History Books

We cannot understand the secret in the continuation of such a loose stance of al-Mamoon towards al-Fadl and whether it was due to a secret plan al-Mamoon had prepared to trap al-Fadl and get rid of him after going beyond reasonable limits in his cont...

We cannot understand the secret in the continuatio...

Al-Fadl was not completely unaware of the secret warnings to al-Mamoon regarding his suspicious movements and what political gains he aspired to achieve in order to satisfy his aspirations and ambitions for which he had prepared plans with sure resul...

Al-Fadl was not completely unaware of the secret w...

With the talent of cunning and conniving, al-Fadl was able to control the sentiments of the leaders and heads who made up the governing apparatus, forcing upon them his own power and awe without anyone being able to go beyond the limits al-Fadl had d...

With the talent of cunning and conniving, al-Fadl ...

But Sulayman kept fumbling about in his answers to the Imam's questions after the Imam had closed before him all avenues of his argument, and al-Mamoon was quick to notice his fumbling about which indicated Sulayman's loss, so he rebuked him and crit...

But Sulayman kept fumbling about in his answers to...

The Imam (A.S.) has proven the accuracy of badaa in which Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.) believe by first quoting the Holy Qur'an, for God Almighty said, "So leave them alone, for you shall not be blamed for that,"153 meaning thereby that He intends to annihilat...

The Imam (A.S.) has proven the accuracy of badaa i...

In another session, al-Mamoon invited him to debate Sulayman al-Maroozi, Khurasan's scientist in kalam, and the debate between them dealt with some significant topics which were being debated then by scholars of the science of kalam, and the starting...

In another session, al-Mamoon invited him to debat...

The Zoroastrian high priest had no more to say. The Imam then turned to the debate's witnesses, having finished debating with the chief representatives of those creeds, asking anyone else to go ahead and put forth any question he had, everyone abstai...

The Zoroastrian high priest had no more to say. Th...

Al-Nawfali tried to warn the Imam against attempting to deal with the debates of such people when the Imam asked him why al-Mamoon had invited him to debate them, for al-Mamoon had asked the Catholic archbishop, the High Rabbi, leading Sabians, the H...

Al-Nawfali tried to warn the Imam against attempti...

The story of this dissertation is that al-Mamoon had a very inquisitive mind eager for knowledge, fond of obtaining more of it. During one of his scientific debates, a group of physicians and philosophers in Nishapur, including Yohanna (John) ibn Mas...

The story of this dissertation is that al-Mamoon h...

Al-Mamoon was very pleased to receive that dissertation and he expressed how much he cherished it by ordering to have it written down in gold and to be deposited at his "depository of wisdom," thus its name "the gold dissertation." In praising it, al...

Al-Mamoon was very pleased to receive that dissert...

Despite all of this, we see no reason to doubt that it was authored by the Imam if we apply the criterion generally applied to derive legislative verdicts (ahkam), or to be familiar with the principles of the creed (usool), for in that case there are...

Despite all of this, we see no reason to doubt tha...

The Imams were tested during various periods of their lives by pressing crises due to the trespassing of oppressive rulers on their civil liberties. They pursued their followers and sincere adherents, straitening on them in various aspects of their e...

The Imams were tested during various periods of th...

Some historians doubted the scholarship of the Imams, let alone their scholarly superiority, basing their doubts on the claim that had they been truly scholars, their books would have been made available to the public as is the case with all other sc...

Some historians doubted the scholarship of the Ima...

The Imams did, indeed privately support those successive revolutions without publicly announcing their support. They viewed them as means of public awareness against oppressive government systems. For example, Imam al-Kazim (A.S.) is quoted saying to...

The Imams did, indeed privately support those succ...

The Imam (A.S.) was not objecting to the revolution but he simply wanted to assure those persons that the revolution whose success he could not secure was one he would not join. According to his serious foresight into events, it seemed to him that th...

The Imam (A.S.) was not objecting to the revolutio...

There is a previous stance in which the Imam (A.S.) had sided with the Alawide revolution of Ibn Tabataba under the command of Abul-Saraya. Muhammad ibn al-Athram, chief of the police force of Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Alawi at Medina during the days ...

There is a previous stance in which the Imam (A.S....

What we try to get acquainted with by examining the Imam's stance towards his brother Zayd of the fire was the reality regarding the Imam's viewpoint of the revolutionary method employed by the Alawides in their revolutions against the Abbasides. We ...

What we try to get acquainted with by examining th...

Yasir the servant narrates that when Zayd entered the Imam's house, Abul-Hassan (A.S.) said, "O Zayd! Were you duped by the speech of some lowly people in Kufa who said that Fatima safeguarded her modesty, therefore God shunned Hell-fire from her pro...

Yasir the servant narrates that when Zayd entered ...

In Yemen, Ibrahim ibn Mousa ibn Ja'fer rose and took control of the government after banishing al-Mamoon's governor. In Mecca, al-Husayn ibn al-Hassan al-Aftas rose, and Muhammad ibn Ja'fer was named caliph. In Basrah, Zayd ibn Mousa ibn Ja'fer rose ...

In Yemen, Ibrahim ibn Mousa ibn Ja'fer rose and to...

Stories regarding the method al-Mamoon employed to kill Imam al-Rida (A.S.) are abundant. Abul-Faraj and al-Mufid say that he killed him by poisoned pomegranate juice and poisoned grape juice. In his Al-Irshad, al-Mufid quotes Abdullah ibn Bashir say...

Stories regarding the method al-Mamoon employed to...

The Imam (A.S.) had his own particular method in promoting the dawah, for he took advantage of some exciting situations in order to open people's eyes to see how corrupt the government and its ruling system was, having no freedom of movement due to t...

The Imam (A.S.) had his own particular method in p...