Our Belief in Ahl al-Bayt [as]
Imam al-Rida is one of the bed-rocks of Islamic thought and one of its
main rich sources of knowledge. After the demise of his father Imam Mousa
ibn Ja'fer (A.S.), the secrets of the Divine Message and the keys to its
treasures became attainable to him, so he quenched his thirst therefrom
and derived the source of his intellectual contribution from the same.
He is one of the Twelve Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.) who enriched
the Islamic thought with various types of knowledge due to the knowledge
they instructed their students to write down, or in providing their answers
to the questions put forth to them by others, or to what history has narrated
to us of their scientific and theological discourses with followers of
other Muslim sects.
The distinction which characterized the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.)
and which attracts our attention when we study their biographies is the
fact that they were obligated to others to provide them with knowledge
while nobody was obligated to accept it from them. This is a divine bliss
with which God endowed them in order to achieve through them the establishment
of His Proof against His creation, something with which they were credited
even by the rulers among their contemporary opponents and by the most prominent
thinkers among their contemporaries.
Supporting this phenomenon is the fact that some sciences and their
details were not distinctly clear during their time, nor were their effects
obvious, but they became clear and their ambiguities were dispelled by
the teaching of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.) such as the science
of chemistry of which Imam Ja'fer al-Sadiq (A.S.) is considered as the
very first pioneer and founder of its principles and rules, and the science
of medicine about which Imam al-Rida provides us, in his letter to al-Mamoon,
with a glorious system and an innovative approach in the way he explained
its particularities and regulations, in addition to various other sciences
of which their legacy is full and to which their contribution surpassed
that of anyone else in setting their corner-stones and in pointing out
their various requirements.
None among the contemporary scientists was credited for being the instructor
of Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) in chemistry, or of Imam al-Rida (A.S.) in medicine.
Rather, it was the fountainhead established for them by their grandfather,
Bearer of the Message (S.A.W.) 3,
while they inherited it son from father. We may notice that the Imams (A.S.),
upon being asked about the source of their knowledge of the answers to
the questions put forth to them, refer it to their own particular comprehension
of the Book (Qur'an), or to what they derived from the book of their mother
Fatima (A.S.), or to what they learned from their forefathers who in turn
learned it from the Messenger of God (S.A.W.). They did not refer it to
the narration of a sahabi of the Prophet or a tabi'i or to any other learned
scholar or man of knowledge.
Their familiarity with various branches of knowledge and with all norms
of learning in general was a cause for the nation's admiration of and reverence
for them. They were granted the final say in their disputes, in solving
a problem which may have then risen among their contemporary scholars or
men of learning. Every time they were asked about something, they would
produce an answer for it in such a most astonishing easily convincing manner
which unties the knot of what is complex, turning it into a commonsense
knowledge, or in turning the theoretical into a practical necessity, without
any ambiguity or confusion.
Such a unique distinction was not shared besides them by anyone from
among the scholars of the nation or its wise men despite their various
ranks in knowledge and degrees of wisdom and power of reasoning.
Suffices us for a proof a magnificent dialogue which is recorded in
the books of history and biography between Imam al-Jawad (A.S.), who was
then a child, and Yahya ibn Aktham, the supreme judge (or judge of judges)
of the then Abbaside regime in the meeting prepared by al-Mamoon to underscore
distinction and superiority of the Imam over all others when al-Mamoon
faced opposition to his decision to marry the Imam to his daughter Ummul-Fadl
due to his young age. He was presumed to be in need of someone to educate
him and teach him theology. The conclusion of the dialogue was a victory
for the very young Imam in his stance and the shrinking of the judge and
the crowd of learned scholars and pillars of Fiqh and Sunnah and their
admission of his distinction and the greatness of his status.
Nobody ever reported that any Imam was slow in providing the answer
to any question put forth to him, a question which dealt with various branches
of knowledge and with different issues, despite the fact that some of them
were actually not old enough to provide such answers.
