By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

 

“Indeed Allah chose Adam and Noah, and the progeny of Abraham and the progeny of Imran above all the nations.” (Holy Qur’an 3:33)

The words of God Almighty are proof of Divine Guidance for mankind in order to avoid the pitfalls of disbelief and satanic temptations by proceeding on the straight and unwavering path of those who have been chosen by the All-Wise Creator to lead the faithful to perfection of belief in life and the bliss of paradise in afterlife.

If Adam is the Father of the human race, the majority of the children of Adam trace their lineage to Noah in whose era three-fourth of all mankind was wiped out by the Great Deluge because of the grave sins of those who had deviated from the path of the Chosen of God.

Prophet Abraham was a towering monotheist and the All-Merciful after testing him through various tribulations from which he emerged with flying colours every time (e.g. the huge blaze lit by Nimrod that turned into a flower garden, the sacrifice of his firstborn son Ishmael which was deferred for the future through the “Zibhin Azeem” although a ram was substituted for the moment, and the rebuilding of the holy Ka’ba), granted him Imamate or Leadership of mankind, with clear emphasis that this Divine Trust will not be the prerogative of the unjust.

It is obvious that of the hundreds of Prophets who emerged from the offspring of Abraham, the pride of place goes to Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) as the Last and Greatest Messenger with the universal message of Islam.

At the end of his 23-year mission the Seal of Messengers, on the express commandment of God, proclaimed his dear cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali (AS) as Vicegerent.

Here an important point worth noting is that the real name of Imam Ali’s (AS) father, who is famous through his agnomen (kunya) of Abu Taleb, was Imran, which was also the name of the father of the Virgin Mary (SA).

Now we understand the emphasis of the above-mentioned Ayah on the “progeny of Imran”.

If Prophet Jesus (AS) as the Israelite Imran’s only grandson did not marry nor leave any offspring, the Ishmaelite Imran (Abu Taleb), who was also a direct descendant of Prophet Abraham, was granted by God Almighty Twelve Divinely-Designated Imams.

Since today, the 3rd of Safar, according to a narration, is said to be the birth anniversary of Imam Muhammad al-Baqer (AS), the 5th of the Twelve Infallible Successors of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), here we present a famous hadith from this great personality, whose birthday we do not celebrate, as a mark of respect for the tragic martyrdom Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala on the Day of Ashura (10th Muharram 61 AH).

The 5th Imam whose epithet Baqer al-Uloum (the Splitter and Spreader of Sciences) was foretold by the Prophet, says: “My grandfather was slain while I was four years of age. Indeed, I remember his martyrdom and what befell us during that time,” has explicitly informed the faithful through the Prophet’s companion Jaber ibn Abdullah al-Ansari of an important narration.

The narration says when Imam Husain (AS) was born and Jaber went to the Prophet’s daughter to offer felicitations, he saw a scroll in the hands of Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), the Noblest Lady of all times. He asked her about it and was told: “In it are the names of the leaders and Imams from among my offspring.”

In another version of this hadith, she is quoted as saying: “This is a tablet that the Almighty and Glorious Allah gave to His Messenger, and in it are the names of my father, my husband, my two sons, and the names of the successors from among my offspring. My father gave it to me to make me delighted.”

Jaber says when he was permitted a look at the scroll he found exact names of Twelve Infallible Imams, beginning with Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) and ending with the Awaited Saviour of mankind, Imam Mahdi (AS), along with the names of their mothers.

Now we better understand the position of Imam Baqer (AS) who for 34 years assisted his father Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) following the tragedy of Karbala, where beside his grandfather and granduncles (Hazrat Abbas and six others) he witnessed the martyrdom his paternal uncles (Ali Akbar and the 6-month infant Ali Asghar) and his maternal uncles (Qassem and Abdullah).

In this period a string of usurpers fighting for the power of the state that did not belong to them, rose and fell (the Omayyads Muawiya II ibn Yazid, Marwan ibn al-Hakam, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and Waleed I ibn Abd al-Malik), including the charlatan Abdullah ibn Zubayr, who during his ten-year rule in Hijaz violated the letter and spirit of the holy Qur’an and hatched an abortive plot to burn alive all male members of the Prophet’s Hashemite clan.

Next followed Imam Baqer’s (AS) 19-year mission of Imamate, during which he spared no efforts to guide people, even advising the Omayyad regime to mint coins of its own instead of importing them from the Roman Empire, thus saving the drain of the bullion. 

In this era, five more Omayyad usurpers masqueraded as caliphs (Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Yazid II ibn Abd al-Malik, and Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik), the last of whom was so jealous of the Prophet’s progeny that he wrote to the Governor of Medina instructing him to send Imam Baqer (AS) and his son Imam Jafar Sadeq (AS) to Damascus.

When they reached Damascus, Hisham kept them waiting for three days. On the fourth day he called them to his court where he sat on a throne surrounded by armed guards. In the centre of the courtyard, a target was set at which marksmen were shooting arrows. Hisham asked Imam Baqer (AS) to shoot some arrows at the target, thinking that the Imam had no experience in martial arts. Imam Baqer (AS) asked to be excused, but Hisham kept insisting as he planned to ridicule the Imam. He did not know that each Infallible Heir of the Prophet was inheritor of the virtues of their ancestors, including the martial expertise of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).

Imam Baqer (AS) took up the bow and to the astonishment of the gathering he shot a few arrows continuously, each piercing the other on the very centre spot of the target.

An astonished Hisham now began to discuss the issues of the leadership of Muslims and when the Imam recounted the God-given merits of the Ahl al-Bayt on the basis of the Holy Qur’an and the Prophet’s Hadith, he feared the effect of these virtues on the people of Syria. He imprisoned both father and son, and when Imam Baqer (AS) and Imam Sadeq (AS) began to reform the inmates, his fears increased. He released them and sent them back to Medina, especially after the debate the 5th Imam had with the chief Christian monk, who accepted Islam along with his flock.

Here, as part of the lasting legacy of the 5th Imam, who was born in 57 AH and attained martyrdom 57 years later in 114 AH at the age of 57, is presented a passage from the famous Ziyarat Ashura, which the faithful punctually recite and in which he expresses the following phrases.

“O Allah, this day (Muharram 10) was celebrated as an auspicious occasion by the Omayyads and the son of her (Hind) who ate the livers of the martyrs, the accursed son of the one cursed by You and Your Prophet (SAWA)… O Allah, curse Abu Sufyan, Mu’awiyah, and Yazid son of Mu’awiyah; may Your curse be on them forever and ever.”