Sayed Murtada and Sayed Radi, were great scholars and clerics. It would certainly be of interest to narrate an incident when they too disagreed with one other.
The chronichler of the Abbasid Caliph’s prime minister records that once when he was in attendance at the prime minister’s chambers, the janitor was alert at the entrance and the errand boy entered the chambers and said, “Sayed Murtada has come for an audience.” The prime minister ordered him to beckon the Sayed. Sayed Murtada entered the chamber and the prime minister rose in reverence to receive him and gave him a seat next to himself. They got busy conversing. After a while Sayed Murtada took leave and departed.
After the lapse of some time the usher again entered the chambers and informed that Sayed Radi wanted an audition. Surprised, the prime minister rose from his seat and went briskly towards the door and welcomed Sayed Radi with due respect. He seated him near himself and kept listening to him with rapt attention as long as he remained there. When Sayed Radi prepared to depart, the prime minister walked with him upto the door to bid him farewell.
When the prime minister returned back to his seat, the chronicler asked him, “Sayed Murtada is the elder of the two brothers and is also more erudite. But you received him from near your seat and sent him away from there only. But to Sayed Radi, the younger and less erudite of the two, you have given a different reception? What is the reason for this? “
The prime minister replied, “I hold both the brothers in great respect but Sayed Radi’s character I admire the most!” The chronichler again asked him, “What difference you have noticed between the two brothers?”
He replied, “Once a canal was to be excavated towards the Baghdad city. The work was in progress and it had to pass through their land that was valued at 16 Dirhams..Sayed Murtada wrote to me requesting excavating the canal in such a way that it didn’t affect his holding in any way. According to Shariah his request was legitimate and was made in a friendly manner.”
The prime minister further told to the chronicler, “A similar incident happened with Sayed Radi. He was blessed with a child. I sent to him 1,000 Dinars as a gift. It is well known that he never accepted gifts from any one. He went to the extent of not accepting any gift from his own father. He returned back my gift along with a message from him that it was his principle not to accept gifts from any person. I sent back the 1,000 Dinars saying that it wasn’t a gift for him but was for the newborn and that his affair didn’t concern him! The gift was again returned saying that his son, like himself, doesn’t receive gifts from others! I sent back the money to Sayed Radi saying that the money was for the midwife who helped the delivery of the baby. Sayed Radi sent back the money once again saying that in his family no midvives are called and the delivery is attended to by the old ladies of the family and that in his family, no member, male or female, accepts any gifts!
I sent back the money a fourth time saying that I was sending it for the benefit of the Sayed’s students who pursue their studies in some penury. His students didn’t accept the largesse. Only one student picked up a dinar, cut a small piece from it, put it in his pocket and then restored the other piece to the pouch.
Sayed Radi asked the student as to why he took a small piece from the Dinar. The student replied that while he was studying the previous night, the oil in the wick of the lamp was exhausted and he didn’t have any money to buy some oil and the treasury of the school wasn’t open in the night and the key was with the Sayed. He said that he went to the bazaar and obtained some oil on loan from the shopkeeper and continued with his studies. He said that he would go back to the shop and clear his loan from the small portion of the Dinar that he had taken from the money.”
The chronichler further adds that the prime minister respected both the brothers but had said that Sayed Murtada was concerned about his land worth 16 Dirhams and Sayed Radi returned back a gift of 1,000 Dinars! Sayed Radi had constructed hostels for his students and also a treasury for maintaining funds for defraying the expenses of the school.
After the narrated incident, he got duplicate keys made of the treasury and gave one to each student that they could draw money if they had any urgent requirement!
BIOGRAPHY OF JANAB SYED MURTAZA ALEM-UL-HODA