Imam Ja'far As Sadiq (as)   

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His demolished shrine/tomb at Baqi in Medina Saudi Arabia today click image to know more

Brief Biography  

Mother: Umm Farwa, the daughter of Qasim bin Muhammad bin Abu Bakr. 

Kunniyat (Patronymic): Abu 'Abdillah. Laqab (Title): Al-Sadiq. 

Birth: He was born at Madina in 83 A.H. Martyrdom: He died of poison in on 25 Shawaal 148 A.H. and is buried at Baqi near his father.

Birth of Imam Sadiq(as):The sun of the existence of Imam jafar as Sadiq (AS) arose from the lap of his mother Umm-e-Farwah on the 17th of Rabiul Awal, 83rd year Hijrah, in the city of Madina. Imam jafar as Sadiq (AS) has the same birth date as that of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Family Backgroung of Imam jafar Sadiq(as):

Imam jafar as Sadiq (AS) has three titles; they are: As-Sadiq, Al-Fadil, At-Tahir

His father Imam Muhammad Baqir (AS) was much happy and pleased by the birth of his son. His mother Umm-e-Farwah was the grand daughter of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, who was one of the companions of Imam Ali (AS). Imam Ali (AS) repeatedly said about him that, "Muhammad is my spiritual and moral son." Asma Bint Umais was the mother of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, and she was considered to be a pious woman. She was continuously in the service of Hazrat Fatima Zahra (SA) and took pride in it. After the martyrdom of her husband jafar ibn Abi Talib in the Battle of Mu’tah, Asma Bint Umais married Abu Bakr Siddiq and after his death, married to Imam Ali (AS).

Imam jafar as Sadiq (AS) said about her mother, "My mother was one of the pious, faithful and devoted women." Imam jafar as Sadiq (AS) was 15 years of age when his grandfather Imam Sajjad (AS) was martyred and 34 years old when his father Imam Muhammad Baqir (AS) was martyred.

Political Background:

Consequent upon the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (AS) the government of Bani Umayyah was shaken which turned the people into their enemy and pessimist about them. This opened the avenue for the formation of Bani Abbasid government. The gap in between these two powers opened the way for the propagation of Shiia ideology and school of thought. Imam jafar as Sadiq (AS) could, through a learning movement, propagate the learning’s of Islam in such a way to extend and make it reach all the people in the World.

Characteristic of Imam jafar Sadiq (as):

There are only a very few people who do not spill out their conduct and whatever they have in their interior and do not exhibit it. Whatever they have in their hearts kindles the exterior of the electric lamp like an electric switch.

 You cannot find a father and a son among all the people, of all the tribes who may resemble each other from all the angles of ideas, thoughts, character and conduct. But the family of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and his successors all were on the same line and performed their heavenly duty with one aim, one ideology, and did not have any kind of difference in speech, character and ethical conduct.

Ethical value and virtue of Imam Sadiq jafar (as)

About the ethical value and virtue of Imam jafar as Sadiq (AS), it is sufficient that out of four thousands of his students even a single one did not object or criticize upon the moral character and conduct of Imam jafar as Sadiq (AS), and did not find a weak point in it. He was a practical example and specimen for the Muslims with respect to eating, relaxing and resting, walking, speaking, and conducts with others. He had the same social conduct with his friends as he had with his children.

His Life

During the Imamate of the sixth Imam greater possibilities and a more favourable 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 favourable 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 (sawas).

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 Umayad, and beginning of the Abbasid caliphates. He instructed many scholars in different fields of the intellectual and transmitted sciences, such as Zararah, Muhammad ibn Muslim, Mu'min Taqi, 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, Qadi. l Sukuni, Qadi Abu'l-Bakhtari, and others, had the honour 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 (sawas) and the other ten Imams combined.

