Occulted Imam, Shia Islam and Imamology

Being repeatedly employed by various Alid pretenders, the titular appellation of Al-Mahdi finally became an integrate part of the teachings of the imamology among the imamis, i.e. those Shia Muslims who recognize the appearance of twelve Imams, the one succeeding the other. For when the twelfth Imam, Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-AskarI disappeared in the year 265/878 in his own home, which he had inherited from his father, the eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari, in a cellar, the Imamis declared him to be al-Mahdi al-Muntazar. According to them, this occasion had been predicted both by the Prophet and the following imams. In the Shia concept of the Mahdi, there are several salient points to consider. Like the imams before him, he is said to have had a miraculous birth (255/869). For immediately after his birth, he began to prostrate himself in the attitude of prayer. He was—in this state—pure and circumcised, and he uttered the profession of faith. And in the arms of his father the child enumerated the names of Ali to himself and prayed that the relief of community be in his hands. Equally miraculous was the growing up of the infant. Thus, when his father died, less that five years later, Muhammad had reached manhood and was of age to bear the burden o f the Imama. After his disappearance the Mahdi, so we are told, went, through two periods of concealment. The first, lasting until H. 328, A.D. 939, and designated ‘the little one’, was when he communicated to the community through special representatives.