He prepared 40 such questions and waited for a call from the caliph. He went to him to find Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) sitting with him as well
as many other people. As he looked at Imam Jafar Sadiq (as), he was in awe of him much more than of the Caliph.
Al-Mansoor asked Abu Hanifa al-Numan to put his questions to Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) and he did, one by one. He answered all questions
in detail. Needless to say, these were questions on issues to which much controversy among scholars had existed.
Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) answered each question, as reported by Abu Hanifa al-Numan: "You, i.e. the scholars of Iraq, say so and so, but the
scholars of Medina say such and such, while our own view is the following. He may agree with us or with the scholars of Medina or may
disagree with us all, elucidating his own opinion. None of the 40 questions represented any difficulty for him."
Such was the standing of Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) whom Abu Hanifa al-Numan describes as the 'most learned scholar I have ever seen.' This
is in line with Abu Hanifa al-Numan's criterion which states: "The most learned scholar is the one who knows best the differences among
scholars."
He instructed many scholars in different fields of the intellectual and transmitted sciences, such as Zararah, Muhammad ibn Muslim,
Mu'min Taqi, Hisham ibn Hakam, Aban ibn Taghlib, Hisham ibn Salim, Hurayz, Hisham Kalbi Nassabah, and Jabir ibn Hayyan, the
alchemist. Even some important Sunni scholars such as Sufyan Thawri, Abu Hanifah, the founder of the Hanafi school of law, Qadi. l
Sukuni, Qadi Abu'l-Bakhtari, and others, had the honor of being his students.
It is said that his classes and sessions of instruction produced four thousand scholars of hadith and other sciences. The number of
traditions preserved from the fifth and sixth Imams is more than all the hadith that have been recorded from the Prophet (sawas) and the
other ten Imams combined.
So this is exactly how his teachings reached the rest of the world. Those that founded many schools of thought especially amongst the
sunni were all taught by the 6th Imam Jafar Sadiq (as), and proof for this statement can very easily be found.
Towards the end of his life the Imam was subjected to severe restrictions by the Abbasid caliph Mansur, who ordered such torture and
merciless killing of many of the descendants of the Prophet (sawas), that his actions even surpassed the cruelty and heedlessness of the
Umayyads. On his order they were arrested in groups, some thrown into deep and dark prisons and tortured until they died, while others
were beheaded or buried alive or placed at the base of or between walls of buildings, and walls were constructed over them.
The cultural school of thought of Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) considered that human beings effective in their fate and informed them that it is
them who form a society. It is them who make themselves prosperous or unfortunate and miserable. Only they, the people themselves
provide the grounds for their progression or failure.
“So, whoever does an atom’s weight of good shall see it; and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil shall see it”.
The Holy Qur’an (99:7-8)
He (as) meant by this, that the people had the ability to dismiss the rulers from the seat of power and to not accept cruelty and hand over
the ruler ship to the men who are capable and sympathizers. The spread of this belief and idea, which was the same Quranic belief of the
Muslims, displeased and annoyed al-Mansur the second Abbasid Caliph.
al-Mansur the second Abbasid Caliph tried to stop the flow of this belief through spreading
negative values about morality and corruption of ideas and practice and thus prevent the
people from siding with Imam Jafar Sadiq (as), which is the school of information,
consciousness and movement.
Moally Bin Khunais, a friend of Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) stated, "On a rainy and dark night I saw that
Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) was carrying a heavy sack on his back in the streets of Medina. I followed
him to find out as to where he was heading. He threw a quantity of bread on earth and I
collected it and went towards Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) and saluted him and gave that to him. Imam
Jafar Sadiq (as) took that kept it in the sack, and continued walking on. Not very long after that,
he reached a point where a group of oppressed men were sleeping. Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) put
two breads underneath the head of each one.
When incidents of difficulties and calamities come into our lives, these are the times when a
measure can be made to the extent of our energy, loyalty and faith.
The difficulties, which occurred in the life of Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) and the patience and
forbearance which he showed towards them, illuminated his personality and worth. Howsoever
the enemies abused and teased him he showed patience and forbearance and admonished
them. He never cursed or used foul language about them.