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Shia Islam: Imam al-S\u0101diq \/27<\/p>\n
Imam al-S\u0101diq<\/p>\n
Imam al-S\u0101diq, the sixth the Imam, was born in 702 AD in Medina. He passed away in 765 AD there and buried in Baq\u012b\u02bf Cemetry. His mother was Umm Farwa bint al-Q\u0101sim b. Mu\u1e25ammad b. Ab\u016b Bakr. Al-S\u0101diq\u2019s Imamate lasted 34 years. (Irsh\u0101d) His Imamate coincided with the reigns of rulers from both the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. The Umayyad caliphs of his time were as follows: Hish\u0101m b. \u02bfAbd al-Malik b. Marw\u0101n, Wal\u012bd b. Yaz\u012bd b. \u02bfAbd al-Malik, Yaz\u012bd b. Wal\u012bd b. \u02bfAbd al-Malik, Ibr\u0101h\u012bm b. Wal\u012bd b. \u02bfAbd al-Malik and Marw\u0101n b. Mu\u1e25ammad. The Abbasid caliphs were \u02bfAbd All\u0101h b. Mu\u1e25ammad, known as Saff\u0101\u1e25 and Ab\u016b Ja\u02bffar, known as Man\u1e63\u016br.<\/p>\n
As far as the greatness and character of Imam al-S\u0101diq is concerned it would be enough to know that even his sworn enemy Man\u1e63\u016br shed tears when he learnt of the Imam\u2019s martyrdom.<\/p>\n
It was midnight. Silence and darkness dominated everywhere. Man\u1e63\u016br summoned his special secretary Ab\u016b Ayy\u016bb Khawz\u012b to his palace. When he entered the room he saw Man\u1e63\u016br sitting on a chair with a candle lit in front of him. He held a letter in his hand. He wept as he read it. Man\u1e63\u016br\u2019s secretary says he threw him the letter and said: \u2018This letter has been sent to me by Mu\u1e25ammad b. Sulaym\u0101n, the governor of Medina, reporting that Ja\u02bffar b. Mu\u1e25ammad has passed away. Can anyone like Ja\u02bffar b. Mu\u1e25ammad be found?\u2019 (Bi\u1e25\u0101r al-Anw\u0101r)<\/p>\n
Malik b. Anas, one of the Four Sunn\u012b Imams, says every time he met Imam al-S\u0101diq, he was either praying, fasting or reciting the Qur\u2019an. \u2018The eye has not seen\u2026 anyone like him.\u2019 (al-Tahdh\u012bb)<\/p>\n
Another of the Four Sunn\u012b Imams, Ab\u016b \u1e24an\u012bfa, says: \u2018When Man\u1e63\u016br took Imam al-S\u0101diq to Iraq, I was invited by Man\u1e63\u016br to debate with him. I prepared forty questions to ask him. When I entered Ja\u02bffar b. Mu\u1e25ammad was sitting on the right. I saluted him and sat down. Man\u1e63\u016br introduced me. Then upon Man\u1e63\u016br\u2019s order, I asked questions one by one and he answered all of them. In response to every question, he expressed the views of Medinans and Iraqis before expressing his own. He confirmed some views and rejected some others. He was the most cognizant\u2026\u2019 (Tadhkirat al-\u1e24uff\u0101\u1e93) During his time the Imam, al-\u1e62\u0101diq managed to train 4,000 scholars.<\/p>\n
The \u1e25ad\u012bth scholar, \u1e24asan b. \u02bfAl\u012b Wash\u0101\u02bf says: \u2018In the Mosque of Kufa, I met nine hundred \u1e25ad\u012bth collectors who quoted traditions from Ja\u02bffar b. Mu\u1e25ammad.\u2019 (Rij\u0101l Naj\u0101sh\u012b)<\/p>\n
Seven Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs ruled during the 34-year the Imamate of Imam al-S\u0101diq. Islamic society was unstable at that time and this instability led to the overthrow of the Umayyad Dynasty in 132 AH. The Abbasids who succeeded them were even worse.<\/p>\n
Imam al-S\u0101diq who passed nearly 50 years of his life under the reign of the Umayyad dynasty was well aware of their crimes. The Umayyad rulers had executed his uncle Zayd b. \u02bfAl\u012b in Kufa in 122 AH and publicly displayed his body for five years before burning it and throw his ashes into the sea. The Umayyad rulers also killed his cousin, Ya\u1e25y\u0101 b. Zayd, in a gruesome manner.<\/p>\n
The Imam spent the rest of his life under the reign of the Abbasids. The Abbasid rulers were so ruthless that a poet had sarcastically said: \u2018I wish the Ban\u016b Marw\u0101n had continued with their tyranny to save us from the justice of Ban\u016b \u02bfAbb\u0101s!\u2019<\/p>\n
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Reasons for the Overthrow of the Umayyad Dynasty
\nTwo factors are cited as the main reasons behind anti-Umayyad uprisings in Iran and Iraq:<\/p>\n
Heavy Taxes: Instead of focusing on increasing production to gain more revenues, the Umayyad government levied heavy taxes on the people. Each Caliph would impose heavier taxes than his predecessor. Farmers were forced to pay, in addition to official tax, the so-called \u2018New Year gift\u2019. Mu\u02bf\u0101wiya was the first one who promoted this Sassanid practice. The annual New Year gifts amounted to 13 million dirhams in Iraq. The figure was much higher in Herat, Khorasan, Yemen and other Islamic territories. Taxes were increasing sharply under the reign of Umayyad caliphs except for \u02bfUmar b. \u02bfAbd al-\u02bfAz\u012bz who lifted many of these taxes (Ibn Ath\u012br, al-K\u0101mil). After his reign, however, the taxes were reinstated and people were facing more economic woes.
