By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

“O’ you who have faith, be wary of Allah and be with the Truthful (Sadeqeen)!” (Holy Qur’an 9:119)
The commandment of the Almighty Creator is crystal clear. He exhorts us to be conscious of His Omnipresence and to follow the path of the Truthful.
It is in the innate nature of human beings to seek the Truth and to follow the Truthful, except for those who have sold their souls to the Satan and as per the dictates of the devil, are determined to distort the truth.
“Sadeqeen” or the “Most Truthful”, as defined by God and in the lexicon of His Revealed Word, the Holy Qur’an, is a term exclusively reserved for a group of Spotlessly Pure Persons born and raised as the firmest of monotheists, who never ever speak a wrong word (let alone lies), neither side for a single moment with anyone with even a speck of untruth, nor show the slightest tendency towards a cause devoid of truth.
The singular form of this Arabic word is “Sadeq”. It is the famous epithet of the Messenger of Mercy, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), whom Almighty Allah had entrusted the truth of Islam in order to deliver humanity from the darkness of disbelief, the darkness of ignorance, the darkness of arrogance, the darkness of oppression, the darkness of atheism, the darkness of polytheism, and all other forms of untruth that darken minds, hearts, and souls.
As the Divine Emissary, he diligently discharged his duties in the face of heavy odds to the extent that the pagan Arabs, who had opposed his message of truth and resorted to armed plots against him, saw no other choice but to pay lip service to Islam and claim to be his companions (Sahaba in Arabic).
Does this mean anyone from among his Sahaba was worthy to carry on the mission of the Last Prophet after him?
The answer is a big “NO”. The fact is that, none of the Sahaba, however hard and sincere they strove to be truthful on embracing the truth of Islam, were, unlike the “Sadeq”, products of the untruth of the days of ignorance, including idolatry and indulgence in sins – from which the representatives of Allah are free.
Thus, as per Divine Commandment, the person who never said anything by himself, but it was revelation revealed to him (Surah Najm) pronounced the famous “Hadith Thaqalayn” (the “Two Precious Things” he was leaving behind as means of salvation for mankind – the Holy Qur’an and his progeny the Ahl al-Bayt).
He then proclaimed as his Divinely-designated Vicegerent, to a huge gathering of Muslims at Ghadeer-Khom, his cousin and son-in-law, the Immaculate Imam Ali ibn Taleb (AS), regarding whom he explicitly said: “Ali is with the Truth and Truth is with Ali.”
With the issue of Imamate of the “Sadeqeen” (Most Truthful) sealed by the Seal of Prophets, it was but natural for the emergence of another popularly known “Sadeq” from the offspring of the “First Sadeq”.
The advent of Shawwal 25 every year reminds us of the pivotal role of this “Sadeq” of the House of Divine Revelation in reviving the “Sunnah”, “Seerah” and “Shari’ah” of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) in its pure and pristine form, after it had been tainted by the forces of darkness which had usurped the political right of leadership of the Ahl al-Bayt by setting up the caliphate of untruth.
Imam “Ja’far as-Sadeq” (AS) needs no introduction. Born in 83 AH on the 17th of Rabi al-Awwal (the 136th birth anniversary of his ancestor the Prophet), his life was cut short at the age of 65 in 148 AH, due to a fatal dose of poison given on the orders of Mansour Dawaniqi, the 2nd untruthful caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime.
He who was a 12-year boy when his grandfather Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) – son of Imam Husain (AS) the Immortal Marty of Karbala – passed away. In 114 AH at the age of 31 he was entrusted with the Divine Trust of Imamate on the martyrdom of his father, Imam Muhammad Baqer (AS), during the rule of the Omayyad tyrant, Hisham ibn Abdul-Malek.
For the next 34 years he relentless strove in the manner of the Prophet to enlighten the Ummah in those crucial days when the forces of untruth – the Omayyads and the Abbasids – were battling with each for power of the Islamic state that belonged to neither of them.
His period of Imamate could be roughly divided equally between the two tyrannical regimes, and as the Prophet’s 6th Infallible Successor and Heir to the Divine legacy of the Holy Qur’an, he fully utilized the crucial years of infighting to take the famous academy of Medina to its greatest height.
At one time, 4,000 scholars sat at the feet of the “Sadeq of the Age” to learn religious and rational sciences. These included the Father of Chemistry, Jaber Ibn Hayyan (Geber to medieval Europe), the Master of Rhetoric, Hisham ibn al-Hakam, the Theologian Aban ibn Thaghlab, the Jurist Abu Hanifa, and etc.
The Imam of Truthful, however, was not left undisturbed by the forces of untruth. If during the Omayyad era he had to endure the martyrdom of his uncle, Zayd ibn Ali, and first cousin Yahya ibn Zayd; with the coming to power of the equally oppressive Abbasids he had to suffer the martyrdom of his second cousins Mohammad Nafs-e Zakiyah, and Ibrahim.
In addition, Mansour, who martyred many male members of the line of Imam Hasan Mujtaba (AS) – burying most of them alive – committed the treason of calling the Shi’ites or devoted followers of the Ahl al-Bayt as “rafidhoon” or rejecters of the caliphate of the untruthful.
Yet Imam Sadeq (AS) spared no efforts to spread the true teachings of the Prophet in the society at a time when pseudo jurisprudents on the payroll of the regime were resorting to “qiyas” (guesswork) on the bases of spurious hadith.
Eventually, Mansour had the Prophet’s 6th Infallible Heir martyred, little knowing that it is God’s Will to keep the torch of Divine Guidance glowing forever, up to the advent of the Prophet’s 12th and Last Successor, Imam Mahdi (AS), to establish the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice.
Today, the blessed tomb of Imam Sadeq (AS) in Medina lies in ruins, having been destroyed last century by the Wahhabi cult, but the faithful continue to salute his resting place from near and far, while promoting throughout the world the immortal legacy of the Imam of the Truthful.