conduct and norms
of behaviour. In other words, in order to be qualified for Emamate, one
has to be superior to everyone else in all aspects of perfection and its
requirements which all raise him to his position of leadership. On this
basis, the character of Emam al-Rida (A.S.), who is one of these Twelve
Emams, becomes clearly distinctive due to its merits. But this is not
the limit of the scope of this research; rather, we shall attempt to
research his personality and the qualities which distinguished him from
all others by our sifting into the legacy history has preserved for us
of his conduct while still alive, and from the stances taken by the men
of knowledge and by contemporary caliphs towards him.
Government's Attitude Towards the Emam
The attitude of the then rulers towards Emam al-Rida (A.S.) and the
other Emams 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 Emamate 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
Emams and telling them to the rulers who were pleased to hear them since
they became outlets to the grudge they felt towards those Emams 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 Emams to do
as they pleased. Thus can we understand the general characteristics of
the significant distinctions the personalities of those Emams 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 Emams so much attention?
His Knowledge
He inherited the knowledge of his grandfather the Messenger of God
(S.A.W.), 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.
Emam Mousa a-Kazim (A.S.) is reported to have often said to his sons:
"Ali ibn Mousa, your brother, is the learned scholar of the Descendants
of Muhammad (S.A.W.); therefore, you may ask him about your religion,
and memorize what he tells you for I have heard my father Ja'fer ibn
Muhammad more than once saying, `The learned scholar of the family of
Muhammad is in your loins. How I wish I had met him, for he is named
after the Commander of the Faithful Ali (A.S.).'"
Ibrahim ibn al-Abbas al-Suli is reported to have said: "I never saw al-Rida
(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 al-Rida
(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 God (S.A.W.). 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.'"18
Al-Hakim is quoted in Tarikh Nishapur as saying that the Emam (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-Rida (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-Rida, A.S.) is."19
Abul-Salt al-Harawi is quoted saying: "I never saw anyone more
knowledgeable than Ali ibn Mousa al-Rida (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."20
He is also quoted saying: "I have heard Ali ibn Mousa al-Rida (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."21
In his discourse regarding the issue of succession, al-Mamoon said: "I
do not know any man on the face of earth who is more suited (to be heir
to the throne) than this man."22
Al-Manaqib records the following: "When people disputed regarding
Abul-Hassan al-Rida (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."23
After an intellectual discourse with al-Mamoon, Ali ibn al-Jahm said:
"Al-Mamoon stood up to perform the prayers ritual and took Muhammad ibn
Ja'fer, who was present there, by the hand, and I followed both of them.
He asked him: `What do you think of your nephew?' He answered, `A
learned scholar although we never saw him being tutored by any learned
man.' Al-Mamoon said: `This nephew of yours is a member of the family of
the Prophet (S.A.W.) about whom the Prophet (S.A.W.) said: `The virtuous
among my descendants and the elite among my progeny are the most
thoughtful when young, the most learned when adult; therefore, do not
teach them for they are more learned than you are, nor will they ever
take you out of guidance, nor lead you into misguidance.'"24
Ibn al-Athir writes: "He (al-Mamoon) discerned the descendants of Banu
al-Abbas and Banu Ali and did not find anyone more than him (al-Rida,
A.S.) in accomplishments, piety and knowledge."25
We do not need the testimony of anyone to convince us of the distinction
enjoyed by Emam al-Rida (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 Emam
al-Rida (A.S.).
Ethical and Humane Conduct
Good manners constitute a significant part of one's personality. They
unveil the innermost nature of the individual, highlighting the extent
of its purity of origin when it translates belief into action. The Emam
was characterized by a most noble personality which won him the love of
the commoners as well as the elite, by extraordinary humanity derived
from the spirit of the Message itself one of whose custodians he himself
was, a person who safeguarded it and inherited its innermost secrets.
Ibrahim ibn al-Abbas al-Suli is quoted saying: "I never saw Abul-Hassan
al-Rida (A.S.) angering anyone by something he said, nor did I ever see
him interrupting anyone, nor refusing to do someone a favour he was able
to do, nor did he ever stretch his legs before an audience, nor leaned
upon something while his companion did not, nor did he ever call any of
his servants or attendants a bad name, nor did I ever see him spit or
burst into laughter; rather, his laughter was just a smile. When he was
ready to eat and he sat to be served, he seated with him all his
attendants, including the doorman and the groom." He adds, "Do not,
therefore, believe anyone who claims that he saw someone else enjoying
such accomplishments."26
A guest once kept entertaining him part of the night when the lamp
started fading and the guest stretched his hand to fix it, but
Abul-Hassan (A.S.) swiftly checked him and fixed it himself, saying, "We
are folks who do not let their guest tend on them."27
Al-Manaqib states that al-Rida (A.S.) once went to the public bath-house
and someone asked him to give him a massage, so he kept giving the man a
massage till someone recognized him and told that person who that
dignitary was. The man felt extremely embarrassed; he apologized to the
Emam (A.S.) and gave him a massage.28
Muhammad ibn al-Fadl narrates the following anecdote regarding the
Emam's simple personality. He says:
"Al-Rida (A.S.), on the occasion of Eidul-Fitr, said to one of his
attendants, `May God accept your good deeds and ours,' then he stood up
and left. On the occasion of Eidul-Adha, he said to the same man, `May
God accept our good deeds and yours.' I asked him, `O son of the
Messenger of God! You said something to this man on the occasion of
Eidul-Fitr and something else on the occasion of Eidul-Adha; why?' He
answered: `I pleaded God to accept his good deeds and ours because his
action was similar to mine and I combined it with mine in my plea,
whereas I pleaded God to accept our good deeds and his because we are
capable of offering the ceremonial sacrifice while he is not; so, our
action is different from his.'"29
Thus does Emam al-Rida (A.S.) become in total harmony with his message
in the area of ethics, personifying the latter into action derived from
the spirit of the message whereby he ascends to the summit of human
perfection, rising thereby to the shores of the individual's own real
greatness. It is through this and similar means that the sincerity of
faith and loftiness and dignity of the self are recognized.
