Short life history of Imam Jafar Sadiq (AS)

Birthday of Imam Sadiq(as):
The sun of the existence of Imam Jafar as Sadiq (AS) arose from the lap of his mother Umm-e-Farwah on the 17th of Rabiul Awal, 83rd year Hijrah, in the city of Madina. Imam Jafar as Sadiq (AS) has the same birth date as that of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Family Backgroung of Imam Jafar Sadiq(as):
Imam Jafar as Sadiq (AS) has three titles; they are: As-Sadiq, Al-Fadil, At-Tahir.
His father Imam Muhammad Baqir (AS) was much happy and pleased by the birth of his son. His mother Umm-e-Farwah (RA)was the grand daughter of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr (RA), who was one of the companions of Imam Ali (AS). Imam Ali (AS) repeatedly said about him that, “Muhammad is my spiritual and moral son.” Asma Bint Umais was the mother of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, and she was considered to be a pious woman. She was continuously in the service of Hazrat Fatima Zahra (SA) and took pride in it. After the martyrdom of her husband Jafar ibn Abi Talib (AS) in the Battle of Mu’tah, Asma Bint Umais married Abu Bakr Siddiq and after his death, married to Imam Ali (AS).
Imam Jafar as Sadiq (AS) said about her mother, “My mother was one of the pious, faithful and devoted women.” Imam Jafar as Sadiq (AS) was 15 years of age when his grandfather Imam Sajjad (AS) was martyred and 34 years old when his father Imam Muhammad Baqir (AS) was martyred.

Political Background:
Consequent upon the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (AS) the government of Bani Umayyah was shaken which turned the people into their enemy and pessimist about them. This opened the avenue for the formation of Bani Abbasid government. The gap in between these two powers opened the way for the propagation of Shiia ideology and school of thought. Imam Jafar Sadiq (AS) could, through a learning movement, propagate the learning’s of Islam in such a way to extend and make it reach all the people in the World.

Characteristic of Imam Jafar Sadiq (as):
The Characteristic distinctions of Imam Jafar  Sadiq (AS)We all know that the conduct of men is the reflection of their inner character and everyone can be recognized by his conduct.
There are only a very few people who do not spill out their conduct and whatever they have in their interior and do not exhibit it. Whatever they have in their hearts kindles the exterior of the electric lamp like an electric switch.
Whole of the life of Imam Jafar  Sadiq (AS), like the other Imams (AS), was the enlightened lesson of the real and true Islam. He himself was considered to be the example and specimen of the Islamic ethic, moral and conduct.
You cannot find a father and a son among all the people, of all the tribes who may resemble each other from all the angles of ideas, thoughts, character and conduct. But the family of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and his successors all were on the same line and performed their heavenly duty with one aim, one ideology, and did not have any kind of difference in speech, character and ethical conduct.

Ethical value and virtue of Imam Sadiq Jafar (as)
About the ethical value and virtue of Imam Jafar  Sadiq (AS), it is sufficient that out of four thousands of his students even a single one did not object or criticize upon the moral character and conduct of Imam Jafar  Sadiq (AS), and did not find a weak point in it. He was a practical example and specimen for the Muslims with respect to eating, relaxing and resting, walking, speaking, and conducts with others. He had the same social conduct with his friends as he had with his children.

Imam Sadiq’s (as) Last words
Quran
As soon as Umme Hameeda the mother of Imam Musa Al-Kazim (as) saw Abu Baseer, who had come to pay his condolences for the death of her husband Imam Sadiq (as), she cried. Abu Baseer cried as well. When she was comforted, Umme Hameeda told him: “You were not present at the last moments of Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) to see what happened.”
Abu Baseer asked: “What happened?” She said: “It was the last moments of Imam Sadiq’s (as) life. He eyes were closed. All of a sudden he opened his eyes, and said: “gather all the family members now.” It was strange that Imam Sadiq (as) had ordered as such in this last moment. So we put our efforts together, and gathered all relatives. All were ready to hear what Imam Sadiq (as) had to say. When Imam Sadiq (as) saw that every one was present, he told them:
“Verily, our intercession (Shafaat) does not reach the one who takes (Namaz) prayers lightly”.
A man asked to the Imam Sadiq(as), “By which sign a person is determined to be a believer?” Imam Sadiq (as) replied,
“By Submission to Allah and satisfaction with the sad and happy events occurring to him.”

Last Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH)

LINEAGE
The oldest and noblest tribe in the whole of Arabia was Banu Hashim. They were the descendants of Ibrahim through his son Isma”il. The Arabs respected and loved them for their goodness, knowledge and bravery.
“ABDUL MUTTALIB (AS)
“Abdul Muttalib (AS) was the chieftain of Banu Hashim and he was also the Guardian of the Ka”bah. Among his ten sons, “Abdullah was the father of the Holy Prophet.

