A Study on Imam Reza's (P.B.U.H.) Affirmative Approaches in Confronting Narrations Presented to Him

One of the duties of Ahl al-Bayt (P.B.U.H.) was to maintain and explain the matters of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) and his previous Imams. This has been well demonstrated in the life of Imam Reza (P.B.U.H.) due to the cultural and political atmosphere of his time; in the way that He has been asked many questions about the narrations of previous Imams. Therefore, this research with the descriptive-analytic method, is to answer the question “what are Imam Reza's (P.B.U.H.) affirmative approaches in confronting narrations presented to Him?” Findings of the research indicated that, first, he has designated four approaches in confronting the alleged narrations: 1. Confirmation of narrations 2. Explanation of narrations 3. Adaptation of narrations, and 4. Correction of superficial impressions about narrations. Meanwhile, the explanation and confirmation of narrations had the highest frequency with 10 and 9 items respectively. Second, narrations have been presented on different topics on religious, morals and juridical and the largest contribution has been allocated to religious narrations, with the subject of Imamism. Third, some of the narrations have been presented to Imam Reza (P.B.U.H.) by the Prophet (P.B.U.H.), Imam Baqir (P.B.U.H.) and Imam Sadiq (P.B.U.H.). And sometimes the narrators did not refer to the particular Imam when they presented narrations, or they did not use the phrase "narrated from your fathers". Fourth, narrations have been delivered through various narrators, particularly, Hossein Bin Khalid and Abu Salat Heravi.