Why did they not become Kharijite ?
Why did they not become Kharijite ?” (Meaning, why have they attributed themselves to us?) Then, the Imam (a.s.) said, “Do not associate with them do not confirm them, be averse to them; may God be averse to them.”[^4] And when Abu Hashim Ja‘fari asked Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) concerning the zealots and the people believing in free-will ( Ahl al-tafwidh ), his holiness said, “Zealots are unbelievers and Ahl al-tafwidh are polytheists; whoever associates with them, eats and drinks with them, helps them, gets married to them, transacts with them, believes in them, regards them trustworthy, confirms their sayings, or helps them even with the fewest words, will be estranged from friendship with the Almighty and Glorious Allah, friendship with the Apostle of Allah (S), and the friendship with us the .” ^5 When we refer to the narrations regarding the condemnation of the zealots, we find out that many of those narrations have been quoted from Imam al-Ridha (a.s.)[^6], which imply that the zealots were widely active in that era.
One of the zealots told Imam al-Ridha (a.s.): “Yunus b. Ẓabyan – from among those accused of zealotry – has said, ‘One night I was circumambulating [around Ka‘ba] when I heard a voice from above telling me O Yunus, I am Allah and there is no god but me; worship me and perform prayers to remember me. When I raised my head, all of a sudden Abu al-Hasan appeared to me.’ Upon hearing such words, Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) got so disturbed that he said to that man: ‘get away from me!
May God curse you and everyone who has told you this and Yunus b. Ẓabyan with a thousand curses followed by a thousand more curses and may every curse take you deep down into Hell.
I bear witness that it was no one but the Satan who called him.”[^7] When they told Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) that some of those who regard themselves as his followers suppose that these – Divine – attributes belong to ‘Ali (a.s.) and that he is Allah, the Lord of the two worlds, the Imam began to shake in utter agitation and sweat profusely and said, “ Subhan Allah ! Exalted is Allah from what the tyrants and wrong-doers say!
Was it not that ‘Ali who ate like other eaters, who drank like among other drinkers, who got married like other ones who got married, etc.? Was he not the one who stood humbly and subserviently in prayer before his Lord and whispered supplications to Him?