Ja'far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq (Peace be Upon him)
Name: Ja'far
Title: as.-Sadiq.
Agnomen: Abu 'Abdillah.
Father's name: Muhammad al-Baqir.
Mother's name: Umm Farwah.
Birth: In Medina, on Monday, 17th Rabi'u 'I-awwal 83 AH.
Death: Died at the age of 65, in Medina on Monday, 25th Shawwal 148 AH;
Name: Ja'far
Title: as.-Sadiq.
Agnomen: Abu 'Abdillah.
Father's name: Muhammad al-Baqir.
Mother's name: Umm Farwah.
Birth: In Medina, on Monday, 17th Rabi'u 'I-awwal 83 AH.
Death: Died at the age of 65, in Medina on Monday, 25th Shawwal 148 AH;
poisoned by al-Mansur ad-Dawaniqi, the 'Abbasid caliph.
Imam jafar as Sadiq (AS) has three titles; they are: As-Sadiq, Al-Fadil, At-Tahir
The holyImam Ja'far as.-Sadiqwas the sixth in the succession of the twelve Apostolic Imams. His epithet was Abu 'Abdillah and his famous titles were as-Sadiq, al-Fadil and at.-Tahir. He was the son of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, the Fifth Imam, and his mother was the daughter of al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr.
Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq was brought up by his grand- father, Imam Zaynu 'I-'Abidm in Medina for twelve years and then remained under the sacred patronage of his father Imam Muhammad al-Baqir for a period of nine- teen years.
Imamate: After the death of his holy father in 114 AH, he succeeded him as the Sixth Imam, and thus the sacred trust of Islamic mission and spiritual guidance was relayed down to his custody right from the Holy Prophet through the succession of the preceding Imams.
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Political Condition
The period of his Imamate coincided with the most revolutionary and eventful era of Islamic history which saw the downfall of the Umayyad Empire and the rise of the 'Abbasid caliphate. The internal wars and political upheavals were bringing about speedy reshufflements in government. Thus, the Holy Imam witnessed the reigns of various kings starting from 'Abdu 'l-Malik down to the Umayyad ruler Marwan al-Himar. He further survived till the time of Abu 'l-'Abbas as-Saffah and al-Mansur among the 'Abbasids. It was due to the political strife between two groups viz., the Umayyads and 'Abbasids for power that Imam was left alone undisturbed to carry out his devotional duties and peacefully carry on his mission to propagate Islam and spreading the teachings of the Holy Prophet. In the last days of the Umayyad rule, their Empire was tottering and was on the verge of collapse, and a most chaotic and demoralized state of affairs prevailed throughout the Islamic State. The 'Abbasids exploited such an opportunity and availing themselves of this political instability, assumed the title of "Avengers of Banu Hashim". They pretended to have stood for the cause of taking revenge on the Umayyads for shedding the innocent blood of the Holy Imam Husayn. The common people who were groaning under the yoke of the Umayyads were fed up with their atrocities and were secretly yearning for the progeny of the Holy Prophet to take power. They realized that if the leadership went to the Ahlul-Bayt, who were its legitimate heir, the prestige of Islam would be enhanced and the Prophet's mission would be genuinely propagated. However, a group of the 'Abbasids secretly dedicated their lives to a campaign for seizing power from the hands of the Umayyads on the pretext that they were seizing it only to surrender it to the Banu Hashim. Actually, they were plotting for their own ends. The common people were thus deceived into supporting them and when these 'Abbasids did succeed in snatching the power from the Umayyads, they tuned against the Ahlu 'l-Bayt.
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Religious Condition
The downfall of the Umayyads and the rise of the 'Abbasids constituted the two principal plots in the drama of Islamic history. This was a most chaotic and revolutionary period when the religious morals of Islam had gone down and the teachings of the Holy Prophet were being neglected, and a state of anarchy was rampant. It was amidst such deadly gloom that the virtuous personage of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq stood like a beacon of light shedding its lustre to illuminate the ocean of sinful darkness around. The world got inclined towards his virtuous and admirable personality. Abu Salamah al-Khallal also offered him the throne of the caliphate. But the Imam keeping up the characteristic tradition of his ancestors flatly declined to accept it, and preferred to content himself with his devotional pursuits and service to Islam. On account of his many debates with the priests of rival orders like Atheists, Christians, Jews, etc.
