Is this hadith true?

[Guest Ali]

141 / 5 – قال أبو جعفر: وحدثنا أحمد بن منصور الرمادي قال: حدثنا شاذان بن عمر قال: حدثنا مرة بن قبيصة بن عبد الحميد قال: قال لي: جابر بن يزيد الجعفي: رأيت مولاي الباقر (ع) وقد صنع فيلا من طين فركبه وطار في الهواء حتى ذهب إلى مكة عليه ورجع فلم أصدق ذلك منه حتى رأيت الباقر (ع) فقلت له: أخبرني جابر عنك بكذا وكذا فصنع مثله وركب وحملني معه إلى مكة وردني

Marat ibn Qubaisat ibn Abdulhamid said that: Jabir Bin Yazid Al-Jafee said to me: “I saw that my master Al-Baqir (alaihi salam) had made an elephant from clay, and he sat over it(rode it) and flew in the sky to Makkah and came back to me”. So I (Marat) didn’t testify this from him (Jabir) until I saw Al-Baqir (alaihi salam) and I said unto him: Jabir told me about you about such and such things. And he did similar (elephant) and sat on it and took me with him to Makkah and returned me.

Here is the scanned page from the actual book:

 

On a more meta-level, how can I know whether a hadith is true or not? Is it enough to just think about it rationally and dismiss it on the grounds that it is illogical?

[Abu_Zahra]

1 hour ago, Guest Ali said:

On a more meta-level, how can I know whether a hadith is true or not? Is it enough to just think about it rationally and dismiss it on the grounds that it is illogical?

First and foremost if it contradicts the Qur'an then it is rejected. This is unanimous among all muslims.

The details then lie in studying the source, chain of transmission and various indicators if it's relative strength and reliability. 

[Guest Ali]

21 hours ago, Mahdavist said:

First and foremost if it contradicts the Qur'an then it is rejected. This is unanimous among all muslims.

The details then lie in studying the source, chain of transmission and various indicators if it's relative strength and reliability. 

This makes sense, but we have seen the Prophet ride the Buraq to Jerusalem; so even from that lens, it's a bit unclear. Furthermore, we know Imam Ali did some miracles, like lifting the door of fort in Khaybar which 40 men could not lift, so Imam Al-Baqir doing something miraculous is not exactly unbelieveable. 

As for the chain of transmission, I am completely ignorant about that, so I will defer it to the more knowledgeable brothers and sisters here.

Part of me does think this hadith is fake, but I do not have the ability to substantiate why. If it is not fake, I would also like clarity on why the Imam is able to do such miracles but for example the Imam Hussein died in Karbala instead of appealing to God to miraculously win him the battle for example.

Thank you all,

Wassalaam.

[Abu_Zahra]

Salam alaikum brother. 

In general I would say that if someone can't check the authenticity then they can simply acknowledge that the narration is there without making any conclusive remarks about it. 

We must also ask if the narration is impacting our practice of religion. In some cases, for example the narration you shared, the core beliefs and acts of our religion are not necessarily impacted.

You then ask a general question about why the imams were not continuously performing such miraculous acts. As you know nothing can be done without the permission of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) so I would simply say that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) knows best where to demonstrate unique or superior abilities of some of His servants and where not to. 

Also, Karbala was not about winning a battle, rather it was about refusing to pledge allegiance to a tyrant no matter the cost.