That will reveal new aspects of this luminous and noble life.

That will reveal new aspects of this luminous and noble life. The statements and actions with which the Imam (A) confronted al-Ma'mun's plan in order to achieve his strategic aim, together with the reasons for acceptance, led to the following results: a. They firmly established the formula of nass in the mind of the Ummah. b.

They created an opposition within the regime on an ideological, political and popular level (we can regard the popular sentiments, expressed during the incident of the prayer of the festival ( 'Id ) as an indication of this phenomenon). c. They led al-Ma'mun to adopt a defensive attitude, for he felt that the principle of nass would have a popular reaction in society. We will give an important example of the extent of actual influence that al-'Imam al-Rida (A) had on a public level.

During the public outburst following the death of al-Fadl ibn Sahl and the attack of the commanders and troops on al-Ma'mun's residence, the latter took refuge from them and asked the Imam (A) to intervene and save him. The Imam came out to meet them and instructed them to disperse, which they did.

A historical report describes this scene: "He approached the people and by Allah, they fell over each other, and he did not signal to anyone except that he ran and continued (running) and did not stop." This incident shows the strong influence which the Imam had over the commanders and troops and those who were with them, despite the fact that in accordance with the conditions that he had laid down he did not intervene in any matter related to political authority so that he might be an object of hope or fear on that account.

Thus, he was influential due to a cause which was not political or governmental but ideological, i.e., the belief in the nass and the obedience which that entailed. Al-Ma'mun realized through his political experience that the appearance of these reactions demanded an end of this experiment, the experiment of heir apparency. He discovered that he had failed to realize his strategic aim as regards nass and that it was the Imam who had been victorious in this field.

So he preferred to be content with the achievements of his immediate and urgent aims, before there was a reaction to the Imam's victory regarding nass . This would have created an irredeemable situation, in which the caliphate of al-Ma'mun and the 'Abbasids would have fallen into turmoil and swept away in a revolution which upheld the banner of nass in its purity.