The Absent Imam

The narration that have been considered in the preceding pages in respect of the innocent Imams, from Hazrat Ali to the Twelfth Imam, about their appointment as Imams by God, their exalted station, and the emphatic command of God to believe in their Imamate should be enough to lay bare the views and beliefs of Isna Ashariyya. The subject will, however, remain incomplete if the birth of the Last Imam (the Absent One) and his concealment are not described, though in brief, in the light of the beliefs and convictions of Shias belonging to that sect.

The strange story of the birth and disappearance of the Absent Imam. Members of his family even deny his birth.

Among the twelve Imams nominated by God, faith in whom is an essential tenet and doctrine of the Shi’ite creed and a prerequisite to salvation, Imam Hasan Askari bin Ali was the eleventh. According to Usul-e-Kafi, he was born in Ramadan, 232 A. H., and died in Rabi-ul-Awwal, 260 A.H., at the age of twenty-eight years. (p. 324).

His real brother, Jafar Bin Ali, and the other members of his family have stated categorically that Hasan Askari had died issueless. It had, also, been confirmed by the government of the day after proper enquiry. His effects, thus, were distributed among his brother his brother, Jafar, and other heirs entitled to it according to Sharia Law. This is stated in Usul-e-Kafi itself on page 206.

According to Isna Ashariyya, after the third Imam i.e., Imam Husain, only the son of an Imam could be an Imam. This has been enunciated in Usul-e-Kafi in the form of narrations of several Imams in a separate chapter beginning on page 175. No other near relation could succeed him. On account of it, a great difficulty arose when Imam Hasan Askari died without a child. Who, then was to be appointed as the Twelfth and the last Imam ? To get over he predicament, it was claimed and publicized that four or five years before the death of Imam Hasan Askari (in 255 A.H., according to one version, and 255 A.H., according to another), a son was born to him from the womb of a slave girl and he was kept concealed so that nobody could see him.1

Ten days before the death of Imam Hasan Askari, that child of four or five years disappeared and took along with him all the things which had been coming down from Hazrat Ali through successive Imams, as for instance, the original and complete Quran compiled and written by Hazrat Ali himself, all the ancient Holy Scriptures like Torah, Bible, Psalms of David etc, in their original forms, and Mushif-e-Fatima, Al-Jafar and the leather bag containing Al-Jamed as well as the miracles of the Prophets of the pass, The Rod of Moses, the Shirt of Adam, the Ring of Soloomon etc, etc., With all this material the four or five year old child singly vanished and hid himself in a cave of his city called Surra Man Ra’a.

The Shias believe that this child is the Last Imam and the Imamate ended with him, but as an Imam must be present in the world as long as it endures and the world cannot exist without an Imam, the Last Imam will live till the Doomsday and remain concealed like that till the appropriate time when he will come out of the hiding and his rule will be established all over the world and such and such things will happen.

Traditions relating to the birth, disappearance and concealment of the Twelfth Imam are given in several chapters of Usul-e-Kafi, such as, from pages 202 to 207, and 333 to 342. A perusal of them will convince that the whole ‘case’ is fabricated and even that has not be done skillfully and well, and the version of Imam Hasan Askari’s brother and other family members appears to be correct and worthy of belief, We are, however, not concerned here with the merits of the case or what is plausible. We have only to narrate the belief of Isna Ashariyya in respect of the Absent Imam. Before we take it up, let us look into the story of his mother as narrated in Shi’ite books. Her name is said to be Mulaika and that she was the grand daughter of the Roman Emperor. Some say her name was Nargis.

The story of the mother of the Absent Imam.

Allama Majlisi, in his Haqq-ul-Yaqin1, has described in great detail the amazing story of the mother of the Absent Imam which is not only most strange, but also unique in the annals of love. For the material of his book he has relied on the authority of Ibne Babwaih Shaikh Tusi and said that both these gentlemen (who are among the architects of Shiaism) have related it from Bishr bin Sulaiman, on the basis of reliable reports. For the sake of brevity, we shall give only a summary of it. The whole report can be seen in Haqqul Yaqin (Published in Iran).

