Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (Arabic: جعفر ابن محمد الصادق, romanized: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq; c. 702–765) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the sixth and last agreed-upon Shia Imam amongst Twelver and Ismaili Muslims. He had a unique lineage among the Twelve Imams, being a descendant of Ali through his father and of Abu Bakr through his mother. An scholar, jurist and hadith transmitter, al-Sadiq was the eponymous founder of the Ja'fari school of Islamic jurisprudence. In the canonical Twelver hadith collections, more traditions are cited from him than that of the other Imams combined. Al-Sadiq taught one of the largest recorded bodies of students, with sources reporting that around four thousand scholars studied under him. Among his students were the prominent Sunni scholars Abu Hanifa and Malik ibn Anas, who later founded the Hanafi and Maliki schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Among the theological contributions ascribed to him are the doctrine of nass (divinely inspired designation of each Imam by the previous Imam) isma (the infallibility of the Imams), and taqiya (religious dissimulation under persecution). Born in Medina around 702, al-Sadiq was about thirty-seven when his father and the fifth Imam, Muhammad al-Baqir, died after designating him as the next Imam. Al-Sadiq spent almost all of his 64-year life in Medina, making him the longest-lived of the Twelve Imams. He made only a few number of journeys outside Medina, including pilgrimages to Mecca and a journey to Damascus with his father after the latter was summoned by the Umayyad caliph Hisham. Al-Sadiq is also revered in Sunni Islam as a reliable transmitter of hadith, and figures prominently in the initiatic chains of many Sufi orders. A wide range of religious and scientific works are attributed to him. Al-Sadiq kept aloof from the political conflicts that embroiled the region, evading the requests for support that he received from rebels. He declined invitations to join several revolutionary movements against the Umayyads and support the emerging Abbasid Caliphate, including appeals from Abu Muslim and Abu Salama. He was later the victim of harassment by the Abbasid caliphs. According to Shia sources, his house was set on fire by the order of the Abbasids, although he survived the incident. He was eventually poisoned, at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, and died in Medina in 765 CE. The question of succession after al-Sadiq's death divided the early Shia Muslims. One group considered the next Imam to be his eldest son, Isma'il al-Mubarak, who had predeceased his father. The second group accepted the Imamate of his younger son, Musa al-Kazim. The first group became known as the Isma'ilis, whereas the second and larger group was named Ja'fari, or the Twelver Muslims. Al-Sadiq is buried in the Baqi Cemetery in Medina. The shrine that stood over his grave was demolished, along with the cemetery itself, by Wahhabis in 1806 and again in 1925.
Life
Birth and early life Ja'far ibn Muḥammad ibn Ali al-Sadiq was born in Medina around 700, and 702 is given in most sources, according to Gleave. Ja'far was the eldest son of Muhammad al-Baqir, the fifth Shīʿīte Imam, who was a descendant of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, and Fatima, Muhammad's daughter. Ja'far's mother, Umm Farwa, was a great-granddaughter of the first Rashidun caliph, Abu Bakr. During the first fourteen years of his life, Ja'far lived alongside his grandfather, Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, the fourth Shīʿīte Imam, and witnessed the latter's withdrawal from politics and his limited efforts amid the popular appeal of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya. Ja'far also noted the respect that the famous scholars of Medina held toward Zayn al-Abidin. In his mother's house, Ja'far also interacted with his grandfather, Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, a famous traditionalist of his time. The Umayyad rule reached its peak in this period, and the childhood of al-Sadiq coincided with the growing interest of Medinans in religious sciences and the interpretations of the Quran. With the death of Zayn al-Abidin, Ja'far entered his early manhood and participated in his father's efforts as the representative of the Household of Muhammad (Ahl al-Bayt). Ja'far performed the hajj ritual with his father, al-Bāqir, and accompanied him when the latter was summoned to Damascus by the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik for questioning.
Under the Umayyad rulers Most Umayyad rulers are often described by Muslim historians as corrupt, irreligious, and treacherous. The widespread political and social dissatisfaction with the Umayyad Caliphate was spearheaded by Muhammad's extended family, who were seen by Muslims as God-inspired leaders in their religious struggle to establish justice over impiety. Al-Sadiq's imamate extended over the latter half of the Umayyad Caliphate, which was marked by many (often Shia) revolts and eventually witnessed the violent overthrow of the Umayyads by the Abbasids, the descendants of Muhammad's paternal uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. Al-Sadiq maintained his father's policy of quietism in this period and, in particular, was not involved in the uprising of his uncle, Zayd ibn Ali, who enjoyed the support of the Mu'tazilites and the traditionalists of Medina and Kufa. Al-Sadiq also played no role in the Abbasid overthrow of the Umayyads. His response to a request for help from Abu Muslim, the Khorasani rebel leader, was to burn his letter, saying, "This man is not one of my men, this time is not mine." At the same time, al-Sadiq did not advance his claims to the caliphate, even though he saw himself as the divinely designated leader of the Islamic community (umma). This spiritual, rather than political, imamate of al-Sadiq was accompanied by his teaching of the taqiya doctrine (religious dissimulation) to protect the Shia against prosecution by Sunni rulers. In this period, al-Sadiq taught quietly in Medina and developed his considerable reputation as a scholar, according to Momen.
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