Abu 'Abd Allah Ja'far b. Muhammad al-Sadiq (“the truthful”)[26] was born in the year 80[27] or 83[28] in Medina, where he also died and was buried in 148.

His father, Abu Ja'far Muhammad al-Baqir, was a son of 'All Zayn al-'Abidin, son of Husayn, son of 'All and Fatima al-Zaha (daughter of the Prophet). On his maternal side, Ja'far al-Sadiq was a descendant of Abu Bakr, the first caliph; Ja'far's mother was a daughter of a prominent jurist of Medina in the late first to early second century, Qasim b. Muhammad b. Abi Bakr (d. 107). In the Sunni works on the Qur'an, hadith, and religious law, he is commonly referred to as Ja'far b. Muhammad and in the Shi'i works as Abu 'Abd Allah.

I.