The number of traditions preserved from the Fifth and Sixth...

The number of traditions preserved from the Fifth and Sixth Imams is more than all the hadith that have been recorded from the Prophet and the other ten Imams combined. But toward the end of his life the Imam As-Sadiq was subjected to severe restrictions placed upon him by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur, who ordered such torture and merciless killing of many of the descendants of the Prophet who were Shia that his actions even surpassed the cruelty and heedlessness of the Umayyad.

At 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.…