The Amali of Sayyid al-Murtada narrates the following:
Abu Hanifa said: "I saw once Mousa ibn Ja'fer (A.S.) as a young boy
in the corridor of his father's house and I asked him: `Where does a stranger
among you respond to the call of nature if he has to?' He looked up at
me and said: `He goes behind a wall, hides from the view of the neighbour,
keeps a distance from running rivers, residential sewers, highways, mosques,
without facing the Qibla or leaving it behind him; then he turns, raises,
and deposits as he pleases.'" Abu Hanifa continues to say: "Having heard
this answers, I saw him to be a more noble person than I first thought,
and his status grew greater. Then I asked him: `May my life be sacrificed
for yours; what is the source of renunciation?' He looked up at me and
said: `Sit down and I tell you about it.' So I sat down, and he said this
to me: `Renunciation comes either from the servant, or his Lord, or from
both. If it were from the Almighty God, He is more just and fair than renouncing
or wronging His servant or punishing him for what he did not do. And if
it were to come from both of them, He would be his accomplice, and the
strong One is more apt to do justice to His weak servant. If it comes from
the servant alone, he is to bear its burden, and he should be the one to
forbid, and for him is the reward and punishment, and for him were both
Paradise and Hell prepared.' I said (citing the Holy Qur'an: `... a progeny,
one from another...'" 4.
But some Imams, such as Imam al-Jawad, Imam al-Hadi, and Imam al-Askeri
(A.S.), were not old enough to be acquainted with various branches of knowledge
and fields of arts, had we claimed that their knowledge was the product
of the tutoring of tutors or the teaching of teachers, but they were a
progeny, one from another, as Abu Hanifa said, that derived knowledge from
the substance of the Message and the Fountainhead of Prophethood. That
was a distinction for which the Almighty chose them from among His creation
in order to make them light-poles of the path of guidance, and to make
the word of faith and righteousness through them the uppermost throughout
the world.
Al-Tabrani, in his Al-Tarikh al-Kabir, and al-Rafi'i in his Musnad,
depending on the authority of Ibn Abbas, quote the Messenger of God (S.A.W.)
saying:
"Whoever is pleased to live the way I have lived and to die
the way I shall die, to live in the Garden of Eden which my Lord planted,
let him emulate my Progeny after me and follow the example of my Ahl al-Bayt
(A.S.) after my demise, for they are my descendants; they were created
out of my own mould and were blessed with my own power of comprehension
and knowledge; woe unto those who deny their distinction in my nation,
those who severe their ties with my loins! May the Almighty deprive them
of my intercession." 5
Imam Ali (A.S.) says: "I and the elite among my descendants, and the virtuous
among my progeny, are the most clement when young, the most learned when
old." 6.
Some historians and researchers, having exhausted themselves in the
attempt to explain this phenomenon in a way which seems reasonable to them,
may try to suppose that some Imams had mentors and instructors to educate
them. They claimed that Imam Zainul-Abidin, Imam al-Baqir, and Imam al-Sadiq,
peace be upon them, were tutored by some Sahaba and Tabi'in, without relying
on any historical document except mere conjecture, going to extremities
in their guesswork and presumption.
What proves the fallacy of such presumptions and allegations is that
whenever the Imams were questioned about something, they would not base
their answers on what any of the Sahaba or Tabi'in had said, but on one
of their own ancestors up to the Messenger of God (S.A.W.), or to the books
of knowledge with which they were distinguished and which they inherited
from their grandfather the Messenger of God (S.A.W.), something which anyone
who researches their legacy and is acquainted with their statements comes
to know. And it may quite be the case that some of them would state so
very clearly which supports our own conclusion.