Emam al-Rida (A.S.) defines for us the Islamic theory as the rules which
govern the actual dealings of man with his brother man from which we can
achieve the inspiration that Islam abolishes the then class distinctions
among individuals and groups in the areas of public rights and the
safeguarding of man's dignity, and that the difference which we must
recognize regarding these areas is the difference between one who obeys
God and one who does not.
A man once said to the Emam: "By God! There is nobody on the face of
earth who is more honourable than your forefathers." The Emam responded
by saying: "Their piety secured their honour, and their obedience of God
made them fortunate."30
Another man said to him: "By God! You are the best of all people!" He
said to him: "Do not swear so. Better than me is one who is more
obedient to God and more pious. By God! The following verse was never
abrogated: `And We have made you nations and tribes so that you may know
each other; verily the best of you in God's sight is the most pious.'"31
Abul-Salt once asked him: "O son of the Messenger of God! What do you
say about something people have been criticizing you for?" He asked:
"What is it?" He said: "They claim that you call people your slaves." He
said: "God! Creator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the hidden
and the manifest! I invoke Thee to testify that I have never said so,
nor did I ever hear that any of my forefathers had said so! God! You are
the Knower of the many injustices this nation has committed against us,
and this is just one of them..." Then he came to Abul-Salt and said: "O
Abdul-Salam! If all people, as some claim, are our slaves, who did we
buy them from?" Abul-Salt answered: "You are right, O son of the
Messenger of God..." Then the Emam said: "O Abdul-Salam! Do you deny the
right which God has allotted for us to be charged with the authority as
others deny?" He said: "God forbid! I do acknowledge such right."32
The Emam here denies such an allegation about him and his forefathers
and rejects the vicious accusation which their enemies use against him
to tarnish his image, considering it one of the many injustices
committed against the Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.). Rather, he and the Household
of the Prophet (S.A.W.) consider people to be equal in their general
obligations except in the right of government which God ordained to be
theirs solely, for others have no right to claim it for themselves. With
the exception of the right to obey God in its most pristine implications
which raised their status in the sight of God and man, all are the
slaves of God. They share the same parents and worship the same God.
Abdullah ibn al-Salt quotes a man from Balkh saying: "I accompanied al-Rida
(A.S.) during his trip to Khurasan. One day he ordered preparations for
his meal to which he invited all his attendants, blacks and non-blacks,
so I said: `May my life be sacrificed for yours! Maybe these should have
a separate eating arrangement.' He said: `God Almighty is One; the
father (Adam) and the mother (Eve) are the same, and people are rewarded
according to their deeds.'"33
The Emam does not see any difference between him and his servants and
attendants except in the degree of good deeds; other than that, all
distinctions are void when the matter is related to common obligations
in which all individuals are equal, for each one of them is created by
the same God, and each has the same father, Adam, who was created of
dust.
When we see the Emam sitting at the table surrounded by his servants,
his doorman, and his groom, he is thus teaching the nation a lesson in
virtuous humanity which believes in the dignity of man in order to
demonstrate the theory of Islam in practice showing the nature of
behaviour man should undertake in his conduct towards his brother man.
The loftiness of status and the elevation of career must not necessitate
that a man of a less status or one whose career is less coveted should
be despised or made to feel inferior to his brother man even if he is a
servant. This is so in order to eliminate the complex class distinctions
which widen the gap between the members of the society whose energies
would then be split into opposing parties torn by grudge and consumed by
hatred.
Islam enacted the law of equality among the members of the society in
the areas of general obligations in order to emancipate man's dignity
from class obligations which dominated the way of life during the
pre-Islamic era and were adopted by nations of old. God Almighty has
said: "The best of you in the eyes of God is the one who is most
pious."34 The Prophet (S.A.W.) said: "All of you descended from Adam,
and Adam was created of dust." He also said: "No Arab can be held
superior to a non-Arab except through superiority of his degree of
piety."
Ibrahim ibn al-Abbas al-Suli is quoted saying: "I heard Ali ibn Mousa
al-Rida saying, `I swear by emancipation--and whenever I swore by it, I
would emancipate one of my slaves till I emancipated each and every one
of them--that I do not see myself as better than that (and he pointed to
a black slave of his who remained in his service) on account of my
kinship to the Messenger of God (S.A.W.) except if I do a good deed
which would render me better.'"35
Thus does the Emam define for us the good Islamic conduct of
safeguarding the dignity of man and the elimination of all class
distinctions except the distinction of good deeds. He, peace be upon
him, does not view his kinship to the Prophet (S.A.W.) as providing him
with a distinction over a black slave except if such kinship is combined
with good deeds which render the doer distinction and superiority. Yasir,
one of his servants, said once: "Abul-Hasan said to us once: `If I leave
the table before you do, while you are still eating, do not leave on my
account till you are through.' It may happen that he calls upon some of
us to his service and he is told that they are eating, whereupon he
says: `Leave them to finish their meal first.'" Nadir, another servant,
says: "Abul-Hassan did not require us to do anything for him except if
we had finished eating our meal."36
These are samples of his actual conduct and humanity which he inherited
as a fragrant legacy the perfume of which is goodness and mercy from his
grandfather the greatest Prophet (S.A.W.) who crowned his message with
the banner of good conduct when he said: "I have been sent to perfect
the code of good conduct." Such was that genuine humane legacy from
whose spirit nations derive their strength and upon which they build the
pillars of their glory and through which they secure the continuation of
their very existence.