Holy Prophet MUHAMMAD (PBUH)
In Mecca, baby boy Muhammad (PBUH) was born on 17th Rabi” al-Awwal, 570 AD.His father “Abdullah (AS), son of “Abdul Muttalib(AS), died before he was born and when he was six, he lost his loving mother Hazrat Aminah (AS) bint Wahab.His Grandfather, “Abdul Muttalib(AS), took the responsibility of bringing up the orphan. At the age of ten, he was berefted of his venerable grandfather.On his deathbed, he appointed his son Abu Talib as the guardian of Muhammad (PBUH) .Gentle, soft spoken, tall and handsome boy, Muhammad (PBUH), accompanied the trading caravans of Hazrat Abu Talib (AS), across the deserts, giving him deep insight into nature and man.

KHADIJAH(AS)
The wealthy noble widowed lady Khadijah(AS), looking for a manager for her rich merchantile caravans, selects Muhammad, the Trustee. Able and fair dealing,Muhammad (PBUH) is a tremendous success. Khadijah (AS)already an admirer, made him an offer of marriage. Muhammad (PBUH) was twenty five and Khadijah forty. In spite of this disparity in age, the marriage proved to be a very happy one.

THE PROPHET (PBUH)
Lover of nature and quite worrried about human sufferings, Muhammad (PBUH) very often retired to Mount Hira” for meditations. One night, Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Majesty) a voice addressing him, commanded “Recite in the name of thy Lord.” Deeply excited by the strange phenomena of Divine Visitation,Muhammad hurried home to his wife, Khadijah (AS), who listened to him attentively and said that “I bear witness that you are the Apostle of God.” After an interval, the voice from heaven spoke again “O thou shrouded in thy mantle, arise, and warn, and magnify thy Lord.”
This was a signal for him to start preaching the gospel of truth of One God. In the beginning Muhammad (PBUH) invited only those near him, to accept the new Faith. The first to embrace Islam among women was Khadijah (AS) and among men “Ali (AS). Soon after, Zayd ibn al-Harithah became a convert to the new Faith.

For three long years, he laboured quietly to wean his people from the worship of idols and drew only thirty followers. Muhammad then decided to appeal publicly to the Quraysh to give up idol worship and embrace Islam.The new Faith, is simple without complications, practical and useful for everyday life. It commands to believe and do good, keep up prayer and pay the poorrate, two orders giving four principles of a successful way of life.Almost ten years of hard work and preaching, in spite of all persecution,produced over a hundred followers, physical cruelties and social boycott made life unbearable in Mecca. The Holy Prophet of Islam advised his followers, to seek refuge in the to seek refuge in the neighbouring country of Ethiopia. Eighty eight men and eighteen women sailed to the hospitable shores of the Negus, under the leadership of Ja”far at-Tayyar (brother of “Ali) and the cousin of the Holy Prophet.

several times the chieftains came to Hazrat Abu Talib (AS) saying, “We respect your age and rank, but we have no further patience with your nephew. Stop him or we shall fight you.” Hazrat Abu Talib (AS) asked Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) for his decision.With tears in his eyes, the Apostle firmly replied, “O my uncle! If they place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left, to force me to renounce my mission, I will not desist until God manifests His cause or I perish in the attempt.”

TRAGEDIES
In a period of troubles, trials and tribulations two major tragedies afflicted Muhammad (PBUH) . First the venerable guardian uncle Abu Talib (AS)died and shortly afterwards his noble wife Khadijah (AS) died, leaving behind her daughter Fatimah (peace be on her) – the only child she had from the Holy Prophet (PBUH) – the daughter who looked after her father so much so that the prophet called her Umm Abiha (the mother of her father).

MUSLIM ERA
With the death of the old patriarch Abu Talib (AS) , the Meccans planned to assassinate the prophet (PBUH) . Under Divine guidance, he asked “Ali (AS) to sleep in his bed and Muhammad (PBUH) put his green garment on “Ali(AS). While the murderes mistook “Ali for muhammad (PBUH), the Holy Prophet of Islam escaped to Medina.

The Muslim era of Hijrah (Emigration) is named after this incident and dated from 17th Rabi” al-Awwwal, 622 AD.
From the time he came to Medina, he was the grandest figure upon whom the light of history has ever shone. We shall now see him as the King of men, the ruler of human hearts, chief law-giver and supreme judge.The Preacher who went without bread, was mightier than the mightiest sovereigns of the earth. No emperor with his tiaras was obeyed, as this man in a cloak of his own clothing.

He laid the foundation of the Muslim commonwealth and drew up a charter which has been acknowledged as the work of highest statemanship, a master-mind not only of his age, but of all ages.

