Ja'far ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq
(Arabic: جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 700 or 702–765 C.E.) commonly known as Ja'far al-Sadiq or simply al-Sadiq (The Truthful) is the sixth Shia Imam. He was a descendant of Ali from his father Muhammad al-Baqir's side and a descendant of Abu Bakr from his mother Farwa's side. He is the last individual to be recognized by all Shia sects as an Imam (except the Zaydiyyah), and is revered by Sunni Muslims as a transmitter of Hadith and a prominent jurist.[4]
al-Sadiq was born in
either 700 or 702 CE. He inherited the position of imam from his father in his
mid-thirties. As imam, al-Sadiq stayed out of the political conflicts that
embroiled the region, evading the many requests for support that he received
from rebels. He was the victim of some harassment by the Abbasid caliphs, and was
eventually, according to most Shi'a Muslims, poisoned at the orders of the
Caliph al-Mansur.
He was a significant
figure in the formulation of Shia doctrine. The traditions recorded from
al-Sadiq are said to be more numerous than all hadiths recorded from all other
Shiite imams combined.[5] As the founder of "Ja'fari jurisprudence", al-Sadiq also elaborated the doctrine of Nass (divinely inspired
designation of each imam by the previous imam), and Ismah (the infallibility of the
imams), as well as that of Taqiyyah.[6][7]
The question of
succession after al-Sadiq's death was the cause of division among Shiites who
considered his eldest son, Isma'il(who
had died before his father) to be the next imam, and those who believed his
third son Musa al-Kadhim was the imam. The first group became known as the Ismailis and the second, larger,
group was named Ja'fari or the Twelvers.[8][9]
Birth
and early life
Ja'far al-Sadiq was born
in Medina either in 80/699–700 or
83/703–704. On his father's side he was a great-great grandson of Ali, the first Shiite imam. His mother, Farwah bint al-Qasim was a great-granddaughter of Abu Bakr. Al-Sadiq was the first
of the Shiite imams to be descended from both Abu Bakr the first ruler of the Rashidun Caliphate, and Ali, the first Shiite imam.
During the first fourteen years of his life he lived alongside his grandfather Zayn al abedin, and witnessed the latter's withdrawal from politics. He also
noted the respect that the famous jurists of Medina held toward Zayn al
abedin in spite of his few followers.[10][11]
In his mother's house
al-Sadiq also interacted with his grandfather Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn
Abu Bakr, who was respected by
the people of Medina as a famous traditionalist. During this period, Umayyad power was at its climax,
and the childhood of al-Sadiq was coincided with the growing interest of the
people of Medina in prophetic science and
interpretations of the Quran.[11]
Imamate
Al-Sadiq was thirty four
or thirty seven when he inherited the position of Imamah or imamate from his
father Muhammad al-Baqir. He held the imamate for 28 years, longer than any other Shiite
imam.[11] His Imamate was a crucial
period in Islamic history for both political and doctrinal areas. Prior to
al-Sadiq, the majority of Shiites had preferred the revolutionary politics of Zaid (al-Sadiq's uncle) to the
mystical quietism of al-Sadiq's father and grandfather.[4][11] Zaid had claimed that the
position of an imam was conditional on his appearing publicly to claim his
rights.[12][13] Al-Sadiq, on the other
hand, elaborated the doctrine of Imamate, which says "Imamate is not a
matter of human choice or self-assertion," but that each imam possess a
unique Ilm(knowledge)
which qualify him for the position. This knowledge was passed down from the
prophet Muhammad through the line of Ali's immediate descendants. The doctrine of Nass or "divinely inspired designation
of each imam by the previous imam", therefore, was completed by al-Sadiq.[a] In spite of being
designated as the imam, al-Sadiq would hold, he would not lay claim to the Caliphate.[9][13]
Under
the Umayyad rulers[
al-Sadiq's Imamate
extended over the latter half of the Umayyad Caliphate, which was marked by many revolts (mostly by Shiite movements),
and eventually the violent overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate by the Abbasids,
decedents of Muhammad's uncle,Abbas. al-Sadiq maintained his predecessors' policy of quietism, and
played no part in the numerous rebellions. He stayed out of the uprising of Zaydits who gathered around
al-Sadiq's uncle, zayd, who had the support Mu'tazilites and the traditionalists
ofMedina and Kufa.[11] Al-Sadiq also did not
support the rebellion led by his cousin, Muhammad al-Nafs
al-Zakiyya who was inspired by Kaysanites.[11] Al-Sadiq played no part
in the Abbassid rebellion against the Umayyads.[4] His response to a message