His Conduct Regarding His Appearance
There is no doubt that, generally speaking, the Emams (A.S.) were more
distant than anyone else from the alluring wares of this vanishing
world, and most distant from its ornamentations and allurements. But the
concept of asceticism according to them was not limited to wearing
modest coarse clothes or eating very simple food. Rather, its limits
extended beyond that, for the ascetic person is the one who does not
allow the pleasures of this world to take control over him without being
able to take control of them, one who does not see this world as the
ultimate goal he seeks; rather, when it comes towards him, the believer
is entitled to enjoy its good things, and when it forsakes him, he
contends himself that God's rewards are more lasting.
Al-Aabi is quoted in Nathr al-Durar as saying:
"A group of sufis visited al-Rida (A.S.) when he was in Khurasan, and
they said to him, `The commander of the faithful looked into the
authority God Almighty entrusted to him, and he found you, members of
the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.), to be the most deserving of all people
to be the leaders. Then he discerned you, members of the Prophet's Ahl
al-Bayt (A.S.), and he found yourself the most worthy of leading the
people, so he decided to entrust such leadership to you. The nation is
in need of one who wears coarse clothes, eats the most simple food,
rides the donkey and visits the sick.' Al-Rida (A.S.) was first leaning,
then he adjusted the way he was sitting and said: `Joseph (Yousuf) was a
Prophet who used to wear silk mantles brocaded with gold. He sat on the
thrones of the Pharaohs and ruled. An Emam is required to be just and
fair; when he says something, he says the truth, and when he passes a
judgement, he judges equitably, and when he promises something, he
fulfills his promise. God did not forbid (an Emam) from wearing a
particular type of clothes or eating a particular type of food.' Then he
recited the Qur'anic verse: `Say: Who has forbidden the beautiful
(gifts) of God which He has produced for His servants, and the good
things, clean and pure (which He has provided) for sustenance?'"37
Emam al-Jawad (A.S.) was asked once about his view regarding musk. He
answered: "My father ordered musk to be made for him in a ben tree in
the amount of seven hundred dirhams. Al-Fadl ibn Sahl wrote him saying
that people criticized him for that. He wrote back: `O Fadl! Have you
not come to know that Joseph (Yousuf), who was a Prophet, used to wear
silk clothes brocaded with gold, and that he used to sit on gilded
thrones, and that all of that did not decrease any of his wisdom?' Then
he ordered a galia moschata (perfume of musk and ambergris) to be made
for him in the amount of four thousand dirhams.'"38
Thus does the Emam prove that the outward appearance of asceticism has
nothing to do with true asceticism; rather, it may even be a fake
whereby someone tries to attract the attention of others. This is why
Emam al-Rida (A.S.) and other Emams did not see anything wrong with
meeting the public with an appearance of luxury in what they put on or
ate as long as it did not collide with the reality of asceticism which
is the building of the self from within to renounce the world and its
allurement and regard it as a vanishing display with a short span of
life. This does not forbid the believer from enjoying its pleasures in
the way which God made permissible. God did not create the good things
in this world for the disbeliever to enjoy while depriving the believers
therefrom. Rather, God considers the believer to be more worthy of such
enjoyment when he submits himself to God and expends it in His Path.
Ibn Abbad tells us the following about Emam al-Rida's ascetic conduct:
"Al-Rida used to sit on a leaf mat during the summer and on a straw sack
during the winter; he used to put on coarse clothes, but when he went
out to meet the public, he put on his very best."39 So, when he is by
himself, away from public life, his soul finds harmony with denying what
is fake, that is, the decorations and allurements of this life. But when
he goes out to meet people, he puts on his best for them following their
own nature of holding the appearances of this world as significant,
enjoying its good things. This realistically ascetic conduct of the Emam
provides us with a glorious example of the truth regarding the Ahl al-Bayt
(A.S.) and their pure view of life which is free from any disturbing
fake or pretense.
Clemency and Tolerance
Emam Mousa ibn Ja'fer (A.S.) had recommended his son al-Rida (A.S.) to
be the Emam after him, making him his own deputy in faring with his
wealth, women, sons and the mothers of his sons, without permitting any
of his other sons to fare with anything after him, and he wrote his will
indicating so and sealed it with his own seal, invoking the Wrath of God
upon anyone who would unlawfully break the seal after having secured the
testimony of a number of his own household and followers. But the
brothers of Emam al-Rida (A.S.) disputed with their brother regarding
their father's will and what he had left for them. According to al-Kafi,
Yazid ibn Salit is quoted saying:
"Abu Umran al-Talhi was the judge at Medina when his (al-Rida's)
brothers presented him as their opponent in their dispute. Al-Abbas ibn
Mousa said: `May God bring through you reconciliation and happiness. At
the bottom of this written statement there is a treasure and a jewel and
he (al-Rida) wishes to keep it away from us and take it all to himself,
and our father entrusted everything to him, leaving us helpless. Had I
not checked myself, I would have told you so before a crowd of people.'
