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Birth and
Imamate
He was born
in Medina in the year 83 A.H and he died in Rajab in the year
148 A.H. at the age of 65. He was buried in the cemetery of al-Baqi
alongside his father, his grandfather and his (great-great)
uncle. His mother was Umm Farwa, the daughter of al-Qasim b.
Muhammad b. Abi Bakr. His Imamate lasted for thirty-four years.
His father, Imam Mohammad Baqir(a.s.), clearly gave him the
trusteeship (of the Imamate) and gave him an explicit
designation (nass jali) for the Imamate.
Imam's
Knowledge and his Sciences
Imam Jaffer
Sadiq(a.s.) stood out among their group for his great merit (fadl);
he was the most celebrated, the greatest in rank and the most
illustrious of them in the eyes of both the non-Shia (al-amma)
and the Shi'a (al-khassa). The people transmitted on his
authority the religious sciences which travellers carried with
them and thus his fame was spread throughout the lands. The
learned scholars have transmitted on the authority of no other
member of the House (ahl al-bayt) as much as they have
transmitted on his authority. None of them met as many of the
reporters of traditions as he did, nor did the latter transmit
on their authority to the same extent as they transmitted on the
authority of Abu Abd Allah Imam Jaffer Sadiq(a.s.). The
specialists in tradition (ashab al- hadith) have gathered
together the names of those who narrated on his authority, who
were reliable despite differences in views and doctrines and
they were four thousand men. The clear evidence for his Imamate
was such that it overcame hearts and silenced the attempts of an
opponent to denigrate it with doubts.
During the
imamate of the sixth Imam greater possibilities and a more
favorable climate existed for him to propagate religious
teachings. This came about as a result of revolts in Islamic
Lands, especially the uprising of the Muswaddah to overthrow the
Umayyad caliphate, and the bloody wars which finally led to the
fall and extinction of the Umayyads. The greater opportunities
for Shi'ite teachings were also a result of the favorable ground
the fifth Imam had prepared during the twenty years of his
imamate through the propagation of the true teachings of Islam
and the sciences of the Household of the Prophet. The Imam took
advantage of the occasion to propagate the religious sciences
until the very end of his imamate, which was contemporary with
the end of the Umayyad and beginning of the Abbasid caliphates.
He instructed many scholars in different fields of the
intellectual and transmitted sciences, such as Zorarah, Muhammad
ibn Muslim, Mu'min Taq, Hisham ibn Hakam, Aban ibn Taghlib,
Hisham ibn Salim, Hurayz, Hisham Kalbi Nassabah, and Jabir ibn
Hayyan, the alchemist. Even some important Sunni scholars such
as Sufyan Thawri, Abu Hanifah, the founder of the Hanafi school
of law, Qadhi Sukuni, Qadhi Abu'l- Bakhtari, and others, had the
honor of being his students. It is said that his classes and
sessions of instruction produced four thousand scholars of
hadith and other sciences. The number of traditions preserved
from the fifth and sixth Imams is more than all the hadith, that
have been recorded from the Prophet and the other ten Imams
combined.
There are
innumerable reports about him concerning signs and revealing the
unknown similar to those which we have mentioned, which would
take too long to recount.
He used to say: "Our knowledge is of what will be (ghabir), of
what is past (mazbur), of what is marked in hearts (nakt fi
al-qulub), and of what is tapped into ears (naqr fi al-asma). We
have the red case (jafr), the white case, and the scroll of
Fatima(s.a.) and we have (the document called) al-jami'a in
which is everything the people need."
He was asked
to explain these words and he said: "Ghabir is knowledge of what
will be; mazbur is knowledge of what was; what is marked in the
hearts (nakt fi al-qulub) is inspiration; and what is tapped
into the ears (naqr fi al- asma) are words of angels; we hear
their speech but we do not see their forms. The red case (jafr)
is a vessel in which are the weapons of the Apostle of God, may
God bless him and his family. It will never leave us until the
one (destined) among us members of the House, to arise (qa'im),
arises. The white case (jafr) is a vessel in which are the Torah
of Moses, the Gospels of Jesus, the Psalms of David and the
(other) Books of God. The scroll of Fatima, peace be on her, has
in it every event which will take place and the names of all the
rulers until the (last) hour comes. (The document called)
al-jami'a is a scroll seventy yards long which the Apostle of
God, may God bless him and his family, dictated from his own
mouth and Ali b. Abi Talib, peace be on him, wrote in his own
handwriting. By God, in it is everything which people need until
the end of time, including even the blood-wit for wounding, and
whether a (full) flogging or half a flogging (is due).
He, peace be
on him, used to say: "My traditions are my father's traditions;
my father's traditions are my grandfather's traditions; my
grandfather's traditions are the traditions of Ali b. Abi Talib,
the Commander of the faithful; the traditions of Ali the
Commander of the faithful are the traditions of the Apostle of
God, may God bless him and his family; and the traditions of the
Apostle of God, may God bless him and his family, are the word
of God, the Mighty and High.
Martyrdom
Toward the
end of his life the Imam was subjected to severe restrictions
placed upon him by the Abbasid caliph Mansur, who ordered such
torture and merciless killing of many of the descendants of the
Prophet who were Shi'ite that his actions even surpassed the
cruelty and heedlessness of the Umayyads. At his order they were
arrested in groups, some thrown into deep and dark prisons and
tortured until they died, while others were beheaded or buried
alive or placed at the base of or between walls of buildings,
and walls were constructed over them. Hisham, the Umayyad
caliph, had ordered the sixth Imam to be arrested and brought to
Damascus. Later, the Imam(a.s.) was arrested by Saffah, the
Abbasid caliph, and brought to Iraq. Finally, Mansur had him
arrested again and brought to Samarrah where he had the
Imam(a.s.) kept under supervision, was in every way harsh and
discourteous to him, and several times thought of killing him.
Eventually the Imam(a.s.) was allowed to return to Medina where
he spent the rest of his life in hiding, until he was poisoned
and martyred through the intrigue of Mansur.
Upon hearing
the news of the Imam's martyrdom, Mansur wrote to the governor
of Medina instructing him to go to the house of the Imam(a.s.)
on the pretext of expressing his condolences to the family, to
ask for the Imam's will and testament and read it. Whoever was
chosen by the Imam(a.s.) as his inheritor and successor should
be beheaded on the spot. Of course the aim of Mansur was to put
an end to the whole question of the imamate and to Shi'ite
htmlirations. When the governor of Medina, following orders, read
the last will and testament, he saw that the Imam(a.s.) had
chosen four people rather than one to administer his last will
and testament: the caliph himself, the governor of Medina,
'Abdullah Aftah, the Imam's older son, and Imam
Musa-e-Kazim(a.s.), his younger son. In this way the plot of
Mansur failed. |