\nThe challenge of the maw\u0101l\u012b: The Umayyad dynasty was entirely Arab and it was founded on an ideology of Arab supremacism. Its caliphs appointed only Arab governors and exercised discrimination against non-Arabs in Islamic territories who were known as \u2018maw\u0101l\u012b\u2019 (clients). In the face of this discriminatory attitude, the people in Iran and Iraq rose up and toppled the Umayyad dynasty under the slogan of setting up an Islamic government led by Prophet\u2019s descendants.
\nAt that time, the Prophet\u2019 family was extremely popular in Islamic society; they symbolized justice and piety. An uprising started under the slogan of \u2018The Family of Mu\u1e25ammad\u2019 and the revolutionaries made their rallying-cry \u2018We demand one agreed upon from the Family of Mu\u1e25ammad\u2019 (al-ri\u1e0d\u0101 min \u0101l mu\u1e25ammad) and managed to unseat the Umayyad dynasty after nine decades in power.<\/p>\n
In the beginning, it was expected that Imam al-S\u0101diq would lead the revolution, but he did lend his support because he was well aware of what was going on behind the scenes. The architects of this revolution were trying to take advantage of the Family of the Prophet before changing the direction of the revolution to serve their own ends.<\/p>\n
When \u02bfAbd All\u0101h b. \u1e24asan negotiated with Imam al-S\u0101diq, asking him to join Saff\u0101\u1e25 and Man\u1e63\u016br, the Imam said he could not trust the duo, predicting that they will seize power for themselves.<\/p>\n
\u2018I see no purity in them,\u2019 Imam al-S\u0101diq had said. (al-K\u0101f\u012b)<\/p>\n
While the conditions did not let Imam al-S\u0101diq establish a genuinely Islamic government, he did not miss any chance to protest the rulers. When Man\u1e63\u016br wrote a letter to Imam al-S\u0101diq asking for some words of advice, the Imam said: \u2018He who wants the world will not advise you sincerely, and he who wants the Hereafter will not support you.\u2019 When Man\u1e63\u016br received the Imam\u2019s response, he said with surprise: \u2018Imam al-S\u0101diq has distinguished admirers of this world and the Hereafter. Those who are around me love this world and those who are away from me want the Hereafter.\u2019<\/p>\n
Imam al-S\u0101diq\u2019s School
\nThe socio-political conditions allowed Imam al-S\u0101diq to spread Islamic teachings through training companions and writing books. In this way, he established the school his father had laid the foundations for. Imam al-S\u0101diq trained 4,000 students to enlighten the Islamic society. However, his intellectual contributions are not limited to matters of Qur\u2019an interpretation, traditions and jurisprudence. He also managed to train important figures in philosophy and theology. Hish\u0101m b. \u1e24akam, the author of twenty-five books, is just one of these. (Ibn al-Nad\u012bm, Fihrist)<\/p>\n
Imam al-S\u0101diq revealed elements of natural science to the surprise of scientists. In Taw\u1e25\u012bd al-Mufa\u1e0d\u1e0dal, which was dictated by the Imam, monotheism is demonstrated to be true based on the laws of nature. J\u0101bir b. Hayyan, the famous alchemist, was also a disciple of Imam al-S\u0101diq. He was the first one having learnt chemistry from Imam al-S\u0101diq.<\/p>\n
Shia Islam: Imam al-B\u0101qir \/26<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n