3. Imam ar-Ridha’s Historical Journey to Marw
Inordertohavehislastdecisionputintoeffect,Ma’munaskedImamar-
RidhatocometoMarwfromMedina.Thiswasthelongestjourneyun-
dertakenbyanyoftheShi‘aImams:fromMedina(north-westofArabia)
to Marw (in Turkmenistan, north of the Afghan border). The Imam
passedthrough southern Iraq,into sourthern Persiaon to the famous
city of Neshapur and further north into Turkmenistan.
ThisjourneyitselfavailedanopportunityfortheMuslimpopulaceto
see the Shi‘a Imam (a descendantof the Holy Prophet) in person and
hearhiswordsofwisdom.WhiletheImamwasabouttoleaveNishapur,
thescholarsofthecitytookholdofhiscamel’sreignandinsistedupon
him to narrate from his forefathers: The Imam obliged as follows:
Myfather,MusabinJa‘far, narratedtome fromhisfather, Ja‘farbin
Muhammad,who narrated from his father, Muhammad bin ‘Ali, who
narrated from his father, ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn, who narrated from his
father, al-Husayn bin ‘Ali, who narrated from his father, ‘Ali bin Abi
Tālib,whosaid,IheardtheProphet(s.a.w.)saying,“IheardJibrailsay-
ing, ‘The Almighty Allāh said,
“Isurelyamthe Godbesideswhomthereisnogod,soworshipMe.
Whoevercomes with the testimony of tawhid sincerely,he has surely
enteredMycastle;andwhoeverentersMycastle,heshallbe protected
from My chastisement.”’”
ThentheImamaddedthatthissalvationisguaranteed“withitscondi-
tions;andIamone ofitsconditions.”Thatis,togetherwithtawhid,one
must also believe in other fundamentals of Islam
likenubuwwaandimamatin ordertogain salvationin thehereafter.Be-
causeofitsexcellentchainofnarrators,thishadithisknown as“hadith
silsilatu ’dh-dhabab— hadith with the golden chain [of narrators].”