Ibrahim ibn Muhammad, who was one of the witnesses of the will, jumped
at him and said: `Then you by God would be telling something we do not
accept to be coming even from you, and we will hold you as a liar, and
you will be among us blamed and despised, nicknamed by the young and the
old as a liar. Your father knew you best if there was any good in you
and your father knew you inside and out, and he could not trust you to
guard two pieces of dates.' Then his uncle Ishaq ibn Ja'fer jumped at
him and pulled him by the robe saying, `You are a silly, weakling, and a
fool; add these to your previous faults,' and he was supported in his
view by all others. Abu Umran, the judge, said to Ali, `Stand up, O
father of al-Hassan! Suffices me today the curse your father had
invoked, and your father was quite generous with you. No! By God! Nobody
knows a son better than his father. No! By God! Your father was neither
weak in his intellect nor shallow in his view.' Al-Abbas said to the
judge, `May God bring conciliation through you! Please remove the seal
and read the contents.' Abu Umran said, `No, I shall not remove it;
suffices me today the curse your father invoked.' Al-Abbas said, `I
shall remove it.' He said, `That is up to you.' So al-Abbas removed the
seal and the contents spelled out their exclusion and the inclusion only
of Ali, and an order that they all, whether they liked it or not, were
to listen to and obey Emam Ali al-Rida (A.S.). In short, the removal of
the seal spelled their destruction, scandal and humiliation, whereas Ali
remained the winner.
"Ali then turned to al-Abbas and said: `Brother! I know that what made
you do what you did is the fact that you have fines and debts to pay.
Sa'id! Go ahead and take an account of their debts, then pay their dues
on their own behalf. After that take out their zakat and clear their
name. By God! I shall never abandon your assistance and I shall never
cut my ties from you as long as I walk on this earth; so, you may say
whatever you please.'
"Al-Abbas said: `Do not give us anything other than what rightfully
belongs to us, and what you hold of our own is even more.' He said: `You
may say anything you want to say, for the offer is yours; if you do good
deeds, you shall be rewarded by God, and if you commit a bad deed, God
is Most Forgiving, Merciful. By God! You know very well that today I
have no son nor heir except you; so, if I keep anything which belongs to
you from you or save what you think to belong to you, it shall always
remain yours and will always be returned to you. By God! I have never
owned anything since your father, may God be pleased with him, passed
away except that I relinquished it to you as you have seen.'
"Al-Abbas leaped and said: `By God it is not so! Nor God has given you
authority over us..., but..., but it is our father's jealousy and he
willed a will which God does not accept from him nor from you, and you
know very well that I know Safwan ibn Yahya, the Sabiri seller at Kufa.
If I ever get there, I shall strangle him and you with him.'
"Ali said: `There is no power or will except by the Will of God, the
Sublime, the Great... Brothers! God knows that I desire nothing other
than your happiness and well-being. God! If you know that I love their
well-being, and that I want nothing but good for them, that I do not
severe my ties with them, that I am kind to them, concerned about their
affairs day and night..., then grant me good rewards for it. But if I am
contrariwise, then I invoke You, Knower of the unknown, to grant me the
rewards of my intentions: good for good and evil for evil. Lord! Bring
them to the path of righteousness, and make life good for them, and keep
the snares of the devil away from us and from them, and assist them to
be able to worship Thee, and help them see Thy guidance. As for me,
brother, I desire nothing other than your happiness, working hard for
your own well-being, and God is my Witness.'
"To this, al-Abbas said: `How well I know your mastery over words! And
there is no mud with me for your spade!'"40
With these rude words al-Abbas ended his argument with his brother, Emam
al-Rida (A.S.), despite the fact that the Emam was very kind and clement
in his argument with him, without articulating any unkind word, that it
was already established that right was on the side of the Emam, and that
their own transgression dragged him into such a situation which did not
befit his lofty status. This, indeed, is indicative of a great deal of
clemency and tolerance towards an unlimited aggression.
Although al-Abbas discarded the norms of good manners in his
confrontation with his brother by articulating disrespectful words and
by committing a sin against his own father Emam Mousa ibn Ja'fer (A.S.)
by accusing him of being jealous and biased, which causes the other
party to be on the offensive, or at least would push him away from a
balanced temper, this is not an artificial show of clemency and
tolerance from the Emam (A.S.); rather, it is derived from the spirit of
genuine goodness and love whereby he and the other Emams were
characterized when others challenged them.
On the other hand, the Emam (A.S.) tries to cause others to adorn
themselves with the same trait of clemency and tolerance upon being
wronged as an element of good relationship among them, justifying this
by saying that it increases the dignity of man, for clemency and
tolerance, when the ability to deal equal blows and effect equal
retribution express the power of anger in man and his control over his
rash temper upon being challenged, this causes others to respect and
venerate such a person especially when that person shoulders the
responsibilities of authority. Al-Aabi says:
"A man sentenced to be beheaded was brought to al-Mamoon while al-Rida
(A.S.) was among his train. Al-Mamoon asked him: `Father of al-Hassan!
What is your view?' He said: `All I can say is that God only increases
the dignity of those whose good will causes them to forgive.' He,
therefore, forgave the man."41
Swiftness of Response
Emam al-Rida (A.S.) was endowed with a readiness to respond coupled with
the strength of argument and oratory to which extra-ordinary expressions
freely submitted without making the over-all meaning too difficult to
comprehend. His arguments with the heads of other religions, with
foremost writers, and with atheists in which he outwitted them with his
clear argument and decisive arguments, all provide us with a glorious
indication that he used to enjoy the ability to provide a ready answer
and a speed in intellectual reasoning.
This is why learned scholars held him in high esteem and hesitated to
challenge him to debate in any field of knowledge as actually happened
after his arguments with the highest authorities of other religions at a
meeting al-Mamoon arranged at his court and the audience were
tongue-tied when he challenged them to put for discussion whatever came
to their minds.
His Patience and Perseverance
The patience and perseverance of the Emam manifest themselves clearly
when he had to face psychological and emotional crises. When he went to
say his farewell at the Ka'ba, Mecca, upon being ordered by al-Mamoon to
be present at his court in Khurasan, he was faced with an emotional
situation involving his only son Abu Ja'fer Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jawad,
but he maintained with an iron will his self-control, solacing himself
with a patient heart, submitting to God's Will and Decree.
