Muḥammad al-Bāqir

…Ḥusayn, and a brother of Muḥammad al-Bāqir. At a time when the designation and role of the Shiʿi imam was being defined, the followers of Zayd contended that the imam should be the descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (see Ahl al-Bayt) who was most knowledgeable in religious learning. The followers…

…half-brother of ʿAlī’s great grandson Muḥammad al-Bāqir by ʿAlī’s son Ḥusayn. In 740, encouraged by Kufan elements, Zayd rose against the Umayyads, on the principle that the imam could lay claim to leadership only if he openly declared himself imam. Zayd fell in battle, but his son Yaḥyā escaped to…

…of learning, many believed that Muḥammad al-Bāqir possessed superior ʿilm by pedigree. Zaydi Shiʿism, which survives today as the third largest sect of Shiʿi Islam, continues to view the imamate as belonging to the descendant of ʿAlī most worthy of political-spiritual leadership through his own earning.