< IMAM Ja‛Far Al-Ṣādiq and the AHL Al-BAYT

ARCHITECTS of CIVILISATION – July 2014 IMAM Ja‛far al-Ṣādiq and the AHL al-BAYT Karim Douglas Crow Ja‘far al-ṢĀDIQ (83–148 H / 702–765) was a prominent spokesman in Madinah of the Banū Hāshim – descendents of the Ahl al-Bayt or Family of God’s Messenger Muḥammad(Ṣ) – during the eighth century CE / first-half of the second century Hijrah. During his lifetime the Umayyad dynasty was vanquished by the ‘Abbāsid revolution in 132 / 750. Ja‘far received his honorific title “ṣādiq truthsayer” because of his veracity in narrating traditions, or perhaps due to his predictions reportedly verified by later events. He boasted of double maternal descent from the first Caliph Abū Bakr al- Ṣiddīq(r.ḍ.) through his mother Umm Farwah bint al-Qāsim b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr, and through her mother Asmā′ bint ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr, affirming “Abū Bakr bore me twice.” Ja‘far reportedly declared: “I am not hoping for anything through the intercession of ‘Alī (on Judgement Day) save that I hope the same through the intercession of Abū Bakr.” Ṣādiq was esteemed among majority Sunnī Muslims as a paragon of exemplary wisdom, particularly among the Ṣūfīs who revered his reputation for spiritual initiation and for esoteric elucidation (ta′wīl) of the Qur′an. As the direct descendent of the Prophet Muḥammad(Ṣ) al-Ṣādiq is also venerated as the sixth spiritual-chief or imām of the Imāmīyah (Twelver Shi‘ah), or fifth imam of the Ismā‘īlīyah Shi‘ah, both of whose doctrines he clearly helped establish. The Ja‘farī legal school of the Imāmīyah is named after him; while the latter trace their imamate through his first-born son Ismā‘īl b. Ja‘far and Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl. Ṣādiq was intimately involved in the rival religious, intellectual and political trends of his era, interacting directly with leading figures representing a wide spectrum of intellectual trends and political factions. He was visited in his home by the great Kufan faqīh Abū Ḥanīfah, and by the leading Madinan scholar Mālik b. Anas who praised his religious probity. He was summoned to Iraq for several audiences with the first two ‘Abbāsid caliphs Abū l-‘Abbās al-Saffāḥ and Abū Ja‘far al-Manṣūr, and he maintained strained relations with caliph al-Manṣūr (rg. 136–158 H) who monitored Ja‘far for suspected political ambitions. Ṣādiq was further linked with occult disciplines of letter-number JA‛FAR AL-ṢĀDIQ — Karim D. Crow sciences (‘ilm al-ḥurūf or jafr), prognostication (fāl), and with the science of alchemy as the reputed master of Jābir b. Ḥayyān [Latin: Geber]. Ja‘far al-Ṣādiq therefore served over the centuries as a symbol of unity among Muslims of differing persuasions, being respected and admired by most doctrinal schools, and deemed “unparalleled among his peers.” Many controversial questions obstruct a proper understanding of his historical person obscuring his position on important issues. Conflicting images of al-Ṣādiq were built up over centuries – Sunnī…Shī‘ah…Ṣūfī – each one offering a selective portrait of his activity and teachings. Robert Gleaves observes: “The variety of uses to which Ja‘far al-Ṣādeq’s name has been put, and the ideas and teachings which have been attributed to him, are significant not only because they establish him as an important figure in the history of early Islamic thought, but also because they demonstrate the malleability of his legacy. ... It is the manner in which his contribution has been recast and, at times, re-invented that enables him to be employed by writers in the different Islamic sciences as integral to their development.”1 Thereby Ṣādiq became the object of sectarian appropriation and polemic debate between rival streams of Islamic experience, with the intra-Muslim controversies over his true convictions rooted in the acrimonious dispute which occurred between the senior Companions of the Prophet.2 Ahl al-Bayt. From the earliest period certain descendents of Prophet Muḥammad’s Family (Āl Muḥammad or Ahl al-Bayt) have played a significant role in the elaboration of Islamic religious disciplines and spirituality. To better apprehend Ṣādiq’s attitude towards the early Muslim community, the history of this Family must be borne in mind. After the slaying in Kufah in 40 /661 of the Prophet’s first cousin and son-in- law the fourth caliph ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, followed by the abdication of ‘Alī’s eldest son al-Ḥasan in 41, ruling power was transferred to Syria by Mu‘āwiyah b. Abī Sufyān— victor of the bitter civil war who became the second caliph from the Umayyad clan of Quraysh. Close supporters of Ahl al-Bayt associated with ‘Alī were then hunted down and persecuted by governing authorities who instituted public cursing of ‘Alī from 1 Robert Gleaves, “JA‘FAR AL-ṢĀDEQ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, at: http://www.iranicaonline.org/. 