Paper Title
A Historical Perspective On The Effects Of The 8th Shiite Imam�s Presence In Persia

Abstract
Although more than a millennium has passed since the historic journey of Ali ibn Al-Mousa Reza, the eighth Imam of the Shiites from Medina to Merv( current day Khorasan) through Persia , extensive dispute regarding the exact course travelled and the social and political implications that his journey brought about in Persia exists among Islamic scholars and historians. After taking up the reins of government , the Abassid Caliph Mamun moved the capital of the Abassid empire from Baghdad to Merv; however the predisposition of the Persiaians towards the offspring of Ali ibnAbiTalib (known as Alaviyon) and the need for an intellectual and religious personage whose piety and lineage were accepted among the general population, resulted into Mamun�s invitation for the eighth Imam to join him in Merv, and the subsequent introducing of the eighth Imam as regent apparent. The political ramifications were the decreasing of the Shiite influence in Medina and Mecca and the mollifying of the large Shiite population in Iraq and Persia. Although Mamun had explicitly ordered that the eighth Imam be brought to Merv through lesser travelled routes ; the political and social impacts of his journey through Persia were so vast and encompassing that Mamun had the Imam poisoned within half a decade in order to suppress his influence. Index Terms- Ali ibn Al-MousaReza,Khuzistan, Merv,Persia