The main challenge Imam Reza faced in the beginning of his Imamat was from a few of his father’s representatives who refused to accept him as the Imam after Imam Kazim. They were among the representatives of Imam Kazim in his network of representatives across the Islamic territory. They were responsible for guiding the Shias according to the Imam’s teachings and advice, collecting their obligatory Islamic dues, and resolving issues among the Shias in their community. These individuals were among the Shia scholars spreading the narrations of the Shia Imams, and were qualified in their Islamic knowledge. For around four years, during the imprisonment of Imam Kazim, they did not transfer the collected obligatory Islamic dues from their communities to Imam Kazim, nor did they spend it according to his guidance. The stored wealth in their possession grew to a significant amount and was enough to entice them against their duties. When Imam Reza asked them to transfer the collected wealth to him as the next Imam, they refused. They instead denied the Imamat of Imam Reza by denying the martyrdom of Imam Kazim. They claimed that Imam Kazim was not martyred, but instead was the Mahdi promised by the Prophet and had simply disappeared from sight. These representatives were able to gather some support from their Shia communities and separated themselves from the majority of the Shias who accepted Imam Reza as the next Imam. This faction of Shia was known as the Vaghefi, or those who stopped at the Imamat of Imam Kazim. The denial of Imam Kazim’s martyrdom by the Vaghefis was against clear historical evidence, as many had witnessed the martyrdom of Imam Kazim and had attended his burial. For example, right after Imam Kazim’s martyrdom, Sendi ibn Shahak, who poisoned the Imam, tried to portray the Imam’s martyrdom as a natural death. He gathered more than 50 people in his house and exhibited the Imam’s body. He asked them to testify that the Imam’s body did not have any sign of injury or suffocation. He later put the Imam’s corpse on the bridge of Baghdad over the Tigris River to disrespect the Imam and the Shia belief. The people of Baghdad visited the Imam’s corpse to witness his demise. Later, when Haroon’s uncle, Sulayman ibn Abi-Ja’far, was informed of Sendi ibn Shahak’s actions, he found it against the political favors of the Abbasid government. He feared this could trigger Shias, who were in large numbers, in Baghdad and the other cities to rise up against the government. Thus, he sent his agents to retrieve the Imam’s corpse from Sendi ibn Shahak’s soldiers. He then held a grand burial ceremony for the Imam, where crowds of Muslims participated. Despite the clear evidence surrounding the martyrdom of Imam Kazim, the Vaghefis insisted on their belief and continued in their ignorance.The Vaghefi faction began with three of Imam Kazim’s representatives who had monetary interests. They were able to gather some supporters from the Shias, as they had social
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