Visiting the tyrannical idol(taghut)
Two travelers arrived in Khurasan and came before Imam Reza (A.S.) to ask the ruling about their prayers, whether while traveling they should be performed with two or four rak’ah.
Addressing one of them Imam said, “You should shorten your prayers to two rak’ah.” Addressing the other, he said, “You should say your prayers with four rak’ah.”
The two men were surprised at the difference that Imam made between them.
Pointing to the first, Imam said, “You whose prayer is of two rak’ah, it is because your journey is legitimate, halal, for your purpose was to visit me and make ziyarah. On a legitimate journey a four rak’ah prayer is shortened to two cycles. But the purpose of the other was to visit the taghut and this makes his trip illegitimate, haram. On an illegitimate journey, the four rak’ah prayer is unchanged.”(Wasa’il al-Shi’ah, Vol. 5, 510)
Imam’s Behavior Towards the Shi’ites.
Musa ibn Yasar said, “I was with Imam Reza (A.S.) near Tus when we heard the sound of mourning. We followed the sound and came upon a funeral procession. Imam immediately dis-mounted from his horse and walked toward the corpse. Just like a mother embracing her son, he embraced the corpse and said, “God will forgive all the sins of the one who escorts the funeral of our friends.” Then he followed it to the edge of the grave. There he placed his palm on the chest of the corpse and promised it paradise.”
I said, “May I be ransomed for you! Had you known him?” Imam replied, “Do you not know that every dawn and evening the deeds of our followers are presented to us? If they have done good we give thanks to God, but if they have done wrong we pray God to forgive them.”
Once someone who was returning from hajj lost his money. He met Imam and said, “Help me out, and as soon as I get to my own town, I will give the money to the poor as charity (sadiqah) on your behalf.” Imam waited until all the others left the room. Then he went into one of the inner rooms and from behind the door offered the man two hundred dinars and said,
“Spend this money. You do not need to pay it as charity on my behalf.” The friends of the Imam asked him, Why didn’t you face the man when you were giving him the money?” Imam replied, “I did’t want him to feel ashamed at receiving money.”(Furu’ al-Kafi, Vol. 4, 24)
Imam Reza’s Humility.
One day Imam Reza (A.S.) arrived in a bathhouse, and someone said to him, “Hey man, wash and rub down my body!” Imam began washing the man’s body. The people who were there introduced Imam to him. The man apologized to Imam for being so rude, but Imam calmed him down and continued washing him.( Munaqib Al Abi Talib, Vol. 4, 362, as narrated by Imam Reza (A.S.)
Imam Reza (A.S.) used to sit on a straw mat in summer and on sackcloth in winter, but when he appeared before people he used to wear fine neat clothes.(Uyun Akhbar al-Reza(A.S.),Vol.2,178)
Imam Reza’s (A.S.) Behavior Towards Oppressors.
Hasan ibn Husayn Anbari said, “For fourteen years I corresponded with Imam Reza (A.S.). I asked his permission to work for the government. In my last letter, I reminded him that I was afraid that they would cut my head off, and that the governor said that I was a rafidi (one who rejects the caliphate, a Shi’ite), and that undoubtedly I was refusing to work for the government because of my being rafidi.
Imam Reza (A.S.) wrote to me, “I read your letter in which you wrote that you feared for your life. If you know that when you obtain authority you will behave as the Prophet of God (S.A.W.) has commanded, and accordingly, you will choose your assistants and secretaries from among the Shi’ah, and whenever anything is placed at your disposal, you will disperse it equally among the disadvantaged, so that yourself will be included as one of them, in that case you may do it, but otherwise, no.”
Visiting the tyrannical idol(taghut) Visiting the tyrannical idol(taghut)
