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The Abbasid Ma’mūn and his Ominous Objectives
The Abbasid Ma’mūn, named ‘Abd Allāh son of Hārūn al-Rashīd, whose mother was an ugly slave-girl called Marājil who served in Hārūn’s court, was born in 170/786 – the year his father took over caliphate – and died at the age of 48 in 218/833, i.e., fifteen years after Imam al-Reza (A.S.) martyrdom.
His mother died at his birth and Ma’mūn left him with Ja‘far b. Yaḥyā al-Barmakī to be trained. His instructor was Fadl b. Sahl who was famous as Dhū al-Riyāsatayn and later on became Ma’mūn’s vizier. He was killed by Ma’mūn in a bath-house in Sarakhs.
Contrary to Amīn, Ma’mūn lived an industrious life far from welfare; he became skillful in various sciences and more learned in jurisprudence and theology than all other caliphs.
In his predictions about the Abbasid caliphs, Imam ‘Alī (A.S.) said about him: “The seventh among them will be the most erudite of all.”
Ma’mūn’s Problems
It was obvious that Ma’mūn was not in an ideological and spiritual mindset to hand over the caliphate to another person, since he had made great efforts in obtaining it, and had even killed his brother Amīn to this end; other incidents clearly confirm this issue. Thus, the reason for his offering the caliphate to the Imam and his insistence on his offer is to be taken as his cunning policies and plots; and the main reason is considered to be the problems he was facing, which he thought he had no choice to avoid in order to preserve his rule, except by offering the heir apparency. The problems he faced were:
1. He was considered a rebel by the people, especially by the Abbasids, who revolted despite Hārūn’s will and murdered his brother Amīn, who was formally the caliph.
2. Originally, he was not of adequate nobility, as his mother was a non-Arab slave-girl who lacked social distinction, contrary to Amīn, whose mother, Zubayda Hāshimī, was a learned woman.
3. Members of Ma’mūn’s inner circle were mostly Iranians, an issue with which the Arabs, especially, the Abbasids were dissatisfied.
4. The Alawis (‘Alawiyān), who were very influential in Iran and particularly in Khurasan and were dissatisfied with the Abbasids, especially with Ma’mūn’s father whose hands were stained with many of the Alawis’ blood, would rise up in revolution in different regions; Abū al-Sarāyā in Kūfa, Zayd b. Mūsā in Basra, Muhammad b. Ja‘far in Mecca and Hejaz, Ibrāhīm Mūsā in Yemen, Muhammad b. Sulaymān in Medina, Ja‘far b. Zayd b. ‘Alī in Wāsiṭ, Muhammad b. Ismā‘īl in Madāʾin, etc.
5. Ma’mūn was very worried of Imam al-Reza (A.S.) influence among the Shi'as and Iranians who were loyal to him and wanted to keep his holiness under surveillance by any means possible.
In order to control the situations and to solve the problems, he thought by conferring heir apparency to Imam al-Reza(A.S.) he could remove the main part of his problems by controlling the Alawis’ revolts, legitimizing his rule, and ensuring the Iranians’ consent. This had several benefits for him:
1. Suppressing the Alawis’ revolt; 2. Legitimizing his rule by means of Imam al-Reza (A.S.) joining the court; 3. Attracting the attention of the Iranians who were advocates of the Alawis; 4. Keeping Imam al-Reza(A.S.) under surveillance and becoming secure of his holiness’ probable actions (against his rule); 5. Reducing Imam al-Reza (A.S.) prestige by getting him involved in the problems of the rule (hukūma) and ruining his spiritual reputation by presenting a profane and secular picture of him.
Having been forcefully submitted to heir apparency, Imam al-Reza(A.S.) acted in a way that Ma’mūn’s sinister plot resulted in his own loss and made him repent of what he had done. The actions his holiness took were divisible into the following instances: 1. Refusing to accept heir apparency for some time to the extent that Ma’mūn forced his holiness to accept it. 2. Making the acceptance of heir apparency conditional on non-interference in rulership. 3. Widespread scientific and cultural activities towards the promotion of the Ahl al-Bayt’s (A.S.) school of thought. 4. Expressing the power of wilāya and Imamate by presenting clear miracles. 5. Frequent protests against Ma’mūn and his opinions on different occasions.
Reference:
Story of the Sun
A Look at Imam al-Reza's Life
Author: Sayyid Muhammad Najafi Yazdi
Translated by: Ahmad Rezwani
Published by: Islamic Research Foundation, Astan Quds Razavi, Mashhad - I.R. Iran
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