The tutor tried to teach him obedience to the ABBASI rulers...

The tutor tried to teach him obedience to the ABBASI rulers and to recognize their legitimacy to the caliphate, but he was confronted by the young Imam's bright talent and profound knowledge which he had inherited from the Prophet's progeny. Despite all his efforts to teach the Imam according to the ABBASI instruction, the tutor was stunned when one day he asked the Imam to repeat what he had taught him.

The Imam said, "Do ask me about the QUR'ANIC verses so that I may recite them to you by heart". Perhaps that tutor forgotten the Prophetic narration that says: "I am leaving among you two precious (weighty) objects. If you hold firm to both of them, you will not go astray. They are: The Book of Allah (the holy QUR'AN) and my offspring. The two will never separate (from each other) till they meet me at the pool (of AL-KAWTHAR)".

The tutor forgot or seemed to have forgotten that the Prophet's offspring enjoyed the prophetic sciences and perceived the religious instructions thoroughly as well as the legislation relevant to every day's life. Despite the strict watch and harassment, the Imam (as) performed the duties of his Imamate quietly. When he was twenty years old, he was quite famous among the Muslim masses. Everyone tried to contact him for religious information or to solve life's problems.

A BIG OVEN The ABBASI caliph AL-MU'TASIM died, and HAROUN son of Mohammed, known as AL-WATHIQ, succeeded him in office. AL-WATHIQ was a playboy, careless of his official duties, hence his minister AL-ZIAT had a free hand to act according to his own whims. He was a cruel man who opened the prisons' doors widely for the caliph's opponents. He tortured and killed many detainees. In one prison he built a big oven and supplied it with torture equipment in order to put an end to the opponents.

Even the caliph's brother AL-MUTAWAKKIL was one of AL-ZIAT'S victims. He suffered all types of torture at his hands due to the enmity between the two brothers and their pursuit for authority. After six years of rule, AL-WATHIQ died and his brother AL-MUTAWAKKIL assumed the caliphate. The latter started his regime by seeking revenge against his brother's minister AL-ZIAT. He threw him in the very oven which he himself had built. Hence, whoever sows evil will harvest evil.

HATRED TOWARDS THE DEAD AND THE LIVING As soon as AL-MUTAWAKKIL took hold of the affairs, he demonstrated hostility towards the Prophet's progeny (as).