Critical Scrutiny of History by Imam Jafar Sadiq: Valuable Historical Lessons

1. Scrutiny of History by Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) Reference: The Great Muslim Scientist and Philosopher, Jafar As-Sadiq

2. History should be studied critically • Imam Sadiq (as) also used to scrutinize historical events. • His methods of scrutiny are being followed today by the modern historians. • Imam Sadiq said that history should be studied critically. • He said we should not accept anything by face value without scrutiny and consideration.

3. History has to be consistent with logic • Imam Sadiq (as) taught to his students that we should write only those facts in history which are acceptable to logic and reason. • Imam Sadiq was thus the founder of the ‘logic test’ of history. • One of his students was Muhammad Ibn Jarir al-Tabiri. • Tabiri is today known as one of the most prominent historians. However most people do not know that his teacher was none other than the great Imam Sadiq.

4. Facts mixed with fiction are of no use • Before the teachings of Imam Sadiq historians used to mix facts with fiction. This was often done by the order of kings. • Imam Sadiq rebuked this practice and the Imam said that he did not consider a history book of any value if it was mixed with fiction. • Imam said that such ‘fairy tale’ books are of no use to society.

5. Imam’s advice • Imam (as) said that the knowledge of history was useful only when the coming generation could learn from the mistakes made by the people in the past. • He thus laid the foundation of critical study of historical events and created the science of history.

6. The first scholar to use the word tarikh for history • According to Ibn Hadid, Imam Sadiq was the first Muslim scholar to use the word ‘Tarikh’ for history. • Before Imam Sadiq used the word ‘tarikh’, books of history were just known as books of tradition. • It is accepted today, as the Imam said, that the greatest use of history is that mankind may learn a lesson from past events which had caused misfortune to the people of the past. • Freud, the Austrian psychotherapist, also accepted that history is important since we can learn lessons from the past. However, the ‘ego’ of the man does allow him to acknowledge his mistakes. Man feels that the misfortune that happened to the people in the past will not happen to them as they are more ‘intelligent’ and ‘stronger’ than past generations. • The world would be a much better place if people today follow the advice of our Imam and learn lessons from historical events.