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J:AF

Jaafar al-Sadiq (ca. 699–765) early Shii

scholar recognized as the sixth Imam by Ismaili and

Twelve-Imam Shiis

Abu Abd Allah Jaafar ibn Muhammad, also known

as Jaafar al-Sadiq, was born in the holy city of

medina and was the son of the fifth Shii Imam,

Muhammad al-Baqir (676–ca. 743). Both are

held to be among the ahl al-bayt, descendants

of the prophet mUhammad through ali ibn abi

talib (d. 661) and his wife Fatima. Umm Farwa,

his mother, was a descendant of abU bakr (d.

634), Muhammad’s close companion and the first

caliph. According to traditional accounts, Jaafar

performed the haJJ with his father and accompa-

nied him when he was summoned to damascUs

by the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik

(r. 723–743) for questioning. Some accounts state

that Hisham later poisoned Muhammad al-Baqir,

who was buried in Medina. Jaafar succeeded his

father as Imam and has been credited for estab-

lishing the doctrine of nass (designation of an

imam by God or a previous imam), theoretically

reducing disputes over succession to the imamate

by limiting the number of claimants. He lived at

a time when there was a great struggle occurring

among Muslim factions contending for leader-

ship in the umma. Indeed, he witnessed both the

violent end of the Umayyad caliphate at the hands

of the Abbasids in the mid-eighth century and the

Abbasid suppression of its former Shii allies in the

aftermath of their victory over the Umayyads. He

was also well aware of factional disputes among

the Shia themselves over the question of leader-

ship. When the Abbasids came to power, Jaafar

was interrogated and imprisoned as a potential

threat to their rule. It is not surprising, therefore,

to learn that he endorsed practicing taqiyya (pious

dissimulation) to avoid persecution at the hands

of Sunni rulers. He was also credited with having

set forth the doctrine of the Imams’ infallibility

(isma) because of their esoteric knowledge.

The Shia have regarded Jaafar as one of the

leading imams, but he has been cited as an author-

ity in many different strands of Islamic learning

and tradition. He was remembered as a master

teacher of hadith among both Sunnis and Shiis.

He was famous for being a hadith transmitter in

both branches of the Muslim community, and sev-

eral prominent Muslim scholars were said to have

studied with him, including Abu Hanifa (d. 767)

and malik ibn anas (d. 795). These were the epon-

ymous founders of the Sunni Hanafi and Maliki

Legal Schools. Likewise, Jaafar was remembered

as the eponymous founder of the Jaafari Legal

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