 Welcome to another episode of the Ocean of Knowledge with me, your host Ahmad Ali. Now in tonight's episode, just like the other previous episodes, we have been rejoicing and celebrating the birth anniversary of our fifth Imam, seventh infallible Imam Muhammad bin Ali al-Baqr, peace and blessings be upon him. Now in the previous episodes for the two viewers who are just tuning in for the first time, we have been talking about in the first episode, we talked about a little bit of the life events that Imam al-Baqr went through and his worship, his supplications, you can visit our YouTube channel to view that episode. And in yesterday's episode, we talked about the title of al-Baqr and we talked about his relationship with Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari and who he was. Now this was discussed with my dear guest, Sayyid Hussain al-Qazween, who is joining us once again in tonight's episode. Peace be upon you, Sayyidina. Peace be upon you. May Allah bless you. How are you? Praise be to Allah. I would like to congratulate you as well as congratulate our dear viewers on this very auspicious occasion. Thank you very much. Which marks the birth anniversary of this great individual Imam al-Baqr, peace and blessings be upon him. Now yesterday we talked about Jabir and we talked about how Rasulullah peace and blessings be upon him introduced Jabir decades before to Imam al-Baqr, peace and blessings be upon him, who he prophesied of who he was to live along. And he gave a brief explanation of what al-Baqr meant. This will lead into what we're going to talk about. He says al-Baqr will introduce, spread and open up knowledge just like the ground when it opens up for cultivation. Now, with this being said, a person who spreads, splits and shares the amount of knowledge that Imam al-Baqr, peace and blessings be upon him shared, what was his role? Did he spread the knowledge in a certain way or was it following the commands of Allah? There's various ways that he taught him. I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Merciful, the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the Most Merciful. May Allah's peace, mercy and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his family. When we examine the lives of the Ahl al-Bayt, we see that there were various stages. For example, beginning with Imam Ali al-Salam, Imam al-Hassan, Imam al-Hussain, this was the early stage of Shi'ism. The Ahl al-Bayt had not fully introduced Shi'ism, but were rather fighting foreign agents that were about to destroy Islam. Imam Ali al-Salam had to deal with various groups, like Muawiyah, at the battle of Safin. He had to deal with the Khawarij that were also trying to distort the image of Islam. He had to deal with the people of Al-Jamal, who included one of the wives of the Prophet and two of his companions. Islam was being distorted. Imam Ali had to try to save the image of Islam. Same goes for Imam al-Hassan, Al-Salam. Yes. He had to deal with a conniving, deceitful person like Muawiyah, who was making use of Islam for personal agendas and personal reasons. Imam al-Hassan had to deal with the son of Muawiyah, Yazid. Now this was a stage where Islam was under attack, not from outside, but from within. The image of Islam was being distorted. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi had put Islam on certain tracks. There were others that tried to put Islam on another track, to deviate it from that track. It was the job of the early Imams, and to some degree Imam Zain al-Abideen alaihi s-salam, to steer the direction back to the way that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi had planned. Of course, Allah had planned through Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi. Did the early Imams, like Imam Ali, Imam al-Hassan, Imam al-Hassan, Imam Zain al-Abideen, were they able to show the specific details about the ideology, about the theology, about the jurisprudence of Shiaism? No, not really. They didn't get a chance. Their time was a time of correction, correcting the mistakes of the Khilafa, correcting the mistakes of those that tried to steer Islam to a different direction. But did they have a platform to come and speak and teach and show the tenets of Islam, show the tenets of Shiaism, give the specific details? They didn't. They didn't get a chance. This gave way to a new beginning, to a new stage. And that stage began with Imam Al-Baqir, Al-Hassan, and Imam Sadiq, to a bigger degree. Imam Al-Baqir, during the time of Imam Al-Baqir, we see a shift from, let's say, from the defensive to the offensive, if we want to put it in plain terms, from defending the reputation of Islam to giving the details of Islam, giving details about the school of thought of Ahl al-Bait, what their school of thought is all about, their jurisprudence. Up till the time of Imam Zayn al-Abideen, people saw the Ahl al-Bait as pious men, those men who stood for justice, who stood against