Imam Baqer (PBUH), recipient of the Prophet’s greetings
Mar 30, 2017 05:47 UTC
Congratulations to you on a very special day. Today, the first of the sacred month of Rajab happens to be the birth anniversary of a very special person. He was not a Prophet, but was the namesake of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny).
As a matter of fact he was fourth in line of descent from the Prophet on both sides of his impeccable pedigree, that is, he was the grandson of both the grandsons of the Prophet – Imam Hasan and Imam Husain (Peace be upon them). To be more precise, he was the 5th divinely-designated heir of the Messenger of Mercy, who interestingly had prophesied to his loyal companion Jaber ibn Abdullah al-Ansari in the following words:
“O Jaber, you will have a long life, and though you will go blind, you will meet the 4th in line of my descendants whose name will be my name, who will walk like me and who will be the 5thImam of the time. When you meet him, give my salaams to him”.
On hearing these prophetic words from the Prophet of Peace, Jaber asked the names of the Infallible Heirs, the offspring of the Immaculate Wife-and-Husband, Hazrat Fatema Zahra and Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (peace upon them). The Prophet confided to him the names, and as prophesied by the Seal of Messengers, Jaber, who had the honour of being the first person to visit the grave of the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), on the Arba’een or the 40th day of the heartrending tragedy of Ashura in 61 AH, lived a long life. Though he lost his eyesight, he patiently awaited the time he would meet the 5th Imam. As years passed, it was his habit every morning to come out of his house and sit by the roadside to hear the sound of footsteps of the Prophet’s namesake, the grandson of both the grandsons of the Mercy unto the creation.
The day did finally dawn when in the street of Medina he heard the sound of footsteps that reminded him of the way the Prophet used to walk. To his delight, the footsteps neared him and a youth approached him. Jaber immediately stood up, and asked the person his name, and to his excitement, the reply was: “Mohammad” the son Ali, the son of Husain (peace upon them).”
Jaber kissed him and reverently conveyed to him the greetings of the Prophet entrusted to him over half-a-century ago. The excited Jaber called his family members and friends to assemble in the house, and narrated to them what had transpired between him and Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). The Prophet had foretold the epithet of his 5th Infallible Heir – “Baqer al-Uloum” or the Splitter and Spreader of Sciences.
Jaber then recited to the gathering the names of seven more Imams that would descend from Imam Mohammad al-Baqer (AS), as foretold by the Prophet, up to the 12th and Last One, who after a lengthy occultation would rise in the end times as Mahdi al-Qa’em to establish the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice on Planet Earth by ridding it of oppression and corruption.
Today, the 1st of Rajab is that blessed day when the 5th Imam was born in the Prophet’s city, Medina, in 57 AH, 46 years after the passing away of his great-great-grandfather the Prophet. If, as the son of Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS), he was the paternal grandson of the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), his descent from the Prophet from both sides is evident, since his mother Fatema (peace upon her) was the daughter of the Prophet’s elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mojtaba (AS).
As a 4-year old boy, he witnessed the bloodcurdling tragedy of Karbala, where besides his grandfather and grand-uncles, his own paternal and maternal uncles were martyred. Despite, his tender years, he along with his parents, aunts and grand aunts, Hazrat Zainab and Hazrat Omm Kolthoum (peace upon them), was made a prisoner and dragged to the courts of the tyrants in Kufa and Damascus in Syria. On one instant, the boy astounded Yazid and his corrupt courtiers, with his knowledge beyond years by rebuking them for their treatment of the Prophet’s blessed household. On release from captivity, the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt returned to Medina, and for the next 34 years, Imam Baqer (AS), stood steadfast beside his father, the Imam of the era, in rebuilding from shreds the tattered fabric of Islam. In 95 AH, with the martyrdom through poisoning of Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS), the mantle of imamate that the Prophet, by the command of God, had conferred on the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), at the historic plain of Ghadeer-Khom on 18th Zilhijja 10 AH, came to rest on his shoulders.
