Imam al-Hadi (a.

Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) neither respected him nor feared his authority but began advising and reminding him of the afterlife and criticizing the state of dalliance, amusement, and pleasure he was in. We shall discuss this in detail later on, insha’Allah. Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) was the only representative of the front of opposition to the Abbasid rule, and one of the prominent leaders of the nation who struggled against tyranny and oppression.

He took a brave and unwavering position against the kings of his age. He did not associate with any one of them; rather he preferred to stay away from them. Therefore, they held grudges and enmity against him and inflicted him with severity and violence.

If Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) had humored or flattered the kings of his age, they would not have imposed house-arrest on him in Surra Men Ra’a, or the economical blockade that had led him to critical insolvency, or prevented him from meeting his followers. Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) preferred the content (Ridha) of Allah and the best interest of the nation to everything else; therefore he turned away from those kings who imposed their authorities by force and oppression.

In this book, we shall draw a clear picture on their policies and lives, as quoted by the most reliable sources of history.Not only was Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) afflicted with the Abbasid kings of his time, in fact all Muslims were afflicted with them. The Abbasids played with the principles of religion to the point that not even a shadow of Islam remained as it used to be during their reigns. They exploited the economy of the nation to satisfy their pleasures.

They spent the wealth of Muslims wastefully on singers and dalliers. Their red nights in Baghdad and Samarra’ were full of all that which Allah had prohibited. They absolutely turned their backs to the Islamic principles and indulged in pleasures and lusts. The study of an age is one of the systematic researches in studying the life of one who lives in that age, because it uncovers the important sides of the intellectual, social, and political life of that age.

In light of this fact, we have to study the age and time of Imam al-Hadi (a.s.) and cover all its aspects because it had influence on the life of Imam al-Hadi (a.s.).