Imam al-Rida (a) Neutralized All of al-Ma'mun's Plots

When Imam al-Rida (a) entered Marw, he received a magnificent welcome contrary to al-Ma'mun's wishes. Historical sources have recorded many reports of debates between the Imam (a) and al-Ma'mun. In his statements, the Imam (a) not only explained Imamate and guardianship, but also showed seekers aspects of their depths.

Throughout human history, from Adam's creation until now, a people whose slogan in response to the call of God's proofs has been “We hear and disobey” (Qur'an 2:93) have sought to destroy the prophets and God's proofs. Yet they are unaware that God's will prevails over every will: “The hand of God is above their hands.”

God willed that the fire become a garden for His intimate friend, that the sea split for the one He spoke to, that His spirit—Jesus—ascend to heaven, and that the life of His beloved be preserved in the cave behind spiderwebs.

Petty and impure people, who have sold their humanity for a paltry price and left nothing of themselves but predatory animality, engaged in enmity toward the guardianship of Ali ibn Abi Talib (a) and the infallible Imams (a) after the Prophet's martyrdom (Bihar, vol. 22, p. 239, and Qur'an 66:3).

Opponents of God's proofs employed varied and highly complex satanic policies to extinguish the light of the Ahl al-Bayt's (a) guardianship. They could not rule people merely by killing and martyring the Imams (a) and their companions. Thus, to establish and perpetuate their oppressive, usurping rule, their most important instrument was keeping people ignorant, for killing and waging war against the Imams was impossible for them.

Lady Fatimah's (a) right was usurped on the pretext that prophets leave no inheritance. The people of Syria were astonished at the Commander of the Faithful's (a) martyrdom in the prayer niche: did he pray too? Through this ignorance Mu'awiyah sent them to war against the Imam for years, and finally at Karbala some, because of the depth of their ignorance, considered killing the Blood of God an act of worship. This ignorance has been and remains the Imams' greatest problem with the people of their time. As Imam al-Mahdi (aj) says: “The ignorant ones of the Shi'a, their fools, and those whose religion is outweighed by a mosquito's wing have indeed harmed us.” (Bihar al-Anwar, ch. 10, negation of exaggeration regarding the Prophet and the Imams)

The most important and dangerous policy employed—whose effects may perhaps remain to this day—was the plan and policy of “eliminating the Ahl al-Bayt intellectually” from society. The ignorant devoted all their efforts to usurping the Ahl al-Bayt's scholarly authority and preventing these rising suns from radiating light; when they failed, they resorted to physical elimination and the killing of God's friends.

How often the Infallibles and Imams of guidance complained of people for failing to draw from the gushing springs of Ahl al-Bayt knowledge, and warned against this ominous policy in deeply stirring terms. It may seem surprising that the Imams said: we are the “abandoned well” (Qur'an 22:45), that is, a closed and sealed well. This means that they are a well full of sweet water to quench the thirsty, but people have referred to it so little that it resembles an abandoned well.

Elsewhere they say: “People have abandoned the great river and, to relieve their thirst, have contented themselves with sucking the foam around their mouths.” It was asked: “What is the great river?” They replied: “We, the Ahl al-Bayt, are the great river.”

Or they addressed Hasan al-Basri: “Travel through the east and west of the world; sound knowledge is only with us, the Household.”

Anyone with even minimal familiarity with Shi'i hadiths will confirm that many such narrations exist, showing that perhaps the greatest wrong done to the Ahl al-Bayt has been forgetting their scholarly rank—a wrong that, if not greater than the usurpation of the caliphate, is no less than it.

The pharaohs and Samiris of each age used various stratagems suited to their political circumstances to achieve this aim, the explanation of each requiring a detailed book. These included banning the transmission and writing of prophetic hadith; fabricating hadiths about the virtues of hypocrites and freed captives; banning Qur'anic exegesis; creating the school of personal opinion and ijtihad against the Ahl al-Bayt; and constructing fictitious, false scholarly figures such as Ka'b al-Ahbar, Hasan al-Basri, Abu Hanifah, and Qatadah, whose ignorance was often made clear to truth-seekers in their disputations with the Imams.

Another measure was confining the Imams to their homes and prohibiting people from contacting the Ahl al-Bayt. At times some companions came before the Imam disguised as peddlers and raised their questions, while the Imam answered them by pretending to purchase goods.

But in the time of the Eighth Imam (a), this policy was pursued differently. At a time when the Shi'a faced the Waqifiyyah and some Shi'a denied Imam al-Rida's (a) Imamate, the pharaoh of Imam al-Rida's time adopted a path other than that of his predecessors and devised two dangerous plots. Both may in fact be called soft warfare. Clearly, soft warfare is silent and gradual, and its effects are greater, more widespread, and more lasting. Had it not been for the Imam's divine knowledge, he would have achieved his sinister goal and no trace of the Shi'a would have remained. His first plan was intellectual combat against the Imam (a), and the second was the Imam's forced journey.

When people become deviant in their religious understanding, the Imam's duty requires him to act and block the path of deviation. Thus, in Imam al-Rida's (a) era, when the causes of intellectual deviation had reached their peak, translations of foreign books—especially atheistic philosophical ideas that had begun years earlier—had found a place in society. Theological groups had vigorously promoted their ideas to defend their position and establish their truth, and the freedom granted by the Abbasids to people in the sphere of foreign ideas had played its role. Together, these factors brought intellectual confusion to Muslims.

