ALI AL-RIDHA (a.s.)

(ALI IBN MUSA)

Politics at Al-Ridha's Times  

AL‑RIDHA:  0‑55 yrs

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE   

      Ali Al-Ridha was, a) born during the reign of Al-Mansoor,  and b) lived throughout the reign of 6 Benu Abbas' Rulers.  Al-Ridha's life-span coincided with the consolidation of the rule of Benu Abbas, then the height of its power.  The cultural achievement of the Ummah was very high at this time.

      Along with his father (Imam Al-Kadhim) Al-Ridha lost no opportunity to continue their works for Islam notwithstanding the hurdles put in their way by Benu Abbas.

      During his lifetime Al-Ridha was contemporary to the following Khalifas as shown in the following table:

AT THE BEGINNING OF AL-RIDHA'S IMAMAH   

      By the beginning of Al-Ridha's Imamah insidious changes had taken place in the attitude of many Piety-minded communities. (During Al-Kadhim’s Imamah many Piety-minded movements were already in existence; each headed by a leader (scholar) called Aalim (Plural U'lamaa).  They were active in their works according to their persuasion, and many of them were highly influential.  To mention just a few there were:  The Shi'a (Imamah-Asserters), schools of Ibn Abbas, Ibn Omar, Murji'ah, Khariji, Mu'tazila, Jabriah, Qadariyah, Jah'miyyah plus less important others.  These schools were dispersed in many intellectual centers of Islamdom, the most important of which were: Medina, Mecca, Kufa, Basrah, Qum, Sham.)  Many were in disfavor, others were slowly absorbed in the emerging new schools of Fiqh (Maaliki and Hanafi), the leaders of which were students of Imam Al-Saadiq years before.

      Unbending, the Institute of Ahlul Bayt continued to hold to the ideal Islam, tenaciously holding to its interpretation of the Shari'ah, and viewing the rule of Benu Abbas as improper (not valid) from Shari'ah viewpoint.  The teaching of Ahlul Bayt continued to be the idealistic Islam and its call was for the ideal Islamic commitment.

      At the beginning of his Imamah, the 35 year old Al-Ridha was aware of the prevailing somber feeling of the Ummah about the imprisonment of Al-Kadhim by Khalifa Haroon Al-Rashid and eventually causing Al-Kadhim’s death in prison.

      Al-Ridha was also confronted with different circumstances:

1. Though having been the head of the Institute for 4 years while his father was imprisoned, Al-Ridha had to limit his activity more or less to administering the affairs of the Institute.

2. The Institute of Ahlul Bayt was restricted due to the pressure put on it by Benu Abbas.

3. The Imamah-Asserters (Shi'a) were spread over vast areas of the Ummah.

4. The Emergence of and changes in the Piety-minded societies was fast taking place.

5. The Conversion of much of the indigenous Christian, Jewish, and Zoradusht population to Islam was more or less complete by now.

6. The Continued need for the effort of Ahlul Bayt to explain the Ideal Islam as Muhammad (pbuh) had taught it, but under different conditions than any time before.

LIFE IN BAGHDAD AT HAROON AL-RASHEED'S TIME:   

      Along with poetry and song, Al-Rashid's courtly life was supplanted with more sober learning and seeming piety.  Even so some eminent U'lamaa (scholars), indeed, refused to be found too close to the Khalifa's Court; but Al‑Rashid —between his bouts of wine‑drinking— paid attention to their exposition of the religious law.  It is certain Al‑Rashid and his court honored the authority of pious Shari'ah scholars, however, he favored those specialized in Hadith reports [As'haab Al-Hadith], and especially those of the Hijaz.

  Al‑Rashid's whole clan, especially his immed­iate family, concentrated the largest spending in their own hands.  His wife  Zubaydah made herself famous for her charities, notably causing numerous wells to be dug along the Haj trail from Iraq to Medina for the use of the Haj  pilgrims.

      The dynasty of Wazirs, the Persian Al-Barmaki family, showered out almost as many gifts as the Khalifa himself.

      As a group, the various big spenders of Baghdad attracted artists, poets, scholars, philosophers, as well as tricksters and sheer career men from every part of the empire.

      Luxury was most evident at the capital —and probably most insecure there.  But the well‑to‑do could lead a very comfortable life even in the pro­vinces.

