Imam Baqir’s full name was Imam Muhammad al baqir. Imam Baqir a.s. was born in Madina presently in Saudi Arabia on Monday 3rd of the Lunar Month in Arabic calendar, Safar, in the lunar year 57 A.H. There is another version and as per that the Imam Baqir a.s. was born on 1st Rajab of that year.
The writers say of the Imam’s biography he was mid-statured, his face was soft in look and bright, he had curly brown hair, he had a mole on the cheek and a red mole on the body. His voice was sweet and pleasing. He walked with head downwards. His colour was wheatish. He was truthful in speech and faithful in honouring his promise.
His manners were extremely refined. His sense of humour was cultivated. He had less material possessions than others in his family but he was, like his forefathers, very generous.
Every moment he would keep reciting dua (supplications) in remembrance of Allah, that is, while eating (Dua before eating), walking on his way, and also when other people might be busy talking among themselves he would be remembering Allah.
Towards the fall of night he would collect his children and ask those who could read the holy Quran to read it and those who could not he would ask them to remember Allah by saying “Allah” again and again like morning and evening Adhkars.
Birthday of Imam Baqir
Imam Muhammad al Baqir a.s. He was born in Madina, presently in Saudi Arabia, on a Monday. It was the 3rd day of Safar, the 2nd month in the 57th year in the Arabic lunar calendar. Another version says the same about Imam Baqir’s birth was born on 1st Rajab of that year.
The name of Imam Baqir holds great significance. It is an Arabic word Baqir which is derived from the root word baqara which means ‘to di’ or to expose. So Baqir as the nominative form from baqara means ‘exposer.’ Imam came to be known as Baqir. He dug deep into knowledge and brought out hidden treasures and delicacies of Islamic laws. These were not known or easily found by ordinary scholars.
Sayings of Imam Baqir and Imam Baqir quotes
These are some beautiful sayings of Imam Muhammad Baqir a.s. that I would love to share with you all
No Combination is better than the union of knowledge and forbearance.
It implies that a person should control himself in times of anger. He should do so to avoid acting without proper judgment in the heat of his rage. He should also do so to avoid letting the sad things in life make him sad.
Perfect achievement is understanding and insight in religion, patience, and endurance in times of adversity, and planned earning and spending.
There are three praiseworthy merits of this world and the next; that you forgive one who does you wrong; pay regard to one who ignores you; and act forbearance if someone, not knowing you, insults you.
Twenty years companionship creates relationship
If a person refrains from assisting a Muslim brother in his effort for the fullfilment of some need he is sure to get entangled in some act or other that may lead to sin instead of resulting in any good for him. Similarly if a person avoids spending in the cause of Allah to obtains His pleasure, he will have to spend much more to meet the situation created by the displeasure of Allah.
If Allah does not make a person’s self his counsellor, no person’s counselling would do him any good.
There is many a person who meets another person and says: “Allah may destroy your enemy” while in fact there is no enemy of that person except Allah.
A scholar whose knowledge is made use of is better than seventy thousand worshippers.
To seek fulfillment of a need from a newly rich is like to take a coin from the mouth of a serpent a danger which may kill you.
Four things constitute treasures of godliness concealing of need, concealing of charity, concealing of pain and concealing of misfortune.
Never be lethargic or depressed, because those are the key to every evil. The lethargic does not put his best in any work and the depressed is not satisfied with what he deserves.
Humbleness is to sit at a place below that which you deserve; to offer salutation to whomsoever you meet; to avoid disputation even though you are right.
Modesty and belief are twins; if either of the two disappears the other follows suit.
The Superiority of a scholar over a thousand worshipper is like that of the sun over the moon.
Beautiful Circumstances leading to the death of Imam Muhammad al Baqir
The famous writer and scholar Allama Muhamamd Baqir Majlisi records this in his book Jilalul Lyun. It is a detailed account of the events that led to the Imam’s death.
Sayyid Ibn Ta-us relates from Imam Jafar al Sadiq who said: In one year, the ruling caliph Hisham bin Abdul Malik went to perform Hajj.
That very year I too had gone for Hajj along with my father (Imam Baqir). I praised Allah for sending Muhamamd (ﷺ) as a true prophet. He honored us through him, so that we are Allah’s honored ones over the people, and His chosen ones among them. We are His representatives on earth.
Therefore blessed is he who follows us and accursed is he who opposes us and shows enmity towards us. Hisham’s brother told him the news. But, he did not think it right to disturb us in Makka. So, when he reached Damascus and we returned to Madina, he sent a messenger to his governor in Madina. He told him to send my father and me to Damascus.
When we arrived there Hisham did not allow us audience till three days. On the fourth day, he let us in. When we entered, we saw that Hisham himself was sitting on his royal throne. His body guard was on duty in two rows, with a target of arrows and chiefs of his court ready to shoot.
