Do we still impose thechastisement upon the city?

Do we still impose thechastisement upon the city?” The answer came from God: “Execute the commandment which has been given to you, for that person has never been perturbed and distressed for My sake, nor did he show anger over the evil deeds committed by the other people.”[^6] Yunus Ibn Abd al-Rahmaan When Imam Kadhim (a.s.) departed from the world, his representatives had huge sums of wealth in their possession.

As a result of their greed some of them began to deny the Imam’s death and thereby laid the foundation of a sect known as Waaqifiyyah. Ziyaad Qandi possessed seventy thousand gold coins while Ali Ibn Abi Hamzah had thirty thousand. Meanwhile, Yunus Ibn A'bd al-Rahmaan invited the people towards the Imamate of Imam Ridha (peace be upon him) and regarded the Waaqifiyah sect as false and erroneous.

When Ziyaad Qandi and Ali Ibn Abi Hamzah realised what Yunus was doing, they sent him a message asking: “Why do you invite the people towards Imam Ridha (a.s.)? If your objective is to acquire riches, we will make you rich.” They pledged to give him ten thousand gold coins if he kept quiet and refrained from inviting the people towards the Imam (a.s.).

Yunus Ibn A'bd al-Rahmaan[^7] replied to them by quoting a narration from Imam Baqir (a.s.) and Imam Sadiq (a.s.), which says: ‘When innovations manifest themselves amongst the people, it is imperative for the elders and leaders to manifest what they know (so that people refrain from evil) and if they fail to do so, God shall take away from them, the light of faith.’ Under no circumstances shall I abandon jihad in the path of religion and the affairs of God.” After receiving this forthright and explicit reply from Yunus, Ziyaad Qandi and Ali Ibn Abi Hamzah became his enemies.[^8] The Caliph on the Rooftop!

One night, the second Caliph was surveying the streets to ascertain the general state of affairs in the city. In the course of his inspection, he happened to pass by a house from which he heard suspicious noises. He climbed over the wall of the house and looked inside. A man and a woman were sitting together, with a jar of wine placed before them.

Addressing them harshly he said, “You commit sins in solitude in the belief that God shall not make manifest your secret?” The person turned to the Caliph and said, “Do not be so hasty, for if I have committed one sin, you have committed three. Firstly, God has said in the Qur'an*: and do not spy*[^9] . You have been doing just that.