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Introduction
Imam Abul-Hassan
II, Ali ibn Mousa al-Rida, is the eighth in the series of
the Imams from the Household of the Prophet in whose
personalities all the standards of greatness have been
personified; so, they became its most
magnificent example and most genuine fountainhead.
His life was
characterized by a somber tragic stamp from its grievous
beginning till its painful end. Bitterness seldom parted from
his soul during the periods he lived, i.e. the reign of Harun
al-Rashid and the beginning of the regime of al-Mamoon, the
latter's son.
At the outset of his
life, he witnessed the norms of trials and tribulations which
filled the life of his father Imam Mousa ibn Ja'fer (A.S.)[1],
the patient Imam whose mere existence was the cause of worry for
the ruling government and the source of its suspicious doubts
despite his peaceful stance, distancing himself from any causes
for a direct confrontation therewith.
The Abbaside caliph
al-Mehdi III ordered the Imam (A.S.) to go to Baghdad so that
the caliph would secure from him promises and pledges that he
would not oppose his authority or mobilize a revolution against
him to put an end to his regime, and the Imam (A.S.) did not go
back home till al-Mehdi joined his Lord and his shoulders bent
by the load of the regime's sins and immoral actions to be
succeeded by al-Hadi. The latter tried to put an end to the life
of the Imam, but he did not live long enough, so al-Rashid
acceded to the throne, thus the parching flames of the tragedy
started incinerating the existence of the Alawis headed by Imam
Mousa ibn Ja'fer (A.S.), and the dungeons of Baghdad, Basrah,
Wasit and other cities could not limit the regime's passion for
seeking revenge against its opponents. Its antagonistic
attitudes caused it to invent norms of revenge worse than what
those dungeons could provide, such that humanity shudders from.
Instructions issued by the government required the builders to
fill the hollow building cylinders and columns with the still
alive bodies of the elite among Alawi youths and non-Alawi
sympathizers and to cause them to die thus out of suffocation.
This ugly method of eliminating the government's opponents was
not something invented by al-Rashid, but it was a continuation
of a custom started by al-Mansour to seek revenge against some
Alawi youths as history tells us.[2]
Imam Mousa ibn
Ja'fer (A.S.) received the lion's share of the atrocities
suffered by the Alawis during that period of time. Al-Rashid
imprisoned him due to his being the top Alawi leader, subjecting
him to extreme pressures at his horrible dungeons for fourteen
years according to some accounts till he became tired of
thinking of methods and means of inflicting pain on him;
therefore, he ordered al-Sindi ibn Shahik, through his minister
Yahya ibn Khalid, who was in charge of the last prison in which
the Imam was imprisoned, to poison him and rid him of the
presence of one who robbed him of his tranquility and peace of
mind. Meanwhile, the Imam (A.S.) was painfully and bitterly
watching closely the bloody events which consumed many of his
own family and kin.
He was destined to
relive the tragedy through which his father had lived from its
beginning to the end without being able to decrease its
intensity, for he was powerless to do so. Maybe he even awaited
the same fate at the hands of the ruling gang, for the dispute
was one of a conflict of principles between the rulers on one
hand and the Alawis on the other; it was not a personality
conflict.
After the martyrdom
of his father and the perishing of al-Rashid, then the ending of
the days of al-Amin in the way they ended, and al-Mamoon
receiving the reins of government, the winds of yet another
tragedy of a different type started blowing at the Imam (A.S.).
It was a tragedy the Imam (A.S.) lived with extreme bitterness.
Al-Mamoon, due to
certain political reasons which we will discuss separately in
this research, decided to use the Imam (A.S.) as a bargaining
chip between him and the Abbasides in Baghdad on one hand, and
between him and the Alawis on the other, and also between him
and the Shi'as of Khurasan as well. The ploy of relinquishing
the throne was foiled when the Imam (A.S.) refused to accede to
it. Then he was forced to play a role in the masquerade of the
succession to the throne. We are here concerned about dispelling
some of the ambiguity which shrouded it, the ambiguity which
dragged many researchers into a helter-skelter situation the
results of which became obscured from their superficial sight
the scope of which did not exceed the skimming of the surface,
nor did they take the trouble to delve deeply into the depths of
their research.
It is worth
mentioning here that when the Imam (A.S.) refused to accept the
caliphate from the abdicating caliph, al-Mamoon, or to take
charge of the post of heir to the throne, he had no reason
except his own awareness of the real depth of the goal al-Mamoon
anticipated to achieve by his plan, and that the desire to
abdicate was not genuine enough to be taken seriously; rather,
it was a political maneuver whereby al-Mamoon desired to perfect
his game during a particular period of time, a game which was
dictated by political circumstances posing serious threats to
his seat of government. It was a situation on which the very
destiny of al-Mamoon depended.
The expected finale
was thereafter enacted when al-Mamoon completed his acting part,
which he had rehearsed beforehand, perfecting the playing of his
intricate role in such dexterity and skill which secured a
period of tranquility for his regime, something which he could
not have otherwise achieved had he not done so, as we will
discuss later in this research.
In addition to the
above, we shall attempt to deal with the comprehensive aspects
of the life of the Imam (A.S.) so that the picture becomes clear
to us when we wish to review the life of a great Imam such as
Imam al-Rida (A.S.).
Muhammad Jawad
Fadlallah
[1]
Acronyms of Alaihis Salam (peace be upon him).
[2]
Ibn al-Athir, Vol. 4, p. 375. He said: 'Al-Mansour Muhammad
ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Hassan was brought in, and he was the
most handsome man people ever saw. He asked him, Are you
the one nicknamed the yellow silk?' He answered, Yes.' He
said, I shall certainly kill you in a manner which I have
not employed to anyone else,' then he ordered him to be
placed in a cylinder and it was built up on him while he was
still alive; thus, he died inside it." Maqatil
al-Talibiyyin, p. 136, indicates likewise.
