لطفا منتظر باشید ...
The Eighth Imam
Holy Imam al-Rida (A.S.)
Imam al-Rida (A.S.) was born
in 148 A.
H.
on the 11th
day of the month of zul-Qa'dah
in Medina.
His father, the
Holy Imam Musa al-Kazim, named
him "Ali", and he was
also known as "Rida".
The name
of his honorable mother
was "Najmah".
Holy Imam Musa al-Kazim, in accordance
with the
divine command and the decree of
the Prophet, appointed his
son Ali ibn Musa ar-Rida", to Imamate
and introduced him
to the people as such.
The knowledge and wisdom of Imam
Rida, like that of
the other Imams, was from God,
and for this reason he had
superiority in learning over all
the people.
Students and the
learned alike used to come to him
to improve their knowledge
and their religious outlooks.
Learned men of Christianity, Judaism
and other
religions used to come to him and Imam,(A.S.)
would debate and converse with
them, giving answers to their
most difficult questions and guiding
them.
Never was he
unaware of the answer to a question
or give a wrong answer.
Due to his Divinely granted knowledge
and wisdom, he
was called A lime Ali Muhammad,
which means "the learned
one of Muhammad's household".
Many of his discourses have survived
the ages and are
with us today.
In the era of the Imamate of Imam Rida,(A.S.)
Ma'mun was the ruler and Khalifah.
So that the people would
desert Imam Rida, he invited the
Imam, who was living in
Medina, to the town of Tus, and
proposed to the Imam for
accepting the rulership and "Khilafat"
Imam al-Rida, however, who was
aware of Mamun's
dishonesty and deceit did not accept
his offer.
"Then you must agree to be my heir
apparent", said
Ma'mun.
Imam Rida also wanted to refuse
this, but, due to the
great pressure of the Khalifah,
he was forced to outwardly
accept.
He made the condition,
however, that he would have
no participation at all in the
affairs of state.
The conclusion of the scheming
of the ruler Ma'mun,
who was afraid of the Imam's charisma
and felt the danger of
his enlightening the people, was
that he martyred the Imam
by poisoning him.
Imam Rida, upon whom be eternal
blessings and peace,
passed away on the last day of
the month of Safar in the year
203 A.
H.
in the town of Tus,.
His
body was buried near the
same town, which is now called
"Mashhad".
Today, his tomb
is a center of Muslim Pilgrimage.
Learn from the Behavior of the Imam
Ibrahim was one of the closest companions
of Imam
Rida (A.S.).
He carefully watched
the Imam's behavior and
tells us:
"Never did I see Imam Rida make
a believer unhappy by
speaking harshly to him.
Never
did he speak when someone
else was speaking.
About this he
used to say that when a
person begins to speak while someone
else is speaking it is as
if he has scratched and bloodied
his face.
He would not reject
a Muslim's request and would help
people as much as he
could.
When it wasn't possible
for him to do something for
another, he would gently and kindly
apologize.
He was polite
with everyone, young and old, and
never showed disrespect
to anyone.
He never even stretched
his legs in front of anyone.
Amongst his companions he sat humbly
without leaning on
anything.
He never spoke badly
about anyone, never uttered
any abuse.
He did not spit, and
his laughter was a smile."
"He slept little at nights and
spent most of the night
awake reciting the Quran, praying
and supplicating.
He
would often fast during the day
and give his food to the poor.
The charity he gave would mostly
be secretly and at night."
"His heart was full of light and
he had his own special
relationship with God.
He was aware
of many future events
and answered perfectly whatever
question he was asked."
"He used to give great importance
to the Quran, and
told us to not only read and recite
it, but also to reflect on the
meaning of its contents."
Have you ever seen or heard such
beautiful manners and
behavior'?
The behavior of all our Imams was
just like this and
true Muslims strive for their behavior
to be the same way.
If
they don't succeed at first, they
make gradual efforts and take
this beautiful behavior as the
example and aim of their lives
Now read the lesson again; which
one of these beautiful
qualities can you adopt the soonest?
Did you know that the
Holy Prophet was given his mission
so as to perfect, establish
and circulate these same beautiful
qualities among the
people?
