صراط عشق صراط عشق
By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
The above statement is from Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWA) namesake and 5th Infallible Heir, who was prophesied by the Seal of Messengers as “Baqer al-Uloum” or the Splitter and Spreader of Sciences.
Born in the Prophet’s city Medina, 57 years after the Prophet’s hijra or migration from Mecca to Medina, and 46 years after the passing away of the Prophet from the mortal world, Imam Muhammad Baqer (AS), was knowledge personified.
Descended on both sides from the Prophet he was inheritor of the celestial knowledge bequeathed by the Prophet, on the commandment of God, to his great-grandfather, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).
If his father Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) was the son of the Prophet’s younger grandson Imam Husain (AS), his mother Fatema (SA) was the daughter of the Prophet’s elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS).
It was Divine Providence that he was born on the First of the month of Rajab, which starts today and which is one of the four sacred months of the Islamic calendar – the month in which the All-Merciful, in addition to the regular conduits of mercy, opens up special passageways to His creatures for attaining greater heights of virtue.
Indeed, fortunate are those who grab this opportunity to strive towards the bounties of the Hereafter. Last night on the eve of Rajab, most of the faithful may have performed the special prayers and recited the exclusive supplications in the Divine Court. Today many are fasting and are observing the special prayers of the First of Rajab.
The faithful are humbly beseeching God to firm up their faith, enlighten their minds, illuminate their hearts, purify their souls, strengthen their spirits, make them worthy recipients of the bezels of knowledge specified by the 5th Imam, and above all, alleviate the sufferings of all believers.
God’s promise is true. He will surely make the true believers triumphant no matter the magnitude of atrocities committed by the hypocrites and the faithless. He has indeed preserved for the salvation of humanity the Last Infallible Heir of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) – the Qa’em al-Mahdi (AS), who will reappear in the end times to rid Planet Earth of all oppression through establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. Amen
No wonder, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and 11 of his Infallible Heirs have given us tidings of the eventual emerging out of the long occultation of the 12th Infallible Imam for fulfilling God’s promise.
For his part, Imam Muhammad Baqer (AS), who as a 4-year old witnessed history’s most heartrending in Karbala on the Day of Ashura (10 Muharram 61 AH), and who in its equally tragic aftermath despite his tender age, suffered imprisonment in Damascus along with his parents, aunts and Grand Aunts, Hazrat Zainab (SA) and Omm Kulthoum (SA), has said:
“The Master of the Affair was named as the Mahdi because he will dig out the Torah and other heavenly books from the cave in Antioch. He will judge among the people of the Torah according to the Torah; among the people of the Evangel according to the Evangel; among the people of the Psalms in accordance with the Psalms; and among the people of the Qur’an in accordance with the Qur’an.”
These words from the Imam on whose authority scholars wrote accounts of the prophets of the past, the Sunnah and Seerah (behaviour and practice) of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), the meaning of the Ayahs of the holy Qur’an, and the jurisprudential principles of the Shari’ah, provide solace to the hearts of not just Shi’a Muslims, but also of our Sunni brethren. Their books are replete with countless narrations from him.
In fact, all monotheists take comfort from the words of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt, who as the righteous heirs of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), preached peace, friendship and fraternity. Their humanitarian behaviour is in sharp contrast to the usurper Omayyad and Abbasid caliphs, who like the satanic Salafis of our own days, divided Muslims into sects, massacred people, terrorized countries, destroyed the heritage of the nations of the past, and looted the masses to fill up their coffers.
Those in doubt, are invited to study the fruitful life of the 5th Infallible Imam, who during his 19-year mission, resisted against five tyrannical Omayyad caliphs (whose empire that stretched from Spain in the west to Pakistan in the east has long evaporated), in order to pass on to posterity the ethereal values of universal brotherhood.
