Martyrdom of the 6th Infallible Imam

Today, the 25th of Shawwal renews our grief, since it was on this day Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), the 6th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny), was forced to depart from the mortal world, because of a dose of fatal poisoning by the tyrant Mansour Dawaniqi, who styled himself as the second caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime.

 “We have figured everything in a Manifest Imam.”

These are the words of God Almighty in ayah 12 of Surah Yaseen of the Holy Qur’an. These divine words are worth pondering upon. They refer to a group of extraordinary persons of the human race, whom the One and Only Creator, after having tested their souls before creation, has entrusted them with authority. Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny), as the Best of creation is most supreme example of this group, followed by his divinely-designated vicegerent the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). Next are the Leaders of the Youth of Paradise, Imam Hasan Mujtaba and the Martyr of Karbala Imam Husain (peace upon them). The other members of this elite group are the Nine Infallible Descendants of the Martyr of Karbala, culminating in the awaited Saviour of mankind, Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance for establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. It is incumbent upon humanity to follow the guidelines of these paragons par-excellence in order to achieve success in life and salvation in afterlife. Thus, Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), whose martyrdom we commemorate today, was indeed among the Manifest Imams in whom God Almighty has figured everything as ayah 12 of Surah Yaseen testifies.

Those still in doubt about the unsurpassed God-given merits, knowledge, and wisdom of the Prophet and the Imams of his Infallible Ahl al-Bayt, are invited to study the life of Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS). Born in 83 AH to Imam Mohammad Baqer (AS), he spent the first 12 years of his life under the guidance of his grandfather, Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS), the Survivor of the Tragedy of Karbala. History bears witness that while only a boy of less than ten years, Imam Sadeq (AS) used to frequent the classes of his grandfather and father, and to the surprise of the students which included grey-bearded scholars and were far older in age than him, he used to discuss serious matters of jurisprudence, theology and other sciences. In one such discourse, when he was only 11 years old, he entered a class of students and scholars discussing the subject of astronomy, and to the surprise of everyone, except his own father, he explained to the gathering: The Earth cannot be flat, because of the way the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and in view of the fact the day and the night cyclically follow each other, completing a 24-hour day. This means, said the young beardless pre-teen boy, the Earth is round otherwise this would not have happened in such a precise manner. All the scholars and students gasped in surprise and acclamation, while Imam Baqer (AS) smiled in appreciation of the God-given knowledge of his young son.

For the information of our listeners, this incident is not just confined to the sacred texts of the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, but has been mentioned in a book compiled by Five French scholars at Strasbourg, France titled: “The Heart of Shi’a Scholarship.” Written originally in French the book has been translated into English, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and other languages with authoritative references.

Today we are living in an age of injustice and hypocrisy, despite mankind’s achievements in science and civilization. The modern world is embroiled in the most macabre form of cannibalistic terrorism by the Godless Takfiris who masquerade as Muslims in order to tarnish the image of Islam on the orders of their heretical Wahhabi creators, the devilish Zionists and the satanic powers, such as the US, which misuse science and technology to build dangerous atomic arsenals. The situation warrants us to focus on the genuine teachings of Islam as bequeathed to us by the Prophet through his Immaculate Ahl al-Bayt. Of this elite group, it was Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), who during his 34-year mission had the opportunity to revive for the benefit of humanity the genuine “Sunnah” and “Seerah” or the practice and behaviour of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

Imam Sadeq (AS), at whose feet some 4,000 scholars used to assemble at his famous academy of Medina, to learn different branches of knowledge and wisdom, including natural sciences like physics, chemistry, astronomy, and the like, in addition to hadith, exegesis of the holy Qur’an, jurisprudence, theology, etc., lived in a crucial era when the tyrannical Omayyad regime was on the way out, and the equally oppressive Abbasid regime was seizing power. As a result, the 6^th Imam, though subjected to intermittent bouts of imprisonment by the Omayyad Hisham bin Abdul-Malik and the Abbasids Abbas as-Saffah and Mansour Dawaniqi, had the time to teach the seekers of facts and realities that the earth is spherical, it revolves around the sun, the air contains oxygen, the water has hydrogen, and mysteries of the rays of light, besides expounding to them the proper cognizance of Almighty Allah, the concept of Divine Justice, the correct manner of prayer and supplication, and the wisdom of reward and punishment on the Day of Resurrection.

At the same time, he advised those in political authority to cater to the needs of the people, be kind to the masses, do not oppress them, behave in good manner, desist from embezzlement and stealing from the public treasury, and to avoid listening to mischief-mongers whose main intention is to wreck the life of others. A vivid example in this regard, is the 6^th Imam’s letter to Abdullah an-Najashi, who was the governor of Ahvaz and Fars in southwestern and southern Iran. The letter given to a person who lacked the means to pay the heavy taxes levied by the regime, read: “In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Behave leniently towards your brother; may Allah be lenient with you too!”

When Najashi took the letter, he kissed it, read it, and not only exempted the bearer from paying the heavy tax of ten thousand dirhams, but granted him several other facilities. This and other examples of public welfare, coupled with the imparting of the genuine teachings of Islam as well as grooming in science and technology – one of whose exemplary products was Jaber ibn Hayyan the Father of Chemistry – were viewed with horror by Mansour Dawaniqi, who knew that the rightful successor of the Prophet was Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), and once people became aware of this reality they will most surely turn away from the Abbasids. He also knew how the Abbasid propagandists had deceived the Muslim masses by raising the slogan of restoration of the rights of the Ahl al-Bayt during the campaign to overthrow the Omayyads.

Although, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) had no intention of taking over the political rule of the Islamic realm and had, without opening it, burned the letter of offer of the caliphate by the general Abu Salama, since the Imamate is God-given authority and it is Divine Will that only the 12^th and Last Infallible Imam will rise as Qa’em al-Mahdi in the end times to establish the global government of justice, Mansour left no stone unturned to undermine Imam Sadeq (AS), including the futile bid to use pseudo scholars, such as Abu Hanifa to debate with the Rightful Imam, in whom God has enshrined all knowledge. Mansour remembered his days as an obscure persecuted member of the larger Bani Hashem clan, whose prime member was Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), in those days of persecution of the Prophet’s family. He was aware of his insignificant presence at the famous gathering at Abwa in 120 AH, where he had acknowledged Imam Sadeq (AS) as the Prophet’s Rightful Successor, and given pledge of political allegiance to the Hasanid branch of the Prophet’s family as future rulers after the Omayyads. In 132 AH, the Abbasids seized the caliphate by deceiving the masses. In 136 Mansour succeeded his brother Abbas as-Saffah as caliph, and immediately started imprisoning, torturing and martyring the descendants of Imam Hasan Mujtaba (AS). Nafs Zakiyya was martyred in 142 AH, and his brother Ibrahim was martyred the next year. Mansour had the roof of the prison collapsed on other members of the Hasanid clan, and buried them alive under the debris, while building his new capital Baghdad.  

Finally in 148 AH, the dastardly Mansour had Imam Sadeq (AS) martyred through a fatal dose of poison. He thought he could blot out genuine Islam, but failed as is clear from the prevalence of Fiqh al-Ja’fari or the School of jurisprudence of the Ahl al-Bayt, which is indeed the pure, pristine and dynamic shari’ah of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

AS/SS