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IMAM
MUHAMMAD AL-BAQIR (A.S.)
Once
during his childhood, Imam al-Hussayn (as) was sitting on the lap of his
grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (saww) when Jabir bin Abdillah al-Ansari
came by. The Holy Prophet (saww) looked at Jabir and then said,
“O Jabir! A child will be born in the
offspring of this son of mine who will be the most knowledgeable and
wisest person of his time. O Jabir! Allah will keep you alive until his
time and you will see him. O Jabir! When you meet him, convey my salaams
to him”.
Jabir
listened to this attentively and thereafter always waited eagerly for
the opportunity of meeting this young boy from the offspring of al-Hussayn
(as). As long as Jabir had his eye-sight, he searched for this boy
everywhere he went but when he lost his eye-sight due to old age, he
began calling out the name of the young boy wherever he went. People
found this behaviour odd and therefore used to say, “Jabir has become
insane due to old age”.
After a
long wait, the day arrived when Jabir finally met with the young boy as
predicted by the Holy Prophet (saww). It is related that Imam Ali ibn
al-Hussayn (as) came to meet Jabir along with his son Muhammad al-Baqir
(as). Jabir was very old and could not see anything. Imam (as) asked his
son to kiss the forehead of Jabir. When he did so, Jabir embraced him
and said, “O Son of the Prophet! Your grandfather, the Messenger of
Allah (saww) has conveyed his salaams to you”. The young boy
replied, “O Jabir! Peace of Allah be upon
him and upon you”. Jabir then pleaded the young boy for his
intercession in the hereafter to which he agreed and shortly after this
encounter, Jabir passed away from this life.
This
young boy was non other than the fifth true successor of the Holy
Prophet (saww) and the Imam of the Muslim ummah, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir
(as)
(Ahsan
al-Maqaal)
Imam
al-Baqir (as) was born on 1st Rajab 57 AH in Madinah. His
father was the fourth Imam, Ali ibn al-Hussayn (as) and his mother was
Fatimah, daughter of Imam al-Hassan (as). Thus he is a descendant of
Banu Hashim from both, paternal and maternal sides.
He (as)
was known as Abu Ja’ffar and among his titles are:
Al-Baqir (Splitter of Knowledge), Al-Shakir (The
grateful one) and Al-Hadi (The Guide). The most popular of
his titles is Al-Baqir which originates from Baqr
meaning “to split open” or “to rip open” or “to cut open”. This
is because he (as) had the opportunity to split open the Knowledge which
he had inherited from his grandfather (saww) to impart it to others.
Imam
al-Baqir (as) used to say, “We were taught
the language of the birds and we were bestowed with knowledge of
everything”.
(Manaqib
of Ibn Shahr Aashub)
An
example of his profound knowledge is cited as hereunder.
Shaykh
Mufeed (a.r) writes in his al-Irshaad:
When Hisham bin Abdul Malik became the caliph, he went for Hajj. There,
he saw Imam al-Baqir (as) sitting in a corner of Masjid al-Haraam and
preaching the people. Being jealous, Hisham decided to humiliate the
Imam (as) and so he sent someone with a question:
“On the
day of Judgement, before their fate becomes known, what will people eat
and drink?” Imam (as) replied,
“On the day of Judgement where accounting will
be held, there will be trees bearing fruits. People shall eat from those
trees”. When Hisham heard this, he
said, “Wrong! Since people in the plain of Mahshar will be
worried and in state of fear and torture, they shall neither feel hunger
nor thirst”. Imam (as) told the man,
“He (i.e. Hisham) is not reading the Holy
Quran carefully. Hasn’t he read the verse in which it is mentioned:
‘And the inmates of the fire shall call
out to the dwellers of the garden, saying: Pour on us some water or of
that which Allah has given to you..’(7:50)”.
Hisham fell silent and did not reply.
SAYINGS
OF IMAM AL-BAQIR (A.S.):
“Is it sufficient for one to become our Shia’h by merely claiming our
love? By Allah! Our Shia’hs are not but one who is careful of his duties
towards Allah and obeys Him”.
(Gunahane
Kabeera)
“The completion, entire completion of a man lies in understanding &
appreciating the religion (the necessary laws and principles of Islamic
jurisprudence), the patience & forebearance upon the occurance of
incidents and the appraisement & assessment of (his) economy”.
(Tuhaf
al-‘Uqool)
“Indeed Allah has hidden three things in three others: His pleasure in
His obedience. So do not belittle anything from His obedience since His
pleasure may be in the same one. And Allah has concealed His wrath and
anger in sins. So do not belittle any sin and consider it to be small.
May be the wrath of Allah is in it. And He has concealed His friends and
saints among the people. So do not look down upon any one perhaps he may
be the friend and saint of Allah”.
(Bihar
al-Anwaar)
Mulla
Mujaheedali Sheriff
mulla@almahdi.org.uk |