60 Facts About Muhammad al-Baqir

Muhammad al-Baqir led a pious and scholarly life in Medina, attracting a growing number of followers, students, and visitors.

Muhammad al-Baqir is credited with laying the doctrinal and legal foundations of Twelver Shi'ism during some twenty years of his imamate.

In Sunni Islam, Muhammad al-Baqir is regarded as an authority in law and prophetic tradition, but portrayed as anti-Shia and proto-Sunni.

Muhammad al-Baqir is buried in the Baqi Cemetery in Medina, but the shrine that stood over his grave has been demolished twice by Wahhabis.

Muhammad al-Baqir was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, through both of his grandsons, namely, Hasan and Husayn, who were the second and third of the twelve Shia imams, respectively.

Muhammad al-Baqir's mother was Fatima Umm Abd Allah, while his maternal grandfather was Hasan.

Muhammad al-Baqir was born in Medina in about 676 CE.

On one occasion, the caliph ordered Muhammad al-Baqir to join an ongoing archery practice, probably hoping to embarrass him, but was astonished by Muhammad al-Baqir's excellent marksmanship.

Muhammad al-Baqir was about fifty-seven years old at the time, and most likely died before Zayd's revolt in 740.

Nevertheless, Muhammad al-Baqir had an advantage over these non-Fatimid claimants because of his prestigious lineage from Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima, the only surviving daughter of the Islamic prophet.

The quiescent Muhammad al-Baqir even attempted to dissuade the politically active Zayd from rebellion.

Muhammad al-Baqir challenged al-Hasan al-Muthanna and two of his sons for controlling the prophet's inheritance and for claiming to be the Mahdi.

Muhammad al-Baqir is often credited with laying the foundations of Twelver and Isma'ili doctrines and law.

For instance, Muhammad al-Baqir condemned Mughira ibn Sa'id al-Bajali, who said that the imam was divine.

Similarly, Muhammad al-Baqir denounced Bayan ibn Sam'an, who apparently claimed to be a prophet.

When Muhammad al-Baqir died, most of his followers accepted the imamate of his eldest son Ja'far, aged about thirty-seven at the time.

On multiple occasions, Muhammad al-Baqir seems to have told his followers about his preference for Ja'far.

Muhammad al-Baqir adds that al-Baqir had birthmarks, one on his cheek, and that he had a beautiful voice and a slender waist.

Muhammad al-Baqir is said to have been extremely generous, pious, and peaceful by nature.

Muhammad al-Baqir used to work in the field to earn a living on par with his servants, and the motivation for this work, he said, was obedience to God and not needing people.

Muhammad al-Baqir treated his relatives with good food and gave them good clothes.

Finally, Muhammad al-Baqir significantly contributed to Twelver exegesis of the Quran and two commentaries are attributed to him.

In particular, after Muhammad al-Baqir, they are the only authoritative interpreters of the Quran, the exalted part of which actually refers to them and Muhammad al-Baqir.

For instance, Muhammad al-Baqir cited the Quranic verse 2:124, according to which, God designated Abraham as imam and granted this favor to those of his progeny who are not evildoers.

Crucially, the hereditary nature of imamate in Muhammad al-Baqir's doctrine closed the field to outside claimants.

Already in his lifetime, some followers of Muhammad al-Baqir regarded him as infallible.

Muhammad al-Baqir's doctrine held imams as the sole spiritual guides in life and the source of intercession in the afterlife.

For instance, Muhammad al-Baqir emphasized his interpretation of the verse of, according to which Ali was granted the guardianship of Muslims, on par with the prophet.

The prophetic traditions that Muhammad al-Baqir invoked include the hadith of the Ghadir Khumm and the hadith of the position.

Muhammad al-Baqir thus advised his followers to discuss God's creation rather than his nature.

Yet Muhammad al-Baqir curtailed this absolutist perspective by emphasizing that cannot be attained without virtue and piety.

In Muhammad al-Baqir's view, had degrees of perfection and could vary over time.

Muhammad al-Baqir argued that God is too merciful to force his creatures to sin and then punish them and that Muhammad al-Baqir is too mighty to will a thing that would not transpire.

Muhammad al-Baqir is often credited with formulating the Shia doctrine of, that is, precautionary dissimulation to avoid persecution.

Traditions attributed to Muhammad al-Baqir thus encourage his followers to hide their faith for their safety, some even characterizing as a pillar of faith.

For instance, Muhammad al-Baqir is not known to have publicly reviled Abu Bakr and Umar, most likely because he exercised.

Muhammad al-Baqir maintained that, under threat of death or injury, self-protection through dissimulation is obligatory.

Finally, is an extant treatise on the rituals of, attributed to Muhammad al-Baqir and narrated by his disciple Abu al-Jurad Ziyad ibn Mundhir.

Muhammad al-Baqir considered these methods speculative and lacking in religious authority, which, in his view, was limited to Shia imams as the only authoritative interpretors of the Quran and the prophetic tradition.

Similarly, is a collection of exegetical traditions, ascribed to Muhammad al-Baqir and narrated by his disciple Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju'fi.

In, an extensive Twelver exegesis of the Quran, Muhammad al-Baqir is the authority for thirteen percent of its traditions, behind only the prophet and al-Sadiq.

Basra, Mecca, and Syria were other places where Muhammad al-Baqir's students were based.

For instance, unlike Muhammad al-Baqir, Zurara argued that there is no intermediate state between a believer and a nonbeliever.

Muhammad ibn Muslim, another close associate of al-Baqir and al-Sadiq, was a prominent jurist and traditionist, who is said to have transmitted some thirty thousand traditions from al-Baqir.

Mu'min al-Taq was another follower of Muhammad al-Baqir, who wrote and debated about imamate.

Muhammad al-Baqir is regarded as a reliable traditionist in Sunni Islam, distinct in that he accepted only those prophetic traditions that had been reported by his predecessors.

In particular, Muhammad al-Baqir is the authority for over a hundred traditions in the six canonical collections of Sunni hadith.

Those traditions of Muhammad al-Baqir that do appear in Sunni collections have different chains of transmission compared to their Shia counterparts.

In Sunni Islam, Muhammad al-Baqir is regarded as an authority in jurisprudence.

The Sunni attitude towards Muhammad al-Baqir is reflected in the following reports.

Sunni sources describe Abu Hanifa as a prominent disciple of Muhammad al-Baqir, even saying that the latter prophesied that the former would revive the.

Muhammad al-Baqir is an imam for Twelvers and Isma'ilis, who constitute the overwhelming majority of Shia Muslims.

Muhammad al-Baqir's status is such that a tradition with interrupted or broken chain of transmission would be deemed reliable when narrated by him.

Muhammad al-Baqir's traditions appear in some Zaydi works, and he has heavily influenced Zaydi jurisprudence.

However, the quiescent Muhammad al-Baqir is generally not recognized as an imam in Zaydism, for Zaydi imams are required to be politically active.

In Zaydi works, Muhammad al-Baqir acknowledges Zayd's superior knowledge and implicitly Zayd's claims to the imamate.

Muhammad al-Baqir is regarded as a founding figure in Sufism, where he is noted for his asceticism and piety.

In Sufism, Muhammad al-Baqir is portrayed as an authority in esoteric sciences and the hidden dimensions of the Quran, and a gnostic who performed miracles.

Muhammad al-Baqir was married to Umm Farwa, who bore him two sons.

Umm Hakim, daughter of Usayd al-Thaqafi, was Muhammad al-Baqir's other wife, from whom two more sons were born, although both died in childhood.