Umayya ibn Ali states: "I was sitting with Abul-Hassan (A.S.) at Mecca
during the year in which he performed the hajj prior to his trip to
Khurasan, and Abu Ja'fer was with him when he was bidding the House (Ka'ba)
good-bye. Having finished his tawaf, he went to the maqam and said his
prayers there. Abu Ja'fer, accompanied by Muaffaq, was making his tawaf,
till he reached the Stone. There he sat and he prolonged his sitting
there. Muaffaq said to him: `May my life be sacrificed for yours! It is
time you stood up.' He answered: `I do not wish to leave this place at
all except by the Will of God,' and grief could easily be seen clouding
over his face. Muaffaq approached Abul-Hassan and said to him: `May my
life be sacrificed for yours! Abu Ja'fer is sitting by the Stone
unwilling to leave,' so Abul-Hassan stood up, came to Abu Ja'fer and
said: `Stand up, my loved one.' But his son said: `I do not wish to
leave this place...' He said: `Do stand up, O my loved one.' After a
while, he said to his father: `How can I stand up seeing that you have
already said your farewell at the House never to return again?' He said:
`Do stand up, my loved one.' He stood up and left with his father."
The Emam (A.S.) patiently put up with numerous norms of persecution and
injustice inflicted upon him during the reign of (Harun) al-Rashid
starting with the tragedy of his father, passing by the tragedies to
which the Alawides were subjected, and ending with the unfair
instigations to al-Rashid by the Emam's opponents to kill him and
eliminate him. The strength of the patience and perseverance of the Emam
become manifest when we examine the thinly veiled political persecution
from which he suffered during al-Mamoon's reign especially after the
latter appointed him as his heir to the throne, fully knowing that
al-Mamoon was not sincere in his intention but rather enacted a
political act in which al-Mamoon played the major role solely to provide
security to the shaky foundations of his regime due to the storming
events the outcome of which was reflected upon the issue of who would
succeed him on the throne.
The extent of the suffering of the Emam, the degree of his bitterness
and agony, and the amount of grief and sorrow which filled his heart due
to the treatment meted to him by the government, can be assessed; yet he
buried all of that in the depth of his mind with mute patience and
perseverance. Yasir, his servant, said once: "Whenever al-Rida (A.S.)
returned home on Friday from the mosque, with his face sweating and
stained by blowing dust, he would raise his hands and invoke God saying,
`God! If the only way I am relieved from my distress is by death, then I
invoke Thee to hasten its hour.'"
Suffices to assess the extent of his patience and perseverance to simply
be aware of the fact that although he was God's Argument over His
creation, he was powerless to do anything while seeing right being
abandoned and wrong upheld.
Generosity
In a dialogue with al-Bazanti, the Emam said: "Anyone who receives a
boon is in danger: He has to carry out God's commandments in its regard.
By God! Whenever God blesses me with something, I continue to be in
extreme apprehension till (and here he made a motion with his hand) I
take out some of it and spend it in the way God has ordained in its
regard." Al-Bazanti asked him: "May my life be sacrificed for yours!
You, in your status of high esteem, fear that much?" He answered: "Yes,
indeed! And I praise my Creator for the blessings He bestowed upon
me."42
The Emam's generosity and thoughtfulness emanate out of this good aspect
of his conviction which depends on the principle of letting others share
in the wealth with which God blesses him, and in what blessings and
favours He bestows upon him. God's rights in this context are the shares
of the needy and the poor in this world whose ability to earn a decent
living was hampered by either severe employment conditions, or
disability to work due to old age, or because of being left stranded
away from their original home, in addition to others who were forced by
the necessities of life to stretch their hands to others for help. To
ask others is humiliating, for it shatters the dignity of the person who
is stretching his hand asking and by his psychological appeal to the
breath of humanity in the person he is asking. In this story, the Emam
guides us to realize a magnificent fact about the human psychology, that
is, to give is not a favour someone does to someone else begging him for
help; rather, it is his way of thanking God for the blessings with which
He blessed him. The person who is blessed is in danger until he takes
out of it the rights in it which are God's.
The Emam's method in giving is derived from such an angle of the human
nature. Eleisha ibn Hamza says: "I was once talking to al-Rida (A.S.)
when a large crowd of people assembled to ask him about what is
permissible in Islam and what is not. A man as tall as Adam came to him
and said: `Assalamo Alaikom, O Son of the Messenger of God! I am a man
who loves you, your fathers and grandfathers, and I have just been on my
way to perform the pilgrimage when I discovered that I had lost
everything with me and now I do not have anything enough even for a leg
of the trip. If you will, please help me with the expense of going back
home, and I am a recipient of God's blessing (i.e. well to do). As soon
as I reach there, I will give to the poor as much as you will give me,
for I do not qualify to be a recipient of alms.' He said to him: `Sit,
may God be merciful to you,' then he kept talking to people till they
dispersed except that man, Sulaiman al-Ja'feri, Khuthai'ama and myself.