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Teachings
The versatile genius of Imam Ja'far as.-Sadiq in all branches of knowledge was acclaimed throughout the Islamic world, which attracted students from far-off places towards him till the strength of his disciples had reached four thousand. The scholars and experts in Divine Law have quoted many ahadith (traditions) from Imam Ja'far as.-Sadiq. His disciples compiled hundred of books on various branches of science and arts. Other than fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), hadith (tradition), tafslr (exegesis of the Holy Qur'an), etc., the Holy Imam also imparted mathematics and chemistry to some of his disciples. Jabir ibn Hayyan at.-Tusi, a famous scholar of mathematics, was one of the Imam's disciples who benefited from the Imam's knowledge and guidance and was able to write four hundred books on different subjects.
It is an undeniable historical truth that all the great scholars of Islam were indebted for their learning to the very presence of the Ahlu 'I-Bayt who were the fountain of knowledge and learning for all. Allamah ash-shibli writes in his book Siratu'n- Nu'man: "Abu Hanifah remained for a considerable period in the attendance of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq, acquiring from him a great deal of precious research on fiqh and hadith. Both the sects - Shi'ah and Sunni - believe that the source of Abu Hanifah's knowledge was mostly derived from his association with Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq." The Imam devoted his whole life to the cause of religious preaching and propagation of the teachings of the Holy Prophet and never strove for power. Because of his great knowledge and fine teaching, the people gathered around him, giving devotion and respect that was his due. This excited the envy of the 'Abbasid ruler al-Mansur ad-Dawaniqi who fearing the popularity of the Imam, decided to do away with him.
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Allamah Tabatabai writes
Imam Ja'far ibn Muhammad, the son of the Fifth Imam, was born in 83/702. He died in 148/765 according to Shi'ite tradition, poisoned and martyred through the intrigue of the 'Abbasid caliph al-Mansur. After the death of his father he became Imam by Divine Command and decree of those who came before him. 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.
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 Zurarah ibn A'yan, Muhammad ibn Muslim, Mu'minu 't.-Taq, Hisham ibn al-Hakam, Aban ibn Taghlib, Hisham ibn Salim, Hurayz, Hisham al- Kalbi an-Nassabah and Jabir ibn Hayyan (the alchemist). Even some important Sunni scholars such as Sufyan ath-Thawri, Abu Hanifah, the founder of the Hanafi school of law, al-Qadi as-Sukuni, al-Qadi Abu 'I-Bakhtari, and others, had the honour of being his students. It is said that his classes and sessions of instructions 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. But toward the end of his life the Imam was subjected to severe restrictions placed upon him by the 'Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, who ordered such torture and merciless killing of many of the descendants of the Prophet who were Shi`te 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 be- headed 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 as-Saffah, the 'Abbasid caliph, and brought to Iraq. Finally, al-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 hiding, until he was poisoned and martyred through the intrigue of al-Mansur. Upon hearing the news of the Imam's martyrdom, al-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 al-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 had chosen four people rather than one to administer his last will and testament: the caliph him- self, the governor of Medina, 'Abdullah Aftah, the Imam's older son, and Musa, his younger son. In this way the plot of al-Mansur failed. (Shi'ite Islam)
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Death
On 25th Shawwal 148 AH, the governor of Medina by the order of al-Mansur, got the Imam martyred through poison. The funeral prayer was conducted by his son Imam Musa al-Kazim, the Seventh Imam, and his body was laid to rest in the cemetery of Jannatu'l-Baqi'.
al-Imam as-Sadiq, peace be Upon him, said:
One who has these five characteristics is the choicest of men: one who feels joyous when he does something good; one who repents when he does something bad; one who is grateful when he receives something from Allah; one who patiently endures Allah's trials; one who forgives when he is done some injustice or wrong.
closer to Allah: forgiving one who has wronged him; being generous to one who had deprived him; being kind to a kinsman who has not observed his rights of kinship.