requesting help from Abu Muslim, the Khorasani leader of the uprising
against Umayyads, became famous. al-Sadiq asked for a lamp and burned Abu
Muslim's letter, saying to the envoy who brought it, "Tell your master
what you have seen."[12] In burning Abû Muslim's
letter he had also said, "This man is not one of my men, this time is not
mine."[14] Al-Sadiq also evaded
other requests for assistance to other claims to the throne, without advancing
his own claims. He had said that even though he, as the designated imam, was
the true leader of the Ummah, he would not press his
claim to the caliphate.[9]
Under
the Abbasid rulers
The end of the Umayyad
dynasty and beginning of the Abbasid was a period during which central
authority was weak, allowing al-Sadiq to teach freely in a school which trained
about four thousands students. Among these were Abū Ḥanīfa and Malik ibn Anas,
founder of two major Sunnit schools of law, the Hanafiyah and the Malikiyah.[15][16][17] Wasil ibn Ata,
founder of Mu`tazila school, was also among
his pupils. After the Abbasid revolution had overthrown the Umayyad caliphate,
it turned against Shiite groups who had previously been its allies against the
Umayyads. The new Abbasid rulers, who had risen to power on the basis of their
descent from Muhammad's uncle Abbas ibn ‘Abd
al-Muttalib, were suspicious of
al-Sadiq, because Shiites had always believed that leadership of the Ummah was a position issued by divine order, and which was given to
each imam by the previous imam. In addition, al-Sadiq had a large following,
both among scholars and among those who believed him to be the imam.[8] During rule ofAl-Mansur, al-Sadiq was summoned
to Baghdad along with some other
prominent men from Medina in order for the Caliph
to keep a close watch on them. al-sadiq, however, asked the Caliph to excuse
him from going there by reciting a Hadith which said that "the
man who goes away to make a living will achieve his purpose, but he who sticks
to his family will prolong his life."[12] al-Mansur reportedly
accepted his request. After the defeat and death of his cousin Muhammad al-Nafs
al-Zakiyya in 762, however, al-Sadiq
thought it advisable to obey al-Mansur's summons. After a short stay in Baghdad, however, he convinced
the Caliph that he was not a threat, and was allowed to return to Medina.[4][6]
Toward the end of his
life, he was subject to some harassment by the Abbasid caliphs. The governor of Medina was instructed by the
Caliph to burn down his house, an event which reportedly did al-Sadiq no harm.[b][12] To cut his ties with his
followers, al-Sadiq was also watched closely and occasionally imprisoned.[8]
Family
life
al-Sadiq married Fatima
Al-Hasan, a descendant of Hasan ibn Ali, with whom he had two sons, Isma'il ibn Jafar (the Ismaili sixth Imām) and Abdullah al-Aftah. Following his wife's death, al-Sadiq purchased a Berbery or Andalusian slave named Hamidah
Khātūn (Arabic: حميدة خاتون),
freed her, trained her as an Islamic scholar, and then married her. She bore
him two more sons; Musa al-Kadhim (the seventh Twelver imam), and Muhammad al-Dibaj. She was revered by the Shiites, especially by women, for her
wisdom. She was known as Hamidah the Pure. Ja'far al-Sadiq used to send women
to learn the tenets of Islam from her, said that "Hamidah is pure from
every impurity like the ingot of pure gold."[18]
Death[
The historical tomb of Al-Baqi' was destroyed in 1926. Ja'far
al-Sadiq was one of four shia imams buried here.
al-Sadiq was arrested
several times by Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs Hisham, Saffah, and Mansur. According
to some sources[c] he was poisoned through
at the behest of Mansur in 148/765 at the age of 64 or 65, leading to
uncertainty about the future of the Imamate.[4][5]He was buried in Medina, in the famous Jannatul Baqee cemetery, and his tomb was a place of pilgrimage until 1926. The Wahhabisconquered Medina for the
second time in 1925, and razed many tombs to the ground, with the exception of
Muhammad's tomb.[19]According to Tabatabai upon hearing the news of al-Sadiq's death, Mansur wanted to put
an end to the Imamate. Mansur reportedly wrote to the governor of Medina, commanding
him to read the imam's testament, and to behead the person named in it as the
future imam. However, the governor found that al-Sadiq had chosen four people
rather than one: Mansur himself, the governor, the imam's oldest son Abdullah al-Aftah, and Musa al-Kazim, his younger son.[5]
Succession
The Shiite group had
begun to split during the lifetime of al-Sadiq, when his eldest son Isma'il predeceased him. His death occurred in the presence of many
witnesses.[5] After the death of Ja'far
al-Sadiq, his following fractured further, with the larger group, who came to
be known as the twelvers, following his younger son Musa al-Kadhim.
