The period of his Imamat coincided with the most revolutionary and eventful era of Islamic history which was the downfall of the Ummayyad empire and the rise of the Abbaside Caliphate. The internal war and political upheavals were bringing about speec reshuftlements in government. Thus the Holy Imam witness the reigns of various kings starting from Abdul Malik down to the (Ummayyad ruler Marwan-e- Hemar. He further survived till the time of Abdul Abbas Al Safiah and Monsoor among the Abbasides, form power that the Imam was left alone undisturbed to carry out his devotional duties and peacefully carry on his mission to propagate Islam and spread the teachings of the Holy Prophet.

In the last days of the (Ummayyad rule, their Empire was tottering and was on the verge ol coltapse, and a most chaotic and demoratised state of affairs prevailed throughout the lslamic State. The Abbasides exploited such an opportunity and availing themselves of this political instability, assumed the title of "Avengers of Bani-Hashim: They pretended to have stood for the cause of taking revenge on the "Ummayyads" for shading rie innocent blood of the Holy lmam Husain.

Our sixth lmam, Ja'far al Sadiq (The Truthful) lived in that turbulent age when intrigue was rife and rampant, when the Ummayyad dynasty weeker and the thousand months referred to in the chaper of power (ch. 97 Surat-ul-(Qadr) come to an end. Our lmam lived to see he rise of the Abbaside dynasty the which was going to lay the foundations of a new tyranny, by no means less unscrupulous than the last.

Ja'far was his name, and Abu Abdallah was his filionymic. He is generally known by the epithet, Al Sadiq, which means, the Truthful, because he is regarded as the most reliable authority of his time for the verification of-the tradit on the Holy Prophet.

His father was the fifth Imam, Muhammad-alBaqir and his mother was (Imme-e-Farwah, the daughter of Qasim Ibne Muhammad Ibne Abu Baqr. He was born in Medinah on l7th of Rabi-ul-Awwal, 83 A.H. (699 A.D.) during the reign of Abdul Malik Ibne Marwan of the (Immayyad-dynasty.

During his childhood, he benefited from the teaching of his illustrious father and by the time he was sixteen years of age he began to teach the sacred laws and impart the divine wisdom to his father's followers.

During this childhood, youth and early life he witnessed the rise and fall of successive Ummayyad caliphs whose tyranny; wickedness and depravity of character was arousing universal disgust and in dignity on among the people and undermining the prestige of the Caliphate day by day, The Only exception among these Caliphs was Omar Ibne Abdul Aziz (re gned 99-101 A.H.) who was a man of sterling qualities. He deplored the unjust and ungodly conduct of his forbears and prohibited the public accusation and denunciation of Hazrat Ali. He even restored the grove of Fidak to the fifth Imam, but this action on his part aroused the opposition of his court, so that they dispatched him with poison.

When the fifth Imam was killed with the conspiracy of the caliph Hisham in 114 A.H., our sixth Imam succeeded to the Imamat and carried on the noble task of promotion of knowledge started by his father:

The common people who were groaning under the yoke of the Umayyads, were fed up with their atrocities and were secretly yearning for the progeny of the Holy Prophet to take power. They realized that if the leadership went to the Ahl-ul-Bait who were its legitimate their, the prestige of Islam would be with Ahl-ul-Bait.

From his second wife, Hazrat Hameed he had three sons, namely Imam Mussa Al Qasim, Is'aaq and Muhammad.

From other wives he had two sons Abbas and Ali and two daughters, Asma and Fatima the younger.

He had seven sons and seven daughter, and the son who succeeded him as Imam was Mussa Al Qasim from his second wife. This biography sketch of the life and times of Imam Ja'far Sadiq is incomplete without a description of his character and teachings. His contribution to the development of Islamic though is greater than that of any other man. But this topic is so vast that it has to be left untouched until it can be treated fully in separate article.

Enhanced and the Prophet's the Prophet's mission would be genuinely propagated. However, a group of Abbasides secretly dedicated their lives to a campaign for seizing power from the hands of the Ummayyads on the pretext that they were seizing it only to surrender it to the "Bani-Hashim". actually they were deceived into supporting them and when these Abbasides did succeed in snatching power from the Clmmayyads, they turned against the Ahl-ulBait.

