The tenth Imam, al-Hadi, lived through six Abbasid Caliphs. He moved with his young family to Samarra, where his sons grew up. They lived in a heavily military neighborhood, not by their choice, but this location gave his son the nickname “al-Askari,” where Ask means “soldier.” During Mutazz’s short reign, al-Hadi finally met his end when the Caliph ordered him to be poisoned, as all his forefathers had been. He was buried in the floor of his house in Samarra, where there is now a Shi’ite shrine.
Imam al-Hasan al-Askari, the eleventh Imam, was never allowed to leave Samarra. Medina continued to be the extended family’s home base, but the Shi’ite network reached out to other regions of the Muslim Empire. He and his deputies communicated by letters, and he advised them to be very careful about exposing themselves as Shi’ites in such a hostile time. Only a year or so passed before Caliph Mutazz imprisoned al-Askari and planned to execute him, but he himself died first.
Al-Askari’s son was born in secret in 869. He was probably named Muhammad, but that detail too is suppressed. So, too, are details about his mother’s identity, though Shi’ites say she was a Byzantine princess. Her name is given as Narjis Khatun; the second word is Old Turkish for “princess.” However, this is a later story; early narrations say the child’s mother was a Nubian, much like the wives of the last few Imams. Mother and child stayed indoors and were never introduced in public. The boy never went to the mosque, but learned his prayers in the basement of their house. Only a few of the closest deputies of al-Askari ever saw the child.
The reason for all this secrecy was that both the Shi’ites and the Abbasids believed there was a prophecy that singled out the twelfth descendant as special. This son is known as al-Mahdi, and he is “the Mahdi” of the Twelvers, the one who will return to the earth some day as conqueror. (Other Shi’a sects consider other descendants to be the Mahdi.) The Abbasids certainly would have imprisoned or killed the child.
In 874, al-Askari became very ill. It’s possible he was the only Imam to die of natural causes, but Shi’ites believe that he, too, was poisoned. His house was closely watched, and his death was witnessed by agents of Caliph Mu’tamid. When he was dead, his property was seized by the Caliph’s agents and they searched for a son. Apparently they could not find anyone of that description.
What became of the young Imam al-Mahdi is a matter of faith. The unbeliever’s guess would be that someone hid the child, who eventually lived out his life in obscurity. Shi’ites believe that first, he led a prayer for his father’s funeral even at the age of four, before he vanished. Then he went into hiding known as the Minor Occultation, while four top Shi’ites could communicate with him by letter. At the end of a long life, he notified them that he was going into the Major Occultation, something like Moses or Elijah going up to heaven without dying. Twelver Shi’ites believe he is still alive and awaiting his day to return and bring justice to the earth.
- A Historical Research on the Lives of the Twelve Shi’a Imams. Mahdi Mahgrebi.
- Caliphate: the History of an Idea. Hugh Kennedy.
- When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World. Hugh Kennedy.