oppression, spiritual men, especially Imam Zayn al-Abideen, men known for their prayers, for their acts of worship, for their dua. But what is their school of thought all about? Is it just about fighting oppression and shedding blood, sacrificing for the sake of Islam? Is it only about spirituality and reciting dua? Is that it? Or is it Shiaism? Much deeper than that. It has an intellectual basis, it has its own jurisprudence, it has its own legal theory, it has its own theology, it has its own tafsir of the Holy Quran. These were all exponents that were not clear during the days of the early Imams. These factors were shown in the life of Imam al-Baqr and Imam Sadiq. Imam al-Baqr was able to sit inside al-Masjid al-Nabawi in Madinah and show the true meaning of Shiaism intellectually. What is Shiaism all about? It's about the justice of Allah, al-Ad, al-Nabuwa, al-Imamah. Imam al-Baqr was able to show what Imamah is, what is the meaning of Imamah. And Imam is an infallible Imam that never commits a sin, that has to have knowledge, that is divinely educated. He's not educated at schools. Nabuwa, what is Nabuwa? What is prophecy? Prophet has to be infallible, and so on and so forth. Al-Qiyamah, Yawm al-Ma'ad, Resurrection, Day of Judgment. These were all ideas introduced by Imam al-Baqr in theology. When we come to jurisprudence, Imam al-Baqr showed the jurisprudence of Ahl al-Bait. Ahl al-Bait, we're not just pious people that sacrifice their life that lived simple lives, but no, they had knowledge, they had jurisprudence. They understood the detailed laws of Islam, how to pray, how to worship, how to fast, how to perform Hajj, how to marry, how to divorce, the contracts, business, how to perform business. The Ahl al-Bait carried laws that was passed on to them from Imam to Imam from Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa ala Divinely educated knowledge, Divinely received knowledge from Allah. This was his chance to educate. This doesn't mean that the previous Imams did not educate, they educated, but they did not have the platform that Imam al-Baqr did. Yes, Imam al-Aliya sallam did educate, but not to all. He chose specific companions to educate, like Salman, like Abu Dharr, like Al-Muqdad, Mithima Taman, he had a small group. Why? Because other companions were not up to the bar, they were not capable. Imam al-Baqr saw no, that he could educate bigger numbers than his forefathers did, than Imam Ali, Imam Hassan, Imam Fasinda, as he was able to educate. When Imam al-Baqr and Imam al-Sadiq alaihi sallam came, he had a bigger platform. Yes. He had even a bigger platform. So his number one role, it was not a military opposition to the government, he was not trying to overthrow the government, he was not trying to start a political party, no, no. His main role was educational, an educational role to show the details of the school of thought. And that's actually the way you mentioned it, linking it to the previous Imams, because a lot of people do wonder, where were the Imams before him? I mean, jurisprudence, you know, the idea of jurisprudence began, or was initiated, and a lot of people, it's unfortunate that they don't give credit to Imam al-Baqr as much as they give credit to Imam al-Sadiq alaihi sallam. A lot of people, when they mentioned the Ja'far school of thought, what actually initiated by Imam al-Baqr alaihi sallam, who began that university, who began that, you know, because a lot of people that he taught, but as you mentioned, the floor was open to Imam al-Sadiq more than it was open to Imam al-Baqr alaihi sallam. And it was open to Imam al-Baqr more than the other Imams. More than the other Imams. It was, you know, political events play a major role. Right now in Iraq, right now in Iraq, we have a major hausa in Karbala alone. In Karbala, we have over a thousand hausa students. During the days of Saddam, there was no hausa. So what changed? The political circumstances, they changed. So too in Najaf. In Najaf, there was a hausa, but it was very minor during the days of Saddam. After the fall of Saddam, hausa came back as it was before. Now there's teachers, there's classes, there's lessons, political circumstances play a major role in the spread of knowledge. And that's what occurred during the days of Imam al-Baqr alaihi sallam. And especially when the Imams have to defend religion at the same time, you know, of spreading it. You know, we see him spreading Islam through his sacrifice. And same way, Imam al-Baqr alaihi sallam through his own ways. During the days of Imam al-Hassan, Imam al-Hassan, people were not ready for intellectual discussions. They were deviated. They were deviated. Islam in itself was under, you know, danger. Islam was in danger, let alone the details. They were not ready for the details. Islam was being, was put into danger. There was a Khalifa that would drink publicly. He would commit adultery publicly. He would gamble publicly. This was the face of