The report has it that one Bishr Bin Sulaiman used to live in the neighborhood of Imam Hasan Askari in the city of Surra Man Ra’a. He and his father were disciples of Imam Ali Naqi, father of Hasan Askari. He was a trafficker in slave by profession. He says that, one day, Imam Ali Naqi gave him a letter written in English along with two hundred and twenty gold coins and told him to proceeded to the capital city of Baghdad where, as he said, "You will see a boat on the banks of the river carrying girls for sale. Among them you will find a slave girl wearing a veil. An Arab youth will like to purchase her girl wearing a veil. An Arab youth will like to purchase her and offer three hundred sovereigns as the price, but the girl will refuse to go with him. At that time, you deliver this letter to the master of the girl and request him to pass it on to her". Bishr goes on to narrate that as directed by the Imam. Ali Naqi, I left for Baghdad where all that the Imam had told took place. Ultimately, the letter reached the girl and she kissed it again and again. The girl requested her master to sell her to the bearer of the letter otherwise she will commit suicide. The master agreed to it, and sold her to me for two hundred sovereigns and she accompanied me. She told me that she was the grand daughter of the Emperor of Rome and her name was Mulaika and her mother was the daughter of Rome and her name was Mulaika and her mother was the daughter of Simon Peter, the leading Apostle of Jesus. She said, "When I was thirteen years of age my grand father (the Roman Emperor) arranged my marriage with his nephew. A magnificent function was held on the day of marriage. The Cross was placed on the throne on which the bridegroom sat, and Clergyman stood in a row with the Bible in their hands to perform the marriage. All of a sudden, the Cross bent low and fell down and the throne broke and the cousin with whom my marriage was being solemnized fell and became unconscious. After this inauspicious event, my grand father decided to get me married to another nephew of his. Festivities were, again, arranged with the same pomp and splendour, but it all met with the same fate. This greatly saddened my grand father. That night I saw in a dream that Jesus, his Wasi, Simon Peter and other Apostles came into the palace of my grand father, and a pulpit of light was placed in it. After that. Hazrat Mohammed (peace be upon him), his successor, Ali and other Imams came and sat on the Lustrous pulpit. The holy Prophet said to Jesus that ‘I have come to ask you for the hand of Mualika, daughter of your Wasi, Simon, for this son of mine, and pined towards Imam Hasan Askari who was sitting in front of him’. (After narrating the whole story to Bishr bin Sulaiman, she asked him if he was the Hasan Asakri whose father’s letter he had delivered to her). Then relating the rest of her dream to Bishr, she said, "Jesus and Simon readily accepted the proposal. Thereafter, Hazrat Mohammad (peace be on him) delivered the sermon of marriage and Jesus gave me away in marriage to Imam Hasan Askari. I have not disclosed this dream to anyone besides you, but since then, the fire of intense love for Imam Hasan Askari (the sun of the firmament of Imamate) began to burn in my heart and I lost all peace and confront and forsook food and drink. The outward signs of the fire of love, also, became visible till; one night, I saw Mary in a dream accompanied by Hazrat Fatima Zuhra, and thousands of houris fo the Paradise. Mary told me that the lady, Fatima Zuhra, theleader of all womankind, was the mother of my husband. Hearing this, I caught her apron and wept profusely. I complained to her that her son, Hasan Askari, never came to me. Upon it, she said, ‘How can he come? You are a Christian and your faith is polytheistic!". When I heard this I recited the Kalima and embraced Islam. When I awoke from the dream I was still reciting the Kalima and no night has passed since then when my husband, Imam Hasan Askari, has not come in dream and made me happy by making love to me. On his advice, somehow I managed to accompany the army of my country which was proceeding to fight with the Muslims. When the Muslims defeated the Roman army, I was captured along with other girls, and, thus, it is that I have reached you and succeeded in my purpose".

The foregoingis a summary of what is related by Allama Majlisi. We are not concenred with whether it is a true story or pure fiction, from the beginning to the end.

Be that as it may, according to Allama Majlisi, the grand-daughter of the Roman Emperor entered the Haram of the Eleventh Imam, Hasan Askari, as a slave girl. According to Shia traditions, it was from her womb that the Twelfth Imam was born in 255 or 256 A, H. The birth was kept secret, and the infant was not shown to any one. He mysteriously disappeared ten days before the death of Imam Hasan Askari, at the age of four or five, with no one in the family having seen him besides his parents. In the special theological terminology of the Shias, he is called Al-Hujjah (The Argument), Al-Qaim (The Lasting) Al Muntazar (The Awaited), and Sahib-uz-Zaman (The Lord of the Time). It is firmly believed by them that when he will appear, he will rule over the world and things will appear which the world would not have seen before.

