Imam al-Sadiq (a.

Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “Take heeds of your youths lest the zealots should corrupt them, as the zealots are the worst of God’s creatures; they belittle God’s majesty and claim Lordship for God’s servants. By God, the zealots are worse than the Jews, the Christians, the Magi, and the polytheists.”[^1] Therefore, Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) proceeded to battle against this group, who were active in the time of his holiness.

In a hadith , Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) relates a tradition with its chain of transmission from his father and forefathers from the Apostle of Allah who said, “Do not raise me above what I deserve; verily, the Almighty Allah made me His servant before appointing me as a Prophet.” Then his holiness recited aya s 79 and 80 of Surat Al-i Imran.[^2] He went on to quote Imam ‘Ali (a.s.) as saying: “Two (persons) will perish because of me while I am not to be blamed: an extreme lover and an extreme hater.” Then, Imam al-Ridha said, “By God, we are averse to the one who hyperbolizes us and raises us above what we really are, just as Jesus, son of Mary, was averse to the Christians.” After reciting some verses of the Qur’an, his holiness said, “Whoever claims Lordship for the Prophets, Prophethood for the Imams and Imamate for the non-Imams, we are averse to him both in this world and Hereafter.”[^3] That is to say, the followers of (a.s.) are to be careful neither belittles the status of the Imams as impressed by the adversaries, nor raise them to the level of Lordship or Prophethood out of undue love and prejudice; rather, they should follow intellect and religious law and what they themselves have stated.

In another tradition, Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) said, “Allah’s curse be upon the zealots ( ghali s)! Why did they not become Jew?! Why did they not become Magus?! Why did they not become Christian?! Why did they not become Qadari ?! Why did they not become Murj’ite ?!