Library Ahllul-Bayt Contribution of Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) to Science and Philosophy IMAM MUHAMMAD AL-BAQIR (a.s.) AND HIS ACADEMY
IMAM MUHAMMAD AL-BAQIR (a.s.) AND HIS ACADEMY
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Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.) used to teach in the mosque of Medina built by Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) and his companions when they emigrated from Mecca to Medina. It was expanded during the rule of his successors. He taught history, grammar, rijal (science of hadith narrators) and literature, which consisted of poetry only. In those days no attention was given to prose. It may be noted that there were no books of prose available in Arabic except those written by Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) and Ali ibn Husain (a.s.).
Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.) gave lectures without consulting books. His students also had no books, but had very strong memories and could memorize their lessons easily. Whatever they could not memorize they wrote down on a wooden board and copied the notes on paper carefully at home. They could not afford to use a lot of paper as it was a rare commodity those days. The advantage of writing on a wooden board was that it could be cleaned and used again.
Teaching without books may seem strange today, but in the past, teachers in the East and West always taught without books. Even today’s teachers who trust their memory teach their students without consulting books.
The subjects taught by Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.) were not very vast. Only literature was a comprehensive subject. History consisted of what was in the Bible and the Qur’an. Greek and Syrian books of history were not translated into Arabic and the history of Europe could not be taught. Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.), who had a very strong memory could memorize whatever was taught in the classroom.
Shias believe that Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.) was called al-Baqir - meaning ‘one who splits and opens’, because he introduced many new chapters of knowledge. In our opinion he was known as al-Baqir because at the end of the first century Hijra when Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) was about seventeen or twenty years of age, he introduced geography and many other western sciences in his institute.
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