      Abu‑Nuwas of Basrah (and of Persian stock) was personally a libertine and dedicated his verse to love and wine.

      Abul Atahiyah, of Arab stock, transformed the poetic tradition to be Islamic, ascetic, and of a speculative turn of mind.  Yet, a loyal Muslim of Shi'i sentiments, Abul Atahiyah dedicated his verse to a philosophic bend which proved more popular in the market place than at court of the Khalifa.  Abul Atahiyah's lines formed a mine of soberly pious quotations for future popular writers.

      Sibawayh of Basrah produced the standard book of grammar (afterwards called simply The Book).  The result was to establish standards which effectively safeguarded essential intel­ligibility, however complex the sen­tence. (The Venture of Islam, Marshall Hodgson, Vol. 1, Page 294.)

THE BARMAKI FAMILY:   

      The Barmaki family had been Buddhist priests at Balkh (in Central Asia) before their conversion to Islam.  Already under Khalifas Al‑Saffah and Al‑Mansoor, Khalid Al‑Barmaki had become a top‑ranking Kaatib (Secretary of the Khalifa) and trusted adviser of the Khalifa.  Khalifa Al‑Mahdi son of Al-Mansoor had placed Khalid's son Yahya in charge of Al‑Rashid’s affairs.  Haroon Al-­Rashid had grown up close friends with Yahya's son Ja'far.  When Al-Rashid became Khalifa he retained Ja'far as chief courtier and companion of his leisure hours.  Al-Rashid also made Ja'far's brother, Al-­Fadhl Ibn Yahya Al-Barmaki, head of affairs during most of his reign.

      Imam Musa Al-Kadhim was incarcerated in the house of Al-Fadhl Al-Barmaki for almost one year, and was treated with honor and respect.

      Within a short time after the death of Imam Al-Kadhim, Khalifa Haroon Al‑Rashid grew resentful not only to the enormous power of the Barmakis, (to whom suitors for favors naturally turned even more readily than to the Khalifa himself), but also because of the favorable treatment Al-Fadhl gave Imam Al-Kadhim.  Al-Rashid’s suspicion and resentment grew with time, and one night, without notice, Al-Rashid gave dramatic orders to behead Ja'far Al-Barmaki, which was immediately carried out.  (The head was publicly dis­played next day as usual, to prove to his partisans that Ja'far was dead and beyond help from any coup.)

      Ja'far's brother, al‑Fadhl, and their father, Yahya Al-Barmaki, were imprisoned and died not long after. (The Venture of Islam, Marshall Hodgson, Vol. 1, Page 295.)

 HAROON AL-RASHEED DURING AL-RIDHA'S IMAMAH   

PRELUDE:

1. Wealth and power from the Maghrib to the Sind were concentrated unprecedentedly in the splendid families at the heart of the Abbasi State in Baghdad.

2. Shari'ah U'lamaa, Arab tribesmen, Persian landlords, cosmopolitan merchants, and (more passively) peasants of every land were united in regarding as at once the symbol of Islamic unity —and of civil order and powerful justice.

3. The former Iraqi centers, Kufa and Basrah, where law and grammar had developed, increasingly yielded their sons and their students to the attractions of the capital, where all viewpoints mingled.

AL-RASHEED'S DECISION:   

1. Al‑Rashid himself made a move in which he decreed that the control of the Islamic empire was to be divided on his death between his two sons: Al-Amin and Al-Ma'Moon:

   1. To Al-Amin would go the Fertile Crescent (Iraq and Syria), Arabia, Yemen, and the western provinces.

   2. To Al-Ma'Moon would go Khurasan (Iran) and the eastern provinces, with an army and full autonomy (and the right of subsequent succession), though Al‑Ma'Moon also was bound to obey Al‑Amin in ultimate matters.

2. Al‑Rashid posted his decree in the Ka'ba to give it sacred authority.

3. There was not a single social element in the state strong enough to gainsay this dismemberment of the hard‑built political structure for a personal whim.

