Day 4

The lesson

1. When some Shia doubted that Imam al-Askari had left a successor, the Imam answered in his own hand: God has appointed guardians since Adam; whenever a sign disappears another appears, and whenever a star sets another rises. God has not annulled His religion nor cut the link between Him and His creation, and it will never be so until the Resurrection (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi).
2. His Minor Occultation lasted from 260 AH, or from his birth in 255 AH as al-Mufid (al-Irshad) and al-Tabrisi (I'lam al-Wara) hold, until 329 AH. In it he reached the Shia only through four deputies, each named by the one before at his command, who carried their questions of belief and law and their dues to him and his answers back.
3. The four deputies were Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Amri, who traded as an oil-seller and carried what the Shia sent in oil containers; his son Muhammad ibn Uthman, appointed by the Imam's letter at his father's death; Husayn ibn Ruh al-Nawbakhti, from 305 AH; and Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samuri, from 326 to 329 AH (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi; Kamal al-Din). Imam al-Askari had said: Amri and his son are both trustworthy; whatever they deliver or they say is from me (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi).

Questions

Next lesson

Questions are written by AI from the lesson’s facts, and each answer was checked against its fact.