Biography
The Birth of Imam Mahdi
Imam Mahdi was born in the early morning of 29 July, 869 CE, or 15th Shaban 255 AH in the Islamic calendar. His birth name was Abu al-Qasim Muhammad, which mirrored that of Prophet Muhammad (S). He was given the title of al-Mahdi, or ‘the rightly guided’. Other titles include al-Qa’im, or ‘he who will rise’, and Sahib al-Zaman, or ‘lord of the age’.
He is also known as the Twelfth Imam, the Prophet having foretold of twelve apostolic Imams from his lineage succeeding him.
Imam Mahdi is the son of Imam Hasan al-Askari, the eleventh Imam, and Lady Narjis Khatoon, whom traditions say hailed either from Nubia or from Rome. The Imam was born in the town of Samarra, which is in modern-day Iraq. The Abbasid rulers of the Muslim caliphate used Samarra as a garrison town.
Like the Umayyad dynasty before them, the Abbasids persecuted and killed the Imams and their followers. Mindful of the prophesies about a Twelfth Imam who would defeat oppression and bring justice to the world, the Abbasid ruler al-Mutamid brought Imam al-Askari to Samarra and held him under house arrest in order to keep a close watch over him and his wife, Lady Narjis.
A New Dawn
Lady Narjis’ pregnancy was not apparent to the those around her, and the birth of Imam Mahdi was thus concealed from the watchful eyes of the Abbasids. Upon his birth, Imam Mahdi was introduced by Imam al-Askari only to select family members and to his closest companion Uthman ibn Saeed al-Asadi.
Upon the death of Imam al-Askari five years later, al-Asadi announced to the wider community that Imam Mahdi had been born five years earlier.
Concealment and guidance
Shortly after his birth, and by divine decree, Imam Mahdi entered into a state of concealment, also known as ‘ghayba’. This was primarily to protect him from the oppressive rulers who would otherwise threaten his life, as they had killed the Imams who preceded him.
The state of ghayba is commonly misunderstood to mean hiding, but Imam Mahdi is neither living in a cave nor on a desert island. In fact, he lives and walks amongst us – it is only his identity that is concealed. Many people over the years have reported encounters with him, and he has frequently assisted his followers in need.
For the first 70 years after his birth, during a period known as the ‘lesser ghayba’, Imam Mahdi answered religious questions and petitions through a series of four representatives who were well-known and widely respected in the community, and with whom he maintained contact. These representatives were the aforementioned Uthman al-Asadi, his son Abu Jafar Muhammad, Husayn ibn Ruh al-Nawbakhti and Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samarri.
At the conclusion of this period, there began the ‘greater ghayba’ that has lasted to this day, in which there is no single named representative of the Imam. In a letter ascribed to Imam Mahdi, the Imam requested that during this period, his followers should seek religious guidance from the most learned scholars amongst his followers. He also reiterated, as Prophet Muhammad and the Imams before him had foretold, that he would return at the end times, when the world was filled with tyranny, to bring about justice and peace.