2 Consult Wilferd Madelung, The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate (Cambridge University Press, 1997), for a detailed account of the first four Caliphs and civil war, with judicious handling of sources and assessment of texts. Most Muslims today remain unaware of these events. 2 JA‛FAR AL-ṢĀDIQ — Karim D. Crow pulpits across the empire. Ḥasan b. ‘Alī then adopted a policy of accommodation towards Umayyad rule, yet he died of poison in 50 H thereby facilitating Mu‘āwiyah’s appointment of his son Yazīd to succeed him as the caliph in Damascus. ‘Alī’s younger son al-Ḥusayn now pursued an activist stand by seeking to rebel against caliph Yazīd—but his small band of relatives and close retainers were massacred by Umayyad troops in the infamous incident at Karbalā′ nearby Kufah in 61 H. Ḥusayn’s single surviving son was Ṣādiq’s grandfather ‘Alī ZAYN al-‘ĀBIDĪN (b. 38–d. 94 /658–712) who maintained the accommodationist stance of al-Ḥasan toward Umayyad power, as did Ṣādiq’s father Muḥammad al-BĀQIR (b. 58–d. ca. 115) who attracted a circle of devoted pupils to his person and elaborated the legal and theological basis of a distinct school of Islamic practice. Following Bāqir’s death in Madinah, Ṣādiq’s younger brother (from the same mother Umm Farwah) ‘AbdAllāh DUQDUQ was interrogated by the Umayyad governor of Madinah Khālid b. ‘Abd al- Malik b. al-Ḥārith (served 114–118 H), accused of inciting people to follow his brother Ja‘far as an imām, and was slain by poison.3 It was around this time that Ṣādiq arranged the marriage of his favored eldest son Ismā‘īl (d. ca. 136) to Umm Ibrāhīm al- Makhzūmīyah,4 the daughter of the next Umayyad governor of Madinah Ibrāhīm b. Hishām al-Makhzūmī (who was the maternal uncle of Umayyad caliph Hishām b. ‘Abd al-Malik)—probably in order to smooth good relations with the ruling power. Activist attempts to seize power aimed against the Umayyad dynasty sought to channel the energy and direction of strong religio–political opposition which included various wings of the Shī‘ah movement. Muḥammad al-Bāqir’s younger half-brother Zayd b. ‘Alī (Ṣādiq’s paternal uncle) led a poorly coordinated uprising in Iraq in 122 H which garnered wide sympathy yet was ruthlessly crushed, followed by the revolt of Zayd’s son Yaḥyā (122–126) in the east; and then temporary success of the Ṭālibite contender ‘AbdAllāh b. Mu‘āwiyah (127–130) in Iraq and Fars. Other candidates within Banū Hāshim effectively harnessed the combination of Hāshimite legitimacy with the powerful appeal of apocalyptic propaganda, notably Ṣādiq’s paternal cousins the Ḥasanid ‘Alids. The ‘Abbāsid family also sought leadership and patiently 3 Ibn Qutaybah, al-Ma‘ārif, ed. ‘Ukāshah, p. 215; Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī, Maqātil al-Ṭālibiyīn, ed. A. Ṣaqr, p. 159. Taking all data into consideration, one might place Duqduq’s death in ca. 116 H. 4 Muṣ‘ab al-Zubayrī, Nasab Quraysh, ed. Lévi-Provençal, p. 63. Umm Ibrāhīm’s mother and maternal grandmother were descended from Zayd b. al-Khaṭṭāb & caliph ‘Umar b. al-Khaṭṭāb respectively. 3 JA‛FAR AL-ṢĀDIQ — Karim D. Crow engineered an underground revolution in the name of the Prophet’s Family which ultimately succeeded in toppling the Syrian regime. During these tumultuous events of transition from Umayyad to ‘Abbāsid rule Ṣādiq managed to avoid arrest, imprisonment or execution at the hands of ruling powers, while the advent of ‘Abbāsid power offered him greater opportunity to expand his teaching activity and guide his growing circles of pupils until his death in his home in Madinah in 148 / 765. Intense rivalries divided the various wings of the Banū Hāshim. The prominent Ḥasanid ‘AbdAllāh al-Maḥḍ (grandson of al-Ḥasan b. ‘Alī, thus paternal cousin of Ṣādiq) groomed his eldest son Muḥammad to serve as the Mahdī, who claimed the aura of the legendary al-Nafs al-Zakīyah ‘The Pure Soul’ destined to inaugurate just rule. At the famous assembly convened by the Banū Hāshim at al-Abwā′ between Madinah and Mecca in 126 H – just six years before the fall of the Umayyads – al-Maḥḍ elicited support from key leaders of Banū Hāshim for the political leadership of his son Muḥammad against Umayyad rule, including from the prominent ‘Abbāsids Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad ‘al-Imām’ and his brother (the future caliph) Abū Ja‘far al-Manṣūr. Ṣādiq initially boycotted this meeting, and when pressured to attend by his relatives he refused to render allegiance to al-Maḥḍ’s son. Evidently aware of ‘Abbāsid underground political activity, Ṣādiq foresaw their coming success in assuming the reins of government, rather than his Ḥasanid cousins. At al-Abwā′ Ṣādiq uttered his prediction that the self-proclaimed mahdī al-Nafs al-Zakīyah would be “slain at the oiled stones” at the behest of al-Manṣūr – which later occurred in 145 H at the site of the shiny lava outcropping on the edge of Madinah called the ‘oiled stones’, in al-Nafs al-Zakīyah’s failed revolt against ‘Abbāsid rule.

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