ʿAlī al-Riḍā

ʿAlī al-Riḍā (born 765/768/770, Medina, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia]—died 818, Ṭūs, Iran) was the eighth imam of the Twelver Shīʿites, noted for his piety and learning. In 817, the caliph al-Maʾmūn, in an attempt to heal the division between the majority Sunnis and the Shīʿites, appointed him his successor. The appointment aroused varying reactions—few of them, even among the Shīʿites, wholly favourable—and Iraq, already irritated by al-Maʾmūn’s transfer of the capital from Baghdad to Merv and by other offenses, rose up in rebellion. al-Maʾmūn gradually changed his policy. The court party set out from Merv for Baghdad, and on the way ʿAlī al-Riḍā died, after a brief illness, at Ṭūs. Shīʿite historians attribute his death to poison, possibly administered by the caliph himself. His shrine (mashhad) at Ṭūs became a pilgrimage place and gave its name to the city (Mashhad in Iran). Many miracles are attributed to ʿAlī al-Riḍā by the Shīʿites.