Islam. Imam Hussain had to correct this. Imam Zain al-Abideen, when a step further, he introduced spirituality to Islam because people had surpassed that stage, of the dangerous stage. They needed spirituality because all they saw from Ben-e-Uma'ya was spending lavishly. They lived the lavish lives, their castles, their mansions, their alcohol, their money, their, their, their harems, their, their mistresses. They were taking Muslims away from spirituality. Imam Zain al-Abideen brought them back to spirituality. Up to the time of Imam Al-Baqir, when Imam Al-Baqir became the Imam, then he saw people were ready to receive jurisprudence. The details about Islamic law. Yes, and that's actually perfect. And as you mentioned, he did teach a lot of people. So he had that reputation, which was really, of course, coming from the Ahl-Baita, Alayhim As-Salam, but the reputation of, you know, establishing something that has not been established yet. And a lot of it does go to Imam Al-Baqir, but yet no one recognizes that. If I may comment about this. Imam Al-Baqir, might not have been known personally. People knew him, but not everyone knew him, right? But everyone knew that he came from a line of Imams. This is the son of Ali Ibn Al-Ghalib, and the son of Imam Al-Hasan, and the son of Imam Al-Hussain, and the son of Imam Zain al-Abideen. There was a family reputation, and this helped him. Imam Al-Baqir inherited this great family reputation that gave him credit, that gave him the support to be able to teach. While if it was someone else who was not known, nor his family was known, it would have been extremely difficult for him to come and establish himself in the Islamic ummah as whom? As a teacher, as an instructor. It would have been very difficult for him. But Imam Al-Baqir had the benefit of inheriting this family heritage, and inheriting this family name, this family reputation, he was able to work. Just like today, today we see some individuals here in Iraq or in other places, they inherited the family name. Yeah, we see that. They follow him. They follow them, or specific individuals. Why? Because they inherited that reputation from their fathers, from their forefathers. And so too was Imam Al-Baqir. He inherited this name of scholars, of pious men, self-sacrificing spiritual men, and this helped him spread the message of Ahl al-Bait in the Islamic nation. Now during the time of Imam Al-Baqir, we also see the rise of Sunni scholars, and the government at that time, saw the threat of Imam Al-Baqir, want to raise awareness to the people, but didn't treat him like they treated the previous Imams, his forefathers. So they went in a different way where they began to spend money on scholars to try and combat Ahl al-Bait, a.s. through Marjaiyat al-Sahaba and the Ishtihad, the Ra'i, if you will, like the Ishtihad that based on my own opinion, personal opinion, like we see later on with Imam Al-Sadaq, a.s. But did Imam Al-Baqir a.s. face any problems? I mean we do see him saying something that is not normal, it's like he's giving own legislations and own laws, instead of saying you know what, this is from Imam Zain al-Abideen, and you know the chain of command if you will. Right. So we don't see that with Imam Al-Baqir a.s. Why is that? Right. You see, up to the time of Imam Al-Baqir, there was a political problem, and that problem was that the Khilafa instead of coming to Imam Ali and the Ahl al-Bait, it went to some of the Sahaba. But up till then it was purely a political problem. It was purely a political problem, that the Sahaba were empowered. Instead of having the Ahl al-Bait being empowered, power shifted from the Ahl al-Bait to the Sahaba. But was this legitimized? No, it wasn't legitimized. There were Sahaba empowered, that's it. Then during the time of Imam Al-Baqir, we see that no, the Sahaba didn't just have political power, they started gaining religious power, that this is the school of Sahaba. Before there was no school of Sahaba. It was just the Sahaba were empowered, and you have to respect them, that's it. You have to respect their authority. Now the Sahaba were given religious authority. This is the school of Sahaba, and to confront who? The school of Ahl al-Bait. Because if it was only the school of Ahl al-Bait, and there was no one to compete with that school, they would attract the entire Muslim nation. And to attract them as religious followers, that would get them to power. You have everyone following you in matters of religion, that people will automatically say, if we're following them in matters of religion, shouldn't they be the ones who are empowered? So there had to be another school of thought to combat that. And that school of thought was called Madrasa to Sahaba. It was in that period. Who established that? It was not an individual. It became something common. So was it political? What I mean was, was it funded by the palace of the time? Yes, it was. It was blessed by the political