The Historical Connection of Bāyazīd Basṭāmī and Imām Jaʻfar Ṣādiq

Subject Areas : Christianity

محمد جواد شمس ¹ (ندارد)

Received: 2013-06-26 Accepted : 2013-09-11 Published : 2013-03-21

Keywords: Bāyazīd, Imām Jaʻfar Ṣādiq, Ṭayfūr, Sufism, Shi’ism,

Abstract :

Bāyazīd Basṭāmī is one of the greatest and the most famous mystics of2nd-3rdA.H./9th C.E. that his connection with Imām Jaʻfar Ṣādiq hasbeen accentuated by many Sufi writers and Shiite scholars. It is alsomentioned that he has been at Imām’s service for while. However,there is no consensus about the historical accuracy of these narrationsamong contemporary scholars. But due to the fact that there wereseveral people by the names of Bāyazīd and Ṭayfūr in 2nd-4thA.H./9th-10th C.E., all of them apparently were among Basṭāmī’s family, itseems that their words and biographies have been mixed up in the earlysources. It should be mentioned here that some of Bāyazīd’s associates,such as Ibrāhīm Satanba, lived in the 2nd century and also Bāyazīd’snephew- Abu Musa- who passed away in the half of 3rd century, was atthe age of twenty-two during the death of Bāyazīd. Moreover somesayings and teachings of Bāyazīd has been rooted in Shiite Imāms’traditions, especially that of Imām Jaʻfar Ṣādiq.