Then he (al-Rida) said: `Do you permit me to enter (the room)?' Sulaiman
said to him: `May God advance your endeavour.'43 So he entered the room
and stayed for about an hour after which he came out and closed the door
behind him, stretched his hand above the door and said: `Where is the
man from Khurasan?' The man answered: `Here I am!' He said: `Take these
two hundred dinars, use them for your preparations for the trip; may God
bring you blessings thereby, and do not spend an equal amount to it on
my behalf, and leave the room in a way that I do not see you and you do
not see me,' then he left. Sulaiman then said: `May my life be
sacrificed for yours! You have made quite a generous offer, but why did
you hide your face?' He answered: `I did so for fear of seeing the
humiliation on the face of the man due to my assistance for him. Have
you not heard the hadith of the Messenger of God (S.A.W.) in which he
said: `The one who hides a good deeds receives rewards equal to
performing the pilgrimage seventy times; one who announces his sin is
humiliated, while one who hides it is forgiven'? Have you heard the
saying of the example of the first case:
Whenever I approach him, one day, with a plea, I return home and my
dignity is still with me.
for he hides himself from the person who appeals to him when he gives
him something so that he does not see the humiliation on his face, and
so that the pleading person retains his dignity when he does not see the
face of the benevolent one who is giving him?"
He asks him to leave without seeing him in order to safeguard himself
against feeling as having the upper hand over the pleading person, and
in order to relieve the pleading person from having to show his
gratitude to him.
While in Khurasan, he once distributed his entire wealth to the poor on
the day of Arafat, so al-Fadl ibn Sahl said to him: "Now you are
bankrupt!" he said: "On the contrary! I am now wealthier than ever. Do
not consider trading my wealth for God's rewards and pleasure as
bankruptcy."44
He does not give others in order to buy their affection or friendship;
rather, he considers giving with generosity as a good trait whereby man
gets nearer to his Maker by including His servants in the wealth with
which He blessed him. This is the difference between his method of
giving and the method of others. Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Nawbakhti is quoted
saying:
"A man passed by Abul-Hassan and begged him to give him according to the
extent of his kindness. He said: `I cannot afford that.' So he said:
`Then give me according to mine,' whereupon he ordered his servant to
give the man two hundred dinars."45
The reason why the Emam abstained from giving the man according to the
extent of his own kindness, as the man asked him the first time, is
probably due to the fact that he simply did not have as much money as he
liked to give. As regarding his own affection towards the poor and the
indigent, and his way of looking after them, Mu'ammar ibn Khallad
narrates this anecdote:
"Whenever Abul-Hassan al-Rida (A.S.) was about to eat his meal, he would
bring a large platter and select the choicest food on the table and put
on it, then he would order it to be given away to the poor. After that
he would recite the following verse: `But he hath made no haste on the
path that is steep.'46 After that he would say: `God, the Exalted and
the Sublime, knows that not everyone has the ability to free a slave,
nevertheless He found means for them to achieve Paradise (by feeding
others).'"47
Thus does the Emam sense the weight of deprivation under which the poor
moan and suffer; therefore, he shares his best food with them in
response to the call of humanity and kindness and in harmony with the
spirit of the message with which God entrusted him.
Al-Bazanti tells the story of a letter Emam al-Rida (A.S.) wrote to his
son Emam Abu Ja'fer (A.S.) which personifies the generosity and spirit
of giving deeply rooted in the hearts of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt
(A.S.); he says: "I read the letter of Abul-Hassan Emam al-Rida (A.S.)
to Abu Ja'fer which said: `O Abu Ja'fer! I have heard that when you
ride, the servants take you out of the city through its small gate. This
is due to their being miser so that nobody asks you for something. I
plead you by the right I have upon you that every time you enter into or
get out of the city, you should do so through its large gate, and when
you ride, take gold and silver with you, and every time you are asked,
you should give. If any of your uncles asks you for something, you
should give him no less than fifty dinars, and you yourself may
determine the maximum amount you would like to give; and if any of your
aunts asks you for something, do not give her less than twenty-five
dinars, and it is up to you to determine the maximum amount. I only
desire that God raises your status; therefore, keep giving away and do
not fear that the Lord of the Throne will ever throw you into
poverty.'"48
Equity
The Emam (A.S.) did not have the chance to rule for any period of time
so that we may discuss his practical style of government, but we can
still be acquainted with that through reviewing his statements to some
of his followers who very much desired that the Emam should shoulder the
responsibilities of caliphate. Muhammad ibn Abu 'Abada asked him once:
"Why did you delay executing the order of the commander of the faithful
and why did you refuse to oblige?" He said: "Be careful, O father of
Hassan! The matter is not so." He added saying that the Emam noticed
that he was crossed, so he said: "What's in it for you anyway? Should I,
as you presume, become what you wish me to become, and you are as close
to me then as you are right now, you would certainly be responsible for
paying your dues and, in my eyes, there would be no difference between
you and anyone else."
He, peace be upon him, clarifies the matter, and that there is no use to
accept the caliph's offer since government will never actually be under
his control. And when he notices the bitterness on the face of the
person who asked him why he hesitated to accept the caliph's offer, he
reminds him of his method of government should it at all be in his
hands, summarizing it thus: Nobody shall have any distinction over other
citizens according to the dictates of the equitable government set up by
Islamic Shari'a regardless of class or any other distinctions such as
favouritism, friendship or support; rather, all subjects are equal in
the rights they enjoy without any bias to one in preference over
another, or any bias against one in order to please another.
The Emam's way of explaining his method of government is actually an
outspoken way of criticizing the ruling methods followed then the
foundations of which were not based on justice and equity but on special
interests which guarantee for the ruler and his followers the continuity
of his government and authority. The wealth, lives, possessions and
everything else under the government's control was all subject to the
whims and desires of the oppressive ruler and his train, distant from
the principles of justice and the norms of equality secured by the
Islamic message as embedded within its humanitarian method of
legislation.