authorities that now there's the school of the Sahaba. And this school of Sahaba, it produced the likes of Abu Hanifa, Maliki bin Anas, Ashafi'i, Ahmad ibn Hamar. It was these jurists that carried out, you know, they publicized for the school of the Sahaba. So this is one problem. Another problem that Imam Al-Baqir faced was that now that he's spreading knowledge, now that he's teaching, now that he's giving, he's showing the jurisprudential school of thought of Ahl al-Bait, how is he doing this? Abu Hanifa, of course, Abu Hanifa came after Imam Al-Baqir, who was one of the students of Imam Sadiq. But there were other jurists at the time of Imam Al-Baqir. People like Abu Hanifa, Maliki bin Anas, they would claim that they're mushnahids. They look at the teachings of the Quran, the Sunnah of Rasulullah, the Sunnah of the Sahaba, as they call it, and they give their own opinion, right? They didn't claim that this is God's law, that I'm a jurist and I'm giving you my opinion. Imam Al-Baqir, obviously, he's not a jurist. Imam Al-Baqir was not a mushnahid. It's not like he was looking at the Quran and the Sunnah of Rasulullah and he was deriving laws. What he said was a law itself. What the sayings of Imam Al-Baqir were God's commands. It's not that he was trying to understand God's commands. There's a difference between someone who reveals God's commands and who studies it, and someone who tries to study God's commands. What others did, they were studying God's commands and giving their opinion. Imam Al-Baqir did not do that. Imam Al-Baqir, we believe the Ahlul Bayt have the right to legislate. And what they legislate is God's command. How is he supposed to relate this to the Muslims? And this posed a question, because whenever Imam Al-Baqir spoke, right? Whenever Imam Al-Baqir spoke, he would say, Qala Rasulullah. Qala Rasulullah. Qala Rasulullah. Qala Rasulullah. Right away? Right away. And this, people were shocked. How do you know Rasulullah said this? Exactly. How do you know Rasulullah said this? Because others, when they would narrate, they would say, I heard from this person, and this person heard from that person, from this person, from this person, that Rasulullah said, they would take it back to the Sahaba. Meaning, whatever we've heard from Rasulullah, it was through whom? The Sahaba. The Sahaba. Imam Al-Baqir would surpass the Sahaba. He wouldn't mention the names of the Sahaba. He would go directly to Rasulullah. Now, this was found upon that you are bypassing the Sahaba. You are putting yourself not just, you know, in the position of the Sahaba, but even greater than the Sahaba. You're going directly to Rasulullah and saying that Rasulullah said this and this. There's a narration. Do we have to take a break? Can we go take a break and then come back? Insha'Allah we'll come back to that narration. Respected viewers, do stay tuned for after the break, for insha'Allah we'll continue our discussion revolving around how was the first school of thought established by Imam Al-Baqir, that's after the break, so stay tuned. Welcome to the second part of today's episode. Now before we begin, I would like to congratulate you on a special occasion which marks the birth anniversary of Imam Al-Baqir, peace and blessings be upon him. Now before the break, we did touch upon how the others tried to combat the school of Imam Al-Baqir, through establishing another school of thought. Can you a little bit recap about that, just to clarify something and then go into the narration you're about to talk about. Right. Imam Al-Baqir, peace and blessings be upon him, his role was not just about spirituality, to teach people spirituality or to teach people about justice, you know, the lessons and morals that were taught by previous Imams after him. No, he had an intellectual role. Yes. Now this intellectual role was to show the laws of Islam. There were two ways. One is to say that this is my understanding of the laws of Islam through the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Rasulullah and the Sunnah of the Sahaba like other jurists at the time did. Or to come and say that this is the law period, this is the law period, this is how Rasulullah stated it. That's it. No questions asked. Don't ask me, you know, how did you derive this? Or how do you know that Rasulullah stated this? And this, you know, this caused the, this put a question mark on Imam Al-Baqir and he had to be very careful. Yeah. He had to be careful because Muslims were not used to someone who legislates laws right away. They were used to jurists that would tell him that we presumed this is how Rasulullah wanted things to be because we narrate from, from, from, from Rasulullah. Right? So this put a question mark on how Imam Al-Baqir was going to deliver the laws. How is he going to teach? Is he going to teach as if the laws are from him? He's a representative of Allah? Or is he a jurist? You see? Yeah. One narration says that Imam came