The Shias who believe in these things have been fervently awaiting his appearance and while speaking or writing about him invariably add the words Aj-Jalal Lahu Farjahu at the end of his name, meaning, may God bring him out soon! The fact of the matter, however, is that about 1150 years have already passed, and thousands may still pass, in the same way, on his Absence.1

The Major and Major Absence of Imam Mehdi:

As we have already seen, after the disappearance of the Absent Imam (Mehdi), some resourceful Shias had succeeded in convincing the people that they visited the Absent Imam in utter secrecy and were, so to speak, his agents and emissaries. Four persons had made this claim one after the other, the last being Ali bin Mohammad Samiri who died in 329 A.H. The simple-minded Shias used to send their petitions and letters through them to the Absent Imam along with costly gifts, and these people used to bring back the letters of the Imam in reply bearing his seal, All this was done in a most clandestine manner.

As for the truth or correctness of the whole thing, anyone with a little commonsense will conclude that it was a ruse played by a few artful persons to deceive the people. But, according to Shias, and their Ulemaa and Mujtahids, the letters purporting to be of the absent Imam are his sayings and religious pronouncements and religious pronouncements and fiats, and have been collected, as such, in their books of traditions. A collection of them can, also, be seen in the concluding pages of Ehtijaj-e-Tabrasi, Khomeini, too, has mentioned them as ultimate religious proof and argument and employed them in support of his own theory of Wilayat-e-Faqih1. This short period when communication with the Imam was possible is called Ghaibat-e-Sughra or the Minor Absence.

The business of emissaries ended when it came into the knowledge of the government and steps were taken to apprehend the person who were, thus, deceiving the people. Thereafter, the game was abandoned, and it was proclaimed that the period of the Minor Absence had ended and that of the Major Absence had began, and, now, no contact could be established with the Absent Imam till his appearance nor could anyone approach him. Nothing could be done then except to wait for his return.

When will the Absent Imam reappear?

In Ehtijaj-e-Tabrasi, which is among the most reliable books of the Shias a saying of the ninth Imam, Mohammad bin Ali bin Musa, has been reproduced which says about the Last Imam that:

"One of the unique things about him will be that his birth will take place secretly and people will not know about it and he will not be visible to people. From the four corners of the world three hundred and thirteen companions will gather round him, exactly equal to the number of Muslims who fought in the Battle of Badr. When 313 earnest and devoted persons will collect round him, God will reveal the Imam i.e., he will come out of the cave and begin his mission.1".

It is significant that the appearance of the Absent Imam having not taken place as yet can mean nothing, in the light of the saying of Imam Mohammad bin Ali bin Musa, except that during all these eleventh hundred and fifty years since 260 A.H., 313 truthful and sincere Shias have not been available who could stand up for the Absent Imam otherwise he would have, surely, emerged from the case. It is worth asking whether Shia leaders and theologians like Khomeini, also, hold the same view or not. We aim to close the present chapter on the Absent Imam with the following three traditions relating to him.

1. The Prophet of Islam will pledge his fealty to Imam Mehdi:

Allama Baqar Majlisi records that Imam Baqar once said;

"When Qaim (The Lasting) descendant of Mohammad (peace be upon him and his dependants) will emerge from hiding, God will help him through the angels. The first person to do Bait (take the oath of fealty at his hand) will be Mohammad and the second will be Ali.2".

2. Hazrat Ayesha will be brought back to Life and punished:

In the same book, it is recorded with reference to Elal Saharya by Ibne Babwaih that Imam Baqar said:

"When our Qaim (i.e., Mehdi) will appear, he will bring Ayesha back to life and punish her in vengeance for what she did to Fatima". (Ibid; p. 347).

Allama Khomeini has, in his Kash-ful-Asrar, highly praised the work of Allama Baqar Majlisi and recommended it for study, and reproduced some of its extracts in his own book. (p. 121).

3. When Imam Mehdi will appear he will kill the Sunnis before the Infidels:

Allama Majlisi has recorded, in Haqqul Yaqin, a tradition on the same subject saying that "when Imam Mehdi will appear, he will kill the Sunnis, starting with their Ulema before killing the infidels. He will kill all the Sunnis and wholly destroy them"1.