In those dark days of Omayyad tyranny, the 5th Imam spared no efforts to enlighten Muslims about Islam; about God’s Revealed Word, the holy Qur’an; and about the infallibility and divine knowledge possessed by the Best of creation, that is,
his illustrious ancestor Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). On the 5th Imam’s authority, the Sunnah and Seerah, that is, the Prophet’s practice and behaviour, was recorded by scribes, to whom he also narrated accounts of the prophets of the past, since knowledge and wisdom were household affairs for him. Imam Baqer (AS) explained to the seekers of truth a wide variety of topics, including the nature of the soul and Nafs, as well as the attributes of God Almighty, Who is above any comparison.
Once, a certain Wasel bin Atat, the chief of the Mu’tazilites or so-called rationalists, thinking himself to be a realistic person, asked the 5th Imam about Divine Wrath as mentioned in the holy Qur’an. The Imam explained to him that this refers to the All-Merciful God’s punishment of the deserving infidels and tyrants, and cannot be compared to the anger of human beings, because the Nature of the All-Wise and the Most Just Creator, does not change. It is the obstinate disbelievers and unrepentant sinners, who bring upon themselves divine wrath despite being granted by God lengthy respite for repentance and reform, and ample opportunities to avail of His Forgiveness.
It was during the 5th Imam’s time that Omar Ibn Abdul Aziz briefly became caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime for three years, during which he ordered the stopping of the blasphemous practice of curses from the pulpits of mosques on the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) that were initiated by the accursed Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan.
Omar ibn Abdul-Aziz, aware of the injustice done to the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt by the caliphs wanted to rectify the wrongs done by his predecessors. The Imam admonished him with bezels of wisdom till the self-styled caliph wept. Omar ibn Abdul-Aziz then decided to return the vast orchard of Fadak which Omar ibn Khattab had seized from Hazrat Fatema Zahra (peace upon her), despite the fact that the Prophet had given it to her in his lifetime on the commandment of God Almighty, as a small compensation for the proverbial wealth of her mother, Omm al-Momineen Hazrat Khadija (peace upon her), that was spent on providing food, clothing, and shelter to the persecuted neo Muslim community of Mecca.
Imam Mohammad Baqer (AS), who was martyred in 114 AH at the age of 57 through a dose of poisoning on the orders of the tyrannical Omayyad caliph, Hisham ibn Abdul-Malik, always enlightened the rulers on the Imamate of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS). Once he fearlessly told Hisham in his court that the ayah 3 of Surah al-Ma’edah was revealed to the Prophet on the Day of Ghadeer-Khom after he had proclaimed Imam Ali (AS) as his vicegerent:
“This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed by My favour upon you and decreed Islam to be your religion.”
When the caliph asked for more proofs, the Imam recounted many more hadith and indisputable events from the Prophet’s lifetime regarding the prime position of Imam Ali, making the wicked and crafty Hisham speechless.
These and other facts of Islam unnerved Hisham and he imprisoned in Damascus, Imam Baqer and his son and eventual successor, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (peace upon them). When the 5th Imam enlightened the inmates about Islam and turned them into reformed Muslims, the horrified Hisham released both father and son, but did not allow them to leave Syria for Medina. When Imam Baqer (AS), during a lively encounter and debate with the chief Christian priest of Syria convinced him of the truth of Islam and transformed him and his followers into Muslims and adherents of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, the alarmed Omayyad tyrant, immediately asked the Imam to leave Syria for Medina, but under an armed escort, with strict orders that the Prophet’s successor should not be allowed to meet people of the towns on the route. Soon the wicked Hisham poisoned to death the 5th Imam, who was laid to rest in the sacred Baqie Cemetery beside his father, Imam Zain al-Abedin and maternal grandfather Imam Hasan Mojtaba (Peace be upon them).
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