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Imam Reza (A.S.) in Marv (Khorasan)
On 24th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah in 201 AH, Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), started his fateful journey from his hometown Medina in Hejaz to the Khorasani city of Marv in northeastern Iran – currently in the republic of Turkmenistan – under pressure from Mamoun, the self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime.
The intention of Mamoun was to kill two birds with one stone. Thus, he forced the Imam – twenty years his senior – to become his heir apparent, so that the Prophet\'s Heir would be isolated from the Ummah by being confined to the court, while the masses would either praise Mamoun for bestowing such an honour on the Imam, or would become disenchanted with the Ahl al-Bayt by saying court life had tainted the purity of the Prophet\'s Household.
He, however, miserably failed, and two years later poisoned his venerable guest to death, when the sanctity and popularity of the Imam increased manifold. Today the golden-domed mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad attracts pilgrims from all over the world, while there is no trace of the graves of the Abbasids.
Imam al-Reza\'s (A.S.) Martyrdom
His holiness was under such heavy pressure and hardship that when he would return from the Friday Prayers, sweating and dusty, he would raise his hands to the sky and say: “O God! If my relief from what I am in lies in my death, hasten my death at this very moment!” He was constantly remorseful and discomforted until he passed away. The night before his martyrdom, he sent for Harthama and told him: “Listen to what I say and memorize it; the time has now come for my return to God; it is time for me to join my ancestor and forefathers. This rebel (Ma’mūn) has decided to poison me with grapes and pomegranate; he has poisoned the grapes with thread and needle and will have the pomegranate seeded by a servant with poisoned hands. Tomorrow, he will call me in to eat from them and the destiny will be fulfilled…”
It is further related in the ḥadīth that after the Imam’s (A.S.) martyrdom, when Harthama told Ma’mūn about the grapes and pomegranate, the latter’s face now turned pale, now red, and then black, until he passed out and at the same time saying out loud: “Woe be to Ma’mūn from God, Woe be to Ma’mūn from the Holy Prophet, Woe be to Ma’mūn from ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib, Woe be to Ma’mūn from Fāṭimat al-Zahra,… And when he came to his senses, he told to Harthama: “I swear by God, neither you nor anyone else on the face of the earth or in heaven is dearer to me than Riḍā; I swear by God that if I hear that you have told anyone else what you have heard from him, your death will be in that. Harthama promised that if he revealed anything, shedding his blood would be allowed for Ma’mūn, who then made him swear and make a covenant to conceal it.
Imam al-Reza(A.S.) said to Abā Ṣalt: “Go to the Hārūn’s dome and bring a fistful of dust from each of its four corners. When Abā Ṣalt returned with the dust, his holiness smelled the dust from behind the head corner and let it fall to the ground and said, ‘Ma’mūn wants to bury me here; but there will emerge a huge stone that if all the picks in Khurasan are brought here, they will not be able to move this stone. Then, he smelled the dust taken from the upper part and the lower part [of the grave] and uttered the same words; and when he smelled the dust from the Qibla direction (in front of the Hārūn’s tomb), he said, ‘Here they will dig up a grave for me…’ Then he said, ‘O Abā Ṣalt! Tomorrow I will go to this wicked sinner; if I came out with bare head, talk to me as I will answer; but if I came out with covered head, do not talk to me as I will not answer.”
Abā Ṣalt said, “The next day his holiness put on his clothes and sat in his prayer niche waiting until Ma’mūn’s retainer came and summoned the Imam (A.S.). His holiness set off and I went along with him. There was a basket of grapes and other fruits before Ma’mūn and there was a bunch of grapes in his hands, some of which he had already eaten. As soon as he saw Imam al-Reza(A.S.), he rose to his feet, hugged the Imam, kissed him on his forehead, and seated him in his own place. Then he offered the grapes to his holiness and said, ‘O son of the Apostle of Allāh! I have seen no better grapes than this.’ His holiness answered: ‘It is likely that the grapes are from the Paradise!’ Ma’mūn said, ‘Eat from them.’ The Imam said, ‘Spare me.’ Ma’mūn responded. ‘There is no way. Why don’t you eat? Are you accusing me or suspicious of me?’ His holiness took the bunch and picked three grapes and threw the rest on the ground and stood up.
Ma’mun said, ‘Where are you going?’ The Imam said, ‘Where you have sent me to.’ Then, while his head was covered, came out and I (Abā Ṣalt) did not talk to him. His holiness entered the house and lay down in his bed and ordered the house door to be closed. I closed the door and sadly lingered on in the courtyard. All of a sudden I saw a charming black-haired youth who looked most like Imam al-Reza(A.S.). I went toward him and said, ‘How did you come in through the closed door?’ he said, ‘The One who brought me here from Medina at this moment, the same One took me in the house through the closed door.’
I asked who he was. He said, ‘I am the proof of Allāh to you O Abā Ṣalt! I am Muhammad b. ‘Alī (Imam al-Jawād).’ Then, he went to his noble father. As soon as Imam al-Reza(A.S.) saw his son, he rose to his feet, hugged him, and kissed him on his forehead and showered kisses on him, talked to him in secret (about Imamate) that I did not understand… Then, his blessed soul joined the Garden of Divine pleasure.
Imam al-Jawād (A.S.) began to perform the funeral ablution for his father. I wanted to help, he said, ‘There are some with me who would help.’ Then he said, Go inside bring the coffin and the shroud and balm.’ He clad his father’s body in shroud and performed the burial prayer over it.’ Then, he said, ‘Bring in the coffin.’ I said, ‘Shall I go to the carpenter to have a coffin made?’ He said, ‘No, go to the inner house, there is a coffin!’ When I went inside, I saw a coffin that I had not seen there before. He laid the body in the coffin and performed two rak‘as of prayer; then, all of a sudden the ceiling opened up and the coffin ascended through the ceiling!
I said, ‘O son of the Apostle of Allāh! Soon, Ma’mūn will come and ask me for Riḍā, what shall I do?’ he said, ‘Silence! He will come back. O Abā Salt! There is no Holy Prophet who would die in the East and his successor is in the West, unless God would call their souls and bodies together (i.e., his holiness has been taken to the Holy Prophet).’ No sooner had his holiness stopped talking than the ceiling reopened and the coffin descended. Imam al-Jawād took the body of his father out of the coffin and laid it on the bed as if no funeral ablution and shrouding had been performed for it.
Then, he said, ‘O Abā Salt! Get up and open the door for Ma’mūn.’ I opened the door and saw it was Ma’mūn along with his retainers. That cursed devil (who had made sure of the Imam’s martyrdom) entered while crying and tearing his clothes and beating on his head and saying: ‘O my master, you pained my heart by your tragedy.’ And it happened as Imam al-Reza(A.S.) had predicted.”
According to more renowned traditions, the martyrdom of his holiness took place in the month of Safar/September of 203/818.
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