Complete Biography of Imam Mahdi (AS)

Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Askari (AS) – known as Imam Mahdi (AJ), Imam al-Zaman, and Hujjat ibn al-Hasan – was born in 255 AH. He is the twelfth and final Imam of Twelver Shia Islam. Shiites believe that he is the promised Mahdi who will reappear after a long period of occultation. His Imamate began after the martyrdom of his father, Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), in the year 260 AH.According to Shia sources, the Abbasid Caliphate, during the Imamate of Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), sought to find his son as the Mahdi and successor to his father. Therefore, the birth of Imam al-Zaman (AJ) was kept secret, and no one saw him except a few of the special companions of the eleventh Imam. For this reason, after the martyrdom of Imam al-Askari (AS), some Shiites fell into doubt, and various sects emerged within the Shia community. A group of Shiites even followed Jafar al-Kadhdhab (the liar), the uncle of Imam al-Zaman (AJ). Under these circumstances, the Tawqiat (written decrees/letters) of Imam al-Zaman, which were generally addressed to the Shiites and conveyed to the people through his special deputies (Nuwwab al-Khassah), helped to re-consolidate Twelver Shiism. This continued to the point that by the fourth century AH, among the sects that had split from Shiism after the martyrdom of the eleventh Imam, only the Twelver Shia remained.After the martyrdom of his father, Imam al-Zaman (AJ) lived in the Minor Occultation (Ghaybat al-Sughra), during which he communicated with the Shiites through four special deputies. From the year 329 AH, the peoples communication with him even through the deputies ended, and the period of the Major Occultation (Ghaybat al-Kubra) began. Shia scholars have provided explanations regarding the reasons and details of the Imams long life, and in the traditions of the Infallibles (AS), his occultation is likened to the sun behind the clouds.

Imam Mahdi (AS) is the inheritor of all the virtues and perfections of the prophets and saints. He possesses divine knowledge (knowledge from God without intermediaries) and is infallible from any error or sin.