We entered the courtyard of his palace with my father (Imam Baqir) in the front and I behind him. On our reaching near him he said to my father: You also shoot arrows with the elders of my people.
My father said: I have grown old and I cannot now shoot arrows; it would be better if you excuse me. Hisham swore by Allah and said: By the right of Allah who has honoured us with His religion and His prophet I would not excuse you.
Then he beckoned to a senior person of Bani Umayyah. He asked them to hand over his bow and arrows to my father (Imam Baqir). This would allow my father to do the shooting.
So, my father (Imam Baqir) took the bow and arrows from the man. He put an arrow in the bow and shot it with imamate’s power. He hit the middle of the target. Then he took the second arrow and shot it again striking in the midst of the target so that this arrow struck against the first one.
Then he took out the third arrow and shot it on the second arrow and cut it into two. He went on shooting arrows one after the other upto the ninth one and every arrow struck exactly the same target. It seemed every arrow the Imam shot struck Hisham’s heart. The color of his accursed face kept changing. At the ninth arrow he lost patience and said: O Abu Jafar, you have shot very well.
Surely you are the best archer in the whole of Arab and Ajam (Iran). Why then did you say that you could not shoot? After this experience he felt ashamed and decided to kill my father (Imam Baqir). He bent his head in deep thinking while my father and I were standing beside him.
We were standing for a long time. My father felt uneasy and looked at the sky. Signs of discomfort were clear on his holy face. Noticing this, Hisham became worried about my father’s displeasure. He asked my father to come to his throne, and I went behind him.
On our reaching near the throne, he held him and made him sit on the throne at his right. Then, putting his hand on my neck, he made me sit at the right of my father (Imam Baqir). Then he turned to my father and said: “The Quraysh tribe definitely feel proud over all the Arabs and Ajam. They feel this way because you are among them.
Please tell me: Who taught you to shoot an arrow and when did you learn?”
My father replied:
You know that among the people of Madina this art is common and during my boyhood I used to do it for some days. From that time till now I had given it up.
Since today you Insisted and swore in the name of Allah I took up the bow. Hisham said: I had never seen such markmanship. Is your son Jafar is also like you? My father said: We of the house of the Holy Prophet (ﷺ) inherit knowledge.
We also inherit perfection and completion of religion one after the other. This comes by succession, as the verse of the Holy Quran says:
This day I have perfected for you your religion, and have completed My favour on you, and have chosen for you Islam (as your) religion.
Surah al Maidah verse 3
And the earth is never without one of us who is perfect in it while others are deficient therein. Hearing all this Hisham got very angry and his cursed face became red. For some time he bent his head in silence.
After raising his head, he said to my father: “Isn’t our relationship the same? We are both sons of Abd-e Munaf.”
My father said (Imam Baqir): “It is so. But, Allah has honored one with His secrets and special knowledge. He has not done so with the other.” He said, “Is it not a fact that Allah sent Muhammad (ﷺ) from the line of Abd Munaf as a prophet for all people, including the white, black, and red?” As such how has this inheritance been confined to you? The Holy Prophet has been sent for the whole mankind, and Allah says in the Quran:
“And for Allah is the inheritance of the heavens and the earth.”
Surah al-Imran 30
So, why is knowledge special for you? There are no prophets after Muhammad. And, you people are not prophets.
My father said: Allah gave that honor this way. He told His prophet not to let people know about it. He commanded His prophet to give us His knowledge. So, the Holy Prophet told his brother Ali some secrets. He kept these secrets from all other companions.
When the verse: AND PRESERVE IT THE HEARKENING EARS was revealed, the Holy Prophet said to Ali: O Ali, I have begged Allah to give you such ears.
That is why All has said: “The Holy Prophet gave me a thousand chapters of knowledge. From each, a thousand more chapters shoot up. Then the Imam continued: you too tell some secrets to some people and keep them from others. persons and keep them concealed from others.
The Holy Prophet did the same. He told Ali his secrets and did not let others know them.
Again, Ali too specially acquainted one member of his house with those secrets. In this way these secrets came to us through inheritance. At this moment Hisham said: All said he knew the unknown. But, Allah has not made anyone a partner in the knowledge of the unknown. How then did he make such an assertion?
My father replied: “Allah gave a book to the Holy Prophet. In it, He has described all that has already happened and will happen until the day of judgement. He says:
And We have revealed to you the Book, an exposition of everything, and guidance, and mercy, and glad tidings for the Muslims.
Surah An-Nahl – 89
Thus, Allah revealed to the Holy Prophet that he should tell Ali the secrets and the unknown. The Holy Prophet commanded Ali to collect the Quran after him.
He also told Ali to do his funeral rites, like bathing, shrouding, and embalming, in private. To his companions, he said: it is unlawful for anyone to see my private parts except my brother Ali.
