Hasan al-Askari

Born in Medina around 844, Hasan al-Askari was brought at age four to the garrison town of Samarra, where the Abbasid caliphs confined him and his father under close watch despite their lack of political activity. After his father Ali al-Hadi's death in 868, the majority of followers recognized the younger al-Askari as Imam, though the caliphs restricted his contact with the Shia population and forced him to communicate through a network of representatives. He died in Samarra around 873-874 at roughly twenty-eight, buried beside his father in what became the al-Askari shrine. His death without an obvious heir splintered the Shia community into sects that vanished within decades - except the Twelvers, who hold that al-Askari had a son, Muhammad al-Mahdi, hidden from Abbasid persecution and now in occultation, his life miraculously prolonged until the day he returns to fill the earth with justice.