Al-Fadl is Murdered

Finally, al-Fadl entered the bath-house just to be received by the swords of the assassins as the letter he had received from his brother al-Hassan ibn Sahl had predicted.

We do not think it is unlikely that that letter was prepared by al-Mamoon imitating the style of the man's brother, al-Hassan, in order to avoid being accused of murdering al-Fadl. It is also possible that al-Mamoon wished to get rid of both al-Fadl and Imam al-Rida (A.S.) by that method of mysterious assassination, but the Imam (A.S.) was alert in the face of al-Mamoon's cunning and scheming and he resisted the insistence of al-Mamoon in entering the bath-house with him and with al-Fadl by tact and caution. The last paragraph of the anecdote tells us clearly that the letter was a plot by al-Mamoon to kill both al-Fadl and the Imam (A.S.); otherwise, why did al-Mamoon abstain from warning al-Fadl against entering the bath-house although the Imam (A.S.) had asked him to do just that?

Adapted from: "Imam al-Ridha (a.s.), A Historical and Biographical Research" by: "Muhammad Jawad Fadlallah"