Ali al-Rida (770–818)
Born 770 CE, died 818 CE.
Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (Arabic: علي بن موسى الرضا, romanized: ʿAlī ibn Mūsā al-Riḍā, c. 29 December 765 – c. 5 September 818) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the eighth of the Twelve Imams, succeeding his father Musa al-Kazim and his grandfather Ja'far al-Sadiq. His lineage traces through Ali and Fatima, via the line of Husayn. He is also part of the chain of mystical authority in Sunni Sufism. A number of works are attributed to him, including Sahifah al-Rida, Fiqh al-Rida, and Al-Risala al-Dhahabiyya, the most precious Islamic work in the Science of Medicine. Uyoun Akhbar Al-Rida includes his debates with scholars of various religions, biographical details, and even the miracles which have occurred at his shrine. Al-Rida was born in Medina into Muhammad's household in 765 CE. He was contemporary with the Abbasid caliphs Harun al-Rashid, al-Amin, and al-Ma'mun. Both Shia and Sunni sources describe him as exceptionally knowledgeable in youth, engaging in scholarly discussions with the greatest scholars of his time. By the age of twenty, al-Rida was issuing fatwas at the Prophet's Mosque, with his reputation spreading throughout the Islamic world.
Text from the Wikipedia article Ali_al-Rida, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.