On the eleventh of the month of Dhu al-Qi'dah of the year 148 AH in Madinah, the glittering signs descended on earth from the worlds of the unseen, to grant the people of the earth with the birth of a holy light from the divine lights of Imamate, as the joys and happiness filled the house of Imam Musa al-Kadhem (peace be upon him), and the followers of this lofty house, in which Allah has ordered to be raised and that His name be mentioned therein, and the earth and the sky shone for the birth of the best of the people of the earth Imam Ali son of Musa ar-Redha and al-Murtadha (peace be upon both of them) five years after the martyrdom of his grandfather Imam as-Sadeq (peace be upon him). His mother's name "Taktum" and it said "Najmah", and she is one of the best women with her mind and religion. Imam al-Kadhem (peace be upon him) called her "at-Tahira [the pure]".
It is narrated by Sheikh Saduq that Najma (peace be upon her) mother of Imam Ar-Reda (peace be upon him) has said: "When I was pregnant to my son Ali, I didn't feel any heaviness, when I was sleeping, I could hear a sound of "dhikr" from inside myself which made me scared, but when i woke up i don't hear it. When I gave birth to him and he put his hands and feet on the ground, he faced the sky and moved his lips as if he was saying something. When Imam Musa Ibn Ja'far (peace be upon him) saw his child, he said: "Oh Najmah, congratulations on God's present". Then they rapped the child in white cloth and gave him to his father. He read the Adhan in his right ear and the Eqama in the left one, then he asked for water from the river of Euphrates, gave a bit of it to the child, and said to his mother: "Take him for he is God's representative on earth".
Gharibul-Ghuraba (One who is a stranger i.e. he is away from his home town); Imam Ar-Reda (peace be upon him) was far away from his home and family and he is the only Imam who is buried out of Iraq and Hijaz (Saudi Arabia). Our eighth Imam (peace be upon him) played a significant role in the educating of Muslims, setting examples of education through one's own conduct.
May the Almighty God bestow on us the blessing of his visit in this world, and his intercession in the Hereafter, and that is the great attainment.
And peace be upon him the day he was born and the day he was killed poisoned and the day he is raised alive.