There is no winepress in their houses...

There is no winepress in their houses; nor is there in their houses a shelter for evil; Nor is there a hermaphrodite who spends the night to drink with them; nor have they an ape which has servants. Their houses are al-Rukn (the corner of the Ka‘ba) , the (Sacred) House, the curtains, Zamzam , al-Safā , (the Black) Stone, and al-Harm (the Sanctuary).

Surely the life of the ‘Alawides is as bright as the sun due to the light of faith, whereas the life of their ‘Abbāsid opponents is as dark as night; there is no glow of faith and of Islamic guidance in it.

Any how, al-Ma’mūn spared no effort to show Islamic society that Imām al-Ridā, peace be on him, did not renounce the world when he assumed regency, but all his attempts came to nothing, for Islamic world came to know that the Imām was the most brilliant personality in Allah-fearingness, piety, clinging to obedience to Allah and to acts of worship, and refraining from all political fields.

Anyhow, in this epilog, we want to mention the last affairs of the life of the Imām, peace be on him, and that is as follows: The Imām gives Sincere Advice to al-Ma’mūn The Imām, peace be on him, gave sincere advice to al-Ma’mūn. The advice was void of all political hardships. He advised him to exempt him from regency and to exempt al-Fadl from the ministry, and through that he would save himself from the scheme and oppression of the ‘Abbāsids against him.

[1] However al-Ma’mūn did not exempt them both; he assassinated them, as we will display. Al-Ma’mūn decides to rerun to Baghdad For a long time Al-Ma’mūn reflected on returning to Baghdad, the capital of his fore-fathers and embellishment of the east, but two factors prevented him from achieving this valuable wish: The first: The existence of Imām ‘Ali b. Mūsā al-Ridā, peace be on him, his heir apparent, against whom the ‘Abbāsid family vigorously harbored malice.

This family had already broken the pledge of allegiance to him, and pledged allegiance to Ibn Shakkla, the Shaykh of the singers, as a sign of taking vengeance upon him because of his entrusting the Imām with regency. The second: The existence of his minister, al-Fadl b. Sahl, on the area of politics. The ‘Abbāsids were indignant with al-Fadl, for they thought that it was he who urged al-Ma’mūn to entrust regency to Imām al-Ridā, peace be on him.