He said this because Ali is from me and I am from him. My property is his and he must do what I must do. He must pay my debts and fulfill my promises.
He said to the companions, “All of ibna Abi Talib would fight against the hypocrites about interpreting the Quran. I fought against the unbelievers about the Quran’s revelation. This is why the Holy Prophet said that the most knowledgeable for judgment is Ali ibna Abi Talib.
Umar bin Khattab said several times that if Ali had not been there, Umar would have perished.” Thus Umar stood witness to the knowledgable of Ali whereas other deny the fact.
As a result Hisham bent his head for a long while and then said: If you have any wish you come out with it. My father said that: On my coming here my family is under severe apprehension and fear, so l beseech you to give me permission to return.
Hisham said: I give you permission; you may depart this very day. My father then put his hand around his neck and bade farewell and I too bade him farewell.
Then we came out. As we entered the courtyard outside the palace and reached its fag end we noticed a large crowd of people sitting there. My father (Imam Baqir) enquired as to who they were. Hisham’s chamberlain told us that they were Christian clerics and monks. They have a scholar in this mountain who is regarded as the most learned of their scholars.
They come to him once every year to ask about their problems. So, today they have gathered for that purpose. At this my father went close to them while I too went with him. My father wrapped his head with a cloth so they would not know him. Then, he went up the mountain with those Christians.
When the Christians sat there my father (Imam Baqir) also sat along with them. The clerics then spread carpets for their scholar. Then they brought him out and made him sit on the carpet. He had become very old and looked like one of Prophet Isa’s disciples.
His old age had caused his eyebrows to fall over his eyes. He had tied them with a yellow silk note to hold them back. He moved his eyes like those of a serpent and cast a look at those who were present. When news reached Hisham that Imam had gone to the Christian monastery, he sent a special man to watch.
The man was to report all that passed between the Imam and the Christians. When that scholar saw my father, he asked: Are you one of us or a follower of Muhamamd? My father replied that he was from among the Muslims. Then he enquired whether from among their scholars or the ignorant.
My father said (Imam Baqir): Not from among the ignorant? He was much perturbned and said: Should I ask you a question or whould you like to ask a question? My father said: Better you ask questions.
The Christian scholar addressed his men: “Christians, how strange that a Muslim wants me to ask him questions. So, I am asking him a few.
Then he asked: “O the servant of God, tell me about the hour. It is neither night nor day.” My father replied: the hour between commencement of dawn and sunrise.
He said: What sort of the hour is it, then?
My father replied (Imam Baqir): It is a time related to paradise. At this time the sick feel relief, pains subside, and one who can not sleep goes to sleep.
Allah has made this hour for inclining towards the next life for those who want it. It is also clear guidance for those who desire to do good for the next life. It is an argument for the disbellevers who do not want to do good for the next life.
The Christian said: You are right. Now, tell me how you believe that the people of paradise eat and drink but do not have to pass urine or excrement. Is there anything like that in this world?
Then Imam Baqir replied: Yes, surely the embryo in the womb of the mother eats out of whatever the mother eats but nothing passes out of it.
Now the Christian said: You had said that I am not one of the ignorant. The Christian then asked: “Tell me how you hold that the fruits of paradise do not diminish however much people eat from them. Is there any example of it in this world?”
The Imam Baqir replied:
Yes the example of it is a lamp, a hundred thousand lamps may be lighted from one lamp but it would not suffer any dimunition and would remain the same.
The Christian then said: Now I would ask you a question which you would not be able to answer.
Imam Baqir said: Yes, do so. The Christian said: A man mates with his wife. She gets pregnant with two sons. They are born and die at the same moment. But, at the time of dying, one had lived fifty years and the other had lived a hundred and fifty.
Imam Baqir replied that those sons were Uzayr and Azar.
Their mother had become pregnant with both of them in one night and they were born at one and the same moment. They lived together for eighty years.
At that time, by the will of Allah, Uzayr died. Then, Allah brought him to life after a hundred years. He lived with his brother for another twenty years. Then, they both died together. At this the Christian got up and said: “You have brought before me a man wiser than I am to shame me in front of him. By God, as long as this man is in Syria, I will not speak to you.”
You put questions to him as you may like.
According to another record when night fell that Christian went to Imam and witnessing miracles became a Muslim. When this news reached Hisham, people told him about the discussion of Imam Muhammad al Baqir.
The news became well known. The people of Syria came to know the depth of the Imam’s knowledge. Hisham sent many gifts to him and made him depart to Madina quickly.
According to another version, Hisham put the Imam in prison. But, people told him that the prison’s men had become the Imam’s followers. Imam Jafar al Sadiq continues: At this, Hisham quickly made us depart for Madina.