AL-RIDHA AT THE TIME OF AL-RASHEED:   

1. Al-Ridha was not harmed by Haroon Al-Rashid, neither before nor after Al-Kadhim had died in prison.

2. Though vocal, Al-Ridha's teaching activity was restricted.

3. The Institute (Al-Howza Al-Ilmiyyah) was somewhat limited in scope.

      Al-Rashid was 30 years old when he imprisoned the 51 year old Al-Kadhim, at which time Al-Ridha was 31 year old.  Four years later Imam Al-Kadhim died in prison, at which time Al-Ridha was 35 years old.  Not too long afterwards, Al-Rashid destroyed Al-Barmaki family.  After that he decreed that the Islamic Empire be divided between his sons (Al-Amin and Al-Ma'Moon), with no attention paid to the consequences of his ill-advised decision.  The fate of the whole Islamic State was at stake, and as it evolved, the self interest of the parties involved played a major role in undermining and enfeebling the Ummah.  It was a turning point.

      It was 10 years after Imam Al-Kadhim had died that Haroon Al-Rashid himself died (at the age of 44 years), at which time Al-Ridha was 45 years old.  For some years after Al‑Rashid’s death the Islamic empire was in fact divided.  The division did not then last however, and a civil war soon ensued.  The warring lasted for over two years and a number of factions participated, each aligned against all the others.

Al-Rasheed was followed by his son Al-Amin:

Al-Rasheed was followed by his son Al-Ma'Moon:

ECONOMIC EXPANSION, AND 

THE POPULARIZATION OF ISLAM

      Islam became a mass people's religion on a wave of economic expansiveness; which, indeed, carried the whole range of cultural innovation of which Islam was a part.  As the commercial activity along the trade routes of the hemisphere increased, the tendency to intensive urbanization in the region from Nile to Oxus (Central Asia) increased.

      Baghdad, was a major trade center, a seat of power, an intellectual center of great appeal. This urban economic expansiveness, so far as it was a product of hemisphere‑wide economic activity, contributed to making possible the power of the Khalifa State.  As generally happens, economic expansiveness tended to be self‑perpetua­ting.  The surging urban prosperity allowed fortunes to be made by large num­bers and encouraged a social mobility rapid even for the Nile‑to‑Oxus region.

1.    Commerce:   

    Commerce and markets flourished freely, and hence possibilities for new investment, were expanding.  Merchants, buying cheap and selling dear, found it profitable to carry exotic goods long distances with less danger of interruption and consequent increase of price than in politically more troubled times; hence luxuries were available not only at Baghdad but in many other places in unusual abundance.

      Such trade stimulated further local production.  Of the wealth so released, at least a part went to encourage still further economic activity.

2.  BANKING:   

    To supply the needs of far‑flung merchant houses, a regular banking business grew up, which evi­dently had developed out of money‑changing business.  Bankers accepted draughts drawn in one place on funds deposited far distant.  The government naturally made use of these bankers in accelerating its tax collecting and in other operations of its bureaucracy.  Without the commercial network the effective bureaucratic centralization could hardly have functioned.  But conversely, without the dependability pro­vided by the bureaucracy the commercial network would not have been able to function in such large‑scale units as it often did.

3.  INVESTMENT:   

    Though money still often went into land, funds available for investment were very com­monly put into trade.  Transport of luxury goods was most profitable, but less consistently so than transport of more mundane goods like grain, which was also important.  Commercial arrangements always tend to be relatively flexible, but this was a time of unusual diversity and inventiveness.  Almost all forms of mercantile life tended to be carried on in partnerships; these varied almost indefinitely as to the terms of co‑operation between the partners and as to the number of partners engaged in a single endeavor Muslims and non‑Muslims were sometimes partners together.

4.  POSTAL SERVICE:   

    To maintain the far‑flung contacts which long‑distance trade required (a merchant stationed in Gujarat [in India] might have a relative traveling in Spain or be planning a commercial venture to the Oxus basin or the Volga valley) there were regular postal services, arranged by private individuals, over the most important sea and land routes; usually these were slow, but some seem to have been express services.

5.  AL-BAREED:   

      As in the official messenger services (Al-Bareed) for central government use, messengers could carry letters very rapidly by changing horses at pre‑arranged servicing stations.  The merchants themselves traveled with their goods in ships —normally owned by private individuals, whether on seas or on rivers— or in privately managed land con­voys of camel transport, the caravans.