Yet if we suppose that some Imams did indeed attend the sessions of
some of those Sahaba or Tabi'in, their attendance does not by any means
indicate that they became their students, or that they took them as their
own mentors, for one of the outcomes of tutorship at that time was the
narration of hadith, whereas it was never reported that any Imam narrated
hadith from any source other than his own forefathers. If they did in fact
narrate incidents through other avenues, such as the avenues of the Sahaba
or Tabi'in, such narration was not related in any way to the sciences of
the Islamic legislative system (Shari'a), or to any other art; rather,
it dealt with matters related to the biography of the Prophet (S.A.W.),
or in their own process to prove a point against those who did not follow
them by citing what the ancestors of such non-followers had themselves
narrated.
From such a stand-point, we can refer the reason for some Sunni traditionists
who considered the hadith of Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) as "weak," thus neglecting
to record it, to the same argument, and we can also conclude after reading
their statements that Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) was not tutored by any mentor
mentioned with reverence by them.
For example, in his Tabaqat, Ibn Sa'd, while discussing Imam al-Sadiq
(A.S.), said, "He narrated a great deal of hadith; he is not considered
as an authority on hadith and the hadith he narrated is considered weak.
The reason for this is that he was once asked whether he had learned the
ahadith he narrated from his father, and he answered in the affirmative;
on another occasion, he was likewise asked, and his answer was that he
had read them in his (father's) books."
Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash was asked once, "Why did you not learn hadith from
Ja'fer and you were his contemporary?" He answered, "I asked him once whether
he had himself heard the ahadith which he narrated, and he denied that
saying that it was a narration heard by his forefathers." 7.
What was "wrong" with the hadith narrated by Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) according
to Ibn Sa'd is that some of what the Imam narrated had been what he had
read in the books of his father, rather than learning it from others, and
since it was not known which hadith he had learned was narrated from his
forefathers and which was learned from others, he decided to reject all
of them on that account.
But this cannot be an acceptable excuse for him, especially since a
great deal of what the Imam narrated did indeed give credit to others,
and since his father was quoting the hadith his own forefathers had heard
from the Prophet (S.W.A.); so, why did Ibn Sa'd reject even such ahadith?
As regarding his excuse for not accepting the Imam's hadith due to its
abundance, we cannot understand such an excuse at all; had this been the
case, he would not have narrated the abundant hadith of Abu Huraira and
his likes who attributed more hadith to the Messenger of God (S.A.W.) than
was actually reported by those who kept company with the Messenger for
a much longer period of time, and who were much closer to him, than they
themselves did. But the presence of the element of bias and prejudice does
indeed interfere when someone makes an assessment, causing the person calculating
to miscalculate.
Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) is not harmed by Ibn Sa'd considering his hadith
as "weak" just as do Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash and Yahya ibn Sa'id. The latter
goes further than that by saying: "... and I personally have a great deal
of doubt about him," while discussing the Imam's hadith...
Had Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) narrated hadith from Abu Huraira, Mu'awiya
ibn Abu Sufyan, or Marwan ibn al-Hakam, he would have been afforded the
highest pinnacle of reverence by these persons, but the "fault" of his
narrations is that they were narrated by his forefathers and were derived
from their books the knowledge of which was derived directly from the Messenger
of God (S.A.W.).
The statements of these individuals, anyway, lead us to the conclusion
that his narratives were heard from his own forefathers, rather than being
quotations from others; otherwise, they would have indicated who those
"others" were. All in all, it supports our view that he and the rest of
the Imams did not have mentors besides their own fathers.
Our belief in the Imams is not, as some would like to state, due to
their knowledge of the unknown, or to their independent right to legislate,
but due to their being conveyers on behalf of the Bearer of the Message
of what is obscure to the nation of the secrets and implications of the
Message, the custodians of the particularities of the legislative system,
the ones who are most familiar with the rules and their implementation.
We may grasp all of this from the sacred hadith which was produced and
verified by the masters of hadith and Sunnah from both sects. He (S.A.W.),
in the wording of Ahmed, has said:
"I am about to be called upon and respond, and I am leaving
with you the Two Weighty Things: the Book of God, and my Progeny. The Book
of God is like a rope extended from heavens to earth, and my Progeny are
my Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.), and the Most Knowing has told me that they both
shall never part from each other till they meet me by the Pool; so, see
how you shall fare with them after me." 8
According to al-Tirmithi and al-Nisai, he has also said, "O people! I have
left with you that which, as long as you uphold to, will never suffer you
to stray, and that is, the Book of God and my Progeny, members of my Ahl
al-Bayt (A.S.)."