The true believer does not transgress the limits of fairness in a fit of anger; he does not do anything unjutifiable for the sake of favour to some; neither does he take more than his due share, though he may have the power.
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(A Brief History of The Fourteen Infallibles,p. 123-130)
He has wise sayings and rare words. They raise the good souls to the classes of angels and lead people to the virtue and happiness when they use and consider them carefully.
* Intellect is that with which people worship the Most Gracious (Allah) and with which they obtain gardens.
* Verily, the reward is equal to intellect.
* The most perfect of men in intellect is the best of them in ethics.
* Intellect is the pillar of man.
* Intellect is the guide of the believer.
* The perfection of intellect is in three (things): humbleness for Allah, good certainty, and silence except for good.
* Ignorance is in three (things): Haughtiness, the intense of dispute, and the ignorance in Allah.
* The best nature of intellect is worship, the strongest speech for it is knowledge, and its most abundant luck is maxim.
* To consider knowledge very much opens intellect.
* Knowledge is a shield, truthfulness is might, ignorance is abasement, understanding is glory, generosity is success, good behavior causes friendship, he who has knowledge about his time, ambiguous things do not attack him, and determination is mistrust.
* If you want that you are honored, then be soft. And if you want that you are abused, then be rough.
* He whose origin is noble, his heart is soft, and he whose race is rough, his liver is thick.
* Whoever is extreme gets involved, and whoever is afraid of the consequence refrains from entering what he does not know.
* Whoever attacks a matter without knowledge cuts off his own nose.
* Scholars are trustees, the Allah- fearing are strongholds, and guardians are masters.
* Verily, knowledge is a lock and its key is the question.
* Whoever acts without prescience is like the walker without way, the speed of walking does not increase him but farness.
* Allah does not accept any act without knowledge, there is no knowledge without act, so whoever knows, knowledge leads him to act, and whoever does not act gets no knowledge, but belief is a little of a little.
* The favor is not perfected but with three (things): by doing it quickly, debasing it, and hiding it.
* Not everyone who sees a thing is able to do it, not everyone who is able to do a thing is successful in doing it, and not everyone who is successful in it. When intention, ability, success, and righteousness come together, happiness occurs.
* Four things of which little is much: Fire, enmity, poverty, and illness.
* Twenty- day- friendship is a relationship.
* Whoever does not feel shame during absence and does not repent during old age and does not fear Allah during loneliness, then he has no good.
* Whoever honors you, then honor him. And whoever scorns you, then honor yourself from him.
* To forbid generosity is mistrust in Allah.
* Verily, the family of a person are his prisoners, so whomever is bestowed upon him, then he should be generous toward them, and if he does not (do that), that favor is about to disappear from him.
* Three (things) with which Allah does not increase the Muslim person but glory: To forgive him who wrongs him; to give him who deprives him, to visit him who abandons him.
* Enough for the fear of Allah is knowledge and enough for self-conceit is ignorance.
* When the believer becomes angry, his anger should not take him out of the truth; and when he becomes satisfied, his satisfaction should not bring him in falsehood.
* Friendship has five conditions. Whoever has them, then attribute him to it. Whoever has not them, then do not attribute him to any of it. They are: the good of his friend should be his good, his inward thoughts for him should be like his openness, no money should change him against him, he should hold the view that he is worthy of all his friendship, and should not abandon him during misfortunes.
* The noble man should not turn up his nose at four (things): his standing from his sitting for his father, his service for his guest, taking care of his riding animal even if he has a hundred slaves, and his service for his teacher.
* (Religious) scholars are the trustees of prophets unless they come to the doors of supreme rulers.