The downfall of the Ummayyads and the rise of the Abbasides continued the two principal plots in the drama of Islamic history. This was a most chaotic and revolutionary period when the religious ' morals of Islam had gone down and the teachings of the Holy Prophet were being neglected, and a state of anarchy was rampant. It was amidst such deadly gloom that the virtuous personage of Imam Ja'faras-Sidiq stood like a beacon of light shading its luster to illuminate the ocean of sinful darkness around. The world got inclined towards his virtuous and admirable personality. Abu Salma Khallal also offered him the throne of the Caliphate. But the Imam keeping up the characteristic tradition of his ancestors flatly declined to accept it and preferred to content himself with his devotional pursuits and ,service to Islam. On account of his great learning he was always triumphant in his many debated with the priests of rival orders like atheists, Christians, Jew, etc.

The versatile genius of Imam Jafar-as-Sadiq in all branches of knowledge was acclaimed throughout the Islamic world, which attracted students from far-off places towards him till the strength of his disciples has reached four thousand. 'The scholars and experts in divine Law have quoted many traditions (Ahadis) from Imam Jafar-as-Sidiq. His disciples compiled hundreds of books on various branches of science and art. `Tafsir' (commentary) etc. The Holy Irnam a.iso imparted Mathematics and Chemistry to some of his disciples. Jabir Ibne Hayyan Tartoose, a famous scholar of Mathematics, was one of the well known.

Imam's disciples who benefited from the lmam's knowledge and guidance and was able to write 400 books on different subjects.

It is an undeniable historical truth that all the great scholars of Islam were indebted for their leaming to the very presence of the Ahl-ul-Bait who were fountain of knowledge and learning for all.

Allama Shibli writes in his book "Seerat - un - Noman": "Abu Hanifa remained for a considerable period in the attendance of Imam Jafar-as-Sidiq, acquiring from him a great deal of precious research on Fiqha and Hadiths. Both the sects-shia and Sunni- believe that the source of Abu Hanifa's knowledge was mostly derived from his association with Imam Jafar-as-Sidiq."

The Imam devoted his whole life to the cause of religious preaching and propagation of the teachings of the Holy Prophet and never strove for power. Because of his great knowledge and fine teaching, the people gathered around him, giving devotion and respect that was his due. This excited the envy of the Abbaside rule Mansur Dawaneeqi, who fearing the popularity of the Imam, decided to do away with him.

On l5th Rajab l48 A.H., the Governor of Medina by order of Mansur, got the lmam martyred through poison. The funeral prayer was conducted by his son Imam Mussa al-Qasim, the seventh Imam, and his body was laid to rest in the cemetery Jannat-ulBaqi in Medina.

Mansur had elevated Abu Hanifa to tne position of the foremost religious leader so that he might challenge the Imam's teachings and thereby find some excuse of declaring the Imam's doctrines as heretical. But Imam Ja'far al Sadiq acted with the utmost tact and always avoided the possibility of a dispute.

Our sixth Imam never aspited to attain worldly power and disliked nothing more than his being dragged into the intrigues and plots of ambitious schemers. Not only did he reject the repeated overtures of Abdullah Ibne Hasan Muthanna, but also advise the latter to give up his vain ambitions.

Some of the people believed that it was weakness on the Imam's part to stand aloof fron worldly power. One day Sahl Ibne Hasan, an influential man from Khorasan came to him and sai that the people of Khorasan were only too anxious t support him if only he would declare his intention t to secure the Caliptiate.

To this temptation, the Imam gave a most; convincing reply. Pointing towards an oven in which a fire was burning, he told Sahl to jump into it mean certain death?" Then the Imam turned to one of hi faithful disciples, a man called Harun, the Macca had asked him to jump into the oven. The disciples forthwith jumped into it and the Imam ordered the lid to be closed.

Then he sat talking to Sahl for some time, as nothing extraordinary, had happened, and after while he asked the visitor; "Do you want to see Haru now?" and the man from Khorasan, amazedly say "Yes".

So the lid was opened, and behold, there was Harun, unscathed and quite safe and sound. The the Imam asked Sahl, :"How many men are there . not a single man like this.".

The Caliph Mansur was, however, bent upon taking the Imam's harmless life. He sent some poisoned grapes to the Imam through the governor Medina, and the Imam knew that his end had come. He took the grapes and soon the poison showed its effect. He died on the l5th Rajab, 148 A.H. (7E A.D) and was buried by his son Imam Mussa Al Kasim in the Jannat ul Baqi, His shroud consisted five pieces, including two sheet of Egyptian cloth which he had used in the Ihram of the occasion Hajj and a turban which was among the relics of h ancestors.

Imam Ja'far al Sadiq first married Fatima bint Husain bin Imam Zain- Abedin from whom he had two sons, namely Ismail Amin and Abdullah Mamum and a daughter Ferwah.