Ja‘far in Mecca and Hejaz, Ibrahim Musa in Yemen, Muhammad b.

Ja‘far in Mecca and Hejaz, Ibrahim Musa in Yemen, Muhammad b. Sulayman in Medina, Ja‘far b. Zayd b. ‘Ali in Wasit, Muhammad b. Isma‘il in Madaʾin, etc. Ma’mun was very worried of Imam al-Ridha’s (a.s.) influence among the Shi‘as and Iranians who were loyal to him and wanted to keep his holiness under surveillance by any means possible.

In order to control the situations and to solve the problems, he thought by conferring heir apparency to Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) he could remove the main part of his problems by controlling the Alawis’ revolts, legitimizing his rule, and ensuring the Iranians’ consent. This had several benefits for him: Suppressing the Alawis’ revolt; 2. Legitimizing his rule by means of Imam al-Ridha’s (a.s.) joining the court; 3. Attracting the attention of the Iranians who were advocates of the Alawis; 4.

Keeping Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) under surveillance and becoming secure of his holiness’ probable actions (against his rule); 5. Reducing Imam al-Ridha’s (a.s.) prestige by getting him involved in the problems of the rule ( hukuma ) and ruining his spiritual reputation by presenting a profane and secular picture of him. Having been forcefully submitted to heir apparency, Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) acted in a way that Ma’mun’s sinister plot resulted in his own loss and made him repent of what he had done.

The actions his holiness took were divisible into the following instances: 1. Refusing to accept heir apparency for some time to the extent that Ma’mun forced his holiness to accept it. 2. Making the acceptance of heir apparency conditional on non-interference in rulership. 3. Widespread scientific and cultural activities towards the promotion of the ’s (a.s.) school of thought. 4. Expressing the power of wilaya and Imamate by presenting clear miracles. 5.

Frequent protests against Ma’mun and his opinions on different occasions. ‘Id al-Fitr Prayer One of the significant events during the era of Imam al-Ridha’s (a.s.) heir apparency is the Imam’s setting off to perform the ‘Id al-Fitr prayer. Imam al-Ridha (a.s.) told him: “There were certain conditions set forth between you and me, on which I accepted this matter (i.e. I set the conditions that I would not interfere in the rule’s affairs)”.