* A man from the people of Iraq (ahl al- Sawad) went to him (al-Sadiq) frequently, then he broke away from him, So he (the Imam) asked some people about him. To detract from him, one of them said: "He is Nabati." So, he (the Imam), peace be on him, said: "The origin of the man is his intellect, his ancestry is his religion, his generosity is his piety, and men are equal in Adam (Adam)."
* Noble deeds are ten, if you want them to be with you, then let them be, they are with the man and are not with his children; they are with the child and are not with his father; they are with the slave and are not with the master. What are they? He, peace be on him, said: the truthfulness of men, the truthfulness of the tongue, paying the trust, linking the relatives on the maternal side, entertaining the guest, giving food to the beggar, rewarding the favors, to avoid blaming the neighbor, to avoid censuring the friend, and their head is modesty.
* Some of the correctness of the belief of the Muslim person is that he should not please men through angering Allah, and do not blame them for what Allah has not given him, because the miserliness of the miserly does not drive livelihood, and the hatred of the hater does not live it away, and if one of you escaped from his livelihood as he escapes from death, his livelihood would reach him as death reaches him.
* Verily, with his justice, Allah has put comfort and ease in certainty and satisfaction, and put worry and sorrow in doubt and anger.
* The head of the obedience of Allah is patience and pleasure for what Allah likes and dislikes for the servant, and if the servant is satisfied with what Allah likes and dislikes for him, it will be good for him in what He likes and dislikes.
* Indeed, the most knowledge of all men in Allah is the most satisfied of them with death.
* Do not backbite, so you are backbited, and do not dig a judge you would be judged by.
* Be ware of joking because it loses face and the dignity of men.
* Do not dispute, so your glory goes, and do not joke, so you are dared (so men dare to say rude things about you).
* Be ware of the dispute because it brings about the hateful ugly thing and shows the defect.
* Whoever is not shy of seeking legal livelihood, his provisions is light, and his family leads a life of ease and comfort.
* I wonder at him who is miserly for life in this world and it is coming towards him or is miserly in it and it is turning away from him , so neither spending with coming harms him nor miserliness with turning away avails him.
* The prisoner is he whose life in this world imprisons him from his next life.
* Do not make your hearts busy thinking about bygone, so you divert your minds from getting ready to what has not come yet.
* Seek livelihood by giving alms, guard your wealth by Zakat, he who is moderate does not become destitute, organization is half livelihood, loving one another is half wisdom, small family is one of the ways of (securing) ease, whoever saddens his parents certainly is disobedient to them, favor is not favor but with him who has ancestry and religion, Allah, the Exalted, sends down endurance according to the affliction and livelihood according to the provisions, whoever appreciates his livelihood, Allah, the Exalted, gives him, and whoever wastes his livelihood, Allah, the Exalted, deprives him (of that).
* The richest riches is he who is not captive for greed.
* Nothing is better than silence, no enemy is more harmful than ignorance, and no illness is more dangerous than telling lies.
* Three (things) with which no thing is harmful: The prayers during distress, asking Allah's forgiveness during the sin, and thankfulness during the blessing.
* The believer is popular, and there is no good in him who neither associates nor is associated.
* It was said (to him): What is good behavior? He, peace be on him, said: Make yourself gentle, make your words good, and receive your brother with cheerfulness.
* He whose tongue is truthful his act grows, he whose intention is good his livelihood is increased, and he whose charity is good for the members of his house his age is prolonged.
* Modesty is (a part) of belief.
* He whose face is soft his knowledge is soft.
* He who has no modesty has no belief.
* Three (things) are of the noble acts of here and hereafter: Forgive him who has wronged you, visit him who has abandoned you, and be patient when you are treated with ignorance.
* Any members of a house are given their luck of gentleness most surely Allah increases their livelihood, gentleness in appreciating livelihood is better than the increase of money, nothing lacks strength for gentleness, nothing stays with wastefulness, Indeed, Allah, the Great and Almighty, is gentle He loves gentleness.
* Whoever is gentle in (obtaining) his matter obtains what he wants from men.
