Muhammad al-Baqir
Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. ‘Ali was one of the most learned Muslims of his age. He played a pivotal role in the history of early Islam as an authority on the exegesis of the Qur’an, the Traditions of the Prophet (Hadith), and on all matters relating to the rites, rituals, and practices of the faith. Born in 57 AH/677 CE in Medina, Imam al Baqir had an especially prestigious genealogy as the maternal and paternal grandchild of al-Hasan and al-Husayn, the Prophet’s grandsons.
He was popularly known as al-Baqir, which is short for baqir al ‘ilm, meaning “one who splits knowledge open”; this signifies his erudition in bringing knowledge to light, a function that he did indeed perform.
There are considerable variations in reports regarding the year of his death, ranging from 114 AH/732 CE to 126 AH/744 CE. However, the dates given by al-Waqidi (117 AH/735 CE) and Ibn al-Khayyat (118 AH/736 CE) appear to be more realistic, considering reports about his death in al-Tabari during the uprising of his half-brother, Zayd b. ‘Ali.
Author
Professor Nader El-Bizri
Professor Nader El-Bizri is a philosopher and architect. He is currently affiliated with the University of Cambridge, and he was until recently the Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Sharjah. Prior to that he was a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Durham University and a tenured Professor at the American University of Beirut, where he served as the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and as the Director of General Education. Before that he taught and conducted research across the academic ranks at the universities of Harvard, Nottingham, Lincoln, and at the CNRS in Paris and the IIS in London. He serves on various academic boards internationally and is the General Editor of the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity series that is published by Oxford University Press in association with the IIS. He has acted as advisor to the Science Museum in London, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Geneva, the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in Berlin, UNESCO in Paris, and Expo2020 in Dubai. He has been interviewed by the BBC and France Culture cultural programs, and in recognition of his contributions to the field, he has received awards and honours, including the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences Prize.
