The martyrdom of Imam Jaʹfar al-Ṣādiq
«أللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى جَعْفَرِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ الصَّادِقِ»
O Allah, send blessings on Ja'far bin Muhammad, the truthful.
Imam al-Sādiq, the sixth Imam of Shia was born on the 17th of Rabīʹ al-Awwal, 83rd year of Hijrah (702 A.D.) in Medina. His honorable parents are Imam al-Bāqir (the fifth Imam) and lady ˋUmm-e Farwah. The most famous title of him is al-Ṣādiq meaning “The Truthful” because he never spokes unless the truth. Imam al-Ṣādiq lived until 65 years. He had the longest life amongst the other eleven Imams (except for Imam al-Mahdi). Thus, he is also called as the Sheikh al-ˋAimmah.
His Noble State
Whole of the life of the Imam, like the other Imams, was the enlightened lesson of the real and true Islam. He himself was considered to be the example and specimen of the Islamic ethic, moral and conduct. As the sixth Imam lived in a time when the Umayyad Dynasty was losing control of power to the Abbasid Dynasty, this opened the avenue for the formation of Abbasid government. The gap in between these two powers opened the way for the propagation of Shia ideology and school of thought. The Imam utilized this golden opportunity in the revival of the Prophetic customs, the dissemination of the Islamic culture and trained students who created epics in the Shiite history. Sheykh al-Mufīd says,” The narrators among all different sects with different views who are considered to be trustworthy and have narrated Hadith from Imam al-Ṣādiq were four thousand people.”[1] So, one of the well-known Muslim schools of thought, also known as the Twelver Shia school of thought, is the Ja'farī school of thought because the major parts of the Islamic legal regulations were enacted by this great man.
His Martyrdom
Towards the end of his life, the Imam was subjected to severe restrictions by the Abbasid caliph al-Manṣūr, who ordered such persecution and merciless killing of many of the descendants of the Prophet. On his order, they were arrested in groups, some thrown into deep and dark prisons and tortured until they died, while others were beheaded or buried alive or placed at the base of or between walls of buildings, and walls were constructed over them.
Although the caliph did his best to bring the Imam close to himself or make him silent by threatening him, he failed. So he decided to martyr the Imam. Consequently, the Imam was poisoned and martyred on 25th of Shawwāl, 148 A.H. (765 A.D). His pure body was buried in the graveyard of al-Baqīʹ in Medina, a place where later on was ruined by Wahhabi people.
[1] . Al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 179.