Towards the end of his life the Imam was subjected to severe restrictions by the Abbasid caliph Mansur, who ordered such torture and merciless killing of many of the descendants of the Prophet (sawas) who were Shi'ite that his actions even surpassed the cruelty and heedlessness of the Umayyads. On 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 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 kept under supervision, was in every way harsh and discourteous to him, and several times thought of killing him. Eventually the Imam was allowed-to return to Medina where he spent the rest of his life in hid-ing, 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 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 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 learnt that the Imam had chosen four people rather than one to administer his last will and testament: the caliph himself, the governor of Medina, 'Abdallah Aftah., the Imam's older son and Musa, his younger son. In this way the plot of Mansur failed.

COMMEMORATING THE MARTYRDOM OF 6TH IMAM (A.S.)

Being brought up by his father, the ‘Splitter of Knowledge of the First to the Last’, Imam Muhammad ibne Ali al-Baqir, the 6th Imam was blessed with being able to acquire knowledge directly from the never-ending spring of the 'Divine' through his father.

According to the narration of Shaykh Abbas al-Qummi in his masterpiece, Muntahal al-Amaal, as-Sadiq had no less than 4,000 scholars from the various Muslim sects studying under him while in Madinah.  What we have in our hands today is perhaps less than one-tenth of what he conveyed to those around him! 

SAYINGS

The person moving to help his Momin brothers is like the person who is walking between Safa and Marwa.

He who treats people kindly will be accepted as arbiter.   

·  To recognize the actuality of your friend, you should enrage him (i.e.try him).

·  If he still keeps up his friendship, then he is a true friend.   

·  Islam is a definite rank. Faith is one rank higher than Islam. Conviction is one rank higher than faith.

·  To remove a mountain is easier than removing faith.

·  The desire for the worldly pleasures causes grief and sadness.  Abstinence from the worldly pleasures brings about the rest of both heart and body.

·   He who mistreats people should not complain when people mistreat him.

·  A Muslim always has three characteristics: knowledge about the religion, good management of life, and perseverance in the faces of calamities.

·  A real believer is one whose sexual appetite does not overcome him and whose stomach does not shame him.

·  Enjoining good and forbidding evil should be practiced with a faithful believer that he would learn a lesson. 

·  Enjoining good and forbidding evil become surely worthless when they are applied to the powerful tyrants.

·  As some people showed ingratitude for Allah's graces, He changed the graces into crises.

·  As other people showed steadfastness against the misfortunes that inflicted them, Allah changed the misfortunes into graces.

·  Thank him who did you favour, and confer favour upon him who thanked you. 

·  Thanks increase the graces and saves against poverty.

Last Words of Imam a.s.

The famous companion, Abu Basir went to the house of the Imam a.s. to offer his condolences to the family.  While there, Abu Basir was told that as the Imam a.s. was about to leave this world, he ordered all of his family to come near him.

Although going in and out of consciousness, at one point, the Imam a.s. looked towards the family and said:“Surely our intercession shall never reach to those people who take their Salaat lightly.”[Reference: Bihar al-Anwar , vol. 6, p. 154 ,and vol. 4, p. 297, narrated by Abu Basir]

The Imam a.s. was not concerned about those who did not pray, as they are in a completely different category.  However his words were directed to his “Shia” who do not give importance to their prayers and he was very emphatic in his final words that he and the rest of the Ahlul Bayt a.s. would have no ability to intercede for those who claim to be their followers, but give no attention or importance to the prayers.

After the martyrdom of Imām Sādiq (A.S.), I (Abu Basir) went to his (A.S.) house to pay my condolences to his wife Hamidah. Upon seeing me, she began to weep and I wept as well. Then she said:

 Abu Basir! If you were here on the last moments of Imām Sādiq's (A.S.) life, you would have witnessed something extraordinary. What is that? I asked. She answered: It was in the last moments of the Imām's life when he opened his blessed eyes and said: Gather all of my family and relatives now and bring them to me! Thus, we gathered every one of the relatives until no-one was left. He turned to them and then 

Service to the Poor in the Darkness of Night

 Mu'alla, who was a servant of Imam Sadiq (A.S.), narrates the following event: 

  "One rainy night, as Imam Sadiq (A.S.) left his house, I calmly followed him. Suddenly, something fell out of his hands onto the ground.  I approached him and greeted him. He asked:" Is it you Mu'alla?"   "Yes" I replied, "O son of the messenger of Allah (S.A.W.W.)".   

