Imam Ridha (A.S) was a living example of the piety of the great Prophet (PBUH) and the chivalry and generosity of Imam `Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS)`. It was mostly due to his efforts that the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his descendants (AS) became widespread.

Imam Ridha (A.S) was undoubtedly the greatest sage, saint and scholar of the second century AH. Imam Ridha (A.S) became the Imam at the age of thirty five, through Divine Command and the decree of his forefathers. The period of his Imamate coincided with the caliphate of Harun and then his sons Amin and Ma’mun. When that Imam (A.S) achieved Imamate, his close friends and his followers said, “What can Ali ibn Musa (AS) do in such an environment which is filled with Harun’s oppression?”

At that time Harun Al-Rashid was the absolute ruler of Baghdad and the descendants of Imam Ali (A.S) were passing as ever, through trials and tribulations because of the tyranny of the Abbasid ruler. Anyone who showed the slightest disobedience to the wishes of the ruling system faced unrelenting pressures. It was in such circumstances that the eighth Imam (A.S.) achieved Imamate. The special conditions of any Imam and the instructions given to them by God according to the demands of the time, caused some of them to have more chances to expound religious issues and express their own widespread knowledge.

The era of the Eighth Imam is once again a period of the prevalence of a congenial condition for the spread of Shiism. Imam Ridha (A.S), in whose era three important events unfolded in such a way as to cause him to overflow his knowledge into the Islamic society. First, the Waqifiyya sedition and the misconceptions they raised concerning the Imamate of Imam Ridha (A.S) prompting the Imam to guide people in this respect with his profound answers. Second, destruction of the Barmakids in the fourth year of the Imam Ridha’s (A.S) Imamate, leading to the elimination of one of the most important enemies of the Ahlal-Bayt (A.S) in Harun’s regime at the hands of Harun, after which a relatively good chance was provided for the dissemination of the Ahlal-Bayt’s (A.S) teachings.

Third, the issue of Imam Ridha’s (A.S) heir apparency, which drew attention toward him, and the Abbasid Ma’mun who tried to humiliate his holiness before dignitaries of other religions and the scholars of religious schools by holding scientific gatherings and debate sessions; however, as the God Almighty manages the intrigue of the plotters and turns it against themselves, the very same debate sessions and circles led to familiarization with the scholarly eminence of Imam Ridha (A.S) in such a way that great scholars of the time acknowledged his widespread knowledge and erudition.

While 24 thousand pens were ready to write down in Nishapur, Imam Ridha (A.S) said: “I heard Jibrail saying, The Almighty Allāh said,“I surely am the God besides whom there is no god, so worship Me. Whoever comes with the testimony of tawhid sincerely, he has surely entered My castle; and whoever enters My castle, he shall be protected from My chastisement.”

Then the Imam added that this salvation is guaranteed “with its conditions; and I am one of its conditions.” That is, together with Tawhid, one must also believe in other fundamentals of Islam like Nubuwwa and Imamat in order to gain salvation in the hereafter. Because of its excellent chain of narrators, this hadith is known as “Hadith Silsilatu ‘dh-dhabab – Hadith with the golden chain [of narrators].”

Story of the Holy Ka’aba And its People, S.M.R. Shabbar

Islam: Faith, Practice & History, Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi

Uyun Akhbar Ar-Ridha Volume 1, Shaykh as-Saduq

Brief History of Fourteen Infallibles, World Organization for Islamic Services (WOFIS)

Story of the Sun: A Look at Imam al-Ridha Life, Sayyid Muhammad Najafi Yazdi

The Concept of Combat in the Life of Imams, Seyyed Ali Khamenei

Source: en.shafaqna.com