Muhammad al-Baqir (677–733)
Born 677 CE, died 733 CE.
Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir (Arabic: محمد بن علي الباقر, romanized: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Bāqir; c. 676 – c. 732) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the fifth of the Twelve Imams, succeeding his father Ali al-Sajjad. He was the grandson of Husayn on his father’s side, the grandson of Hasan on his mother’s side, therefore a great-grandson of Ali. Al-Baqir was the first Shia Imam descended from both of the Prophet's grandsons. Born in Medina around 676, al-Baqir witnessed the brutal massacre of his grandfather Husayn and his relatives by the forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid at the Battle of Karbala when he was still a small child. Upon his father's death, al-Baqir was recognised as the next Imam by most followers of his father around 712. These were the Imamites, the forerunners of Twelvers and Ismailis, which now constitute the majority of Shia Muslims. Like his father, al-Baqir was politically quiescent but was nevertheless harassed by the Umayyads, especially by caliph Hisham. Al-Baqir led a pious and scholarly life in Medina, attracting a growing number of followers, students, and visitors.
Text from the Wikipedia article Muhammad_al-Baqir, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.