Before us, he sent messengers to every town on the way for telling the people. They were to say that the sons of the magician Abu Turab (Imam Ali) had become Christians. Their names are Muhamamd bin Ali and Jafar bin Muhammad. Therefore any one who sells any thing to them or salutes them or shakes hand with them his blood would be lawful to be shed.
So, when the messenger reached Madian, we got there after him. The people of the town then closed the city gate for us and insulted Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib. Accordingly even though our servants pleaded much they did not open the gate and did not allow us any thing to eat and drink.
Then we reached near the gate and my father spoke to them: Fear Allah, we are not as people have told you. Even if we are so, you have dealings with the Christians and Jews. Why do you deny us the same treatment?
They said, “You are worse than the Christians and the Jews. They pay jaziya (non-Muslim tax) while you do not.”
Howsoever my father counselled them they did not open the gate and said: We shall not open the gate for you till you and all your animals die. When my father noticed their Insistence he alighted from his camel and asked me not to move from my place.
The mountain was close by from there and bent over the town of Madian. Imam climbed over the mountain. Facing the town, he placed his fingers on his ears and recited verses from the Holy Quran.
In them, Allah tells the story of prophet Shu-ayb. It deals with Shu-ayb being sent to the people of Madian. They faced severe punishment for disobeying the prophet. He recited the verses upto the words where Allah says:
Whatever is left to you by Allah is for you if you are true believers.
Surah Muhammad (47:21)
Then Imam Baqir said: By Allah we are the BAQIYYATULLAH (Those left over by Allah on earth). Then, Allah raised a dark wind. It took the Imam’s voice to all, young and old. They all trembled with fear. So they appeared on their roofs and looked at the Imam.
An old man from the people of Madian saw my father like that. He spoke loudly to the people of the town, “People of Madian, fear Allah! This man is standing where Prophet Shu-ayb cursed his people. I swear by Allah, if you do not open the gate for him, you will face the same punishment.” They were frightened and not only opened the gate for us but served us food also.
Then the next day we set off from that place. Then, the governor of Madian told Hisham all that had happened. Hisham then wrote back that the old man should be killed.
According to another version, Hisham sent for that old man. But, before he reached Syria, by mercy of Allah, death overtook him. Then Hisham wrote to his governor at Madina to kill my father with lethal poison. But, before this could happen, Hisham himself died and went to the lowest part of hell.
Kulayni says he heard Imam Muhammad al Baqir say: “I dreamt that I stand on a hill. People come up to it from all sides.” Many people had gathered there. Suddenly, the hill began to rise. People began to leave from all sides until only a small group remained on the hill. This happened for five times and the Imam took this dream to be an omen for his death; and after the fifth night by mercy of Allah he died.
In the book Basa-irud Darajat, it is said that Imam Jafar al Sadiq said: “During the night my father died, I went to speak to him. But he gestured for me to keep off because he was having some secret talk with someone. I did not see them, or he was talking to the creator.”
So after some time I went to him when he said: O my worthy son | am leaving this transient world this very night and departing for the everlasting place. It is the night when the prophet of Allah departed. At this time, my father Ali bin Husayn brought me a sweet drink. I drank it and he gave me the good news of meeting Allah.
Qutub Rawandi tells a reliable story from Imam Jafar al Sadiq. He said that: “As my father’s death neared and his condition changed, he said to throw away the water we placed beside his bed for ritual washing.””
He said so twice, but people thought that he was saying so under the effects of fever. Then I went and threw away the water. I noticed that a mouse had fallen in it. Imam had known, even in that condition, by his inner knowledge of imamat.
Kulayni has said on good authority that a man a few miles from Madina saw in a dream being told to join the funeral prayer of Imam Muhammad al Baqir. Angels were giving him a funeral bath. Another true tradition says that Imam Muhamamd al Baqir left eight hundred dirhams for condolence and grieving over him.
We have this story from reliable tradition. Imam Jafar al Sadiq related that his father said to him: “Kulayni said on good authority that a man a few miles from Madina saw in a dream being told to join the funeral prayer of Imam Muhammad al Baqir.
Angels were doing his funeral bath.” Another true tradition says that Imam Muhamad al Baqir bequeathed a sum of eight hundred dirhams for the performance of condolence and grieving over him.
Based on reliable tradition, Imam Jafar al Sadiq related that his father said to him: O Jafar, make a trust from my property. It is for those who should grieve over me for ten years during Hajj. They should revive the mourning every year.
Imam Baqir shahadat date
There is difference about the date of the martyrdom of Imam Muhamamd al Baqir. The accepted version is that his martyrdom happened on Monday the 7th of Zil Hijja.
It is said that he died from lethal poison given to him by Ibrahim bin Walid bin Abdul Malik bin Marwan, likely at the request of Hisham. Most people agree. The Imam’s grave lies in Baqi by the side of his father, Imam Ali bin Husayn Zayn al Abidin.