to visit Imam Sadiq, alaihi salam, from, you know, not one of the Shia, not a follower of the halbid, from the other schools of thought. He came to visit Imam Sadiq to offer his condolences after the death of Imam Al-Baqir. And then in the narration, he's disrespectful to Imam Al-Baqir. He says, Wow. It's, it's not a polite term. You use it for those that, you know, cause deviation or cause deviation. You don't say it for, for good people. Yeah. Anyhow, he says, I came to visit Ja'far Ibn Muhammad, al-Sadiq, and to give him, to give him my condolences on the death of his father. And he said, I told him, your father died. The one who would say, Al-Rusur Allah, and would not ask, how did you receive this narration? Al-Rusur Allah. What's your chain? There's no, there's no in between. There's no in between. The only one who would say, Al-Rusur Allah, and would not ask about the chain, has died. I offer you my condolences. Imam Sadiq, accepted the condolences, and he thanked him. And then he said, Al-Allah. Wow. He said, you basically, saying that, if you think my father would say, Al-Rusur Allah, I say, Al-Allah. And I will not tell you what is mine. What's in between? What's in between? You see, people were not used to this. Yeah. Because they saw Imam Al-Baqir, Imam Sadiq, as regular human being, just like Abu Hanifa, just like Malik. Yeah. Those who need to say that, this is my, who need to derive, this is my, you know, my chain, Al-Rusur Allah. This shows that people were not used to the Imams having legislative authority. Does it not contradict the way that Imam Al-Rusur Allah, Al-Rusur Allah, said, No, no, there's no contradiction. Sometimes, Ahlul Bayt, if they want to emphasize on something, they will mention that the entire chain. No, but disputant needs a lot of emphasis. Of course. It requires a lot of emphasis. But there's no reason to say he's lying. But sometimes, when do you mention a chain? When people doubt you, they might think you're lying. You say, No, I heard this from so-and-so, from so-and-so, from so-and-so. He saw it with his own eyes, right? Imam Al-Rusur Allah, he said this where, in Nishabur, it was a Sunni city. They were all not followers of Ahlul Bayt. But what I mean is, for example, even in the time of Imam Al-Baqir, Shia's were minorities. I mean, they were either persecuted or dead. Right. I mean, so he began that school of thought. Right. Sometimes, the Ahlul Bayt would mention the entire chain of narratives. Sometimes, they don't. Sometimes, they don't even say Qana. They immediately say Halal, Haram. Do this, do that. Sometimes, they would say Qala Rasulullah. Especially, if the one asking the question was not one of their followers. So, to tell him this is Halal or that is Haram, he might say, Well, who are you to tell me that this is Halal or that is Haram? So, they would put in one Qala Rasulullah, to make the other person feel more comfortable in accepting this law. Now, you mentioned something that Imam Al-Baqir was not like Maliki bin Anas or Abu Hanifa. No, they were jurists. They were jurists. Imam Al-Baqir was not a jurist. So, for example, Abu Hanifa was a student of Imam Al-Baqir. If it was a student of Imam Al-Sadaq. He wasn't a student of Imam Al-Baqir? No. Because, I don't know, some reason I read in a book that Abu Hanifa studied under Imam Al-Baqir and Imam Al-Sadaq. Perhaps he might have met him. Perhaps he might have met him. He might have spoken to him, but he was mainly the student of Imam Al-Sadaq. And for that reason, he stated because of the two years that he studied under Imam Al-Sadaq. Now, what I mean by this is that since these individuals tried to combat Ahl al-Bayt, was there any conflict in between? Or was it just a religious war, if you will, like a religious literature combat instead of a war happening? There was no war. However, the Ahl al-Bayt, especially Imam Al-Baqir, and we see this in the other Imams after them. You see, up till Imam Zain al-Abideen, the Ahl al-Bayt had not flexed their intellectual muscles. People knew that Ahl al-Bayt carried knowledge, but they hadn't seen it yet. Because Imam Ali had spent the five years that he was in power in battles. He wasn't able to sit and give sermons and to give intellectual lectures. Same goes for Imam Al-Hassan and Imam Zain al-Abideen. When it came to Imam Al-Baqir, he was able to show the intellectual side of Ahl al-Bayt. The others did. I don't want anyone to misunderstand me. The others did as well, but not like Imam Al-Baqir. Through their actions. Through their actions. Imam Al-Baqir disseminated through his knowledge. Yes. There was a process. There was a movement to try to underestimate them. Yes. For example, the Khilafah purposely would bring top scholars to debate Imam Al-Baqir. This happened with Imam Al-Baqir. This happened with Imam Al-Sadiq. For example, Imam Al-Baqir met with the Pope, so to speak, or the highest Christian authority. He met with the highest Jewish