Another group believed instead that Isma'il had been designated as the next
imam, and that since he had predeceased his father, the imamate had passed to
Isma'il]'s sonMuhammad and his descendants. This latter group became known as the Isma'ilis. Some Isma'ilis believe
that Isma'il had not actually died, but would reappear as Mahdi, the rejuvenator of Islam in the Shiite doctrine. Still other
groups accepted either Abdullah al-Aftah or Muhammad, both sons of the Ja'far al-Sadiq, as the imam. A final group
believed that al-Sadiq had been the last imam, and that the lineage had not
continued. After the death of Musa al-Kazim, the majority of his followers
recognized his son Ali al-Ridha as the eighth imam, while others believed that al-Kazim had been
the last imam. This latter group became known as the Waqifiyah. No major divisions
occurred in Shiitism from the eighth to the twelfth imam, whom the majority of
the Shiite considered to be Muhammad al-Mahdi. Among the sects which separated from the majority, only Zaidiyyah and Ismaili continue to exist today.[4][5][6][8][9][13][20]
Religious
views[
Al-Sadiq religious views
are recorded as authority in the writing of number of contradictory positions.
The use of his name as an authority within the Sufi, scientific, Sunni legal, Ismaili and extremist writings shows
his importance as a figure within the development of early Muslim thought.[21] According to Ya'qubi it was customary for
anyone who wanted to relate a tradition from him to say "the Learned One
informed us". Malik ibn Anas, when quoting anything from al-Sadiq, would
say "The Thiqa (truthful) Ja'far b. Muhammad himself told me that…"
the same is reported from Abu Hanifa.[8][11] The works attributed to
him may be of dubious authenticity, but they do establish his name at least as
indicating a mastery of learning generally, and the Islamic sciences in
particular.[21] Though most groups wished
to recruit al-Sadiq's legacy for their own cause, the most extensive source for
his teachings is to be found within the imami Shiite tradition. For Twelver Shiites Ja'far al-Ṣadiq is the sixth imam who established the Shiism as serious
intellectual force in the late Umayyad and early Abbasid periods.[21] According to Tabatabai the number of traditions left behind by al-Sadiq and his father
were more than all thehadith recorded from Muhammad
and all the other Shiite imams combined.[5] Shiite thought starting
with Sayyid Haydar Amuli, and leading to Safavid philosophers like Mir Damad, Mulla Sadra and Qazi Sa’id Qumi continuing to the present day is based on Shiite imam's
tradition specially al-Sadiq.[7]
Ja'fari
school of law
Shiite jurisprudence
became known as Ja'fari jurisprudence after Ja'far al-Sadiq, whose legal dicta were the most important
source of Shiite law. Like Sunni law, Ja'fari
jurisprudence is based on the Quran and the Hadith, and also based on the
consensus (Ijma). Unlike the sunnis'
Shiites give more weight to reasoning ('Aql) while while sunnis only allow for
a kind of analogical reasoning (Qiyas).[13][21][22] Al-Sadiq is presented as
one who denounces personal opinion (Raʾy) and analogical
reasoning (qiās) of his contemporaries arguing that God’s law is occasional and
unpredictable, and that the servants' duty is not to embark on reasoning in
order to discover the law, but to submit to the inscrutable will of God as
revealed by the imam.[21] In his book Maqbula Omar ibn Ḥanẓala (who was a disciple of al-Sadiq) asks the imam how
legal disputes within the community should be solved, and whether one should
take such cases to the ruler (Sultan) and his judges. Ja'far
al-Sadiq replies in the negative saying that those who take their disputes to
the rulers and their judges get only soḥt (unlawful decision). Instead al-Sadiq recommends an unofficial
system of justice for the community, and that the disputants should turn to
"those who relate our [i.e., the imams'] Hadiths". The reason for
this is that the imams have "made such a one a judge (ḥākem) over you."[21]
Theology[
Ja'far al-sadiq's view on
theology is transmitted through Mufazzel who recorded his own questions and
al-sadiq's answers in a book known as Ketab
al-Tawhid in which al-Sadiq
gives proofs as the unity of God. This book is considered identical to the Ketāb al-ehlilaja which is a reply to Mufazzel's request
from al-Sadiq for a refutation of those who deny God. Hesham ibn Ḥakam (d. 179/796) is another famous student of the imam who
proposed a number of doctrines that later became orthodox shiite theology,
including the rational necessity of the divinely guided imam in every age to
teach and lead God's community.[21] Al-Sadiq is attributed
with the statement: "Whoever claims that God has ordered evil, has lied
about God. Whoever claims that both good and evil are attributed to him, has
lied about God". This view which is accordance with that of Mu'tazilitedoctrine
seems to absolve God from the responsibility for evil in the world. Al-Sadiq
says that God does not "order created beings to do something without
providing for them a means of not doing it, though they do not do it, or not do
it without God's permission". al-Sadiq expressed a moderate view between
compulsion (Jabr), and giving the choice to man (Tafviz), stating that God
decreed some things absolutely, but left some others to human agency. This
assertion was widely adopted afterwards and was called "al-amr bayn
al-amrayn" which meant" neither predestination nor delegation but a
position between the two."[6][12] Al-Ṣadiq's view therefore is recorded as supporting either position
as it is reported in a exchange between him and an unknown interlocutor. The
interlocutor asks if God forces his servants to do evil or whether he had
delegated power to them. Al-Sadiq's answers negatively to both questions. When
asked "What then?" he replies, "The blessings of your Lord are
between these two".[21]
Tafsir[
The works attributed to
Jafar al-Sadiq in Tafsir (Quranic exegesis) are mostly described as the Sufi-mystical works such as "Tafsir al-Qorʾān", "Manāfeʿ ṣowar al-Qorʾān" and "ḴawāsÂs al-Qorʾān al-aʿẓam".
