Imam Ali al-Rida
Day 4
The lesson
- Sunni sources report that ten, twenty or thirty thousand people heard it and wrote it down (al-Fusul al-Muhimma of Ibn al-Sabbagh; al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqa of Ibn Hajar al-Haytami), though only a few, such as al-Qunduzi, record its closing words (Yanabi' al-Mawadda). Ahmad ibn Hanbal is reported to have said that if this chain were recited over a madman he would recover (al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqa; Tadhkirat al-Khawass).
- In Merv al-Ma'mun offered him the caliphate, then the succession; he refused both. Al-Ma'mun then threatened him, recalling that Umar's council of six had ordered the beheading of any member who refused. The Imam answered: So, I accept only if I do not give command and do not prohibit, I neither give fatwa, nor do I judge, I neither assign anyone to any task, nor do I change anything's position. Al-Ma'mun accepted the condition (al-Irshad).
- Al-Ma'mun took the pledge to him as heir on Monday, 7 Ramadan 201 AH (817), had people wear green, the colour of the Alids, in place of Abbasid black, had sermons given and dinars and dirhams struck in his name (Tarikh al-Ya'qubi). The poet Di'bil al-Khuza'i was at the ceremony and received a gift from the Imam (al-Irshad).
Questions
According to al-Irshad, what condition did Imam Ali al-Rida set when al-Ma'mun pressed him to accept the succession?
When al-Ma'mun took the pledge to Imam al-Rida as heir in 201 AH, what change of colour did he order, as reported in Tarikh al-Ya'qubi?
What did Ahmad ibn Hanbal reportedly say about the chain of this event, as recorded in al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqa and Tadhkirat al-Khawass?
Questions are written by AI from the lesson’s facts, and each answer was checked against its fact.