Muhammad al-Baqir

Muhammad al-Baqir was born in Medina around 676, grandson of Husayn ibn Ali. At four years old he witnessed Karbala — the 680 massacre where his grandfather and most of his kin fell to Umayyad forces. Around 712 his father died and the Imamites, a then-minority Shia faction, recognised him as their fifth imam. He chose his father's path: scholarly, pious, politically quiet, while rival Shia groups mounted armed revolts — including one led by his much younger half-brother Zayd. From Medina he attracted disciples, many based in Kufa, and built the theological and legal framework that would ancho…