6.  INDUSTRIES:   

     A number of new industries spread in the region by this time: Paper‑making was learned from China via the Oxus basin, which replaced the processing of papyrus leaves for writing material.  The use of cotton came in from India.  Paper and sugar mills sometimes employed large numbers of workers.  And so did the government enterprises such as the workshops in which were made the robes of honor which the Khalifas dispensed.  Nevertheless, the ideal of craftsmen was to work as independent masters at their trade, perhaps hiring one or two other workers as assistants; or to work in apprenticeship, if they could not afford to set up shop on their own.  Both merchants and craftsmen found ways of associating to protect their common interests against outside competition; among dhimmis, this could be done through the com­munity organization of the local Dhimmi group itself. (Dhimmi is a person who is either Christian or Jew under the protection of the Islamic government.)  But at least in some places (like Cairo) individuals tended very often to be almost on their own.  For instance, though commonly tradesmen of the same calling were located in a common market area, sometimes individuals took space elsewhere; and though the tradesmen of a given trade were often referred to collectively on a family basis, individuals could frequently take up a new trade which their families had not pursued.  The principle of free contract ruled in a wide range of city life, allowing for much fluidity such as an expanding economy required.

7.  CRAFTSMANSHIP:   

    In this expanding prosperity and its concomitant social mobility, Islam and the Muslims' institutions played a key role.  To a degree, the Monarchical discipline and broad extent of the Khalifa State (under strong Khalifas, at least) had its effect in assuring tranquility and a favorable atmosphere for trade.  With order came prosperity.  To a degree, of course, it was just the prosperity which made possible the strong rulers.

      But once the monarchy arose, it had a further autonomous effect.  In particular, the extensive power of the monarchy had its own direct influence in producing a ferment in high culture.  The new questions raised and the new traditions launched bore fruit in a vigorous continued cultural dialogue.  The Khalifa court was the focal point of the prosperity of the times, and the ex­ample and influence of the court spread throughout the empire because of the attractive power of wealth.

8.  FASHION:   

    Whatever of the revenue could be gotten away from the provinces came to Baghdad, there to be re­distributed through the channels of a fashionable life of luxury; thither came likewise the most ambitious young men from everywhere.  From the capital poured back into the provinces not only governors, but merchants, landowners endowed from the Khalifa bounty, and all sorts of men who had occasion to taste temporarily of the splendor of Baghdad.

      The fashions set at the court in administration, in social life, and in literary and artistic taste were thereupon spread to all the provincial centers, while the court itself was a melting pot in which all cultural traditions confronted each other.  A key trait of the new common culture so formed, one which helped in turn to make that culture possible, was a high degree of social mobility: not merely the social mobility in economic life presupposed by economic expansion, but a specifically cultural openness —based on the possibility that a man of spirit or of special gifts could rise in the social scale without the advantages of family or of communal connections, or could move among circles formed by other communities despite the advantages which local ties gave him in his own.  The Muslims were aware of the vitality which could come from new men.  A man's illustrious genealogy should begin with himself rather than end with himself.

9.  ARTS AND LETTERS:   

    Men of arts and letters were constantly on the move, rarely residing in the town of their birth, and usually able to report visits to many widely distant cities.  The Khalifa's court itself soon took the lead in encouraging social mobility.  The courtiers clung to some elements of hereditary position, which had been very important in Persian times.  Sometimes they wrote as if this were essential to Adab, to polite cultivation.  The descendants of the old Arabian tribes still prided themselves on the purity of their line; and particularly the Alawi were very much looked up to.

10.  BUREAU OF GENEALOGY:   

    There were special governmental bureaus to register the generations of these families, so that genuine descent could be guaranteed, and to regulate the considerable pro­perties and privileges accruing to the families as such.  But such aristocratic tendencies were at a disadvantage.  The Piety‑minded among the Muslims had further helped to lower the pride both of the Arab tribesmen, with their pagan ancestors, and of the formerly infidel gentry.  The Abbasi program was largely based on the principle of equality among the Muslim faithful, even apart from the other sort of equality that prevailed among sub­jects of an absolute king.

11. THE MAN OF TALENT:   

    At Baghdad under the Abbasi rule a man of talent could make a fortune or reach the highest positions with little regard for his birth.  What mattered even at court was his personal Adab (Polite Cultivation), especially his literary cultivation.  But it was not merely the economic and political role of the Muslim court that made for a new common regional pattern of culture.

