Then, the poets and rhetoricians came and read excellent...

Then, the poets and rhetoricians came and read excellent poems and dictated some brilliant sermons. It was then decided for Imam al-Ridato read a sermon. The Imam stood up and only said one and a half sentence which was actually criticizing all their actions. This is the content of it, “We (meaning us , the infallible Imams) are benefactors to you as your guardians.” This meant: the right is basically ours and not something for Ma’mun to hand over to us.

(I cannot remember the exact phrase) and you are indebted to us. Your right is for us to manage you and once you respect our rights meaning when you accepted us as caliphs, it would be obligatory upon us to carry out our duty in regards to you. Wassalam. Two sentences: we have a right that is the caliphate and you, as a people, have a right to be maintained by a caliph. You people must give our right and if you give our right, we have a duty to fulfil towards you and we will fulfil it.

No thanking Ma’mun and nothing else. The content was not in tune with the spirit of a ceremony held for a newly-elected crown prince. This story then carries on the…