بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
والصلاة والسلام على خاتم
النبيين
وعلى اهل بيته الطيبين
الطاهرين المظلومين
The
Imamiya, Shi’a sect regard sayyidina Ja’far al-Sadiq (rahimahullah) as their sixth
infallible Imam to whom unquestioning obedience was due in his lifetime.
However, in this entry I shall quote a narration attributed to Ja’far al-Sadiq
(rahimahullah) in the most authoritarive book of the Twelvers, namely, al-Kafi,
in which he explicitly denied being an Imam:
عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا
عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ
بْنِ وَهْبٍ عَنْ سَعِيدٍ السَّمَّانِ قَالَ كُنْتُ عِنْدَ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ (
عليه السلام ) إِذْ دَخَلَ عَلَيْهِ رَجُلَانِ مِنَ الزَّيْدِيَّةِ فَقَالَا لَهُ أَ
فِيكُمْ إِمَامٌ مُفْتَرَضُ الطَّاعَةِ قَالَ فَقَالَ لَا
A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Isa
from Ali bin al-Hakam from Mu’awiya bin Wahb from Sa‘id al-Samman who said: “I
was in the presence of Abu Abdillah (Ja’far al-Sadiq alayhis-salam) when two
men from the Zaydiya entered upon him. They both asked, “Is there among you an
Imam obedience to whom is obligatory.” (Ja’far al-Sadiq) said: “No.” (al-Kafi
v.1 p.168):
In fact, not only did Ja'far al-Sadiq deny Imamate for himself, he affirmed that the true Imam of his time was Imam Zayd b. Ali Zayn ul-Abidin رضى الله عنهما
ReplyDelete"A group of them had gone to Ja'far b. Muhammad b. Ali and said to him: "Zayd b. Ali is among us, asking us to give him the oath of allegiance. Do you think it right that we should do so?" Ja'far said to them: "Yes, give your oath of allegiance to him, for by God, he is the most excellent of us. He is our master and the best of us."
(History of Tabari v.26 p.38)
Therefore, the so-called Ja'fari Shiites should at the very least convert to Zaydi Shiites, because according to their sixth Imam Ja'far, he himself was not the real Imam, but it was Imam Zayd who was the true Imam of his time.