authority, Al-Jathuliyy, and so on and so on in the narration. He would meet with various schools of thought. Utada from Basra. They would come and pose questions to Imam Al-Baqir, the most difficult questions. Why? So that they would slip. Perhaps out of the 10 or 20 questions posed to him, he might slip in one. Never. He would never slip. During the days of Imam Al-Sadiq, in fact, during the days of Imam Sadiq, I believe Al-Mansour Al-Dawaniqi would put Abu Hanifa to debate Imam Sadiq. His student, Imam Sadiq's student, Abu Hanifa, would try to debate Imam Sadiq to get him to slip. Never. Never happened. They had realized, the Khilafah had realized that the Imams, specifically Imam Al-Baqir, Imam Sadiq, carried a lot of intellectual weight. And that's attractive. You know to anyone, you see regular people, if you see someone carrying knowledge, you're immediately attracted to that person. And you would want to give authority to that person. Even political authority. A person who carries knowledge, you would want that person to be in charge of you. Yes. And in charge of your country, in charge of your nation. Definitely. So the Khilafah wanted to underestimate, underscore, Imam Al-Baqir, Imam Sadiq, to get attention away from them intellectually, so that people would be deceived. Never happened. Never happened. They didn't succeed. They didn't succeed. Now, currently, and you know, even before when the Prophet preached Islam, there was a concept that played a role within spreading Islam. And right now, if someone wants to get his, you know, his mission accomplished, or he has a goal in his mind, there's the aspect of Taqiyyah. Now, how did that play a role within the life of Imam Al-Baqir, alaihi salam? Imam Al-Baqir, Imam Sadiq had to be very careful in teaching and spreading knowledge. Let me give you an example. It's like a religious speaker during the days of Saddam. Yeah, you cannot make sure. You have to be very careful. You can't talk about politics. Whatever you talk about, they're going to think you're talking about Saddam. For example, we have to fight injustice. The authorities will think that, what, you're calling people to fight Saddam. So being an orator, a religious orator during the days of Saddam or during, you know, in any dictatorship is very, very difficult. Imam Al-Baqir and Imam Sadiq were spreading knowledge and lecturing during the days of Bani Umayyah and Bani Al-Abbas, very dangerous rulers. So they had to be very careful not to insult the rulers or rather not to instigate, not to insult. Insulting is not the right word, not the right word, but not to instigate them, not to stir them against the Shia. The Al-Baqir themselves, they were not afraid. They were not afraid for their lives. Whether they lived or died didn't make a difference for them. The Al-Baqir were not afraid of death, but they did care for the Shia. They feared for the Shia. They feared for the Shia. They didn't want to say anything that would put the Shia in danger. So to a certain degree, they had to practice Taqia. They didn't want to instigate the other side. They didn't want to put themselves or their followers in danger. That's why, for example, if someone were to say, do you call for war? You'd have to say no. We don't call for war. They had to be very careful what they say, not to stir the other side. Sometimes they didn't have to say anything about the Khulafa, but they, for example, they couldn't voice their opinions in the presence of non-followers. Why? Because this would get other scholars to feel threatened. And when other scholars feel threatened, they would make the Khulafa feel what? Threatened by the enemy. So it was very tough times for the Imams. Very tough times. One, they have to spread knowledge and carry out their message. And two, not to offend, not to get themselves and their Shia and children. So they had to practice Taqia at most Taqia. So to the most extent? To the most extent. Now, to a degree that Imam al-Sadiq, alaihi salam, was forced to enter upon al-Mansur al-Dawaniqi, and he would have to say, As-salamu alaika ya Amir al-Mu'mineen. To that degree. Wow. Ya had to call him Amir al-Mu'mineen. Why? Imam al-Sadiq was not afraid for himself. He was afraid not just for himself, but for his followers as well. They had to practice Taqia. Now, is this concept present in our days? Are we, you know, to a certain extent forced to practice this, or are we free? This is a controversy. Today, are we living at a time of Taqia? It does need a huge lecture by itself. It needs a lecture by itself. But simply, what is the purpose of Taqia? The purpose of Taqia was for protection, to protect the lives of the Shi'a, and to protect the lives of Ahl al-Bait. Yes. Now, does this apply today? Absolutely. In some places, you have to practice Taqia. Imagine in some parts of the world now, I won't mention countries because it's obvious. If you don't practice Taqia, your life will be in danger. If you want