To remove these deviations, Imam al-Rida (a) took measures including travel to centers where such ideas were disseminated—such as Basra—and debates with supporters of different schools and ideas.

Different sects and religions had emerged in that period, and Muslims' encounter with the beliefs and views of the People of the Book and Greek scholars had produced various doubts and objections. This was because al-Ma'mun was intellectually inclined toward Mu'tazilism, in which reason holds an excessive position and the greatest part of justifying and explaining the law is carried out through rational analogy.

This school of thought had taken refuge in Greek philosophy to display itself and demonstrate scholarly power. Al-Ma'mun's inclination led him to translate books of logic and philosophy. Dr. Ahmad Farid Rifa'i says in The Age of al-Ma'mun: “Until al-Ma'mun's era, no work had been done on translating Greek philosophical books.”

In reality, al-Ma'mun wanted, by promoting confused ideas fashioned from illusions and the thought of Greek philosophers, to diminish the flourishing attention to the Imams' scholarly rank, which had become especially prominent after Imam al-Baqir (a) and Imam al-Sadiq (a). Accordingly, he sent an envoy to the Christian ruler of Sicily and asked him to send him Sicily's library, rich in philosophical books. The ruler assembled the state's notables and put al-Ma'mun's request to them. They told him: “Send the books to him. By God, whenever this knowledge enters a land, it corrupts its people.” The ruler considered this statement sound and acted upon it.

The seventh Abbasid oppressor made every effort to extinguish, in his own estimation, the rising sun of Imamate through this forced migration. Yet contrary to that Abbasid's desire, Imam al-Rida, the learned one of the Household of Muhammad (a), received an extraordinary welcome in the cities along the route. By showing many miracles, the Imam removed the dust of heedlessness and ignorance from the eyes of many truth-seekers. It may be said that he manifested a miracle in every town or village; their accounts are found in lengthy books.

The most important part of Imam al-Rida's (a) historical and luminous journey, however, was his arrival in Marw. Many miracles of the Imam became manifest in Marw and the cities along the route, establishing his Imamate for those present. Yet the exposition and explanation of valuable scholarly matters—especially regarding Imamate—must be regarded as a great miracle of the Imam. One should say that among Imam al-Rida's greatest miracles in Marw were his scholarly miracles, which remain alive to this day and call for champions in these intellectual arenas.

History testifies that in Imam al-Rida's (a) era we once again witness the revival of religious teachings. Imam al-Rida (a) not only made a tremendous effort in discussions of divine unity, but also, in explaining the place of Imamate and proving its functions, exposed false claimants so thoroughly that everyone was left in astonishment.

This can be clearly seen in the debate sessions that al-Ma'mun, in his false estimation, arranged to crush the Imam's (a) scholarly standing.

The matter of Imamate, carrying a world of knowledge and love upon its wings, gushed forth in Marw from Imam al-Rida's (a) blessed lips like a clear spring among followers of diverse Muslim and non-Muslim religions, and a broad expanse of the truth of Imamate was explained.

When Imam al-Rida (a) entered Marw, he received a magnificent welcome contrary to al-Ma'mun's wishes. Fortunately, historical sources have recorded many reports of the events that occurred to him in Marw, many of which consist of debates and conversations between the Imam (a) and al-Ma'mun.

Abd al-Aziz ibn Muslim says: “We were with Imam al-Rida (a) in Marw. At the beginning of our arrival in the city, on a Friday, we gathered in the congregational mosque. That day we discussed Imamate and spoke of the great disagreement among people concerning it. Then I came to the Imam and presented to him the people's discussion on this matter. The Imam smiled and dictated a precious narration.” It describes the qualities and traits of the Imam and the characteristics of divine Imamate, and clearly proves that this station belongs only to chosen ones whom the hand of God's care has selected for Imamate. This divine selection applies only to the twelve Shi'i Imams.

The Imam (a) not only explained Imamate and guardianship, but also revealed aspects of their depths to seekers. How beautiful is this sermon when the Sun of Suns speaks of the sun in the sky of guardianship, likening the Imam to a sun that spreads its rays over the world while itself standing high on the horizon. Because of the loftiness of its station, no one's hand can reach it; because of its radiance, no eye can behold it.

The contents of this hadith need no chain of transmission, for no one but an infallible Imam can offer such a complete and profound definition of the station of Imamate.

In these noble words, Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (a) explained the Imam's rank and status, enumerated about eighty-five attributes of the Imam and characteristics of Imamate, and appealed to verses of the Qur'an, thereby interpreting these noble verses. The Imam is the perfect human being: reflection on his station bewilders the intellect and attention to his perfection amazes the mind. Yet the Imam is higher and greater than even this measure. Therefore, every Shi'a deserves to study this hadith, even if only once in a lifetime, and journey into its depths.

The Age of al-Ma'mun, Farid Rifa'i

Safinat al-Bihar, letter mim, entry Mutran

Usul al-Kafi, Book of al-Hujjah, chapter: a comprehensive rare chapter on the merit of the Imam

Uyun Akhbar al-Rida