Unlike the Arabs, the Prophet (PBUH) , had never wielded a weapon, but now he was forced to defend Islam by force of arms. Commencing from the battle of Badr,a series of eighty battles had to be fought, which the infant commmunity defended successfully.

UHUD
Next year, Abu Sufyan, the famous long-lived enemy of Islam, again attacked the Muslims at Uhud. Hamzah (AS), the first flag-bearer of Islam and uncle of the Prophet (PBUH) , was killed in action. In spite of strict instructions from the Prophet (PBUH) , a few Muslim soldiers deserted their post,when victory was in sight. This changed the course of the battle. Khalid ibn al-Walid attacked the Prophet PBUH) and the grave situation was saved by the timely arrival of “Ali (AS). The enemies ran away and the issue was decided. Muhammad PBUH) was deeply grieved at the death of Hamzah (AS).

HUDAYBIYYAH
The Muslims had been in self exile for six years and began to feel a keen yearning for their homeland, Mecca. The Prophet desired to perform a pilgrimage to Ka”bah. When he forsook his home town he was weak, but when he wanted to return, he was strong. He did not use his strength to force an entry into the sacred city. Finding the Quraysh hostile, Muhammad(PBUH) entered into a treaty Known as the Peace of Hudaybiyyah, appearing not very advantageous to the Muslims, but which revealed the Islamic character of moderation and magnanimity. For the strong to excercise restraint and toleration is true courage. Having reached upto the door of their birth place with hearts over-flowing with impatient longing to enter it, the Muslims retraced their steps peacefully to Medina, under the terms of the treaty, which allowed them to perform the pilgrimage next year.

MECCA
In The 8th year AH, the idolators violated the peace of Hudaybiyyah by attacking the Muslims. The enemies were defeated and Mecca was conquered.The Prophet (PBUH) who fled from Mecca as a fugitive, now returned home as a mighty conqueror. The Rahmatun lil “Alamin (mercy unto all beings, i.e., the Prophet) entered the city with his head bowed low in thankfulness to the Almighty (Allah) and ordered a general amnesty, instead of the mass massacre of those who persecuted him and his followers.

LAST PILGRIMAGE
Under the Divine intuition of his approaching end, Muhammad prepared to make the farewell pilgrimage to Mecca.Before completing all the ceremonies of Hajj, he addressed a huge multitude from the top of mount “Arafat on 8th Dhi al-hijjah, 11 AH,in words which shall ever ring and live in the atmosphere.
After finishing the hajj the Holy Prophet (PBUH) started for Medina. On his way, at Ghadir Khumm the Voice from Heaven cried: “O Apostle! deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message and Allah will protect you from the people, surely Allah will not guide the unbelieving people. (5:67) Muhammad (PBUH) immediately ordered Bilal to recall the Muslims, who had gone ahead,who were behind and who were proceeding to their homes at the junction, to assemble. The famous Sunni mutakallim and commentator, Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi in his At-Tafsir al-Kabir, vol. 12, pp. 49-50, writes that the Prophet (PBUH) took “Ali (AS) by the hand and said: “Whoever whose mawla (master) I am, “Ali is his master. O Allah! Love him who loves “Ali (AS), and be the enemy of the enemy of “Ali (AS); help him who helps “Ali (AS), and forsake him who forsakes “Ali (AS).”

DEATH
On Holy Prophet Muhammad”s (PBUH) return to Medina, he got busy settling the organization of the provinces and the tribes which had adopted Islam. His strength rapidly failed and the poison (administered at Khaybar by a Jewess) took its deadly toll. So ended the life dedicated to the service of God and humanity from first to last, on 28th Safar, 11 AH.
The humble Preacher had risen to be the ruler of Arabia. The Prophet of Islam not only inspired reverence, but love owing to his humility,nobility, purity, austerity, refinement and devotion to duty.
The Master inspired all who came into contact with him. He shared his scanty food; he began his meals in the Name of Allah and finished them uttering thanks;he loved the poor and respected them; he would visit the sick and comfort the heart broken; he treated his bitterest enemies with clemency and forbearance,but the offenders against society were administered justice; his intellectual mind was remarkably progressive and he said that man could not exist without contant efforts.
There is no god but One God and Muhammad (PBUH) is the Apostle of God, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his descendants.

The reported death of al Qaeda-linked top Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s (LeJ) chief Qari Zafar in a US drone strike in Miramshah on February 24 has given a lethal blow to both the LeJ, which is invloved in sectarian killings in Pakistan.

According to the Shiite News monitoring cell, Qari Zafar, top terrorists of notritious Laskar-e-Jhangvi and an important leader of anti-state Taliban terrorists, was reported to be among the people killed in Wednesday’s drone attack in the Dandi Darpakhel area of North Waziristan.

Qari Zafar, who was hailing from Karachi and belonged to outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi terrorists group was involved in the killings of hundreds of shia muslims in Karachi.

