MUHAMMAD BIN AL-HASAN (12TH IMAM)

12. MUHAMMAD BIN AL-HASAN (12TH IMAM)

B. Imams are infallible.

C. Imams have qualities, which elevate them above the level of Prophets. In the words of Ayatollah Khomeni: “The Imam has an exalted position, an elevated rank and a creational vicegerency (califate) to whose sovereignty and dominion C. Imams have qualities, which elevate them above the level of Prophets. In the words of Ayatollah Khomeni: “The Imam has an exalted position, an elevated rank and a creational vicegerency (califate) to whose sovereignty and dominion

D. Tuqiyyah is allowed. Tuqiyyah states that a Muslim is allowed to hide whatever

he believes in due to certain circumstances. The Jafaris claim that Imam Jafar said: “It (Tuqyyah,) is my Deen and the Deen of my forefathers” about Tuqiyyah.

E. Some of the Jafaris claim that the 12th Imam was born and was hidden in his early childhood. However, Al-Kulaynee, in his book Al Kafee, reports that the 12th Imam’s father died before his birth. The pregnancy period passed and the expecting mother realized that she was actually not pregnant, and so the 12th Imam was never born.

These are but a few of the opinions of those who claim to follow the Madhab of Imam Jafar. Let us now study his life to determine if such claims were actually from Imam Jafar.

Imam Jafar as Sadiq bin Muhammad al Baqr (80 AH to 148 AH) was born in Madinah and is the nephew of Imam Zaid and grandson of Zain Ali-Aabideen. The Shi’a consider Imam Jafar as the sixth Imam. His father Muhammad AI-Baaqir used to be approached by people like Safyan Ath-Thawri, Sufyan bin Ayaynah and Abu Hanifah in their quest for knowledge. Al Baaqir highly respected Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman (raa), and he used to say: “He who does not recognize Abu Bakr and Umar is ignorant in the Sunnah.”

In another occasion he told his student Jaabir Al Ja’fee: “0 Jaabir I know that some people in Iraq claim that they like us, but they try to undermine Abu Bakr (‘ra,) and Umar (ra) claiming that I instructed them: to do so. Tell them, that indeed, I denounce them for the sake of Allah, and if I were in charge, by him in whose hands is the soul of Muhammad, I would slaughter them, and shed their blood in order to get closer to Allah. May the intercession of Muhammad not cover me if I do not ask Allah to forgive both Abu Bakr and Umar and give them, both His mercy. Allah’s enemies are absent minded and neglectful of them.”

Muhammad Al-Baaqir used to do Tafseer of the Quran, report Hadith whether the reports came through Ahi-ul-Bayt or from the other Sahabah (raa) without distinction. He was actually married to the granddaughter of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, and Imam Jafar was born from this marriage. This means that his mother’s line ended with Abu Bakr (ra) while his father’s ended with Ali bin Abi Talib (ra).

Imam Jafar grew up in Medinah where the Sahabah (raa), their traditions and works remained and where the Tabi’een used to live. He used to stay close to his grandfather

Zain ul-Aabideen, where the Tabi’een would come to discuss issues of Islam with Zain.

Therefore, Imam Jafar would take from both the Tabi’een and from Ahl ul-Bayt. His mother was also the daughter of Qaasim bin Muhammad bin Abu Bakr, one of the seven great Tabi’een, whom people like Imam Malik used to study. This shows that Imam Jafar had a wide and comprehensive understanding of Islam.

With the death of his father, he continued seeking knowledge. He used to study in depth, the opinions of different scholars, and after a long debate with Abu Hanifah, Abu Hanifah With the death of his father, he continued seeking knowledge. He used to study in depth, the opinions of different scholars, and after a long debate with Abu Hanifah, Abu Hanifah

Imam Jafar and Public Life

Jafar witnessed at an early age, his uncle’s move against the Ummayyad Khalifah. He realized how his followers had let him down. Therefore, he was able to develop a

complete image about the people who were calling themselves the Shi’ah. Later on, in the Abbasid Khilafah, since they were also from Bani Hashim, it was expected that the situation would change for the better with Ahl ul-Bayt.

However, when some of Ahl ul-Bayt rebelled against the Abbasids another massacre occurred and another era of persecution was witnessed by Imam Jafar. So we find him trying to keep away from the political life as much as possible, and he never claimed the Bay’ah for himself. However, this does not mean that he did not have nor develop political opinions. In his era, the extremist opinions of Shi’ah appeared. Such ideas included that the Sahabah (raa) being Kuffar, the slandering of Abu Bakr and Umar (raa), and claims that such ideas were from Jafar and Imam Al Baqir. Also in his era, the Khattabiyyah, another deviant group, emerged.

The Khattabiyyah movement was developed by a Persian named Abul Khattab, who claimed Prophethood. Imam Jafar took the responsibility of clearing the mess being

purported by the Khattabiyyahs which caused him to suffer a lot in this cause. For example, it was reported that the Khalifah Al Mansoor summoned Imam Jafar to him, based on reports that Imam Jafar was collecting Zakah on his own. He later found that this claim was false and was probably spread by the enemies of Imam Jafar.

Fiqh of Imam Jafar

Beside his struggle to clean up the mess of the deviant people, Imam Jafar also made great contributions to Fiqh and Hadith. The Fiqh of Imam Jafar is considered to be one of the Fiqh from the Sunnah. However, there are some people who claim themselves to be Jafaris who try to present a different picture of Imam Jafar.

Al Kulaynee, in his book Al Kafee, claims that Imam Jafar has a special ‘lim which was carried from the well of the Prophet to Ali (ra), and then to the other Imams, arriving to Imam Jafar, who then transferred it to the remaining Jafari Imams. This special knowledge Al Kulaynee called Al Jafr. This Jafr gives to the imam who carries or has it, knowledge of the Ghayb or the unsensed, and it seems as if this claim actually came from Al Khattabiyyah.

Such claims are not at all expected or suspected to be from the honorable and trustworthy Imam Jafar, especially when we realize that the reporter, Al Kulaynee, purports claims that the Quran was tampered with. It is clear that these heretic claims attributed to Imam Jafar and Imam Zaid are false, and that these honorable and trustworthy Imams would not have said such things.

Finally, the Muslim Ummah has witnessed turmoil throughout its history. We now have to come to realize that blaming each other for the division of the Ummah is not the answer

to our current problems. The Muslim Ummah has to agree on the issues of Islam that are undebatable, and it has to realize that there are issues where it is natural for differences to arise, and so room has to be given for those differences.

The Ummah has to agree that there is no God but Allah (swt) and that Muhammad is His last and final Messenger; that no revelation was delivered to any one else after him; that

he did not hide any aspect of the Message nor did he give parts of it to a special elite.

The Muslim Ummah must realize that it must be ruled by Islam, and that the Islamic State should adhere to the texts of Islam, i.e. Quran and Sunnah, and that it must deal with everyone from the Islamic point of view regardless of race, color, sex, sect, or religion.

The Islamic State and the Khilafah is not a theocracy, the Khalifah is not God’s representative in earth, and infallibility is a prerequisite for Prophethood because it cannot be imagined that the Prophet (saaw) could make a mistake in delivering the Message. The Khalifah does not need a prerequisite of infallibility since his role is to only implement Islam, which was already completed and sealed with the death of the Prophet (saaw), without any room for deletion or addition.