Tabrani adds the following to the above: "So, do not go ahead of them
else you should perish, nor should you teach them, for they are more knowledgeable
than you are."
Ibn Hajar has said: "This proves that anyone among them who is qualified
for lofty positions and theological offices should be preferred over all
others." 9.
The clarity of this hadith does not need any detailed explanation, nor
does it require precise interpretation and instruction, for the Book is
the first source of guidance, and the Progeny, the Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.) (members
of the Prophet's household) are its second source, and the nation is required
to uphold to their path in order to secure for itself to stay away from
the paths of misguidance.
Put in a clearer way, we say that this hadith implies in its context
that Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.) enjoy a unique distinction, that they by themselves
are independent of the achievements of others, for the Prophet (S.A.W.)
made them peers only of the Holy Qur'an in explaining the contents of the
Message and the facts related thereto. This cannot be logical if we presume
their reliance on others, for those "others" would then be more eligible
to be equal to the Book of God than them.
Had it been otherwise, why did not the Prophet (S.A.W.) choose the Sahaba
and their followers to be peers of the Book other than the Progeny or in
addition to them?
Other narrators have reported this hadith in a different way of wording
as in Malik's Mawti where a narrator states saying: "Malik told me that
it came to his knowledge that the Messenger of God (S.A.W.) said, `I have
left for you two Things; as long as you uphold to them, you shall never
stray, and these are: the Book of God, and the Sunnah of His Prophet."
In his Al Sawa'iq al-Muhriqa, Ibn Hajar narrates it, taking its narration
for granted 10.
Al-Tabrani, too, quoted it in his al-Awsat, and so did Ibn Hisham in his
Seerat without mentioning his references. All of these authors may have
all relied while quoting it on the Mawti which mentioned it without its
isnad.
What is quite unusual is that Professor Muhammad Abu Zuhra, in his work
Al-Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.), states that the Sunni references which narrated
the hadith with the wording of "my Sunnah" are more reliable than those
which narrated it with "my Itrat (Progeny)," despite the fact that only
Ibn Malik's Mawti narrates the hadith with the word "Sunnati (i.e. my Sunnah)."
The other three books which quoted it with the same wording of "Sunnati"
also narrated it with the wording "Itrati" as well.
As regarding the books which narrated it in the wording "Itrati," these
comprise most books of hadith, exegesis (tafsir), and tradition such as
Muslim's Sahih, al-Darmi's Sunan, Abu Dawud's Sunan, Ibn Maja's Sunan,
al-Nisai's Khasais, Ahmed's Musnad, al-Hakim's Mustadrak, al-Tabari's Dhakhair
and also Hilyat al-Awlia, Kanzul 'Ummal, in addition to the tafsir books
of al-Razi, al-Tha'alibi, al-Nishapuri, al-Khazin, Ibn Kathir, and many
others.
It was narrated through Sunni authorities in thirty-two ahadith by more
than twenty companions of the Prophet (S.A.W.) as Ibn Hajar states. Through
Shi'a avenues, it was narrated in eighty-two ahadith. Despite all this,
Professor Abu Zuhra does not find in these books and avenues, some of which
are held to be the most authentic, and despite this consecutive narration
which not too many other ahadith enjoy..., what brings him comfort with
and confidence in this hadith! Yet, a narration taken for granted or supported
by one documentation, one which is not reported except by one single source,
is considered by the professor to be "most authentic," bypassing all the
consecutive narration supporting its rival narratives and an almost total
consensus agreement regarding their authenticity...
