Imam Muhammad Ibn Ja’far As Sadiq (D. 2nd C AH)
Imam Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq
Al-Ṣawwām — The Much-Fasting One — Peace Be Upon Him
Imam al-Ṣawwām (the much-fasting one) Abū ʿAlī Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq ibn Muḥammad al-Bāqir ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Sibt (peace be upon them). He called people to God in honoured Mecca. According to Ṭabaqāt al-Zaydiyya, al-Dhahabī placed his call in the year 200 AH.
He defied the wrongdoers and struggled against the transgressors. He used to fast one day and break the fast the next — the practice of the most rigorous voluntary fasting. He would go out to prayer in honoured Mecca among three hundred of the Zaydiyyah, upon whom were garments of wool — a visible testament to his simplicity and their devotion.
He (peace be upon him) was captured after many battles and was sent to al-Maʾmūn the ʿAbbāsid, who received him with a show of fairness — then slipped poison to him. He died in the year two hundred and odd. His grave is at Jurjān.
- ʿAlī
- Al-Qāsim
- Al-Ḥasan
His descendants are scattered across the lands of Islam — among them in: