The imam's companions narrated 10,000s of hadiths from them despite living 1000km+ away from them
The imams also practiced taqiyya publicly due to fear of the authorities. It seems unlikely they could hold a large amount of classes under these circumstances. Yet still somehow, people claimed to learned 10,000s of hadith from them even though they barely had any contact.
1. Aban bin Taghlib was a "companion" of the imams. He met Imam al-Sajjad, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, and Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. He narrated some 30,000 hadith from Ja'far al-Sadiq despite him living in Kufa and Ja'far al-Sadiq living in Medina.
From - Aban b. Taghlib
From - Imam Muhammad b. Ali al-Baqir (a)
Muhammad b. Muslim al-Thaqafi
The imams also practiced taqiyya publicly due to fear of the authorities. It seems unlikely they could hold a large amount of classes under these circumstances. Yet still somehow, people claimed to learned 10,000s of hadith from them even though they barely had any contact.
1. Aban bin Taghlib was a "companion" of the imams. He met Imam al-Sajjad, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, and Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. He narrated some 30,000 hadith from Ja'far al-Sadiq despite him living in Kufa and Ja'far al-Sadiq living in Medina.
From - Aban b. Taghlib
2. Jabin bin Yazid al-Ju'fi was also a "companion" of the imams. He was a companion of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, and Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. He narrated some 70,000 hadith from Muhammed al-Baqir despite him living in kufa and Muhammed al-Baqir in Medina.He had the opportunity to meet Imam al-Sajjad (a), Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a), and Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a). It is said that he narrated about 30,000 hadiths from Imam al-Sadiq (a).
From - Imam Muhammad b. Ali al-Baqir (a)
3. Muhammed bin Muslim al-Thaqifi was another companion, he was a companion of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq and Imam al-Kazim. He narrated 30,000 hadith from Muhammed al-Baqir and 16,000 hadith from Ja'far al-Sadiq despite him again being from Kufa and they living Medina. However he did allegedly study for 4 years from Muhammed al-Baqir.Imam al-Baqir (a) paid particular attention to hadiths (or traditions) from the Prophet (s) to the extent that Jabir b. Yazid al-Ju'fi narrated 70,000 traditions from the noble Prophet (s) from him (a). Also, Aban b. Taghlib and other students of Imam al-Baqir (a) narrated a great number of this tremendous legacy from the Imam (a).
Muhammad b. Muslim al-Thaqafi
He heard thirty-thousand hadiths from Imam al-Baqir (a) and sixteen thousand hadiths from Imam al-Sadiq (a).