|
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 aspirations. 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. |
