Imam Jafar The Truthful (A.S.)

Upon the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (as) the government of Bani Umayyah was shaken which turned the people into their enemy and pessimist about them. This opened the avenue for the formation of Bani Abbasid government. The gap between these two powers opened the way for the propagation of Shi’a ideology and school of thought. Imam Jafar- al- Sadeq (as) managed, through a learning movement, to propagate and extend the learning’s of Islam to a larger rang of people in the World. Characteristic of Imam Jafar—al— Sadeq (as) We all know that the conduct of a person is the reflection of their inner character and everyone can be recognized by their conduct. There are only a few people who do not exhibit whatever they have in their hearts but what is in their heart kindles their exterior, like an electric switch. The whole life of Imam Jafar- al- Sadeq (as), so as the other Imams (as), was the enlightened lessons of the real true Islam.
He was considered to be the example and specimen ofthe Islamic ethic and moral. One cannot find a father and a son amongst all tribes and families who may exactly resemble the members of their family from all angles of ideas, thoughts or characters, But the family of the Prophet of Islam (s) was all on the same line and performed their heavenly duties with one aim and one ideology and did not have any kind of discrepancy in their speech or their ethical conduct. Ethical value and virtue of Imam Jafar-al- Sadeq (as) About the ethical value and virtue of Imam Jafar- al- Sadeq (as), it is sufiicient to know that out of four thousands of his students not even one objected or criticized upon the moral character and demeanour of Imam Jafar- al- Sadeq (as) neither find any weak point in it. He was a practical example and specimen for all the Muslims alike with respect to all aspects ofthe life. He had the same social manors with his friends as he had with his children.
His Life During the Imamate ofthe sixth Imam, a much greater possibility and a more favourable climate existed for him to propagate religious teachings. This came about as a result of revolts in Islamic lands, especially the uprising of the Abbasids to overthrow the Umayyad caliphate, also the bloody wars which finally led to the fall and extinction of the Umayyads. Also a more constructive ground that the fifth Imam had already established during his twenty years of Imamate - through the propagation of the true teachings of Islam and the sciences of the Household ofthe Prophet (s) - gave Imam Jafar a more thriving situation. The Imam took advantage of this occasion to propagate the religious sciences until the very end of his lmamate, which was contemporary with the end of the Umayad, and beginning of the Abbasid caliphates. He instructed many scholars in different fields of the intellectual and transmitted sciences, such as Zararah, Muhammad ibn Muslim, Mu`min Taqi, Hisham ibn Hakam, Aban ibn Taghlib, Hisham ibn Salim, Hurayz, Hisham Kalbi Nassabah, and Jabir ibn Hayyan, the alchemist.
Even some important Sunni scholars such as Sufyan Thawri, Abu Hanifah, the founder of the Hanan school of law, Qadi. Qadi, Abu`l-Bakhtari, and others, had the honour of being his students. It is said that his classes and sessions of instruction produced four thousand scholars of hadiths and other sciences. The number of traditions preserved from the fifth and sixth Imams are more than all the hadiths that have been recorded from the Prophet (s) and the other ten Imams combined. Towards the end of his life the Imam was subjected to severe restrictions by the Abbasid caliph Mansur, who ordered torture and merciless killings of many of the descendants of the Prophet (s) so much as his actions even surpassed the cruelty and heedlessness of the Umayyads. On his order Shi’ites 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 or between the walls ofthe buildings, and walls were constructed over them. Hisham, the Umayyad caliph, had ordered the sixth Imam to be arrested and brought to Damascus. Later on, the Imam was arrested for the second time by Saffah, the Abbasid caliph, and brought to Iraq and Enally Mansur had him arrested again and brought to Samarrah where he was kept under surveillance . Mansur was in every way harsh and discourteous towards him. Several times he thought of killing the Imam but eventually he was allowed to return to Medina where he spent the rest of his life in hiding. Mansur however did not leave the matters alone. Through the intrigue of Mansur, The Imam was poisoned and martyred on the 15th of Shawwal, year 148 AH Upon hearing the news of the Imam‘s martyrdom, Mansur wrote to the governor of Medina instructing him to go to the house of the Imam on the pretext of expressing his condolences to the family, to ask for the Imam''''s will and testament.
Whoever was chosen by the Imam as his inheritor and successor should have been beheaded on the spot. Of course the aim of Mansur was to put an end to the whole question of the Imamate and to Shi`ite aspirations. Soon the governor of Medina, following orders of Mansur, read the last will and testament of the Imam, he learnt that the Imam had chosen four people rather than one, to administer his last will; the Caliph himself; the govenior of Medina ‘Abdallah Ahab; the Imam’s eldest son and Musa, his younger son. In this way the plot of Mansur failed.
Imam Jafar- al- Sadeq (as)
Birth 17th Rabi‘al—Awwal 83 AH: (20 April 702 CE)
Death 1 5th Shawwal 1 45 AH (14 December 765 CE)
Birthplace: Medina
Buried: Jannatul Baqi'''', Medina
Life Duration - 51 years before Imamate (85 - 114 AH)
- 12 years during hls grandfather lmamat, Imam as-Sajjad (as)
- 19 years with his father lmam al-Baqlr (as)
- 54 years of his own Imamate: [114 to 148 AH]
From: Living Islam Newsletter of the Islamic Centre of England -September 2011 No.71