Despite all of this, Professor Abu Zuhra considers himself to be "subjective,"
and what he writes is inspired only by innocent knowledge rather than dictated
by personal bias; therefore, he presumes himself to record only what is
dictated by the balances of justice and equity, and we shall have a lengthy
discussion of him in our forthcoming book Al-Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) in which
we shall examine a degree of his own trespassing beyond these very limits
and will shed a light on the bias and fanaticism his views are charged
with.
There is a point I would like to tackle in this discourse: it is the
deliberate vicious policy of ignoring the Imams of the Prophet's Household
followed by the adherents of other sects while discussing views and debating
their proofs. While you find them giving ample attention to the narrations
reported through the companions of the Prophet and those who followed suit
in their footsteps, and to their own, relying on them as proofs and bases
of argument, even going to as far as presuming that their own additional
contribution is a Sunnah to be emulated, these same individuals, when it
comes to the Imams from the Prophet's own family, stop short of discussing
their views and the narrations which they had narrated or were narrated
about them. This is so despite the fact that the founders of these sects,
such as Abu Hanifa, Malik, Sufyan al-Thawri, Abu Ayyub al-Sajistani and
others, who are considered as the creative pioneers who inspired the outset
of these sects, were actually graduates of the school of Imam al-Sadiq
(A.S.) who was one of the Imams of the Prophet's family. Even Abu Hanifa
used to be of the view that the reason why he was in the vanguard of his
peers was due to his being a student of Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.), and history
has recorded his famous statement: "Without those two years, al-Nu'man
(Abu Hanifa) would have been annihilated," 11
meaning thereby the period he lived as a student in the Imam's school,
and also his other statement when he was asked about the best Faqih he
ever saw; he said: "Ja'fer ibn Muhammad (al-Sadiq, A.S.)."
History has preserved a great deal of the statements of Sunni imams
and renown personalities giving credit to Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) and other
Imams from the Prophet's family which, all in all, lead one to realize
their superiority over others and the need of those "others" for their
knowledge. Yet, despite all this, we find al-Bukhari in his Sahih abstaining
from considering a narration as authentic for no reason other than the
fact that its chain of narrators ends up with Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) about
whom he has some "doubts."
In Tahtheeb al-Tahtheeb, Ibn Hajar says that the difficulty in distinguishing
what is authentic and what is not forced al-Bukhari not to report any of
his (al-Sadiq's) hadith 12.
Yet Ibn Hajar did not tell us how al-Bukhari was able to distinguish between
what was authentic and what was not of the hadith Abu Hurairah and other
fabricators and inventors of hadith had reported. He may find for himself
the excuse that the companions were all equitable which is a justification
worse than the error being justified due to the fact that this is simply
a false pretext since the behaviour of some of those companions and their
exchanging of charges of deviation and counter-charges undermined such
claim of "equitability." We cannot understand an explanation for this odd
phenomenon except prejudice and the influence of the standing sectarian
environment which was charged with the venom of grudge and bitter animosity
towards the Household of the Prophet (S.W.A.), the environment which is
but an extension of desperate efforts of Mu'awiya and his agents, the caliphs
of iniquity, who succeeded him in widening the gap they created between
the masses of the Muslim nation and the members of the family of the Prophetic
mission and their practical isolation from general populace whose conduct
cannot remain on the Straight Path without that family, according to the
declaration of their great grandfather the Greatest Prophet (S.A.W.) as
stated in the previously quoted hadith and in other ahadith which fill
the books of hadith and Sunnah of both parties.
Other than this, how else can you explain al-Bukhari's odd refusal to
quote Imam al-Sadiq (A.S.) while he, at the same time, does not hesitate
to quote individuals such as Mu'awiya ibn Abu Sufyan, Marwan ibn al-Hakam,
Imran ibn Hattan who hailed Ibn Muljim for murdering the Commander of the
Faithful (A.S.), Umer ibn Sa'd who instigated the murder of Imam al-Husayn
(A.S.) and others who were the social outcasts of the nation and the most
immoral among them?