The attribution of these works to al-Sadiq, however, is suspected. In his books Ḥaqāʾeq al-tafsir and Ziādāt Ḥaqāʾeq al-tafsir, ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān Solami cites al-Ṣadiq as one of his major (if not the major) source of knowledge
concerning the meaning of Quranic verses.[21]
"Ketāb
al-jafr", an early mystical commentary on the Quran (Tafsir), is also attributed to
al-Sadiq.[8][21] According to Ibn Khaldun, it
was originally written on the skin of a young bull, allowing the imam to reveal
the hidden meaning of the Quran.[23] al-Sadiq is said to have
proposed a fourfold model of Quran interpretation. He said that "The Book
of God comprises four things: the statement set down , the implied purport, the
hidden meanings, relating to the supra-sensible world, and the exalted
spiritual doctrines." He said that the plain meanings were for the commmon
people; the hidden meanings for the elite; the implied meanings for the
"friends of god;" and the "exalted spiritual doctrines"
were the "province of the prophets."[20] He stated that Hadith, or traditional sayings
of the Prophet, should be rejected if they contradicted the Quran.[6]
Doctrine
of Taqiyyah]
al-Sadiq adopted Taqiyyah as a defensive tool
against the violence and threats that were directed against him and the
Shiites.[4][13] Taqiyya was a form of
religiousdissimulation,[24] or a legal dispensation
whereby a believing individual can deny their faith, or commit otherwise
illegal or blasphemous acts, while they are in fear or at risk of significant
persecution.[25] In other words, Taqiyya
says that it is acceptable to hide one's true opinions if by revealing them,
one put oneself or others in danger.[8] The doctrine was
developed by al-Sadiq, and served to protect the Shiites when Al-Mansur, the Abbasid caliph, conducted a
brutal and oppressive campaign against Alids and their supporters.[24] According to Moezzi, in
the early sources Taqiyya means "the keeping or safeguarding of the
secrets of the Imams' teaching." "Divergence of traditions" is,
therefore, sometimes justified by Shiite imams as a result of the need for
using Taqiyya. "He who is certain that we [the imams] proclaim only the
truth (Al-Haqq), may
he be satisfied with our teaching," asserts al-Sadiq; "and if he
hears us say something contradictory to what he heard earlier, he should know
that we are acting only in his own interest."[14] Practicing Taqiyya also
had an esoteric significance for those who believed that their teachings should
not be comprehensible to ordinary Ulama, and so hid their more
profound teachings.[9]
Works[
According to Haywood half
a dozen religious works bear al-Sadiq's name as author, though none of them can
be firmly described as being written by al-Ṣadiq. It is probable that al-Sadiq was an author who left the
writing to his students. The alchemist, Geber, for example, suggested that some
of his works are "little more than records of Jaʿfar's teaching or summaries of hundreds of monographs written by
him."[6][13][23] Ja'far Al-Sadiq is also
cited in a wide range of historical sources, including al-Tabari, al-Yaqubi and Al-Masudi.Al-Dhahabi recognizes his contribution
to Sunni tradition and Isma'ili scholars such as Qadi al-Nu'man.[26] recorded his traditions
in their work.[27]
Ketāb
al-jafr is a commentary on the
Quran which, according to Ibn Khaldun,
was first written on the skin of a young bull, which allowed al-Sadiq to reveal
the hidden meaning of the Quran.[23] Various versions of his
will, and a number of collections of legal dicta, are attributed to him as
well. There are many reports attributed to him in the early ShiiteHadith collections such as Muhammad ibn Ya'qub
al-Kulayni's Kitab al-Kafi,
where they are featured as central sources of Imami doctrine.[4] "Al-haft wa'l-aẓella" and "Ketāb al-ṣerāṭ"
which are containing "secret revelations" to Mofażżal are also
attributed to al-Sadiq, and had an important role in the elaboration of the
esoteric doctrine of the Nosayris, for whom al-Ṣadiq is an influential figure.[4]
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