On Thursday, the 2nd of January 2025 A.D. (the 1st of Rajab 1446 A.H.)
Imam Muhammad al-Bāqir (the fifth Imam of Shi´a) was born in Medina on the 1st of Rajab 57 A.H. (677 A.D.), three and half years before his grandfather, Imam al-Hussein, was killed.[1] After the demise of his father, Imam Ali bin al-Hussein, he took over the Imamate for about 20 years. His mother, Fātima, the daughter of Imam al-Hassan, was a pure chaste woman. Concerning her, Imam al-Sādiq, said, “She was very truthful. No one in the family of al-Hassan looked like her.”[2]
According to an authentic tradition, the Prophet sent his greetings to the fifth Imam and gave him the title, al-Bāqir (the person who splits up the knowledge and understands its origin and its hidden branches) through his companion, Jābir bin ‘Abd Allah al-Anṣārī. Jabir was impatiently waiting for the fifth Imam’s birth to give him the message of his grandfather.
Abān bin Taghlib has narrated from Imam al-Ṣādiq who have said, “Indeed, Jābir was the last of the surviving companions of the Prophet… he sat at the mosque of the Apostle of Allah and wore a black turban. He called out, ‘O Bāqir, who will split open knowledge!’ Thus, the people of Medina said: ‘Jabir is hallucinating!’, but he said, ‘By Allah, I have never hallucinated. However, I heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, says, ‘Indeed, you will meet a man who belongs to me. His name is similar to mine. His qualities are similar to mine. He will split open knowledge thoroughly’. ‘These words have motivated me to utter what I said…’[3]
