10 Year Old Imam Answers 33,000 Q&A In One Sitting

In my last blog, I criticized Hisham al Hakam's story of the 500 questions he supposedly asked in his first meeting with Imam Sadeq (as). Now I found a hadith from the 12er shia books which goes to a new level of extreme. This time its not 500 questions and answers, its 33,000 questions and answers in one day.

علي بن إبراهيم، عن أبيه قال: أستأذن على أبي جعفر عليه السلام قوم من أهل النواحي من الشيعة، فأذن لهم فدخلوا فسألوه في مجلس واحد عن ثلاثين ألف مسألة فأجاب عليه السلام وله عشر سنين.



`Ali b. Ibrahim from his father.

He said: A community from the remote people of the Shi`a asked permission to meet Abu Ja`far [the Second] عليه السلام. He granted them permission, and so they entered. They asked him thirty thousand questions in one majlis, and he عليه السلام answered them all when he was ten years old. (al-Kafi, Volume 1, hadith 1304)

Here the Imam is only ten years old. Since he is the imam, the proof from the Dozeners is that he can answer 33,000 questions in one sitting. Once, again the oppression of the Ummavis and Abbasids have made the 12er Shia community go crazy. As an antidote the 12er Shia created many romantic narrations by attributing them to the Imams and as a result these romantic narrations  gave them a temporary  relief  from the harsh reality of tyranny.

Now, a 12er might say might object that its possible for a 10 year old Imam to have that level of knowledge because Prophet Isa (as) was also young when he defended his mother Bibi Maryam (as). In fact, the 12ers also have a narrations which uses Prophet's Isa's (as) analogy to defend imamate.

Muhammad b. Yahya from Ahmad b. Muhammad from Safwan b. Yahya.

He said: I said to ar-Rida عليه السلام: We used to ask you before Allah bestowed upon you Abu Ja`far عليه السلام, and you would say, "Allah will bestow upon me a boy" and Allah has bestowed him upon you. Our eyes have acknowledged him. May Allah spare us from seeing your day – but if that were to occur, to whom will it (i.e. the Imamate) go? So with his hand he pointed to Abu Ja`far عليه السلام while he was standing in front of him. So I said: May I be your ransom, this three-year-old son?! So he said: That would be of no harm to him, as `Isa عليه السلام rose by the proof when he was a three-year-old son. (al-Kafi, Volume 1, hadith 832)

In the 12er Shia states that Prophet Isa (as) was three years old when began to speak. On the contrary, this is false and contradictory to the Quran.

So she pointed to him. They said, "How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?" (Quran 19:29)

Now anyone with Aql (rationality) knows that a 3 years old boy is too old to be in a cradle. However, just to suit imamate concept the 12ers Shia decided to change Prophet Isa's (as) story.

Next, the analogy of Prophet Isa (as) cannot be applied. The reason is when Prophet Isa (as) presented the Yahood with extra ordinary knowledge, that knowledge was directly from Allah (swt) himself.

Of course, this verse about Prophet Isa's (as) speech is still a dispute between the Sunnis and Mutazillas. The 12ers on the hand differ on this. For example, Shaykh Saduq takes the Ashari position saying that speech of Allah (swt) is not created or uncreated. This explanation is vague, because if Allah (swt) is eternal then what he delivers through time has to be created. Also speech cannot be attributed to Allah(swt) since its a creations  way of communication. On the contrary, Syed Razi the complier of Najh al Balagha supporters the Mutazilla position, and the proof for this is in a sermon of Imam Ali (as).

Anyway, I will blog about the details in another post.