Method of Educating the Public
The Emams (A.S.) played a significant role in the area of educating the
public, setting examples in educating through the example of one's own
conduct; therefore, their methods of education were not confined merely
to spreading awareness through the spoken word but went beyond that to
enforcing a strict practical censorship over actions to observe the
defects and shortcomings of conduct in the life of others. Here we
present three examples of the norms of conduct of Emam al-Rida (A.S.)
each dealing with one aspect of man's practical life:
Yasir, one of his servants, narrates that the Emam's attendants were
eating some fruit one day and they were throwing away a good portion of
it uneaten. Abul-Hassan (A.S.) said to them: "Praise be to God! If you
have eaten to your fill, there are many who have not; so, you should
feed them of it instead."49
In this incident, the Emam points out to the reality of wanton living
which we observe in our life. When we feel that we have achieved full
satisfaction of something, be it food or anything else, we do not try to
satisfy the need of others for it, but we may even try to spoil it in
one way or another without realizing the crime towards humanity implied
in an action like that.
Sulaiman ibn Ja'fer al-Ju'fi is quoted saying: "I was in the company of
al-Rida (A.S.) trying to take care of some personal business of my own
and I wanted to go home. He said to me, `Come with me and spend the
night over my house.' So I went with him and he entered his house
shortly before sunset. He noticed that his attendants were working with
clay, probably mending stables, and there was a black man among them. He
asked them, `What is this man doing with you?' They said: `He is helping
us, and we will pay him something.' He asked, `Did you come to an
agreement with him regarding his wages?' They said, `No. He will accept
whatever we pay him.' He, thereupon, started whipping them and showing
signs of extreme anger. I said to him, `May my life be sacrificed for
yours! Why are you so angry?' He said: `I have forbidden them so many
times from doing something like that and ordered them not to employ
anyone before coming to an agreement with him regarding his wages. You
know that nobody would work for you without an agreed upon wage. If you
do not, and then you pay him three times as much as you first intended
to pay him, he would still think that you underpaid him. But if you
agree on the wage, he will praise you for fulfilling your promise and
paying him according to your agreement, and then if you give him a
little bit more, he would recognize that and notice that you increased
his pay."50
Here the Emam tries to point out a significant point related to the
system of labour whereby each of the employer and the employee
safeguards his rights. Often, disputes erupt about determining the wage
the employee deserves in the absence of a prior agreement between the
employer and the employee regarding a set wage. By determining and
agreeing upon a set wage, each party safeguards its own right without
finding a reason to dispute. An increase, though small, in the wage will
surely cause the employee to feel grateful and thankful to his employer.
Al-Bazanti is quoted saying:
"Al-Rida (A.S.) had one of his donkeys sent to convey me to his
residence, so I came to the town and stayed with a dignitary for a part
of the night, and we both had our supper together, then he ordered my
bed to be prepared. A Tiberian pillow, a Caesarian sheet, and a Marw
blanket were brought to me. Having eaten my supper, he asked me, `Would
you like to retire?' I said, `Yes, may my life be sacrificed for yours.'
So he put the sheet and the blanket over me and said, `May God make you
sleep in good health,' and we were on the rooftop. When he went down, I
told myself that I had achieved a status with that man nobody else had
attained before. It was then when I heard someone calling my name, but I
did not recognize the voice till one of his (al-Rida's) servants came to
me. He said: `Come meet my master;' so I went down and he came towards
me, asked me for my hand to shake and he shook it with a squeeze,
saying, `The Commander of the Faithful, God's peace be upon him, came
once to visit Sa'sa'a ibn Sawhan, and when it was time to leave, he
advised Sa'sa'a not to boast about his visit to him but to look after
himself instead for he seemed to be about to depart from this world and
that worldly hopes do not do a dying man any good, and he greeted him a
great deal as he bid him good-bye.'"51
In the above anecdote, the Emam (A.S.) points out the significance of
realistic spiritual upbringing which is not influenced by external
appearances nor is deceived by artificial psychological fantasies, for
the reason why others pay attention and show concern may be solely due
to seeking their self-interest, or maybe due to a sincere affection, or
to any other reason, without any of these reasons being linked to the
reality of the self and its significance. The Emam tries to push us to
avoid being deceived by anything which would push us away from
contemplating upon our real world to which our destiny is tied, and we
have to be subjective in our outlooks, assessing our realities without
being influenced by casual external factors.
Reluctance to Cooperate With the Rulers
The Emams (A.S.) did not for even one day admit any legitimacy to their
contemporary governments, be it Umayyad or Abbaside, due to the fact
that those governments were far away from the pristine Islamic system of
government and to their deviation, in spirit and in conduct, from the
most simple principles and rules of human justice. Executions,
deportations, confiscations of properties, transgressions, according to
them, all did not hold them legally accountable, nor did they constitute
a departure from the principles of creed and equity as long as they in
the end served to strengthen and secure the foundations of their
governments.
Anyone who appreciates his divine responsibility would try as hard as
possible to stay away from participating in shouldering the
responsibilities of such governments or making the latter's job easier,
for this would mean his own recognition of their legitimacy and his own
admission of their right to exist.
Yes; if the objective of his participation is to alleviate, as much as
he can, their injustice and transgression to which innocent believers
may be subjected, and to minimize the danger of their ethical and social
iniquities which distance the nation from the achievement of an
exemplary realization of its mission--if this is the objective, then
such participation may be necessitated by one's own persistent faith,
and upon this premise did the Emams refrain from encouraging any of
their followers from working for such governments for that would mean
assisting the aggressor and strengthening his stance. The only exception
was the case when the religion's interest dictated it. In the latter
case, they used to encourage some of their influential followers to take
part in the government and be employed by it as was the case of Ali ibn
Yaqteen who tried several times to resign from his post at the court of
Harun al-Rashid, but Emam Mousa ibn Ja'fer (A.S.) used to encourage him
to stay due to the fact that his stay meant removing injustices from
many believers and the fending of some of the corruption committed by
others.
