Heartfelt condolences to you all on a day of profound grief. Today is the 8th of Rabi al-Awwal, the day when the Imam our age, became an orphan at the tender age of 5 years, exactly 1185 lunar years ago. In other words, today is the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hasan Askari (AS), the 11th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

So intense was the shock and grief of the populace that the murderous caliph, Mo’tamed, who administered a fatal dose of poison to this venerable descendant of the Prophet, dare not publicly admit his crime. He and his predecessors had subjected Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS) to bouts of imprisonment and placed him under virtual house arrest, before taking his life in the prime of his youth, because they considered him as ‘existential threat’. In other words, although he had no army or material wealth, his life – like that of his father before him – was regarded by the Abbasids as a mortal danger to their survival, especially since he was the 11th Imam of the Ahl al-Bayt. This meant the figure of 12 was too close for comfort for the regime, which was well aware of the Prophet’s hadith of Twelve Infallible Successors, the last of whom would rise as Qa’em al-Mahdi (AS) to end corruption and oppression of earth by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. This was the reason that Imam Hasan Askari (AS), was viewed by the caliphate as the ultimate threat to its existence, when all he did was to pray, fast, preach virtue, admonish against vices, teach forbearance and forgiveness, behave with admirable politeness, and strove to enlighten the ummah with the meaning of God’s Revealed Word, the holy Qur’an.

Did his death ensure the survival of the Abbasid regime? Did it ensure the continuation of the dubious system of caliphate that had begun at the scandalous gathering of Saqifa Bani Sa’da in Medina, no sooner did the Prophet leave the mortal world? Did the Divinely-decreed Wilaya of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), which the Prophet had proclaimed at Ghadir-Khom before a huge gathering of 120,000 people over two months before his passing away, remained usurped forever?

These are indeed thought-provoking questions, not just related to the events of the past, but relevant to all ages, including our own times, where any system based on the dynamic legacy of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt is seen by the devilish powers of the day as “existential threat”. So great was the confusion of the Abbasids in those days that prior to martyring Imam Ali al-Hadi (AS), six years earlier in 254 AH, they had martyred through poisoning his elder son, the youthful Muhammad (whose shrine is situated in Balad between Baghdad and Samarra) on the assumption that he might be the 11th Imam and the father of the promised Mahdi (AS). God Almighty, however, protects His chosen ones. Imam Hasan Askari (AS), whom Imam Hadi (AS) had left behind in the Hejaz when forced to come to Samarra, was destined to be the 11th Imam.

During the six crucial years that he was the Representative of Allah on earth, Imam Hasan Askari (AS) spared no efforts to bequeath to the faithful the legacy of the Prophet. He groomed several scholars and made foolproof the system of Wikala or representation throughout the realm that would so wonderfully serve his son and successor, the 12th Imam, during the critical period of Ghaybat as-Sughra (Lesser Occultation). Unknown to the Abbasids, the 12th Imam was born in secrecy and was being brought up, away from the prying eyes of the enemies of humanity. The 11th Imam possessed such lofty morals that even some of his opponents turned into his loyal followers. Once when he was imprisoned by the caliph Mo’tamed, the jailors were ordered to be harsh and severe with the Imam. But on contact with the Imam when the jailor observed his piety, devotion to God, and noble demeanor, he was greatly impressed. After that, he did not raise his eyes before the Imam as a kind of respect. When the Imam was freed, he praised the imam with the best words. The Imamate is the firm base of political and social development in Islam. The scholars and men of intellect, who were contemporary with Imam Hasan Askari (AS), have praised him and acknowledged his virtue and vast knowledge. Ahmad bin Obaydollah bin Khaqan, the Turkic vizier of the Abbasid, has said about the 11th Imam: I have neither seen nor known in Samarra, a descendant of the Prophet like Hasan ibn Ali (AS). Similarly, Bakhtshou, the Christian physician of the Abbasid court once told his disciple Batriq that Imam Askari (AS) is the most knowledgeable of all those under the sky in our day. It means that if the Abbasid tyrants had given way to the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt and not subjected them to persecution and confinement, they would have filled the world with their knowledge and sciences, and the history of humanity would have been different today.

We once again offer our condolences, and we join the Imam of the age, on this day of profound grief at the martyrdom of his father.

Source:Hajij