The Positions of Imam Riḍā (as) Against the Discourses of Political Legitimacy of the Caliphate

The legitimacy of governments has always been, at least since ancient Greece, one of the key issues in political science. In the Islamic world, although the formulations presented for the ratification of the caliphate were later than the status of action, but it can be said that during the Imamate of the eighth Shiite Imam, many of them had achieved their structure. Now, if we look at the narrations of Imam Riḍā (as) from the perspective of political science, we will see that many of Raḍavi's teachings are related to the legitimacy of the government. Based on a descriptive-analytical method, this study tries to show what discourses were held in the period of the life of Imam Riḍā (as) (148-203 AH) regarding the legitimacy of the Caliphate and what was the view of the Eighth Imam of the Shiites in the face of them? The results of the research show that the caliphate did not have a solid basis for legitimacy, and based on previous events, it has become a theorizing; also, during the Abbasid caliphate, strategies were considered to strengthen legitimacy. The narrations also demonstrate that in addition to presenting the Shiite model, the "text", they criticized both paths of the caliphate system, that is, the constructions of legitimacy and strengthening strategies, in order to give a new life to the political principles of the Shiite school.