How else can you explain what al-Sayyuti meant when he said that there
was nothing wrong with the hadith narrated by Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari
(A.S.) except that his narration of a virtue of Fatima al-Zahra (A.S.)
did not agree with his own "scholarly" taste, and that for this reason
the narration was considered a fabrication?! 13.
It was destined that the plot to isolate the Imams from among the Prophet's
family from public affairs should enjoy a total success during the epochs
of the Umayyad and Abbaside ruling dynasties barring brief periods due
to certain political factors. During those brief periods, some such Imams
(A.S.) were able to quench the scholarly and intellectual thirst of their
students. Despite the scarcity of such periods and their short span of
time, those Imams were able to benefit the nation in the areas of the secrets
of branches of knowledge and intricacies of arts with which they filled
numerous books and chronicles. The stronger factor which prompted the regime
to take a negative stance towards the Imams of the Prophet's family is
that these Imams and their followers were never convinced that such a regime
was legitimate or that those who were holding its reins were qualified
for leading the nation. According to them, the conduct of these "leaders"
did not represent the adequate conduct of message-bearers who rule with
a commitment to carry out the responsibilities of such a message so that
the nation would follow in their footsteps and correct its path should
it at all deviate from the straight path. This lack of conviction caused
them a great deal of trouble during their lifetime despite their outward
toleration of the government, and those troubles were not confined to them
alone but were extended to their Shi'as and followers whose share was the
lion's.
It is important to point out here the extent of the impact of this negative
stance of the government towards these Imams and their disciples on the
writings of the narrators and recorders of hadith, for the pens of the
latter were poisoned by the motives and ill intentions of the rulers; therefore,
we find them excluding the narrations and ahadith if one of their narrators
happens to be a Shi'a reporter or traditionist even if he enjoyed the highest
degree of reliability and authenticity. Their only excuse is that he was
simply a Shi'a; therefore, they make the false claim that the narration
was not authentic because one of its narrators was so and so, i.e. a Shi'a,
or one who practiced Shi'aism secretly, or a foul "Rafidi," or apply to
him some other bad name, thus revealing their sectarian prejudice which
overturns the balances of a conscientious investigation and insight upside
down.
Contrariwise, Shi'as who followed those Imams applied a different criterion
wherein the judgement regarding the authenticity of a narration or the
lack thereof according to them was to ascertain the truthfulness or untruthfulness
of the narrator regardless of his sect or school of thought. Upon such
a premise, the authenticity or the lack thereof was based. There were numerous
narrations among whose chain of narrators were non-Shi'as, yet they were
accepted and applied by the Shi'as who even based their own jurisdic judgement
upon them. There is no room here to elaborate on this topic; those who
wish to investigate the extent of accuracy of this fact are referred to
the books of their famous dignitaries to see for themselves.
This proves the fact that the attitude of Sunnis towards their Shi'a
brethren regarding scholarly borrowing and loaning was not subject, during
the time of the Imams (A.S.), to sectarian or political motives for these
took place during later periods when arguments about sects appeared, and
the science of kalam was discussed in detail, and partisans demonstrated
their bias to what they thought to have proved the accuracy of their own
sect. All this led to the widening of the gap of dissension which even
caused violence to erupt among the followers of various sects. It even
led one party to call the other "Kafir" (infidel) and corrupt, justifying
the spilling of the blood of its adherents. The sad tales of such bloodshed
are bitterly narrated by history. Add to this the deliberate attempt by
the rulers to instigate such ugly prejudices and pave the path for those
whose objectives were malicious to spew their venom and nurture thereby
the elements of dissension in order to keep the nation from questioning
the legality of the corrupt government or questioning its iniquities and
injustices, and in order to prolong its own enjoyment and pleasure without
anyone questioning what it was actually doing.
Yet after all this, why do the Shi'as adhere to the sect of this particular
Household rather than any other Islamic sect?
The answer to this question, in our view, is quite clear. It does not
require an effort to find it out and simplify its arguments.