Terrorit Qari Zafar had joined the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in North Waziristan some time before the Pakistan army launched an operation in South Waziristan against the terrorists. He was seen in a video, sitting next to TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud and his deputy Waliur Rehman.

Sindh Police has listed the Qari Zafar in the list of most wanted terrorists and allocated the 5 Lac Rupees headmoney of Qari Zafar, a former prayer leader of Bilal Mosque Model colony, Sindh police website claimed.

The US has announced a reward of $5 million for information leading to the capture or death of Qari Zafar due to his involvement in attacks on former president Pervez Musharraf, the American consulate and other terrorist attacks but ran away from the custody of Punjab’s Special Investigation Unit in October 2007. Intelligence sources told Daily Times that Qari Zafar was the mastermind of attacks on a Special Investigation Unit (SIU) office in Model Town Lahore, Marriot Hotel, FIA building and American consulate in Karachi.

The Taliban confirmed that a terrorist leader who was behind multiple terror attacks in Pakistan and was wanted by the US for murdering a consular official in Karachi was killed in an airstrike in North Waziristan last week.

According to the intelligence findings, three major incidents of suicide bombings in Karachi in 2006 – the suicide blast outside the US Consulate [on March 3, killing American diplomat David Foy, the Nishtar Park massacre [on April 11 which eliminated the entire leadership of the Sunni Tehrik and the July 14 death of Shia leader Allama Hasan Turabi in a suicide bombing outside his residence – were all carried out by the LeJ and were planned in the South Waziristan tribal agency by none other than Qari Zafar, who is the acting ameer of the LeJ, ever since the arrest of its ameer Muhammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori, who is now languishing in the Karachi Central Prison.

Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh has called on the country’s Shia Houthi fighters to enter into the county’s political arena by forming a party.

Hailing an early February ceasefire reached with the Shia fighters based in the beleaguered north, Saleh said the group could play a role in the country’s politics as a political party.

The remarks come almost a month after the Houthis accepted the central government’s conditions in a bid to put an end to a massive onslaught in the north, backed by the Saudi and US military forces and logistics.

The joint offensive drove some 150,000 people out of their homes in battlefields in northern Yemen, Sa’ada province in particular.

Hundreds of people, including a large number of civilians, were killed since Yemen’s stepped up offensive was launched in August.

Last week, Houthi fighters complained that Sana’a had kept its siege over the capital of the northern Shia-dominated province of Sa’ada in contrast to the terms of the ceasefire.

“The army continues to this moment to refuse to lift the siege on the city of Sa’ada,” the Houthis said on their website, adding that the Yemeni soldiers were re-establishing military checkpoints on the newly-opened roads, Reuters reported.

The fighters said that the army was preventing citizens from entering their homes and was also preventing food supplies from reaching the war-stricken regions.

Some 187 children were killed as the result of the government and Saudi attacks during the war, said a recent report issued by UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) and the Yemen children’s righ

Iraq began a special voting on Thursday as security forces, hospital patients and prisoners went to polling stations to cast their ballots for the parliamentary election that takes place on March 7.

In this first phase of the poll, over 800 thousands voters are expected to cast their ballots.

As many as 1,700 constituencies have been set up for the first phase of the elections.

Iraqi expatriates are due to cast their ballots for the parliamentary elections on Friday.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces enforced emergency plan and stepped up security measures in Baghdad, days ahead of the general elections set for March 7.

The move came as part of a security plan aims to protect the city from attacks during the elections

Election organisers expect around 800,000 people, who will not be able to go to polling stations on Sunday, to take part in the early voting session.

Security was tight in the centre of the capital and security forces closed down streets around polling stations.

Soldiers and policemen, hospital staff and the sick, and prisoners with less than five years left in jail are eligible to vote. The latter three groups are set to vote in their hospitals or prisons.

Almost 19 million Iraqis, from a population of 30 million, are eligible to vote at 10,000 polling stations around the country, with 6,200 candidates standing for the 325 seats in parliament.

Iraqi expatriates will begin voting in 80 cities across 16 countries on Friday, a process that will continue until Sunday. Iraq’s electoral commission says 1.4 million people are eligible to vote abroad.

Shiite News Chief analyst said that United States and Saudia Arabia are hatching the conspiracy to provoke sectarian and tribal differences in Iraq to fulfill their vested agenda.

He informed that Saudia and Americans were adopting the Lebanon election strategy in Iraq to exploit sectarian and tribal differences for the rule of Saddam loyalists in Iraq.

He further said that the Saudia Arabia, America, and other Arab states have been spending billions of dollars in ongoing Iraqi election for the defeat of Shia Alliance as they would not tolerate the Shia government in their neighbourhood in Iraq.