Was Imam Ṣādiq (a) Proud of Being from the Lineage of Abū Bakr?

The Ahl al-Sunnah have said that Imam Ṣādiq (‘a) said the following: I am from the line of Abū Bakr from two individuals. They have furthermore added that he was proud of this. Was Imam al-Ṣādiq(‘a) said this.

The Ahl al-Sunnah have introduced an issue in order to honor Abū Bakr and cover up[1] what he did in regards to the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a); towards this end, they have said that Imam Ṣādiq (‘a) said the following: I am from the line of Abū Bakr from two individuals.[2] They have furthermore added that he was proud of this. They explain that the reason behind this was that the mother of Imam Ṣādiq (‘a) was from the descendents of Abū Bakr both from her mother’s side and her father’s side. Imam Ṣādiq’s (‘a) mother was Umm Farwah, the daughter of Qāsim; Qāsim was the son of Muḥammad who was the son of Abū Bakr. Similarly, Umm Farwa’s mother Asmād was the daughter of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān, who was the son of Abū Bakr.

In answering this claim, there is much to be said: Firstly, while the lineage of the Imam (‘a) does go back to Abū Bakr from his mother, virtually none of the Shia scholars have accepted the authenticity of the claim that Imam Ṣādiq (‘a) claimed pride over this fact. The late Abū al-Fatḥ Irbilī has narrated one such tradition from a Sunni scholar in his book Kashf al-Ghammah but the late Tastarī has again refuted it and considered it a false report.[3]

Secondly, Ḥāfiẓ ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Janābadhī has narrated- Abū ‘Abdillah Ja‘far ibn Muḥammad said: Abū Bakr brought me into this world two times.[4] Janābadhī died in the year 611 and Imam Ṣādiq (‘a) was killed in the year 148. How can this individual attribute this report to the Imam (‘a) directly while they were separated by 463 years? Therefore, this tradition is of the Mursal category and such traditions do not have any value in such an analysis.[5]

Thirdly, there is no doubt that Umm Farwah was the mother of Imam Ṣādiq (‘a) and one of the virtuous women of her time. She was the grandchild of Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr and Muḥammad himself was from the sincere and devoted Shias of Imam ‘Alī (‘a). At the same time, this is only an issue of lineal relationship and it does not provide any virtue in and of itself for Abū Bakr.

Fourthly, this tradition is without any value for the Shias and even the Ahl al-Sunnah consider it to be invalid according to their principles of Rijāl.[6] The reason behind this is that its chain of narration has several individuals who are unknown according to the scholars of the Ahl al-Sunnah and these people include: Abū al-Barakāt, ‘Abd al-Ṣamad ibn ‘Alī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ÞIsmā‘īl al-Ādamī, and Ḥafṣ ibn Ghīyāth.[7] In conclusion, this tradition is not a reliable tradition by any standards. In addition, how can anyone accept that Imam Ṣādiq (‘a) was proud of an individual who angered his grandmother and who Imam ‘Alī (‘a) (who was his grandfather) considered to be a liar and a traitor?

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References

[1] Some of the acts which Abū Bakr confessed to at the end of his life include: We angered Fāṭimah, we broke in to the house of ÝAlī and Fāṭimah… Tārikh al-ṭabarī…

[2] Al-Milal wa al-niḥal, vol. 1, p. 194.

[3] Kashf al-ghammah, vol. 2, p. 374; Al-Ṣawārim al-muhriqahÞ, Nūrūllah al-Tastarī, p. 241 and 242.

[4] Al-Milal wa al-niḥal, vol. 1, p. 194.

[5] Shadharāt al-dhahab, vol. 5, p. 46.

[6] Tahdhīb al-kamāl, Al-Mazī, vol. 5, p. 81 and 82.

[7] Khaṭīb Baghdādī in his Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 11, p. 46; Dhahabī, Tārīkh al-Islām, vol. 44, p. 287; Ṣafadī in his Al-Wāfī bil wafīyāt, vol. 13, p. 286; Mustadrakāt Ýilm al-rijāl, vol. 4, p. 445.

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