Entrance of Imam al-Ridā to Niyshābūr
(On Saturday, the 9th of November 2024 A.D. (the 7th of Jumādal-͗ūlā 1446 A.H.)
In the year 817A.D. (201 A.H.), on the same day, Ma'mūn, the cunning Abbasid caliph, forcefully exiled Imam Ridā from Medina to Marw. (The city where Mam´ūn's seat of caliphate was located).
Throughout his long journey, the Imam had to pass through some towns and villages. One of the inspiring times of this journey is his magnificent entrance to Niyshābūr and reciting a hadith called Silsilat al-Dhahab registered by 20,000 scholars and writers. The Imam granted the people’s request and in his brief address informed the huge gathering about the real interpretation of Lā ͗ilāha ͗illallāh (There is no god but Allāh). He said, “I have heard my father Mūsā bin Ja´far saying that he heard from his father Ja´far bin Muhammad saying that he heard his father Muhammad bin Ali saying that he heard from his father Ali bin al-Ḥusayn saying that he heard from his father al-Ḥusayn bin Ali saying that he heard from his father Ali bin Abī Tālib saying that he heard from the Holy Prophet saying that he heard from Gabriel saying that Allah told him, "The word There is no God but Allah, is My stronghold in which the reciter of this holy verse can enter and then he will dwell there safely, and will not suffer My wrath" and again the Imam added the following words to what he had previously stated, "But all this depends on some conditions, and I am considered to be one of those conditions."
What the Imam was implying is that the greatest of all conditions was a sincere and a complete submission to the Imam of the day. He then very boldly explained to the people that any disloyalty to the Prophet and his descendants would withdraw the right of the entrance to the fortress of God.