Man, by nature, is bent upon selecting the best path when approaching
crossroads in order to secure salvation for himself and attain the goal
he aspires to achieve. He has to think long enough before making a move
in order to know exactly which path he has to take so that he will not
be confused while seeking the truth. It is only natural that man, in order
to define his safest path, should refer to one who is familiar with his
approaches and avenues when, at his outset, he stands confused as to where
to start from.
We may not differ while defining the "expert" who should be followed
when he defines the path for us in this regard, for such an "expert" is
none other than the Bearer of the Message and its Promoter (S.A.W.), and
we have to follow his directives and instructions in this regard. When
we fail in our attempt to know what we need to know, we have to refer to
the complete definitions followed in this regard which would take us to
the desired result.
The texts narrated about the Custodian of the Shari'a may suffice for
us when we seek such a definition since he himself had outlined for us
the best path we have to choose. In addition to his tradition of the Two
Weighty Things in which he described the Book and the Progeny as the dividing
line between guidance and misguidance, there is another explanatory tradition
with a more explicit text in which he (S.A.W.) is quoted as saying:
"The similitude of my Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.) among you is like
the Ark of Noah: whoever boards it is saved, and whoever lags behind it
is drowned." 14
Al-Tabrani adds another: "The similitude of my Household among you is like
the Gate of Hitta for the Children of Israel: whoever enters is forgiven." 15
The clarity of this tradition in defining the safest path needs no explanation
since he made salvation dependant upon following them, making the sinking
into the calamities of misguidance an indication of lagging behind them.
Another tradition states: "Stars are protectors of the inhabitants of
earth against drowning, and my Progeny (Ahl al-Bayt, (A.S.) are the protectors
of my nation against dissension in the creed; therefore, if a tribe among
the Arabs differs from them (in religious matters), it would then become
the party of the devil." 16.
Having quoted these traditions, Ibn Hajar comments thus:
"The reason for comparing them with the ark is that whoever
loves them and holds them in high esteem as means to thanking God Who granted
them such honours, following the guidance of the learned men among them,
is saved from dissension, and whoever abstains from doing so is drowned
into the seas of ingratitude and annihilated at the crossroads of tyranny." 17
Besides, they were the overflowing fountainhead which produced the leading
scholars and founders of schools of thought; so, what stops us from emulating
these men by staying away from what they themselves had stayed away from?
Add to this the consensus view regarding these men's integrity and immaculate
conduct, their superiority over others in knowledge, their being the final
arbitrators regarding any difficult problem faced in the legislative system
or any other system according to the testimony of the leading scholars
and philosophers, nay, of even men of the government, and the endorsement
of everyone of their views and the submission wholeheartedly thereto.
For these reasons and for others, we have upheld the Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.)
of the Prophet (S.A.W.) and preferred them over all others, following the
path they outlined for us without paying attention to others especially
since they enriched us with whatever valuable information and intellectual
riches any Muslim needs in his daily life and for which the Message was
revealed unto their grandfather the Greatest Prophet (S.A.W.).
Thereupon, it is worthwhile to research the biographies of these great
Imams and examine their details and characteristics and highlight the aspects
of greatness of their unique personalities in order to correctly emulate
them. We have also to compare their conduct with that of others so that
their distinctions become manifest to us, the distinctions which raised
their status to the very summit of human perfection.
In this study, we shall try our best to examine the biography of one
of those Imams who is the eighth in the series of the Twelve Imams. He
is Imam Ali son of Mousa al-Rida whose contemporary epoch was full of historical
events in whose shaping he played a significant role the effects of which
were reflected upon the then contemporary Islamic history. The reason which
invited us to prefer to study the biography of Imam al-Rida over those
of other Imams (A.S.) is that he, despite the many characteristics of his
contemporary time, and despite the magnitude of the events and occurrences
which filled his days, has not been independently researched as far as
we know. What I sincerely desire is to be honest in my exposition and analysis,
free from the psychological complexes of prejudice and sectarian fanaticism,
and I also wish the reader will be likewise so that he may be my companion
while conducting this research, and God is the Master of success and uprightness.