His blessed name: ‘Alī
His father’s name: Imam Mūsā b. Ja‘far (A.S.)
His mother’s name: Najma or Tuktam
His nickname: Abū al-Hasan
His cognomen: Reza
Date of birth: Dhu’l-Qa'ada 11, 148/Dec 29, 765
Place of birth: Holy city of Medina
Progeny: His holiness Imam Muhammad Taqī (A.S.); of course, it is disagreed whether his holiness has had other children.
Rulers of his time: Mansur Dawāniqī, Mahdī ‘Abbāsī, Hādī ‘Abbāsī, Hārūn al-Rashīd, Muhammad Amīn, Ma’mun ‘Abbāsī
Date of being appointed as heir apparent: Ramadan, 201/March, 817, as imposed by Ma’mun
Length of life: 55
Date of martyrdom: the end of Safar, 203/September 5, 818
His murderer: Ma’mun ‘Abbāsī, through poisoning
His mausoleum: Holy city of Mashhad, as known worldwide.
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 martyrdom 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 Imam
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.
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