Then the Imām...

Then the Imām, peace be on him, rose and Hārūn al-Rashid rose for him, kissed his eyes and his face, and then he turned to his sons and said to them: " 'Abd Allah, Mohammed, and Ibrāhim, go before your uncle and master; take hold of the stirrup (of his mount); set right his garments on him; and accompany him to his house." The Imām departed; on the same road, he delighted al-Ma'mūn and gave him good news of the succession, saying to him: "If you undertake this authority, then treat my children with kindness." The Imām went to his house escorted by Hārūn's sons.

Then al-Ma'mūn returned to his house. When the sitting-place became void of the people, he turned to his father and asked him: "O Commander of the faithful, who was the man whom you honored, magnified, for whom you rose from your sitting-place and received, whom you sat in front of the sitting-place and you sat beside, and whose stirrup you ordered us to set right?" "This is the Imām of the people, the proof of Allah over His creatures, and His vicegerent over His servants," replied Hārūn.

Al-Ma'mūn admired this statement, so he asked his father: "O Commander of the faithful, are not all these qualities yours and fulfilled in your person?" "I am the Imām of the masses by force and through oppression," answered Hārūn, "as for Mūsā b. Ja'far, he is the Imām in truth. By Allah, my little son, his more worthy of being the successor of Allah's Messenger, may Allah bless him and his family, as the caliph than I am and anyone else among the people.

By Allah, if you yourself attempt to take such caliphate from me, I shall take it away from you even if that means gouging your eyes, for power is blind!" When Hārūn al-Rashid intended to leave Medina for Baghdad, he ordered a parcel of two hundred dinars (to be prepared), and then he said to al-Fadl b. al-Rabi': "Take it and go to Mūsā b.

Ja'far and say to him: The Commander of the faithful say to you: 'We are in financial straits; and our gifts will come to you in the near future.'" Al-Ma'mūn stood up and said to his father: "You give five thousand dinars or less than it to the children of the Muhājireen (migrants), of the Ansār (supporters), and those whose ancestry you do not know; however you give two hundred dinars to Mūsā b. Ja'far, whom you honored and magnified.

This is the least gift you have given to any of the people." Hārūn scold al-Ma'mūn and said to him: "Keep silent! May you have no mother! If I gave this (i.e. Mūsā b.