151 - إجبارُ الإمامِ عَلى‏ وِلايَةِ العَهدِ

151. Compelling the Imam to be the Heir Apparent

467.ابو الصلت الهروي : إنّ المأمونَ قالَ للرِّضا عليه السلام : يابنَ رسولَ اللَّهِ ... إنّي قد رأيتُ أنْ أعزِلَ نَفْسي عنِ الخِلافةِ ، وأجْعَلَها لكَ واُبايِعَكَ !
فقالَ له الرِّضا عليه السلام: إنْ كانتْ هذهِ الخلافةُ لكَ واللَّهُ جَعلَها لكَ فلا يَجوزُ لكَ أنْ تَخْلَعَ لِباساً ألبَسَكَهُ اللَّهُ وتَجْعلَهُ لِغَيرِكَ ، وإنْ كانتِ الخِلافةُ لَيستْ لكَ فلا يَجوزُ لكَ أن تَجْعلَ لِي ما ليسَ لكَ.
فقالَ له المأمونُ : يابنَ رسولِ اللَّهِ ، فَلابُدَّ لكَ مِن قَبولِ هذا الأمرِ! فقالَ : لَستُ أفْعَلُ ذلك طائعاً أبداً ... تُريدُ بذلكَ أن يَقولَ النّاسُ : إنّ عليَّ بنَ موسى‏ الرِّضا لم يَزْهَدْ في الدُّنيا بل زَهِدَتِ الدُّنيا فيهِ ! ألا تَرَونَ كيفَ قَبِلَ وِلايةَ العهدِ طمَعاً في الخِلافة ؟ ! فغَضِبَ المأمونُ ثُمَّ قالَ : ... فباللَّهِ اُقسِمُ لَئنْ قَبِلْتَ وِلايةَ العهدِ وإلّا أجْبَرتُكَ على‏ ذلكَ ، فإنْ فَعلتَ وإلّا ضَرَبتُ عُنُقَكَ .¹

467. Abu al-Salt al-Harawi narrated, 'Verily Ma'mun said to al-Rida (AS), 'O son of the Prophet ... Verily I see it best for me to relinquish the caliphate and hand it over to you and swear allegiance to you!' So al-Rida (AS) said to him, 'If this caliphate indeed belongs to you and Allah has assigned it to you, then it is not permissible for you to remove a garment that Allah has clothed you with and assign it to another instead of yourself. And if the caliphate is not actually yours then it is not permissible for you to assign to me that which is not yours [in the first place].' So Ma'mun said to him, 'O son of the Prophet! You have to accept this post!' to which the Imam replied, 'I will never do that willingly... for by that [i.e. my acceptance of it] you want the people to say: "Ali b. Musa al-Rida did not abstain from worldly pursuits [of leadership] but it is the world that has turned its back on him! Do you not see how he accepted to be the heir apparent in his greed for the caliphate?!" So Ma'mun became enraged and said, '...I swear to Allah, if you do not accept the position of heir apparent I will force you to it. So you had better accept it or else I will behead you.' ²