A Deliberation upon the Reports of Meeting of the Fourth Shi a Imam with Muslim b.  Uqba in Harra Uprising

Meeting of the fourth Shi‘a Imam with Muslim b. ‘Uqba in Harra uprising is narrated in various forms. Investigation of narrations of that meeting can remove ambiguity of a controversial event in the political life of the fourth Shi‘a Imam and expound part of political policies of Shi‘a school in the dissimulation era. Investigations made earlier as to those narrations, however, do not seem sufficient. That is why the present essay discusses two problems in this regard: companions of Imam in that meeting, and his pledge of allegiance with Muslim. As for the former, historical evidence denotes that Imam refuged to no one, including Marwan and Abd al-Malik, to be safeguarded from Muslim. There are also multiple evidence as to the latter that Imam’s pledge with Muslim in such a way that Imam declared his servitude to Yazid is unacceptable. Evidence of forgery on the part of Abbasids in those narrations is also presented in this essay which can prepare grounds for further research in this connection.