He said that the Imams were pure and that the Ahlul Bayt were free from sin.

He said that the Imams were pure and that the Ahlul Bayt were free from sin. The Imam Baqir (as) in defending his claims to the Imamate before the caliph Hisham quoted this verse, “This day have I perfected your religion unto you and fulfilled my mercy upon you and accepted Islam to be your Deen.” (Qur’an,S.5 V5) He went on to say that the open revelation being thus perfect, the Prophet had made known other secret matters to ‘Ali (as) .

From amongst men of the Ahlul Bayt ‘Ali (as) had appointed a special person as his confidant, to whom this heritage of knowledge of secret things came down. Hisham replied that as God allowed no partner in the matter of knowing the secret things, how could ‘Ali (as) make such claims? In reply the Imam quoted many sayings of the Prophet showing a mutual relationship between him and the high position accorded to ‘Ali (as) .

On hearing all this Hisham was silent and then permitted the Imam and his companions to return home .Neither the pomp nor the power of the caliph influenced the Imam, who boldly and without fear answered all the questions put to him. As counselor to the Government of the day, to rule and to administer the Muslim world was certainly the right of the Ahlul Bayt of the Prophet, but as common people who had no such right succumbed to the temporal power, The Imams had to lead calm and quiet lives.

As such, they could have refused to give any advice or counsel to the Government of the day. But the moral height of these noble Imams rose above the standards of commoners. Like Imam ‘Ali (as) who cooperated with the contemporary caliphs and offered sound advice concerning the affairs of the Muslims, all the Imams followed the same example and never hesitated to give well balanced pieces of advice to their contemporary rulers. Imam Baqir (as) was no exception.

The Ummayad Government had till then no currency of its own. The Byzantine currency of the Eastern Roman Empire was valid tender in Damascus as well. But during the reign of Walid Ibn Abdul Malik, there rose a rift between him and the byzantine ruler when the later decided to stamp a new currency with the phrase which was considered derogatory to the Holy Prophet. This created suspense among the Muslim Ummah. Walid convened a committee in which prominent Muslim scholars participated.