IMAM ALI AR-REZA (A.S.)

Imam Ali al-Reza ( a.s.) was born in Madina. The Imam’s father was Imam Moosa al-Kazim (a.s.) and his mother was Lady Najma. The Imam was the eighth Infallible of

Ale-Muhammad (s.a.w.s). He spent 29 years with his father and after his martyrdom; he became the Imam and lived for 20 years. His physical life was 49 years when he too was martyred by Ma’mun. Like other caliphs, he was also a hypocrite and to deceive the Muslims, he offered his successor-ship and when the Imam declined the offer, he threatened to kill him. The Imam accepted the offer on the condition that he will not take part in the affairs of the government.

Sayings of Imam Ali ar-Reza (a.s.):

Whoever draws a comparison between the Sublime God and His creatures is an atheist.

The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s) said “Whoever comes to visit me during my life time or after my death has indeed visited the Sublime God.

The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s) had visited the Paradise and saw the Hell Fire during his Ascension.

When the Imam (a.s.) was leaving Nieshapur, thousands of Muslim scholars surrounded his carriage and asked to share with them a tradition of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s). The Imam (a.s.) said: “(And the Imam narrated the names of his father and his grand father and the names continued till the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.). This chain of names is called “Silsila-e-Zahabia” or Golden Chain. “The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s) was told by Archangel Jibra’eel that Allah said “La Ilaha Illallah” is My Stronghold. Whoever enters My Stronghold, is secured from My Punishment” When they moved on, the Imam said loudly “There are certain conditions for this. And I am one of these conditions.” Imam Ahmad ibne Hambal said that if any one recites this “Golden Chain” on a deranged person, he will become healthy. That’s why, Shias write these names on the shrouds of their dead.

Meeting with the Christian Archbishop:

Once, Caliph Mamun invited religious scholars from different faiths and requested Imam ar-Reza (a.s.) to have debate with them to which the Imam agreed. The catholic archbishop asked “What is your opinion about the prophet-hood of Jesus and his book? Do you deny either of them? The Imam replied “I do admit the prophet-hood of Jesus and his book. However, I reject the prophet hood of any Jesus who has not professed the prophet hood of Muhammad (s.a.w.s), his book and what he advised his nation to do.”

The archbishop said “name any two witnesses not from your nation and whom we accept”

The Imam said “what is your opinion about John al Daylami?” The archbishop said “Bravo”. The Imam said “Then I ask you to swear to and tell me whether or not the Bible says that John says, ‘The Messiah has informed me of the religion of Muhammad, the Arab, and has given me the glad tidings about him who will be (a Prophet) after him. Therefore I gave the glad tidings of him to the disciples and they believed in him”

The archbishop replied “John did quote this from the Messiah. He did give the glad tidings of a man who will be a prophet, his household and his trustees. He has not clarified when this will come and has not named them”. The Imam said, “If we can bring someone who can recite the Bible, and recites to you Muhammad’s name, his household, will you believe in him?”. The Imam then turned towards Nestus, the Roman and asked him if he had memorized the Third book of the Bible. Then the Imam said,” I will recite some verses and you testify if it is correct.” Then the Imam recited some verses to which Nestus and the archbishop both agreed.

Then the Imam asked the archbishop if he had any more questions. The archbishop said,

“What about the disciples of Jesus? How many were they? Tell me about the scholars of

Bible, how many were they?” The Imam replied “They were twelve and the best and the most learned of them was Aluqas (Luke) and as for the scholars, they were three; John (Yohanna), ‘the greatest’, John at Qriqisia, and John-the al-Daylami at Zijar, who made reference to the prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s). The Imam added “We believed in Jesus who believed in Muhammad (s.a.w.s). We have nothing against Jesus except for his weakness and the paucity of his fasting and prayer” The archbishop said, “By God; you have corrupted your knowledge. I thought you were the most learned of the Muslims” The Imam asked “why?” The archbishop replied, “Since you said that Jesus was weak with little fasting and praying, while Jesus never broke fasting by day and never slept at night.

He always fasted during the day and prayed at night.” The Imam asked “For whom did he fast and prayed?” The archbishop did not have an answer and became speechless!

The Imam asked the archbishop “Why do you deny that Jesus gave life to the dead with the Honorable and Exalted God’s permission?” The archbishop replied “Since whoever gives life to the dead and heals the blind and the leprous is a lord worthy of worshiping”

The Imam said “Indeed al-Yasa (Elijah) did just as Jesus did. He walked on water, gave life to the dead, and healed the blind and leprous. Why did his nation not adopt him as a Lord? Why did not any one worship him as a god other than Allah?”

The prophet Hezqeel (Ezekiel) did just Jesus did. He gave life to thirty five men sixty years after their death”. There was silence.

Imam’s popularity:

Once, Mamun requested the Imam to lead the Eid-ul-Fitr prayers. The Imam came out of his house wearing white dress, bare-footed and started walking towards the mosque and advised his followers to do the same. Hence every one, including military and judicial officers, also followed him bare-footed. The Imam was saying takbir loudly and the Muslims repeated. A huge crowed had gathered and situation became so tense that Mamun had to request the Imam to stop leading the prayer.

Although, he was the heir-apparent of the Caliph, Mamun, but he led a simple life and he would ask his servants to join him when eating food.

The Imam re-established the Majaalis of Imam Hussain (a.s.)

Once, a man approached the Imam and asked for some money to go back home as he had spent every thing he had and that when he returns home he will give that money in charity.

The Imam went inside and gave him the money from behind the curtain. After the man left, people asked why he gave the money from behind the curtain. The Imam replied” I did not want to see the shame of supplication on his face.”

Miracles of Imam Ali ar-Reza:

It is reported that after leaving Nieshapur, the Imam reached a village called “Din-Surkh”.

It was time for Zohar prayers. The Imam asked for water which was not available. The Imam dug the earth and a spring gushed out. The Imam and his companions performed wuzu with it. The spring is still there and has become a place of pilgrimage.

There was famine in the country and Mamun requested the Imam to help. He promised to pray for rain on Monday. The Imam came out and started to pray. Before the completion of his prayers, cool winds started to blow and clouds started accumulating and it rained heavily. After that incident one of the persons who became jealous of the Imam and while in the court of Mamun, tried to belittle Imam’s miracle and invited the Imam to show the miracle by asking the picture of the tigers on the carpet to tear him apart. The Imam said

“It was the Blessings of Allah that He sent rain on my prayer. As for your desire to make the picture of tigers into living ones, I will satisfy your wish.” The Imam pointed towards the tigers on the carpet and asked it to tear open the unbeliever and eat him. No sooner the Imam (a.s.)’ words were finished, the carpet tigers became real and attacked the man and ate him away. Mamun was trembling with fear and became unconscious. The Imam (a.s.) revived him and ordered the tigers to go back to carpet.

Similarly, due to Mamun’s jealousy with the Imam (a.s.) once, when the Imam (a.s.) came to meet Mamun, the servants who used to raise the huge curtain to let-in the visitors deliberately did not raise it but due to wind gust the curtain went up and the Imam went in. Same event happened on his return. It was repeated for many days and seeing the Divine help they were ashamed.