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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Story of the Sun: A Look at Imam al-Ridha Life Imam al-Ridha’s (a.s.) Martyrdom His holiness was under such heavy pressure and hardship that when he would return from the Friday Prayers, sweating and dusty, he would raise his hands to the sky and say: “O God!

If my relief from what I am in lies in my death, hasten my death at this very moment!” He was constantly remorseful and discomforted until he passed away.[^1] The night before his martyrdom, he sent for Harthama[^2] and told him: “Listen to what I say and memorize it; the time has now come for my return to God; it is time for me to join my ancestor and forefathers.

This rebel (Ma’mun) has decided to poison me with grapes and pomegranate; he has poisoned the grapes with thread and needle and will have the pomegranate seeded by a servant with poisoned hands.

Tomorrow, he will call me in to eat from them and the destiny will be fulfilled…”[^3] It is further related in the hadith that after the Imam’s (a.s.) martyrdom, when Harthama told Ma’mun about the grapes and pomegranate, the latter’s face now turned pale, now red, and then black, until he passed out and at the same time saying out loud: “Woe be to Ma’mun from God, Woe be to Ma’mun from the Prophet, Woe be to Ma’mun from ‘Ali b.

Abi Talib, Woe be to Ma’mun from Fatimat al-Zahra,… And when he came to his senses, he told to Harthama: “I swear by God, neither you nor anyone else on the face of the earth or in heaven is dearer to me than Ridha; I swear by God that if I hear that you have told anyone else what you have heard from him, your death will be in that.

Harthama promised that if he revealed anything, shedding his blood would be allowed for Ma’mun, who then made him swear and make a covenant to conceal it.[^4] Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) said to Aba Salt: “Go to the Harun’s dome and bring a fistful of dust from each of its four corners.

When Aba Salt returned with the dust, his holiness smelled the dust from behind the head corner and let it fall to the ground and said, ‘Ma’mun wants to bury me here; but there will emerge a huge stone that if all the picks in Khurasan are brought here, they will not be able to move this stone.

Then, he smelled the dust taken from the upper part and the lower part [of the grave] and uttered the same words; and when he smelled the dust from the Qibla direction (in front of the Harun’s tomb), he said, ‘Here they will dig up a grave for me…’ Then he said, ‘O Aba Salt!