I said...

I said: “May I be sacrificed for you -asws , a holiday is upon us, by Allah -azwj , all I have is one Dirham only and nothing else.” Imam -asws broke the surface of the earth with his -asws whip and with his -asws hand picked up a mould of gold and said: “Use it and keep secret what you just saw.”’ [2] Imam Ali Reza -asws was Asked to come to Khurasan: When the matter of the deposed Caliph (Amin) ended and it (the rule) was established for al-Mamoon, he wrote to Imam Al-Reza -asws asking to come to Khurasan.

Abu Al-Hassan -asws in reply presented certain reasons to justify his disagreement with the proposal but Al-Mamoon continued writing until the Imam -asws found it unavoidable because he (al-Mamoon) would not leave him -asws alone. The Imam -asws then decided to leave for Khurasan and at that time Imam Ali Reza -asws was only seven years old. Al-Mamoon wrote to him -asws : ‘Do not travel through the mountains and Qum.

Take the road through Basra, al-Ahwaz and Persia.’ The Imam -asws arrived at Marw. Al-Mamoon offered him -asws to command and lead the task of Khilafat (leadership) but Abu Al-Hassan -asws declined. He then offered the Imam -asws to accept the position of a crown prince.

The Imam -asws said that he might accept it under certain conditions, Al-Mamoon said: ‘Say whatever conditions you -asws like.’ The Imam -asws wrote: ‘I will assume this position with the conditions that I will not issue any order or prohibitions nor issue any fatwa or judgment nor any appointment or dismissal of officers or change anything in the current system. You must excuse me in all such matters.’ Al-Mamoon agreed to all such conditions.

The narrator has said that when it was ‘Id (the holiday) al-Mamoon asked Al-Reza -asws to attend the programme, lead the prayer and deliver the sermon. Al-Reza -asws replied to him saying: ‘You know the conditions between us.