to say everything that you know, everything that you were taught, you'll be in danger. You will be in danger, your family, your job, your wealth, all of this. Even people in other countries will be in danger because of that word that you say. Sometimes you are not in danger. You're living in a place where you will not be in danger, but your words will put others in danger. Absolutely. This is a time of Taqia. And I am of the opinion that we are still living in the times of Taqia. InshaAllah. This by itself, as you mentioned, needs a lecture by itself to dissect into what matters me, Taqia, and what matters, we don't. But the last thing, we have the problem of Gholu. It happens a lot. And we see many people. Especially during the life of Imam Al-Baqir. Imam Al-Baqir, I don't know if they understood the actual meaning of this, or they just took it to another degree? Very briefly, because I know that we're running out of time. One of the problems that existed during the days of Imam Al-Baqir, and this was an inside problem. It wasn't with the Khulafa, it wasn't with another nation. It was within the Shia movement, there was a movement of the Khulafa. Basically, there were a group that claimed love for Ahlul Bayt is enough. You don't need to pray. You don't need to fast. It still exists. You don't need to do any of these deeds. As long as you have love for Ahlul Bayt, you have the Shafa'ah of Ahlul Bayt. As long as you receive the intercession of Ahlul Bayt, and you believe in them and their willaya, you have the willaya of Ahlul Bayt, that is enough. This was very dangerous. This was a movement. It sped like wildfire. Why? Because it's easy. Telling people that all you need is love for Ahlul Bayt, and you don't need to pray or fast. All you need to do is rely on the love of Ahlul Bayt. People would buy into this because it's easy. You don't need to pray anymore. You don't need to fast anymore. This was a problem faced by Imam Al-Baqir. Imam Al-Baqir had to be very strong, and we see some narrations. He would curse the gulat and their leaders. May Allah curse so and so, this person, that person, for spreading ideas like this. And the gulat, they weren't just spreading these words. They weren't just spreading this message. No, they would fabricate narrations. They would come to the companions of Imam Al-Baqir. They would take their books of narrations. They would put in these books, fabricated narrations, and then pass them back. This book, for example, belonged to Zorara. This book would spread. People all of a sudden, they see that in this book, Zorara says that you don't need to pray. You could rely on the love of Ahlul Bayt. For example, this was very dangerous. They would fabricate narrations. It's as if the companions of Ahlul Bayt had said this. Wow. So Imam Al-Baqir had to face this problem and try to bring an end. Just like Ameem Al-Talib, when he met the people who made him. They were gulat at the days of Imam Al-Baqir, and they were gulat during the days of Imam Al-Sadiq. Imam Al-Baqir was not able to eradicate them. They continued to the days of Imam Al-Sadiq. The proof of this is that we see from the narrations of Imam Al-Sadiq, Imam Al-Sadiq also tried to combat the gulat. And there were several, their leaders. Imam Al-Baqir tried, Imam Al-Sadiq also tried to combat them. This was a major problem that put Shi'ism in danger. Definitely. This danger, this inside danger, was not less than the outside danger. It was danger from foreign agents because they gave a reason for the Khulafa to say, see, these are the Shi'a. They're not Muslim. You don't practice the Qur'an. The Qur'an says pray fast. The Shi'a say that all you need is love of Imam Al-Sadiq. All you need is love of Imam Al-Baqir. So they added salt to the injury. The Ahlul Bayt were already attacked. The gulat were giving a reason for the Khulafa to attack the Ahlul Bayt even more. So this was a major obstacle for a major challenge for Imam Al-Baqir to deal with. And he did. He did. But it was Imam Al-Sadiq who came and continued their journey of Imam Al-Baqir. Now it's safe to say as a conclusion that there was a personal agenda that motivated them. Absolutely. There was a personal agenda to underscore Ahlul Bayt. I would like to thank you very much for joining us tonight. My pleasure. May Allah SWT age you as well as the Ahlul Bayt. May Allah SWT continue spreading the knowledge of Ahlul Bayt. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for joining us in this series. My pleasure. Alla Alayhi Salam Kubnau. Respect the viewers. Thank you very much for tuning in. It's important to pick up the important lessons which can be derived from the life of Imam Al-Baqir, especially in the way how to increase our spirituality at the same time, increase our ability to spread the knowledge of Ahlul Bayt in the same way Imam Al-Baqir and the Ahlul Bayt did. Thank you very much. Wa-Salaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu.