The lesson
- Others falsely claimed to be his deputies, among them Muhammad ibn Nusayr al-Numayri and Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shalmaghani; they were disowned and cursed (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi).
- Days before al-Samuri's death, a letter came from the Imam: You will die within six days; finish your affairs and appoint no successor, for the second occultation has now begun, and there will be no reappearance until God permits (Kamal al-Din; Kashf al-Ghumma). Al-Samuri died on 15 Sha'ban 329 AH (941), and the Major Occultation began; al-Saduq and al-Tabrisi place his death in 318 AH (Kamal al-Din).
- Of the sects that formed after Imam al-Askari, al-Shaykh al-Mufid wrote in 373 AH that only the Twelver Imamiyya remained: those who hold the Imamate of al-Hasan's son, the Prophet's namesake, and are certain of his life until he rises with the sword (al-Fusul al-Mukhtara of al-Sharif al-Murtada).
Questions
According to al-Shaykh al-Mufid, which group alone remained after the sects that formed after Imam al-Askari?
What did the letter from the Imam to al-Samuri say would begin after his death?
What did the Imam's letter instruct al-Samuri to do regarding a successor?
Questions are written by AI from the lesson’s facts, and each answer was checked against its fact.