Bāqir al-‘Ulūm (Arabic: باقِر العُلُوم) or al-Bāqir (Arabic: الباقِر) is the most famous epithet of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a).[1] In the book Ilal al-sharayi', it is narrated from Jabir b. Yazid al-Ju'fi that in answering the question of why the fifth Imam (a) was called "al-Baqir"? He said, "Because he (a) really split sciences."[2]
As mentioned in the book Wasilat al-khadim written by Fadl b. Ruzbihan, a Sunni scholar of the 9th/15th and 10th/16th centuries, the Prophet (s) granted the fifth Imam (a) the mentioned epithet;[3] and it is mentioned in a narration by Imam al-Sadiq (a) that the Prophet (s) gave the epithet "al-Baqir" to his father Imam al-Baqir (a) as an exclusive merit.[4] The Prophet (s) promised Jabir b. Abd Allah al-Ansari that "you will live [long] until you see my son Muhammad b. Ali b. al-Husayn b. Ali b. Abi Talib (a), who has been blessed with the epithet al-Baqir in the Torah, and when you meet him, pass my greetings to him."[5]
Also, in another narration, in the book Tadhkirat al-khawas, written by Sibt b. al-Jawzi (d. 654/1256-7), it is said that the fifth Imam (a) was called al-Baqir because his forehead was dented due to frequent prostrations.[6]
Notes
References
- Khunjī Iṣfahānī, Faḍl Allāh. Wasīlat al-khādim ilā al-makhdūm. Qom: Intishārāt-i Anṣārīyān, 1375 SH.
- Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Tehran: Islāmiyya, 1363 SH.
- Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Ikhtiṣāṣ. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Beirut: Dār al-Mufīd, 1414 AH.
- Qummī, Shaykh ʿAbbās. Muntahā l-āmāl fī tawārīkh al-Nabī wa al-Āl. Qom: Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn, 1379 SH.
- Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī, Yūsuf b. Qazāwughlī. Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ min al-umma fī dhikr khaṣāʾṣ al-Aʾimma. Qom: Manshūrāt al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, 1418 AH.
- Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. ʿIlal al-sharāʾiʿ. Edited by Sayyid Muḥammad Ṣādiq Baḥr al-ʿUlūm. Najaf: Manshurāt al-Maktaba al-Ḥaydariyya, 1385 AH.