Mamun, after nominating Imam Reza (A.S.) as his successor and celebrating the event, had pretended to show respect towards him, in order to deceive his opponents and to win their confidence. But due to such incident as the 'Prayer for Rain' and the 'Eid Prayer', which increased the Imam;s popular appeal, the crafty caliph became alarmed and his jealousy turned into barely concealed hatred.
Mamun changed his attitude and secretly put constraints on the Imam. He bribed Hesham bin Ibrahim al Rashid, who was one of the close companios of the Imam, to keep an eye on him. After this, without the caliph's permission, no one was allowed to meet the Imam. Hesham the traitor would pass all the news of the Imam's personal activities to Mamun and Fazl bin Sahl.
Some of the Abbasids who were not clever enough to see through Mamun's stratagem, thought that the caliph himself was destroying the Abbasid dynasty and establishing the rule of the descendants of Imam Ali (A.S.) in their place. They started saying that Imam Reza (A.S.), after acquiring fame as as Mamun's successor was out to uproot the Abbasid rule, and that the miracle of the rain was magic. They even accused Imam Reza (A.S.) of being a magician.
Mamun explained to them his strategy, saying: "He (the Imam) used to invite people secretly, and we appointed him as our successor in order to use him and to gain his consent towards our rule, so that those who have become the adherents of his household should know that they (the Ahl ul Bait) have nothing special. The caliphate is for us. We were afraid that had we let him alone in Madine, then for sure he would have create such problems for us that we would have been unable to stop him. Now, this (the nomination) has happened, and not knowing what it truly meant we have put ourselves on the path of destruction. Since his status and power is very high, it is not wise to discard him suddenly. But we shall gradually eliminate him from his status so that the people will think of him as incompetent for successorship, and then we shall by all means discard him for good."
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