IMAM MUSA AL-KAZIM (AS) used to exhort the whole family to...

IMAM MUSA AL-KAZIM (AS) used to exhort the whole family to refer all religious problems to his son IMAM ALI AR-RIDA (AS) whom he saw to be the most learned among the descendants of the Prophet, instructing them to confine to memory whatever Imam Ali (as) said. Similarly, all Muslim scholars came to him seeking solutions to delicate theological problems. MUHAMMAD IBN MUSA AL-QUTAINI states that only the written questions to which he replied in writing numbered 18,000.

VARIOUS PHASES OF LIFE After putting an end to the life of IMAM MUSA AL-KAZIM (AS), HARUN lived for ten years. He had less tolerance for the existence of IMAM ALI AR-RIDA (AS) than he did for that of his revered father. But the government had already lost face due to its prolonged maltreatment and eventual assassination of IMAM MUSA AL-KAZIM (AS), or perhaps the tyrant felt the stings of conscience which kept him from harassing IMAM ALI AR-RIDA (AS).

It is said that once YAHYA IBN KHALIK AL-BARMAKI, in order to gain the ruler's favor, informed HARUN that IMAM ALI AR-RIDA (AS) claimed Imamate in the same way his father had done.

HARUN coldly replied: "We have already inflicted cruelties on his father; do you expect me to annihilate this family altogether?" Still, HARUN was antagonistic towards the Prophet's progeny and he persisted in mistreating them; therefore, the local officers who wished to please the ruler could not afford to be fair to AHL AL-BAYT (AS). People could not visit IMAM ALI AR-RIDA (AS) freely to seek his knowledge, and he had little chance to publicly disseminate the true Islamic teachings.

The last years of HARUN'S life were embittered by the political rivalry of his sons AL-AMIN and AL-MA'MUN. AL-AMIN was his elder son by ZUBAIDA, the granddaughter of ABU JA'FAR AL-MANSUR AL-DAWANIQI, He had, therefore, the support of all Arab nobility. AL-MA'MUN was born of a Persian maid, so the Persian nobility supported his cause. The struggle between the two brothers chafed his soul.

In order to settle the dispute, he divides the kingdom between the two: Baghdad and the territories surrounding it, Syria, Egypt, what is now Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, he put under AL-AMIN'S rule. AL-MA'MUN was put in charge of ruling the eastern provinces of Persia, KHURASAN and Trans-Saxony This settlement could have worked had the two brothers respected the principle of "Live and let live". In the present tussle, hissed the dragon of rivalry.