Imam Ja'far bin Muhammad al-Sadiq alias Ja'far al-Sadiq is commonly referred to as "Ja'far al-Sadiq" or simply "Alsadiq" meaning "the truthful" because it is narrated that he never lied in his life. He was born in Medina Sharif on 17 Rabiul Awwal 80 Hijri (20 April 702) and died there on 25 Shawwal 148 (14 December 765) at the age of sixty three. He was the sixth Imam of Firqa Isna Ashriya and the fifth Imam of Firqa Ismailiyya. At the same time he was also a teacher of the Hanafi and Maliki and other Sunni fuqa. Imam Abu Hanifa, the founder of Fiqh Hanafi, was one of the disciples of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq.

Imam Ja'far Sadiq- Imam of Both Shia and Sunni

Along with Imam Ahle Bait, Imam Ja'far Alsadiq was also the grandson of I Caliph Hazrat Abubakar Siddiq as his mother was Ms. Umm Farwa binte Qasim bin Muhammad bin Abi Bakr Al Siddiq, that is, his maternal grandfather was Hazrat Abubakar Siddiq. Thus Hazrat Imam Ja'far had the sharif of descent and Nizat from both Ahlebait and the first Caliph.

Although the Ahle Sunnah does not consider Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq to be "Imam the Innocent" in the Dini sense, unlike the Shia, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq in fact was the teacher of all Sunni fuqa. The hadith narrators of both Sunni and Shia silas have narrated hadiths from Hazrat Imam Ja'far Al Sadiq. He is also considered an important figure of the Sunni Sufi Naqshbandi Silsila.

Imam Ja'far Alsadiq was not only Alame Din, but he is also considered a teacher of celestial knowledge, word knowledge, literature, philosophy, medicine and chemistry. The chief of chemistry, Jabir bin Hayyan, was a disciple of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq in chemistry.

Imam Muhammad al-Baqar, father of Hazrat Imam, was the fifth Imam of Shia. Hazrat Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was appointed Imam at the age of 34 after the death of his father. Hisham bin Abdul Malik is said to have poisoned Hazrat Imam al-Baqar.

Differences arose among the Shia after the death of Imam. Some people considered his son Musa bin Ja'far "Alqazim" as Imam while some considered Hazrat Imam's eldest son Hazrat Ismail bin Ja'far as Imam although he died in the life of his father Shri. The followers of Imam Musa al-Kazim are called Mousavi, Imam and Isna Ashri while the followers of Imam Ismail are called "Ismaili".

In a very early period, differences arose among the Muslims about the caliphate of the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), i.e. his successor in the Dini and political sense, due to which there is a difference of opinion among Muslims to this day. One side advocated the Shurai caliphate and it was called Ahle Sunnah. He believed that the Caliph should be selected from the Shura and the most knowledgeable, just and brave among Muslims should be the Imam. The other side, which later came to be known as Ahle Tasiya or Shi'ane Ali (i.e. Hazrat Ali Muwayidin), was of the view that Huzoor Pak Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam followed him by Hazrat Ali bin Abi Talib, Radiallahu Anhu, and after him his sons i.e. Hazrat Hasan and Hazrat Hussain have been appointed as their Caliph and the rest of the Imams will be from their descendants. This group was of the view that Huzur Pak Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself had determined the Imams to come after him and the last Imam Mahdi would await among them.

Although some other imams and their followers took up arms to get Ahlebait imams to get their due, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq refused to take up arms and also forbade those who followed him. It is not meant to say that Hazrat Imam Ja'far did not consider himself more entitled to Imamat but he did not like to revolt against the Umwi and Abbasi kings to save his followers. It is said that the letters of Mu'ayiddin who used to come to him for Khuruj and rebellion, he used to burn them.

It is mentioned in the history books that Hazrat Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq used to defend the four caliphs and considered those who called Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq bad. A man told him that a neighbor of mine claims that you pray to Hazrat Abu Bakr and Umar Imam said: "بَرِئَ اللهؑ من اركَ . I am acquitted by the oath of Allah that I am hoping that Allah Pak will bestow me with Ikram because of my relationship with Hazrat Abubakar).

In the life of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, the caliphate Umwiya was eliminated and the caliphate Abbasiya was established, whose leader was related to Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib, a branch of Banu Hashim. The Abbasids had the approval of the Shias in their revolt against the Umwis. Therefore the Shia people hoped that with the arrival of the Abbasids, the caliphate, that is, the Imamat, would return to Ale Bait. In the Abbasi period, the first caliph or sultan became Abul Abbas, then his brother Abu Ja'far al-Mansur became the caliph, which made it clear that the new empire would also follow the path of the Umwi empire. Even in this new era, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq kept himself separate from Fitna and engaged in the education and training of the people. In his Majalis, great scholars of that time were present. Among them were Imam Abu Hanifa Al Noman, the founder of the religion Hanafi, and Imam Malik bin Anas, the founder of the religion Maliki. The religion created by his disciples continues till date.

Despite his distance from political activities, the Abbasi authorities repeatedly arrested Imam and imprisoned him because they feared that more disciples who followed the Imams might set up a political movement and overthrow the new empire. Hazrat Imam endured these trials patiently and every time he came out of jail, he would again engage in knowledge and teaching. Ahle Kitab and atheists also used to participate in his Halqat Ilm and discuss the poor problems. People from far flung areas used to come to get knowledge from Hazrat Imam. Thus his disciples spread throughout the Islamic world of that time.

