Month of Shawwal

Fazal Ibn Shazan, on the authority of Imam Reza (a) narrates that he (a) said: “The day of Eid al-Fitr has been declared as the day of festivity so that the people could get an opportunity to meet each other and be thankful to Almighty Allah for His Blessings. So this day is the day of gathering, breaking of fast and intimacy. As this is the first day of the year in which eating and drinking is allowed because for righteous persons the first month of the year is the month of Ramazan. Almighty Allah appreciates that on this day people should sit and arrange meetings in order to express gratitude and glorification. In comparison to other salats there are more Takbeers in the prayer of this day. As the Takbeer has been established for understanding His greatness and glorification is for the guidance from His side and safety given by Him. As the Almighty Allah said in the Holy Qur’an (2:185)…

There are twelve takbeers in 2 rakats, seven in the 1st rakat and five in the 2nd rakat. Do not equalize them because it is recommended to begin the obligatory prayers with seven takbeers. That is why seven takbeers have been preferred over here. Five takbeers have been established in the 2nd rakat as there are five takbeeratul ahraam in five daily prayer that is why the number of takbeer in each rakat is odd.”

Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Hashem quoted that when Yasir, the servant of Imam Reza (a), returned from Khorasan after the martyrdom of Imam Reza (a) in Toos, he told me all the news about the events which had happened. Ali ibn Ibrahim narrated that Rayyan ibn al-Salt, who was from the group of Hasan ibn Sahl’s, narrated a tradition: My father quoted on the authority of Muhammad ibn Arafat and Saaleh ibn Saeed al-Rashidi that all quoted the (following) news about Imam Reza (a), “When the time of the dismissed caliph (al-Ameen) was finished and Ma’moon took over the caliphate, he wrote a letter to Imam Reza (a) and invited him to Khorasan. However, Imam Reza (a) refused for several reasons. However, Ma’moon did not stop here and kept on insisting until Imam Reza (a) got convinced that he was not going to stop. Then Imam Reza (a) left for Marv when his son Abu Ja’far (a) was only seven years old.

Ma’moon wrote to him instructing not to come by way of Kufa and Qum. Rather, he (a) was taken to Marv by way of Basra, Ahwaz and Fars. When he arrived in Marv, Ma’moon told him to accept the ranks of Divine Leadership and caliphate. However, Imam Reza (a) refused this. However, Ma’moon insisted on it a lot. This kept going on for two months, until after a lot of discussions Ma’moon suggested Imam Reza (a) accept the post of the successor to the throne. He (a) accepted this and told him, ‘(I will only accept this) upon conditions that I will state.’ Then Ma’moon said, ‘State your conditions.’ Then Imam Reza (a) wrote, ‘I will accept the succession to the throne upon the conditions that I neither issue any orders, nor do I admonish against anything; I neither judge, nor change anything; that I be excused from all such affairs.’ Then Ma’moon accepted this. He accepted all his conditions and invited the governors, the judges, the army heads, the office workers and all the Abbasids to come and pledge allegiance to him. He spent a lot of money and granted rewards to the army heads and satisfied them all except for three of the army heads named Isa al-Joloodi, Ali ibn Imran and Abu Yunus who did not accept to pledge allegiance to Imam Reza (a). Then he imprisoned them. The people pledged allegiance to Imam Reza (a). This was declared in writing to all the towns. Coins were issued in Imam Reza’s (a) name and sermons were delivered in his name on the pulpits. Ma’moon spent lot of money in order to achieve his dirty politics. When the Eid day came, Ma’moon sent someone after Imam Reza (a) and asked him to ride to the congregation, and deliver the sermon to reassure the people, so that they would recognize his nobility and wholeheartedly attract them to this blessed government. Then Imam Reza (a) sent someone to him who said, ‘You are aware of the conditions set between you and I in accepting this affair.’ Then Ma’moon said, ‘I only want the public, the army and the office workers to feel sure about this affair, feel secure in their hearts and recognize the nobility that Allah (swt) has granted you.’ This discussion kept going on back and forth until the Imam realized that Ma’moon was insisting. Then Imam Reza (a) said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful! I prefer that you excuse me from doing this. However, if you insist, I must perform the prayer just like Allah’s Prophet (s) and the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib (a) did.’ He said, ‘Fine. Do it as you wish.’ Then Ma’moon ordered the troops and the people to be at Imam Reza (a)’s residence in the morning for Eid prayer. All the people gathered around the house of Imam Reza (a). All the lanes and the streets were filled with men, women and children. All the troops gathered around the door of Imam Reza’s (a) house. Then when the sun rose, Imam Reza (a) stood up, made ablutions, put on a white cotton turban letting one side of it fall down upon his chest and the other side fall behind his head. He took off his socks and slippers and told all his friends to do the same. He held a cane in his hand and left the house. We gathered around him. He was in bare feet and had rolled up his pants half-way to the knees. He had rolled up the outer robe he was wearing half-way up. When he came among us, we were walking ahead of him. He raised his head up to the sky and shouted ‘Allah is the Greatest’ 4 times. We all felt that the heavens and the buildings were all shouting the same. The troops and the people at the door were all standing there in an orderly fashion. The troops had their weapons and were really majestic. When we appeared to them in this (above-mentioned) form with bare feet and having wrapped up our outer robes, and Imam Reza (a) had appeared among the people, he stopped at the door and said…

He raised his voice, and so did we. We kept on saying the Festival’s glorifications. At once, the whole city of Marv broke out in tears and cried out. He said the above 3 times. The soldiers got off their horses, took off their boots and left them when they saw Abil Hasan (a). All of Marv broke out in tears and mourning. The people could not stop crying. Abul Hasan (a) took ten steps, stopped and repeated the glorifications 4 times. It was just as if the heavens and all the buildings responded to him. Ma’moon was informed about this. Fazl ibn Sahl told him, ‘O Commander of the Faithful! Should al-Reza reach the place for the prayer in this way, it will cause sedition among the people. Consider asking him to return.’ Then Ma’moon sent someone to Imam Reza (a) and asked him (a) to return home. He (a) asked for his slippers and returned home. Muhammad ibn Fazl said the following: “Once Imam Reza (a) on the day of Eid Fitr said to a certain individual of his servants, while praying for him.

Then it was the day of Eid Azha and he (the Imam) (a) said to him…

Muhammad ibn Fazl then asked, ‘O son of the Messenger of Allah, why is it that on the day of Eid Fitr you said to him something different from what you said to him on the day of Eid Azha?’ He (a) replied, ‘What I said on the day of al-Fitr was because we both had done the same deed in equal form, but on the day of al-Azha we were able to offer a sacrifice, but he was unable to do so, thus we did something different from what he did.’