We can clearly be acquainted with this negative stance of Ahl al-Bayt
(A.S.) towards their rulers by examining what al-Hassan ibn al-Husayn
al-Anbari tells us about Emam Abul-Hassan al-Rida (A.S.). He says: "I
continued writing him for fourteen years asking his permission that I
accept a job in the service of the sultan. At the conclusion of the last
letter I wrote him I stated the fact that I was fearing for my life
because the sultan was accusing me of being a Rafidi and that he did not
doubt that the reason why I declined from working for him was due to my
being a Rafidi. So Abul-Hassan wrote me saying, `I have comprehended the
contents of your letters and what you stated regarding your apprehension
about your life's safety. If you know that should you accept the job,
you would behave according to the commands of the Messenger of God
(S.A.W.) and your assistants and clerks would be followers of your
faith, and if you use the gain you receive to help needy believers till
you become their equal, then one deed will offset another; otherwise, do
not.'"52
The Emam (A.S.) preconditions for his permission to work for the
government that there should be a religious interest which decreases the
damage done by the nature of the job; otherwise, it would mean a
psychological and factual separation from the pristine principles of
Islam and its precepts and an attachment to the corrupt world in which
those rulers were living.
How could the Emam ever approve the principle of cooperating with those
who played Muslim caliphs and deliberately watered down the divine
content of the Islamic message by their and behavioural transgressions
which demolished the psychological and spiritual borders separating the
nation from the realization of the sins and pitfalls of such
transgressions? Theirs were gatherings in which wine was served,
entertainers entertained, singers sang, dancers danced, filling the
palaces of Umayyad and Abbaside caliphs with immorality. One of them was
insolent enough to invite one of those Emams (A.S.) to participate in
his drinking orgy as was the case of al-Mutawakkil with Emam Ali al-Hadi
(A.S.) which unveils to us the extent of corruption and the extremity of
moral decay of the Abbaside caliphate.
It is quite possible that those rulers were aware of the negative
attitude of the Emams towards them and their corrupt government systems.
We find them, as the anecdote above proves, doubting the loyalty of the
individuals who refused to cooperate with them, charging them with
Rafidism due to the negative stance adopted by their Emams towards the
conduct of those rulers.
Islamic caliphate suffered the tragedy of a humiliating deviation from
Islam and a moral decay during the Umayyad and Abbaside dynasties which
helped the wide dissemination of corruption and moral decay among
various sectors of the ummah. What sort of Muslim caliphs were those
whose eyes could not sleep except after listening to the music played by
their male and female singers, whose nightly meetings were not complete
without the presence of wine and immorality? What type of Islamic
reality is this in which a group like that has the full say? How can
anyone expect the Emams (A.S.), who were the careful custodians of
rights and whose responsibility was to safeguard such rights, to permit
themselves and their followers to bear any responsibility in a
government led by individuals whose hands were polluted with sins and
accustomed to sinning?
The negative stance of the Emams was an obvious call for the nation to
be aware of its Islamic mission and principles, a loud cry to wake it up
from its slumber to witness the corrupt reality lived by such Islamic
"caliphs" due to the reckless and corrupt behaviour of those rulers and
their followers who were at the helm of leading the nation.
These are some of the characteristics and qualities which provide us
with some of the outlines of the portrait of Emam al-Rida (A.S.), and
the picture presented here is not complete in its pristine components
which represent the actual context for it, for such a task requires the
researcher to rise to grasp the Emam's loftiness which is impossible to
attain by any writer, and nobody can ever describe it no matter how hard
he tries.
18 'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rata, Vol. 2, pp. 180-183. 19 Bihar al-Anwar, Vol.
49, p. 211, as quoted by Ibn Maskawayhi's book Nadeem al-Tareef.
20 Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 49, p. 100. It is narrated from al-Hakim by Abu
Abdullah, the hafiz of Naishapur.
21 Ibid.
22 Al Irshad by al-Mufid, p. 291.
23 Manaqib Aali Abi Talib, Vol. 4, p. 300.
24 'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rida, Vol. 1, p. 203.
25 Ibn al-Athir, Vol. 5, p. 183.
26 'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rida, Vol. 2, p. 184.
27 Al Kafi, Vol. 6, p. 203.
28 Al Manaqib, Vol. 4, p. 362.
29 Al Kafi, Vol. 4, p. 81.
30 'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rida, Vol. 2, p. 226.
31 Al Hujurat:13.
32 Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 174.
33 Al Kafi, Vol. 4, p. 23.
34 Al Hujurat:13.
35 'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rida, Vol. 2, p. 237.
36 Al Kafi, Vol. 6, p. 298.
37 Kashf al-Ghumma, Vol. 3, p. 147; Surat Al A'raaf:32.
38 Al Kafi, Vol. 6, p. 516.
39 'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rida, Vol. 2, p. 178.
40 Al Kafi, Vol. 1, pp. 316-319.
41 Kashf al-Ghumma, Vol. 3, p. 143.
42 Al Kafi, Vol. 3, p. 502.
43 Al Kafi, Vol. 4, p. 24.
44 Al Manaqib, Vol. 4, p. 361.
45 Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 360.
46 Al Balad:11.
47 'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rida, Vol. 2, p. 264.
48 'Uyoon Akhbar al-Rida, Vol. 2, p. 8.
49 Al Kafi, Vol. 6, p. 297.
50 Al Kafi, Vol. 5, p. 288.
51 Qurb al-Isnad, p. 222, and Al Kharaij wal Jaraih, p. 237, with a
slight textual variation.
52 Al Kafi, Vol. 5, p. 111. |