* Whoever is satisfied with what Allah has given him then is the richest of men.
* A man complained to him (al- Sadiq) that he sought (his livelihood) and earned but he was not satisfied, and his soul contended with him at pulling (to earn) more, and he said: Teach me a thing to avail myself of, so Abu Abd Allah, peace be on him, said: If what suffices you makes you rich, then the smallest thing in this world makes you rich And if what suffices you does not make you rich, then all things in this world do not make you rich.
* Justice is sweeter than the water the thirsty (person) have.
* How wide justice is even if it is very little.
* Whoever treats men with justice is accepted as judge for others.
* The honor of a believer is to pray at night, and his dignity is to be in no need of men.
* To request needs from men takes dignity and removes modesty, and to despair of what is in the hands of men is glory for the believer in his religion.
* To visit blood relatives improves manners, makes the self good, increases livelihood, and delays death.
* It is enough that patience is a supporter.
* If you are not patient, then pretend to be patient.
* Whoever prevents his hand from men prevents only one hand and they prevent many hands.
* It is enough that the person depends on his brother when he requests his need from him.
* Alms Allah loves: To reconcile men after they have quarreled and bring them closer together after they have left each other.
* Whoever treats people and does not wrong them, speaks to them and does not tell them lies, and promises them and does not break his promise, his backbiting is forbidden, his manhood is perfect, his justice appears, his brotherhood is a must.
* Whoever requests leadership perishes.
* Whoever sows enmity reaps what he has sown.
* Anger is the key of every evil.
* Anger is the destruction of the wise man.
* Whoever does not control his anger does not control his intellect.
* Verily, envy eats belief as fire eats wood.
* The catastrophe of religion is envy, self- admiration, and boasting.
* No one becomes haughty but because of abasement finds in himself.
* What a bad believer is he who has a desire (that) abases him.
* Foolishness is a mean nature, has the cheek to those who are below him, and yields to those who are superior to him.
* Verily, (the things) of which Allah helps against the liars is forgetfulness.
* Be ware of the slip of elaboration because it is not forgiven.
* The best of men is he in whom five traits have come together: If he does well, he is cheerful; if he does badly, he asks forgiveness; if he is afflicted, he is patient, and if he is wronged, he forgives.
* Abu Hanifa said to him (al- Sadiq): Abu Abd Allah, how patient you are during the prayers! He, peace be on him, said: Woe unto you! Nu'man, do not you know that the prayer is the sacrifice of the God- fearing, the hajj (pilgrim) is the jihad of the weak, every thing has Zakat and the Zakat of the body is fasting, the best act is to wait the ease from Allah, the propagandist without act is like the archer without string? So, memorize these words, Nu'man.
* I swear by Allah, three (things) are most surely true: No property decreases because of alms or Zakat, not anyone is wronged and is able to repay but controls it surely Allah recompense him glory instead, nor any slave opens the door of begging for himself surely Allah opens a door of poverty for him.
* The manhood of a person in himself is a relationship to his children and his tribe.
* Seven (persons) corrupt their own acts: The meek man with a lot of knowledge (who) is not known with that nor is mentioned with; the wise man whose property is managed by a liar (who) is ungrateful for what is given to him; the man who is safe from the possessor of cunning and treason; the rude master who has no mercy, the mother who does not keep the secret of the child and spreads it; the person who blames his brothers quickly, and he who argues with his brothers to quarrel with them.
* Neither the possessor of haughtiness aims to good praise, nor does the deceiver to much truthfulness, nor does the Impolite (person) to honor, nor does the miser to linking blood relatives, nor does he who scorn men to sincere affection, nor does he who has little knowledge at jurisprudence to judgment, nor does the backbiter to safety, nor does the envier to the ease of the heart, nor does he who punishes (people) for the small mistake to correctness, nor does he who has little experience and is self- conceited to leadership.
* He whose guard is determination, whose friend is truthfulness, his splendor is great, and his manhood is perfect.
* A generous ignorant (person) is better than a miserly hermit.
