By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

Today is the 1st of Rajab, the month when God Almighty showers His blessings on those in quest of truth, the seekers of forgiveness, the penitents, the worshippers and all those who strive in His path. This year Rajab has started on Thursday, which means that tonight, the first Friday eve of this blessed month, is “Laylat-ar-Ragha’eb” (Night of Desirability). “Desirability” here means the display of the innate desires of the dedicated and pious for attaining the proximity of the Lord Most High. For this auspicious night, a special 12-raka’at prayer has been narrated from the Prophet after Maghreb, and among its virtues is expiation of many sins and unimaginable rewards.
The first day of Rajab happens to be the auspicious birth anniversary of a very special person. He was none other than the namesake of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and his 5th Infallible Heir, one of whose famous saying is:
“If I found (worthy carriers) for my knowledge which Allah, the Great and Almighty, has granted me, I would proclaim monotheism, Islam, religion, and Islamic laws. But, how can I do that? My (great) grandfather, the Commander of the Faithful – Imam Ali (AS), found no (worthy) carriers for his knowledge. Thus, he sighed deeply on the pulpit and said: “Question me before you lose me, for there is much knowledge among these ribs.” (Safinat al-Behar, vol. 2)
The person prophesied by the Seal of Messengers as “Baqer al-Uloum” (the Splitter and Spreader of Sciences) needs no introduction.
Born in the Prophet’s city Medina, 57 years after the Prophet’s migration from Mecca to Medina, and 46 years after the passing away of the Prophet from the mortal world, Imam Muhammad Baqer (AS), was knowledge personified.
His father Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) was the son of the Prophet’s younger grandson Imam Husain (AS), while his mother Fatema (SA) was the daughter of the Prophet’s elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS). He was inheritor of the celestial knowledge bequeathed by the Prophet, on the commandment of God, to his great-grandfather, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).
It was Divine Providence he was born on the 1st of Rajab, which is the first of the four sacred months of the Islamic calendar, in which the All-Merciful, in addition to the regular conduits of mercy, opens up special passageways to His creatures for attaining greater heights of virtue. Indeed, fortunate are those who grab this opportunity to strive towards the bounties of the Hereafter.
Last night on the eve of Rajab, most of the faithful may have performed the special prayers and recited the exclusive supplications. Today many are fasting and observing the special prayers of the 1st of Rajab, and will follow up tonight with the exclusive prayers of “Laylat-ar-Ragha’eb” or the Night of Desirability.
The faithful humbly request God to firm up their faith, enlighten their minds, illuminate their hearts, purify their souls, strengthen their spirits, and make them worthy recipients of the bezels of knowledge specified by the 5th Imam. They also pray to the Lord Most High to alleviate the sufferings of all believers.
God’s promise is true. He will surely make the true believers triumphant, no matter what atrocities the hypocrites and the faithless commit, since He has preserved for the salvation of humanity, the Prophet of Islam’s 12th and Last Infallible Heir, who will reappear in the end times as Imam Qa’em al-Mahdi – may God hasten his advent to rid Planet Earth of all oppression through establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. Amen
For his part, Imam Muhammad Baqer (AS), who as a 4-year old was present in Karbala on the Day of Ashura (10 Muharram 61 AH), when history’s most heartrending occurred, and who in its equally tragic aftermath despite his tender age, suffered imprisonment in Damascus, along with his parents, aunts and Grand Aunts, Hazrat Zainab (SA) and Omm Kulthoum (SA), has said:
“The Master of the Affair was named as the Mahdi because he will unearth the (original) Torah and other Heavenly Scripture from the cave in Antioch. He will judge among the people of the Torah according to the Torah; among the people of the Evangel according to the Evangel; among the people of the Psalms in accordance with the Psalms; and among the people of the Qur’an in accordance with the Qur’an.”
These words from the Imam on whose authority scholars wrote accounts of the prophets of the past, the “Sunnah wa Seerah” (behaviour and practice) of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), the exegesis of Ayahs of the holy Qur’an, and the jurisprudential principles of the Shari’a, provide solace to the hearts of not just Shi’a Muslims but also our Sunni brethren, whose books of hadith are replete with countless narrations from Imam Muhammad Baqer (AS).
As a matter of fact, all monotheists take comfort from the words of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt, who as the righteous heirs of the Prophet preached peace, friendship and fraternity – unlike the usurper Omayyad and Abbasid caliphs, who divided Muslims into sects, massacred people, terrorized countries, destroyed the heritage of the nations of the past, and looted the masses to fill up their coffers.
Those in doubt should study the fruitful life of the 5th Imam, who during his 19-year mission, resisted against five tyrannical Omayyad caliphs (whose empire that stretched from Spain in the west to Pakistan in the east has long evaporated), in order to bequeath to posterity the ethereal values of universal brotherhood.
Imam Baqer (AS) groomed leading lights of Islam who could be called immortals. Names that come to mind are Zurara bin A’yan the master theologian, Mohammad bin Muslim bin Raiyyah the eminent jurist, Fuḍhayl bin Yasaar the exegete, Ma’rouf bin Kharrabudh the hadith compiler, Burayd al-Ijli the rhetorician, and Abu Baseer Laith al-Bakhtari the famous traditionist. These six are mentioned in the list of the “Tent Pegs of the World.”
Then there was Abu Hamzah Samali who held an esteemed place among the companions of both the 4th and 5th Imams, and through whom some moving supplications have been conveyed to posterity including the famous one taught by Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) and recited till this day by the faithful before “Sahar” or late midnight in the fasting month of Ramadhan.
Among the Fifth Imam’s companions was also the renowned poet and master of Arabic literature Kumayt bin Ziyad al-Asadi, whose panegyrics titled “al-Hashemiyaat” are still recited to this day.
Imam Baqer (AS), who despite his grooming of scholars, would at times love to toil under the blazing sun of Arabia by personally engaging in farming in order to set the practical example of dignified labour for earning of legal and lawful subsistence bread, has said the following:
“There is no job better than farming and there is no benefit better than the benefit of farming, because both benevolent and malevolent grazing animals and birds benefit from it and pray for the farmer.”
He also encouraged people to marry, raise children, and cater to their needs in lawful and legal manner, but at the same time, fulfill their duties towards Allah the All-Merciful Creator. Here is one of the famous sayings of the 5th Imam on the authority of his ancestor the Prophet:
“This (Islam) is a firm and decisive Faith! Scale its heights but calmly! Don’t put excessive weight of prayer on your bodies! Don’t be like a rider who tires his animal by travelling more than it possibly can! It may fail to carry you to your destination! Satan has misguided some of our people and made them abstain from meat and other delicacies. Such abstention is against the Shari’ah.”