After Mamoon Rashid, the Abbasid, made Imam Reza (a.s.) his heir apparent, one day a servant came to His Eminence (a.s.) and said: Some people are at the door seeking permission to enter, and they say: We are Shias of Ali (a.s.). His Eminence (a.s.) said: I have no time, send them away. The servant sent them away. Next day again they came but the same answer was given to them and they went away. Thus two months passed and they got the same answer every day.
When they despaired of meeting the Imam they said to the servant: Go and tell our master, that we are Shias of his grandfather, Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.) and our enemies laugh at us for not getting permission to meet him. This time if we go back, due to the first shamefulness and disgrace and sorrow of future and taunts of enemies we shall leave the city and go away to some other place.
At last they got permission; they entered and saluted the Imam but did not get reply to their salutation and the Imam did not ask them to sit. They waited for a long time. At last they said: O son of Allah’s Messenger, after waiting so long, what is the reason of your anger? What is the fault that remains on us? His Eminence (a.s.) said: Recite this verse:
وَمَا أَصَابَكُم مِّن مُّصِيبَةٍ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَيَعْفُو عَن كَثِيرٍ
And whatever affliction befalls you, it is on account of what your hands have wrought, and (yet) He pardons most (of your faults). Surah Shura 42:30
I have followed the path of Allah, the Holy Prophet and Amirul Momineen (a.s.) and others with regard to you. All of them are angry at you and I also did the same. The people asked: O son of Allah’s Messenger! What is the reason of this? He said: Because you claimed to be Shias of Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.). Woe upon you. The true Shias are Hasan, Husain (a.s.), Salman, Abu Tharr, Miqdad, Ammar and Muhammad bin Abu Bakr (r.a.). They did not go against His commands and never committed what He prohibited. But how can you claim to be Shias?
Though often you have opposed in deeds and fail to perform many duties. You are lazy in fulfilling the rights of your brothers in faith. You resort to dissimulation where you must not and fail to observe it where you should. If you had said that you were his fans, friends of his friends and enemies of his enemies, your claim would have been acceptable. But when you make a great claim that your deeds cannot justify you will be destroyed, unless divine mercy saves you.
When they heard this, they said: O son of Allah’s Messenger! We seek pardon from Allah and repent for our statements. We say as our master has instructed us, that we are fans of you and your friends and enemies of your enemies. Now His Eminence (a.s.) said: Welcome, my brothers and my friends come up; and he called them up till they joined him. Then he asked his sentry: How many times did you stop them? He said: Exactly sixty times.
His Eminence (a.s.) said: Now you salute them and give my regards the same number of times, as their sins are erased because of their repentance and because of our friendship and love they have became eligible for our kindness and generosity. Then he inquired about their family and children, conferred them estates, cash and presents; and solved their problems and difficulties.
Tafseer e Imam Hasan Askari (as)