7-9 Abu Ahmad Hani ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmood al-Abdi - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Muhammad ibn Mahmood quoted on the authority of narrators who linked up to Musa ibn Ja’far (s), “Musa ibn Ja’far (s) entered into the presence of Ar-Rashid and greeted him. He greeted back and said, “O Musa ibn Ja’far! Are there two Caliphs so that taxes must be collected twice?”He (s) replied, “O Commander of the Faithful! I swear to you by God not to undergo the burden of my sins by accepting the wrong things being said behind my back by my enemies. You know well that they have been ascribing lies to us since the demise of God’s Prophet (s). If you permit me due to our ties of kinship, I will narrate for you what my father quoted on the authority of his forefathers, on the authority of their grandfather - the Prophet of God (s).Harun said, “I will permit you.” The Imam (s) said, “My father narrated on the authority of his father, on the authority of his forefathers, on the authority of their grandfather - God’s Prophet (s) that, “Whenever two relatives touch each other, their sense of being relatives gets excited and awakened. Now, may I be your ransom! Give me your hand.” Harun said, “Come closer.” The Imam (s) got closer. Harun took his hands and hugged him. After a while, he let him go and said, “O Musa! Never mind. Sit down.” Then I looked at him. His eyes were filled with tears. Then I attended to myself. Harun said, “You and your grandfather (s) are right. I got so excited that I was overcome with love and mercy. My eyes got filled with tears. There have been things on my mind for a while which I want to ask you about. I have never asked anyone about them. If you answer me I will let you go and never again accept anyone’s words behind your back. I have been told that you never lie. I will ask you about what is on my mind and tell me the truth.” The Imam (s) said, “Fine. If you grant me immunity I will give you the right answer, if I know.”Harun said, “You are granted immunity if you tell the truth and abandon the practice of the concealment of faith for which you - the progeny of(the Blessed Lady) Fatima (s) - are known to practice.”Then the Imam (s) said, “O Commander of the Faithful (Harun)! Ask whatever you want to ask.” Harun said, “Let me know why are you nobler than us while we are from the same family line and are the progeny of Abdul Muttalib. You and I are the same. I am from the progeny of Al-Abbas, and you are from the progeny of Abi Talib who were both the uncles of God’s Prophet (s). Our kinship with the Prophet (s) is alike.” The Imam (s) said, “We (the Members of the Holy Household) are closer (to the Prophet (s)).” Harun asked, “How come?” The Imam (s) said, “Abdullah and Abu Talib were born of the same father and mother, but your grandfather Al-Abbas was neither born of Abdullah’s mother, nor of Abu Talib’s mother.” Harun said, “Why do you claim to be the inheritors of the Prophet (s) while Abu Talib had already died when the Prophet (s) died; however, his uncle Abbas was still alive (considering that we think that with an uncle present, an uncle’s son does not inherit anything).”The Imam (s) said, “If (Al-Ma’mun) the Commander of the Faithful sees it fit, please excuse me from answering this one and ask me any other questions that you please.”Harun said, “No. You must answer it.” The Imam (s) said, “Will you grant me immunity?” Harun said, “I granted you immunity before we started to talk.” The Imam (s) said, “As stated by Ali ibn Abi Talib (s) when there is a male or female child there is no share of inheritance for anyone, except for the parents, the mother and the spouse. He did not consider any inheritance for an uncle with a child present to inherit.And there is no such reasoning in the Quran either. However, Taym , Adiy , and the Umayyads have relied on their own personal opinions without any factual documents from the Prophet of God (s) and have considered an uncle to be like the father (to inherit). What the scholars have decreed is according to the decrees of Ali (s) which is opposed to this viewpoint. It is Nuh ibn Durraj who has stated this issue according to the viewpoints of Ali (s) and has ruled accordingly.The Commander of the Faithful made him the governor of Kufa and Basra. He ruled according to this viewpoint. Then the news got to the Commander of the Faithful. He called him in and and called in those who ruled opposite to him such as Sufyan Ath-Thawri, Ibrahim al-Madani,and al-Fudhayl ibn Eyadh. They all witnessed that this was the viewpoint of Ali (s) on this issue. According to one of the scholars from Hijaz who informed me about this, the Commander of the Faithful asked them, “Why don’t you rule accordingly now that Nuh ibn Durraj has ruled on this basis.” They have replied, “Nuh was brave, but we were scared.” Then the Commander of the Faithful approved of the ruling based on the Prophetic tradition from the past that says, “The best judge among you is Ali.” Even Umar ibn al-Khattab has said, “The best judge amongst us is Ali.” Here the Arabic word ‘Qadha translated to mean “judge”is an all encompassing noun. It includes all good characteristics. It includes all the good characteristics which the Prophet (s) had cited to praise his companions such as reciting the Quran, performing the obligatory deeds, and having knowledge. All of these are included in this word.Harun said, “O Musa (Al-Kadhim)! Tell me more.” The Imam (s) said, “Is one who attends a meeting immune, especially in your meetings?” Harun said, “Don’t worry.” Then the Imam (s) said, “Indeed the Prophet (s) did not establish any rights to inherit for those who did not migrate. He (s) did not establish any friendship for those who did not accept to be exiled (along with the Prophet (s)).” Harun said, “What is your proof for this?” The Imam (s) recited the following verse from the Holy Quran, ‘Those who believed, and accepted to be exiled, and fought for the Faith, with their property and their persons, in the cause of God, as well as those who gave (them) asylum and aid,- these are (all) friends and protectors, one of another…’ And Abbas did not adopt exile (from Mecca to Medina).”Harun said, “O Musa! Have you ever said this to any of our enemies before? Have you informed any of the jurists of this issue?” The Imam (s) said, “By God, no. No one but the Commander of the Faithful has ever asked me about this.”Then Harun asked, “Why do you allow the people - whether the general public or the elite - to ascribe you to God’s Prophet (s) and call you “O son of God’s Prophet” while you are the offspring of Ali. People’s family ties are through their fathers. Fatima is a receiver of the male sperm, and the Prophet (s) is only your grandfather through your mother.”The Imam (s) said, “O Commander of the Faithful! What if the Prophet (s)was reborn and asked your daughter to marry him? Would you give him an affirmative answer?” Harun said, “Glory be to God! How could I not give a positive answer? I will be proud of this before the Arabs, the Persians, and the Quraysh (tribe)!”The Imam (s) said, “However, the Prophet (s) would neither come to ask my daughter to marry him, nor would I marry off my daughter to him (s).” Harun asked, “Why?” The Imam (s) said, “That is because he (s) is my forefather, but is not your forefather.” Harun said, “O Musa! Excellent!” Then Harun asked, “How come you say that you are from the Prophet’s (s) generation, while he (s) left no generations behind (had no sons). Generations to follow one are from his sons. You are the offspring of his daughter, and generations are not left behind one’s daughter.”The Imam (s) said, “O Commander of the Faithful (Harun)! I swear to you by our ties of kinship and by the tomb , please excuse me from answering this question.” Harun said, “Impossible! O Children of Ali! You must express your reasons. O Musa! According to the reports that we have received, you are the Divine Leader at the present time. I will never excuse you from answering my questions. You must present proofs from the Quran in response to my questions. You - the Children of Ali - claim that no details of the Quran are hidden from you. You claim that you know the interpretation of the whole Quran. You rely on the following verse to support your claim, ‘… Nothing have we omitted from the Book…’ You consider yourselves needless of the viewpoints of the scholars, and of the comparisons they draw. “The Imam (s) said, “Will you let me answer you?” Harun said, “Present your answer.” The Imam (s) said, “I take refuge in God from the damned Satan. In the Name of God the Beneficent, the Merciful. ‘…We guided Noah, and among his progeny, David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron: thus do We reward those who do good: And Zakariya and John, and Jesus and Elias: all in the ranks of the righteous…’ O Commander of the Faithful (Harun)! Who is the father of Jesus (s)?” Harun said, “Jesus (s) has no father.” The Imam (s) said, “Therefore, we have linked Jesus (s) up to the Prophets by (the Blessed Lady) Mary (s). This is exactly how we are linked up to the Prophet (s) through our mother (the Blessed Lady) Fatima (s).”The Imam (s) said, “O Commander of the Faithful (Harun)! Do you want me to tell you more?” He said, “Yes please.” The Imam (s) said, “The Honorable the Exalted God said, ‘If anyone disputes in this matter with thee, now after (full) knowledge Hath come to thee, say, ‘Come! let us gather together, - our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves: Then let us earnestly pray, and invoke the Curse of God on those who lie!’ No one has claimed that the Prophet (s) took anyone but Ali ibn Abi Talib (s), (the Blessed Lady) Fatima (s), Al-Hassan (s) and Al-Hussein (s) under his cloak when he (s) participated in the invoking of God’s Curse with the Christians. Therefore, the interpretation of the Sublime God’s words ‘our sons’ is Al-Hassan (s) and Al-Hussein (s), the interpretation of ‘our women’ is (the Blessed Lady) Fatima (s), and the interpretation of ‘ourselves’ is Ali ibn Abi Talib (s). Moreover, all the scholars agree that on the day of the Battle of Uhud, Gabriel (s) said, ‘O Muhammad! This act of Ali is a sign of his true devotion.’ God’s Prophet (s) said, ‘That is because he (i.e. Ali (s)) belongs to me, and I belong to him.’ Then Gabriel said, ‘O Prophet of God! And I belong to both of you.’ Then Gabriel continued, ‘There is no real sword but the ‘Thul-Faqar (Imam Ali’s sword), and there is no real man but Ali.’ What Gabriel used in order to praise Ali was similar to what the Sublime God used to praise Abraham (s) when God said, ‘They said, ‘We heard a youth talk of them: He is called Abraham.’” The Imam (s) added, “We - your cousins - are proud that Gabriel has said that he belongs to us.” Then Harun said, “Excellent! O Musa! Tell us what you need.” The Imam (s) said, “My first need is that you allow your cousin (i.e. me) to return to the shrine of his grandfather and to his wife.” Harun said, “God willing. We will see.” It has been narrated that Harun handed the Imam (s) over to As-Sandi ibn Shahak. It seems that the Imam (s) died while he (s) was in the custody of As-Sindi ibn Shahak. God knows best.