Hazrat Imam had during his time munajra from Ulema, Mulaheda, Motzila, Zanadqah etc. An Indian doctor was also among those who met with him. These verses were not only about Fiqh and Hadith but also about Philosophy and Ilmay Kalam because by then the Greek Philosophy had been translated into Arabic and it was creating problems for the people.

Hazrat Imam was a staunch opponent of Qayas. He believed that unless some intentional knowledge exists, the speculation is wrong, rather such speculation is only an opinion and it is such a human process which cannot be attained with lowly purity.

Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifa was once asked by someone "Who did you find the most knowledgeable and unanimous" then he replied: Ja'far al-Sadiq and told that Caliph al-Mansur once told Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq and me (ie Imam Abu Hanifa) (to) his court and told me to ask Hazrat Imam about all the major Ikhtelfi problems. So Imam Abu Hanifa asked 40 questions to Hazrat Imam and he gave clear answer to all these questions without hesitation.

It was the result of Imam's knowledge and Fazl that initially Shia jurisprudence was called al-Majhbul Ja'fri (Fikhe Jafri) and Shia "الطائفۃ الجعفریۃ" i.e. Jafri group. The reason for this is said to be that he remained in the position of Imamat for a long time i.e. the whole 34 years. His time was the era of Ilm and Fazl, Ilme Kalam and Munajars in which Imams participated extensively and played the role of bringing Shii Ilme Kalam into existence.

After the arrival of Bani Abbas, the economic conditions of Ahle Bait improved and they also gained some independence which was fundamentally missing in the Umwi era. The Abbasi caliph in the era of Imam put more emphasis on the abolition of Umayyad and did not expose more than others.

In all these centuries Hazrat Imam Ahle is as popular in Sunnah as Shia only difference is that Ahle Sunnah do not consider Imams innocent but many Sunni Ulema like Imam Alzahbi in his book Saar Alamul Nabla take the names of all Imams It is written that although we do not agree to their innocence, but each of them is entitled to Khilafat.

While doing my PhD at Manchester University, I came across hundreds of Fiqh books as Fiqh was looking for Hijrah orders in books for my thesis. One day I found a book "Fiqh Al Imam Jafar" in the bookshelf. This Arabic book was probably printed from Beirut. I immediately brought it to read. Since I did Fiqh Hanafi in Indian Madrasas

So I felt as if I was reading a book by Fiqh Hanafi. Why is it not because it was the fiqh of the teacher of Imam Abu Hanifa.

In contemporary Egypt, the greatest fiqh of Alam Islam, the greatest fiqh Alim Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra, has written about the Imam in a book titled "Alimam Alsadiq", in which he writes:

إن للإمام الصادق فضل السبق, وله على الأكابر فضل خاص, فقد كان أبو حنيفة يروي عنه, ويراه أعلم الناس باختلاف الناس, وأوسع الفقهاء إحاطة, وكان الإمام مالك يختلف إليه دارسا راويا, وكان له فضل الأستاذية على أبي حنيفة فحسبه ذلك فضلا. وهو فوق هذا حفيد علي زين العابدين الذي كان سيد أهل المدينة في عصره فضلا وشرفا ودينا وعلما, وقد تتلمذ له ابن شهاب الزهري, وكثير من التابعين, وهو ابن محمد الباقر الذي بقر العلم ووصل إلى لبابه, فهو ممن جعل الله له الشرف الذاتي والشرف الإضافي ريم النسب، والقرابة الهاشمية، والعترة المحمديةَ.

(Imam Alsadiq is preferred. His favor is special to the elder Ulema. Abu Hanifa used to narrate to him. Imam Malik used to recite and narrate the Zanvey Talmazh before him. It is enough for his Fazl that he is the one of Imam Hanifa. After all this he was the grandson of a personality like Hazrat Ali Zainul Abedin who was the chieftain of Medina by virtue of knowledge and knowledge in his time. He is the son of Mohammed bin al-Baqar who acquired knowledge by chalking it to the original.He is the one in whom personal Sharaf and Hasab and Nasab's additional Sharaf and Hashmi kinship and Aale Muhammad's being Juz were all accumulated).

In conclusion, I would like to say that the division that arose between the Shia and Ahle Sunnah after Hazrat Imam Ja'far Alsadiq is almost over today. In the centuries-long discussion between Shia doctrine and the Khabari Ulema, the doctrinal point of view has been conquered and the post of Vilayat Faqih has come into existence, which in practice is not much different from that of the Caliph. I think that in principle we have reached where Hazrat Imam left us today. With a little hard work, vision and expansion of heart, today we can again unite the Shia Sunni communities provided our Ulema and Fuqa dare to move out of their limited areas.

(The essayist acquired knowledge from Jamia Al Azhar and Jamia Al Kaherah after being educated in Indian madrassas, then a PhD from the University of Manchester in 1986 about "The Concept of Hijrah in Islam". Has given major lectures at various universities in the U.S. and is the author and translator of about fifty books in Arabic, English and Urdu published from Cairo, Beirut, London and Delhi)