Imam Sadeq (AS) – Epitome of Genuine Islam

Heartiest felicitations to you on the auspicious 17th of Rabi al-Awwal, which is indeed a day of double joy, because in addition to the blessed birthday on this day of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny), it also happens to be the birthday of his 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), the Reviver of his genuine Seerah and Sunnah, that is, practice and behaviour.

 “O son of Jundab, regard him who ruptured relations with you, give him who deprived you (of his bestowals), treat kindly him who mistreated you, greet him who reviled you, be just to him who disputed with you, and pardon him who wronged you in the same way you like others to pardon you. Take lessons from God’s pardoning you. Do you not see that His sun is covering (both) the pious and the licentious, and His rain is falling on the virtuous as well as the wrongdoers?”

What you heard was a gem of an advice to a person named Abdullah ibn Jundab that speaks volumes of the dynamic spirit of Islam. It is the formula for building bridges in society so as to ensure a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere for attracting others to the universal message of Islam. It was bequeathed to us by the Prophet’s 6^th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), whose birth anniversary we are celebrating today on the 17^th of Rabi al-Awwal, along with that of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

Imam Sadeq was born in 83 AH in Medina on the 136^th birth anniversary of his illustrious ancestor. It was indeed Divine Providence that the birthday of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger should also be the birthday, 136 years later, of his 6^th Infallible Heir, who like the Prophet, has also earned lasting fame as “Sadeq” or the Most Truthful.

Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) needs no introduction. He was born 22 years after the heartrending tragedy of Karbala, where his great-grandfather, Imam Husain (AS) – the grandson of the Prophet – was martyred. He spent the first dozen years of his life with his grandfather, Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS), the Survivor of the Tragedy of Karbala. The next 19 years were spent exclusively with his own father, Imam Mohammad al-Baqer (AS), whom he succeeded to the imamate at the age of 31 in 114 AH.

He lived in a crucial period of history when the Godless Omayyad tyrants were on their way towards the dustbin of history, while the equally ungodly Abbasids were emerging as the new breed of usurpers of the right of political leadership of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt.

Imam Sadeq (AS), whose own God-given authority as Heir of the Prophet’s historical proclamation of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as the divinely-designated vicegerent, was beyond the grasp of any usurper, desisted from any rash decision when one of the victorious commanders of the anti-Omayyad uprising sent him a letter offering the caliphate. The Imam coolly burned the sealed letter in the light of a lamp because he knew that a caliphate which is offered by someone else than God is not legitimate authority – as was the case with the scandalous gathering of Saqifa Bani Sa’dah in Medina when a deviant group selected a caliph after a fist fight amongst themselves, while the Prophet’s rightful heir, Imam Ali (AS), was busy in the funerary seminary of the Seal of Messengers.

Once an Iranian chieftain from Khorasan, named Sahl bin Hassan came to Medina and asked Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), as to why he wasn't actively fighting for his denied political rights, in spite of the truth being on his side, when there were thousands of supporters ready to fight with him. The Imam asked him to sit down and wait. In the meantime, a servant came and was asked by the Imam whether the fire had been kindled. On receiving the reply in the affirmative, the Imam took Sahl bin Hassan with him and went towards the oven. The fire was blazing red hot. The Imam turned to Sahl and told him to jump into it. Sahl trembled and begged forgiveness. At this moment, Haroun al-Makki, a devoted follower of the Ahl al-Bayt came, and was told by the Imam to jump into the oven. Haroun leapt into blaze without a second thought.

The Imam then turned to Sahl bin Hassan, and as if nothing unusual had happened. He started to discuss with him the situation in Khorasan, while the eyes and the mind of the Iranian chieftain were occupied with the fate of the person who had jumped into the oven. After a while, the Imam took Sahl toward the oven to show him what had transpired for Haroun al-Makki. To his surprise, Sahl saw Haroun al-Makki sitting cross legged safe and sound in the blazing oven without being scorched or scalded by the fire.

Imam Sadeq (AS) then asked the Iranian chieftain as to how many of his followers in Khorasan were like Haroun al-Makki. Sahl replied: “No one O Master".

In the social and jurisprudential fields, it was thus prudence on the part of Imam Sadeq (AS) that saved Islam and the Sharia’h of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) from suffering the fate of the mission of Prophet Jesus that was completely distorted by Paul the Jew to become Christianity as it is known today.

In the intellectual fields, so thoroughly did the Imam revolutionize sciences and academic learning that at one time 4000 scholars from various parts of the Islamic World – Asia, Africa and Europe – sat at the feet of the heir of the Prophet to learn various disciplines, including jurisprudence, theology, rhetoric, ethics, hadith, exegesis of the holy Qur’an, accounts of the past Prophets (history), and natural sciences such as physics, chemistry, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, botany, etc. Among its proud products was the Father of Chemistry, Jaber ibn Hayyan (known as Geber to medieval Europe).

When Mansour Dawaniqi took power as the 2nd self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, he put obstacles in the way of the Imam, and virtually closed down the famous academy of Medina. Once he ordered Abu Hanifa to prepare a set of most complicated theological questions and pose them to the Imam. But to horror of the caliph and Abu Hanifa, the debate was rationally won by Imam Sadeq (AS). Abu Hanifa used to say “But for the two years (I spent as student of the Imam), I would have perished.” The fame of Imam Sadeq (AS) spread far and wide. Even people in distant India which had not yet come under the rule of Islam, were in touch with Imam Sadeq (AS) in Medina, and would regularly receive guidance from him. The rationality and true explanation of the Qur’an, Hadith and the sciences, convinced all.

The next devilish plot of Mansour Dawaniqi, originally a follower of the Ahl al-Bayt, and had become a turncoat on assuming rule of the Islamic realm, was far more seditious. He not only tormented Imam Sadeq (AS), whose God-given authority he had acknowledged in his days as a persecuted fugitive during Omayyad rule, but labeled the Shi’a or devoted followers of the Ahl al-Bayt as “Rafidhoon” or rejecters of the caliphate. Mansour’s treason was to mislead those who had no idea of what the real Sunnah and Seerah of the Prophet was.