Alī ibn Mūsā al-Rezā also called
abu al-Hasan is commonly known as
Ali al-Reza ( 29 December 765 – 23 August 818) also commonly known in
Persia as
Imam Reza (
Persian:
امام رضا), was a descendant of the
Prophet Muhammad and the eighth Shia
Imam after his father
Musa al-Kadhim and before his son
Muhammad al-Jawad. He was an Imam of knowledge according to the
Zaydi (Fiver) Shia school and
Sufis. He lived in a period when
Abbasid caliphs were facing numerous difficulties, the most important of which was Shia revolts. The Caliph
Al-Ma'mun thought out a remedy for this problem by appointing Al-Ridha as his successor, through whom he could involve the Imam in worldly affairs. However, according to the Shia view, when Al-Ma'mun saw that the Imam gained even more popularity, he decided to correct his mistake by poisoning him. The Imam was buried in a village in
Khorasan, which afterwards gained its new name,
Mashhad, meaning the place of martyrdom.