12.  SOCIAL PATTERNS:   

    Other social pres­sures favored by economic expansiveness expressed themselves directly through Islam.  Its spread altered the social relations holding among the several traditions of high culture.  By now Muslims no longer formed merely a small ruling class, but were becoming a substantial part of the population at large, in some places a majority.  Consequently, there were no longer simply many religious communi­ties divided from each other in geography, in language, and in lettered tradi­tions.

      With the advent of Benu Abbas' rule, conversion to Islam had become very general.  After several generations, the majority of the town populations and even many peasants in the greater part of the empire seem to have become Muslims.  To be Muslim carried with it great prestige and no doubt merchants found it a special advantage.  Certain trades seem to have become largely Muslim, while others remained largely Christian or Jewish.  Above all, immigration of country population into the growing towns was probably often accompanied by conversion to the dominant religious tradition there; the peasant who must learn a new and urban way of life anyway may as well learn a new religious pat­tern too.  Once the number of Muslims became considerable, the mosque be­came the most cosmopolitan center of all activities.

13.  THE POPULAR STORY-TELLERS (AL-QASSASSOON):   

    Popular story‑tellers (quasars) held forth there upon the wonders of the Prophets and other tales, all conceived within an Islamic framework.  A popular Islam arose further, complete with its own history, ethics, and eschatology, drawing on the most striking notions found in all the earlier religious traditions.  When the towns had thus become primarily Mus­lim, their innumerable links with the dependent village populations assured the gradual conversion of the villages also.  Under the Abbasi, the new converts no longer had to be identified with any Arab tribe, for such tribes themselves gradually were losing their privi­leges.  Islam became a badge, a status symbol, not of a ruling class, but of a cosmopolitan, urban‑oriented mass; it became a symbol of the newly intensified social mo­bility.  Of course, it was not only within Islam that social mobility showed its effects, but with accentuated urbanization came accentuated social mobility generally. (The Venture of Islam, Marshall Hodgson, Vol. 1, Page 301-305.)

QUESTIONS   

1. Give a historical perspective of Imam Al-Ridha's lifetime.

2. To how many rulers of Benu Abbas was Imam Al-Ridha contemporary?

3. Enumerate the 6 situations facing Al-Ridha at the beginning of his Imamah.

4. Name the Piety-minded communities at the beginning of Al-Ridha's Imamah.

5. Provide a description of Khalifa Al-Rashid’s court life in Baghdad.

6. Portray life in Baghdad at the time of Haroon Al-Rashid's Khilaafah.

7. Give a detailed account of Al-Barmaki dynasty.

8. Explain the possible reasons for ousting the Barmaki family.

9. Describe the person of Khalifa Al-Rashid and his decision of the future control of the Ummah.

10. Give an account of Khalifa Al-Amin's background and rule.

11. Give a brief description of Baghdad during the civil war between Khalifa Al-Amin and his brother Al-Ma'Moon.

12. Describe the works of Imam Al-Ridha during Khalifa Al-Amin's rule.

13. List 5 important points about Khalifa Al-Ma'Moon's background.

14. Specify 5 points of importance about Khalifa Al-Ma'Moon's administration.

15. Enumerate the number of uprisings with which Al-Ma'Moon had to deal.

16. Give a detailed account of Khalifa Al-Ma'Moon's relation with Imam Al-Ridha.

17. Give an account of the agreement between Imam Al-Ridha and Khalifa Al-Ma'Moon.

18. What marriage relationship evolved between Imam Al-Ridha and Khalifa Al-Ma'Moon?

19. Briefly comment about;  Commerce, Banking, and Investment in Baghdad.

20. Describe the postal service and Al-Bareed during Imam Al-Ridha's time.

21. Comment about the craftsmanship during Imam Al-Ridha's time.

22. Discuss the men of arts and letters during Imam Al-Ridha's time.

23. Describe the Bureau of Genealogy during Imam Al-Ridha's time.

24. Review the social patterns during Imam Al-Ridha's time.

25. Evaluate the influence of the Qassass [Popular Story Tellers] during Imam Al-Ridha's time.