Jābir ibn Yazīd al-Juʿfī (Arabic: جابر بن یزید الجُعفی), died c. 745–750, was a Kufan transmitter of hadith and a companion of the Shi'a Imams Muhammad al-Baqir (677–732) and Ja'far al-Sadiq (c. 700–765).[1]His nickname is mentioned in the sources of Abu Abdullah, Abu Muhammad and Abu Yazid, but since it is mentioned in a hadith with Abu Muhammad's nickname, it seems that this nickname is more famous. In other sources, he is mentioned with nicknames such as Jufi, Al-Kufi and Old Arabic. The year of his arrival in Medina will be around 1375. According to the report that was quoted from Jabir, in his first meeting with Muhammad Baqir, he introduced himself as a Kufi and from the Jafi family, and his motivation was to learn from Muhammad al-Baqir To travel to Madinah, but probably because of the sensitivity of the people of Madinah towards the Kufis of the Shia religion, Baqir asked him to tell the people of Madinah that he is from Madinah, because whoever enters the city and does not leave it. , is considered one of them. In this meeting, Imam gave two books to Jabir and asked him not to reveal the contents of one of these two books during the rule of the Umayyads, and to reveal its contents after the decline of their rule.If this narration is correct, it informs about Jabir's position with Baqir. Also, Jaber bin Yazid was one of the jurists of the late Umayyad Caliphate and early Abbasid Caliphate periods. But in the old scientific and hadith texts of Shia and Sunni, there are conflicting news and narrations about Jabir, which have caused different and even contradictory opinions about his respect. According to Sadiq, in his opinion, Jaber is like the position of Salman the Persian in the opinion of Prophet Muhammad. But in another case, Saduq forbade Jabir's name to be mentioned, because he believed that if the ignorant people heard his hadiths, they would mock him. In another case, Jaber said to Muhammad Baqir: You have entrusted me with words and secrets that are very heavy and sometimes make me lose my patience and I feel go crazy. His relatives advised him to go to the desert in such a situation and dig a deep pit and tell secrets there.[2] He acquired most of his knowledge in Madinah from Baqir and studied with him for 18 years. He heard about 70,000 hadiths from that Prophet, but he did not tell anyone about 50,000 hadiths. Probably, he understood Imam Sadiq in Iraq and had narrations from him Jaber was a very active narrator. It is said that if Jabir did not exist, Kufa would be devoid of hadith. He also mentioned Jabir with the expression "Ahad Awiya al-Alam". And according to the report that the judge was sitting on the musnad in Kufa, Jabir was also present next to him, which shows his jurisprudence.[3] His reputation among later Muslims was uneven: while some Sunni and Shia scholars considered him a reliable authority, others rejected him for his alleged 'extremist' or 'exaggerated' (ghulāt) ideas.[1] In some sources he is said to have followed the ideas of the 'exaggerator' al-Mughira ibn Sa'id, while other sources deny this.[1]

He was sometimes recognized as the bāb (gate) of the fifth Twelver Shia Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, who related 70 (or 70000) secret hadiths to him. Jabir is also the main narrator of some other hadiths which are collected in a book named Risālat al-Juʿfi.[4][5][6]

Jabir is also transmitter of the ghulāt book Umm al-Kitāb,[7] which contains Muhammad al-Baqir's answers to questions posed by his followers.[8] In the main part of this book, al-Baqir reveals secrets to al-Ju'fi, such as how the cosmos was created, how the human soul fell into this world, and how it could be delivered from it.[9] According to Henry Corbin, this book resembles the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, thus illustrating a similarity between Shia Imamology and gnostic Christology. A major concept of this work is the description of the numinous experience. Its central motif is the psychological and philosophical explanation of spiritual symbols, with believers instructed to perform acts of self-purification and renewal. Colors are used to symbolize theories and levels of consciousness which one must recognize in oneself.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dakake 2007–2012.
  2. ↑ "Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju'fi". Encyclopedia of Islamic World.
  3. ↑ tavoosi, saied. "Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju'fi". Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia.
  4. ↑ Lalani 2000, pp. 107–108
  5. ↑ صفری, نعمت اله (1393). جابر بن یزید جعفی (in Persian). دانشنامه جهان اسلام.
  6. ↑ Kohlberg 1993, p. 399
  7. ↑ Halm 2001–2012.
  8. ↑ Lalani 2000, pp. 107–108
  9. ↑ Kohlberg 1993, p. 399
  10. ↑ Corbin, Henry (2001). The History of Islamic Philosophy. Translated by Liadain Sherrard with the assistance of Philip Sherrard. London and New York: Kegan Paul International. pp. 75–76.

Works cited


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.