Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib al-Qurashī al-Hāshimī, known as Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir. His mother was Umm ʿAbd Allāh bint Ḥasan b. ʿAlī.
Abū Jaʿfar was a tābiʿī (member of the generation following the Companions), of lofty rank and great renown. In terms of knowledge, practice, leadership, and honor, he was one of the eminent figures of this umma (Muslim community). According to the claims of the Shiʿa, he is one of the twelve imams. However, he himself did not follow their path or doctrine. He was not attached to the ideas, illusions, or imaginings that existed in their minds. On the contrary, he was among those who gave precedence to Abū Bakr and ʿUmar. On this matter, he possessed sound reports, and he said: "Whichever member of my Ahl al-Bayt (family of the Prophet) I saw, all of them regarded Abū Bakr and ʿUmar as friends and considered them leaders. May Allah be pleased with them both."
Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir narrated from more than one of the Companions (ṣaḥāba). A group composed of leading tābiʿūn (successors) and others also transmitted ḥadīth from him. Among those who narrated from him are his son Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, Ḥakam b. ʿUtayba, Rabīʿa, Aʿmash, Abū Isḥāq al-Subayʿī, al-Awzāʿī, Aʿraj—who was older than him—, Ibn Jurayj, ʿAṭāʾ, ʿAmr b. Dīnār, and al-Zuhrī.
Sufyān b. ʿUyayna narrated that Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq said: My father related to me that, on that day, he was the best of the Muḥammadīs (followers of Muḥammad) on earth.
ʿIjlī said: Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir was from Medina. He was a tābiʿī and among the trustworthy (thiqa) transmitters.
According to Muḥammad b. Saʿd, Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir was among the trustworthy transmitters who narrated many ḥadīth. According to one opinion, Abū Jaʿfar died in the year 115 of the Hijra. There is a weak report that he died a year earlier, as well as a report that he died a year later. It is also said that he died in the years 117 or 118 AH. Allah knows best. At his death, he was over seventy years old, though there is a weak report that he did not reach sixty.