ʿUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā 1, narration 108

Translation

10-3 My father and Muhammad ibn Al-Hassan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Waleed - may God be pleased with them - narrated that Mohammad ibn Yahya al-Attar quoted on the authority of Ahmad ibn Al-Hussein ibn Sa’eed, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Jomhoor, on the authority of Ahmad ibn Hammad, “Uthman ibn Isa Ar-Ravasay was one of the representatives (of Imam Al-Kadhim (s)) who lived in Egypt. A lot of (Imam Al-Kadhim’s (s)) property and six slave maids were in his possession. Abul Hassan Al-Ridha (s) sent someone to him and asked him to return the slave maids and the property. Uthman ibn Isa Ar-Rawasi wrote a letter in response and said, ‘Your father has not died yet.’ Imam Al-Ridha (s) wrote a letter to him and said, ‘My father (s) has passed away and we have divided up his possessions. There is correct news to confirm his death.’ Imam Al-Ridha (s) presented some proofs. Uthman wrote to him (s) in reply, ‘If your father is alive, you have no rights over his property. If he (s) has died as you say, he (s) has not given me any orders to dispose of these possessions to you. I freed the slave maids and married them.’”The author of this book (Sheikh Sadooq) said, “Musa ibn Ja’far (s) was not a man who would collect wealth. However, he lived during the region of (Harun) Ar-Rashid and had a lot of enemies. He could not give the collected property to the deprived, so he gave them secretly to a few to divide among the poor people. This is how this wealth was collected. He did not want to do what the ill-wishers told Ar-Rashid about him. Things like ‘he has collected a lot of wealth’, ’he believes he is the Imam’, ’and he incites the people to revolt against you,’ etc. If it were not for these accusations, he would have given the wealth to various people. Rather it consisted of gifts that his friends had brought for him in order to honor him.”

Translation: Dr. Ali Peiravi — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.