Muhammad's honorific title al-Baqir is short for baqir al-ilm, which means 'the one who splits knowledge open', a reference to his fame as a religious scholar.

Some of these, such as Zurara ibn A'yan, may have occasionally disagreed with al-Baqir, who disapproved of such independent views if they went beyond the general theological and legal framework provided by (Shia) imams.

[2] Hasan and Husayn were the eldest sons of the first Shia imam, Ali ibn Abi Talib, through his first wife, Fatima, daughter of the Islamic prophet.

Shia sources posit that this title was designated by the Islamic prophet, who sent his greetings via his companion Jabir ibn Abd Allah, who lived long enough to meet al-Baqir in his childhood.

[8] In 680, when Muhammad was a small child, his grandfather Husayn and most of his male relatives were massacred in the Battle of Karbala by forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid.

[15] During the next twenty years or so,[16] Muhammad al-Baqir thus expounded Shia doctrines and laws,[17][18][3] attracting a growing number of followers, students, and visitors.

[19][12][20] The fifth Umayyad caliph, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, is credited with issuing an Islamic gold coinage for the first time to replace Byzantine coins.

[31][32] Nevertheless, al-Baqir had an advantage over these non-Fatimid claimants because of his prestigious lineage from Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima, the only surviving daughter of the Islamic prophet.

[41] For instance, even though Zayd regarded Ali ibn Abi Talib more qualified to succeed the Islamic prophet,[42][43] he refused to condemn the first two caliphs, namely, Abu Bakr and Umar.

[44] Such views, however, cost Zayd part of his Shia support,[44][34][45] most of whom condemn Abu Bakr and Umar as usurpers of Ali's right to the caliphate.

[3][47][55][18] Among key Shia doctrines that took their definitive form under al-Baqir are imamate, sacred alliance (walaya) and separation (bara'a), and religious dissimulation (taqiyya).

He is reported to have conversed with animals, returned sight to a blind, and foretold future events, such Zayd's death in battle, collapse of the Umayyads, and the accession of the Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur (r. 754–775).

[72][2] After al-Baqir's death, some Ghulat figures claimed to have inherited extraordinary powers from him,[73][74] including Bayan ibn Sam'an and Abu Mansur al-Ijli.

[77] According to some Shia accounts, al-Baqir did not spare himself and his family from wearing good clothes and eating delicious food, and this behavior attracted attention at a time when the tendencies of giving up the world were widespread.

[13] As the first Shia imam who engaged in systematic teaching,[80] al-Baqir is also credited with laying the doctrinal and legal foundations of Twelver Shi'ism, which were further developed by al-Sadiq.

[52] In al-Baqir's view, imamate is confined to descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, from the marriage of his daughter Fatima to his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib.

According to al-Baqir, fearing backlash from some, the prophet was reluctant to publicly announce the walaya of Ali until he was spurred to do so (at the Ghadir Khumm) by the verse of tabligh.

[119] This gray area was further characterized by his successor al-Sadiq,[114] who held that a Muslim who does not harbor enmity towards the Ahl al-Bayt and their followers is neither mu'min nor kafir (disbeliever).

[121] By implication, al-Baqir considered righteous action as an integral component of iman, a view that sharply differed from Murji'ites and Kharijites, two contemporary currents.

[127] Closely related is the early doctrine of bada', that is, advancement or postponement of an act of creation, depending on circumstances, without any change to the overall design and intention of God.

The doctrine of bada' thus describes an intermediate position between predestination and free will: God's decision on some matters remain suspended, according to al-Baqir, subject to advancement and postponement, until the autonomous choice of His creatures has occurred.

[132] Indeed, al-Baqir's conviction that the Islamic prophet had explicitly designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor implies that Abu Bakr and Umar lacked legitimacy.

[143] Finally, al-Manasik is an extant treatise on the rituals of Hajj, attributed to al-Baqir and narrated by his disciple Abu al-Jurad Ziyad ibn Mundhir.

[147][2][148] He considered these methods speculative and lacking in religious authority,[149] which, in his view, was limited to Shia imams as the only authoritative interpretors of the Quran and the prophetic tradition (sunna).

In Tafsir Nur al-Thaqalayn, an extensive Twelver exegesis of the Quran, al-Baqir is the authority for thirteen percent of its traditions, behind only the prophet and al-Sadiq.

[165][166] Fudayl ibn Yasar was another favorite of al-Baqir and al-Sadiq, whom the latter apparently compared to Salman al-Farsi, the famous companion of the Islamic prophet.

[176] Muhammad al-Baqir is regarded as a reliable (thiqa) traditionist in Sunni Islam,[177][140][178][179] distinct in that he accepted only those prophetic traditions that had been reported by his predecessors.

[180] Among those scholars who drew from al-Baqir's traditions are al-Shafi'i (d. 820) and Ibn Hanbal (d. 855), the eponymous founders of the Hanbali and Shafi'i schools of law, respectively,[181][182] and the famed Sunni historian al-Tabari (d. 923).

[186][3] For instance, unlike Shia sources, later Sunni authors maintain that al-Baqir supported Abu Bakr and Umar, called them imams, and said that one should pray behind Umayyads.

[187][3] For instance, Abu Hanifa (d. 767), the eponym of the Hanafi school of law, Ibn Jurayj (d. 767), and Awza'i (d. 774) deferred to al-Baqir in legal matters.