He then said:" Touch the ground and hand me what you find." I stretched my hand toward the ground and found a piece of bread.

I took it and returned it back to him. It was then that I realized Imam Sadiq (A.S.) was carrying a sack full of bread, some of which had fallen to the ground.   

I said: "My Master! Let me carry the sack." He refused saying: "No! I am worthier for carrying it. Yet, follow me!" 

 I followed him until we reached the shelter of Bani Sa'idah.   

The Shelter of Bani Sa'idah was an area where people gathered to shelter themselves from the extreme daytime heat;and where the poor and needy would sleep there during the night.There, I realized that Imam Sadiq (A.S.) had left his house in the dark night in order to help the poor.

Imam Sadiq (A.S.) took loaves of bread out from the sack and placed one or two beside each person, making sure that no one was left out.

 Ja'fari School of ThoughtIslamic Insights 

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A famous  Scholar Says 75%-80% of Imam Jafar's (as) Students were from Ahle Sunnah   click the link below to hear it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCX7Ww-BFUI&NR=1 

One of the well-known Muslim schools of thought, also known as the 12er Shia school of thought, is the Ja'fari school of thought. The word 'Jafar' in 'Jafari' refers to the sixth blessed Imam of the Prophet's family (Ahlul-Bait), peace be upon all of them.  The martyrdom of Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) is commemorated during these days.

Imam Jafar as-Sadiq a.s. was born on 17 Rabiee Awwal, 83 AH, in Medina, present-day Saudi Arabia, to the fifth Imam, Imam Muhammad Al Baqir a.s., and Um-Farwah a.s.  The Imam lived in a time when the Umayyad Dynasty was losing control of power to the Abbasid Dynasty.  During this period, the power gap allowed for the Imam to spread the knowledge of Ahlul Bayt and teach the true teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family).

Imam as-Sadiq a.s. was known to be the most knowledgeable of his time in the Qur'an, Hadith (traditions), and other religious & worldly sciences. Imam as-Sadiq a.s. had thousands of attendees taking part in his classes.  Those who agreed, those who disagreed, and those who just wanted to listen flocked from different parts of the world to hear the great imam a.s.  One of the most famous students of the Imam was Jabir Ibn Hayyan.  Jabir was the great chemist who is known as Geber in the Western world.

The Imam a.s. had many debates and wise responses to atheists and followers of different schools of thought.  In one instance, someone asked Imam as-Sadiq a.s. to show him God. The Imam replied, "Look at the sun."  The man said that he could not look at the sun because it was too bright.  Imam as-Sadiq a.s. replied, "If you cannot see the created, how can you expect to see the Creator?"

Imam As-Sadiq a.s. used to give his companions general outlines about how to validate a Hadith and know the laws.  The Imam a.s. once said, "Do not accept any hadith supposedly narrated by us except that which is in harmony with the Qur'an and the Sunnah, or if you find in it a witness (to the meaning) from an earlier narration."

The Imam a.s. also confirmed to his companions another general rule, "My narration is the narration of my father, and the narration of my father is the narration of my grandfather, and the narration of my grandfather is the narration of Ali son of Abu Talib, and the narration of Ali is the narration of the Messenger of Allah, and the narration of the Messenger of Allah is the Word of Allah the Exalted."·

It was not very long before the Abbasid Dynasty tightened its clutch over the Muslim world and began to sense the danger of a man like Imam Jafar as-Sadiq.  The Abbasids feared that a population armed with the knowledge of Ahlul Bait a.s. would not be good for their politics.  The Abbasid Caliph, Mansur Al Dawaneeqi, poisoned the Imam on 25 Shawwal, 148 AH.  Imam Jafar as-Sadiq a.s. was buried in the Baqee cemetery in Medina. He is visited by thousands of Muslims every year.