THE BIRTH OF IMAM MAHDI (A.S.):
Name: Muhammad
Titles: Al-Mahdi (The Guided one), Al-Qa’im (The Present one), Sahib-uz-Zamaan (Master of the age), Al-Hujjut (The Token of Allah), Al-Mantazar (The Awaited one)
Kunyat: Abul Qasim
Father’s Name: Imam Hasan al-Askari (A.S.)
Mother’s Name: Janab-e-Nargis Khatoon
Place of Birth: Samarra (Iraq. About 60 miles from Baghdad), on the 15th day of Shaban 255 A.H. (869 A.D.)
He is still living, and will appear before the end of the world.
First Heavenly Concealment (Ghaibat-e-Sughra): 8th Rabi-ul-Awwal 260 A.H.(871 A.D.)
Final Heavenly Concealment (Ghaibat-e-Kubra): 10th Shawwal 328 A.H. (939 A.D.)
The twelfth Holy Imam Muhammad Mahdi Alaihis Salaam is the son of the eleventh Holy Imam Hasan al-Askari Alaihis Salaam. He was born at Samarra on the 15th Shaban. His mother’s name was Janab-e-Nargis Khatoon, and she was a Roman Princess who had embraced Islam. She was a descendant of Simon Peter, the disciple of Jesus Christ.
BIRTH
Halima Khatoon, sister of Imam Ali an-Naqi (A.S.) relates that on the 14th of Shaban, her nephew, Imam Hasan al-Askari invited her to stay at his house for the night, and so she stayed at the Imam’s house, and when the sun had set she broke her fast and recited some chapters of the Holy Qur’an, according to her usual practice. She relates that up to the last moments she observed that Nargis Khatoon did not show any signs of pregnancy. At last, when Halima Khatoon was about to fall asleep she saw that Nargis Khatoon was undergoing the pain, of childbirth. On seeing this, she rendered necessary assistance, and towards the early hours of the morning a son was born, who was destined to fulfill the divine prophecies concerning the future establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Immediately after his birth, our Twelfth Imam (A.S.) offered the prostration (sajdah) adoring God. He was born circumcised and with the navel cord detached. On his right arm was the inscription: “And say: The truth has come and the falsehood has vanished; surely falsehood is a vanishing (thing).” (17:81).
Then Halima Khatoon took the baby to Imam Hasan al-Askari (A.S.), who kissed him and said, “Speak, my son”. And the child exclaimed, 'I testify that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah". Then he counted the Imams one by one until he came to himself and said, ‘O’ Allah, fulfill my covenants, perfect my service, vindicate my authority, and fill the earth with righteousness and justice".
Halima Khatoon goes on to relate that when she visited the baby on the next day, she saw him and heard him reciting the following verse of the Holy Qur’an: -
“And We desired to bestow a favor upon those who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them the Imams, and to make them the heirs,” (28:5).
After a few days, when Halima Khatoon went to see the baby again, she found that he had disappeared. She asked Imam Hasan al-Askari (A.S.), and was told, “He has been entrusted to God in the same way as Moses was entrusted to God by his mother”.
Shaikh Saduq relates that a few days after the birth of the Twelfth Imam (A.S.), some white winged creatures came, and one of them carried the Imam up to heaven. At this Nargis Khatoon began to cry, but Imam Hasan al-Askari (A.S.) consoled her, saying, “Do not be unhappy. Your baby will come back to you, and he will not take anyone’s milk but yours, just as Moses was nourished by his own mother”. Then Halima Khatoon asked, “Who was the winged creature?” and Imam Hasan al-Askari (A.S.) told her that it was the Holy Spirit, who has been deputed to guard and protect the Imams.
According to the same tradition, some forty days later, the Holy Spirit was seen by Halima Khatoon, bringing the infant back from heaven, and Halima Khatoon was surprised to see the child running about, as if he had been two years old. When she asked Imam Hasan al-Askari (A.S.) how it was possible, he answered, “This is the Will and Grace of God”.
The twelfth Imam thus grew up under the cherishing care of his father, till the 8th of Rabi ul Awwal, 260 A.H. when the Abbaside tyrant, Mo’tamad Billah poisoned the Eleventh Imam (A.S.), and the twelfth Imam retired into seclusion by the command of God.
At the time of his death, Imam Hasan al-Askari (A.S.) asked his servant Akid to prepare for him a brew of Gum-Mastic (Abi-Mastaki), and soon the mother of the Master of the Age brought the bowl and put it into the hands of the Imam. But when he tried to drink, his hands trembled. He set it aside and said to Akid, ‘go into that room and have the child who is praying there come to me’. When Akid entered the room, the child was saying his prayers. When he finished his prayers, he was informed about his father’s request. Then his mother came and took his hand and brought him to his father. When he came before his father, the noble child’s face was luminous. The dying Imam (A.S.) looked upon him and wept and said, ‘O Master of your own household, give me a drink, for I go to my Preserver’. The child took the bowl, touched it to his lips in prayers, and gave it to his father. When he drank it, he said, ‘Make me ready for prayer!’ So the Master of the Age took a towel and gave his father the ceremonial ablution, and anointed his head and his feet. The dying Imam (A.S.) then declared, ‘O my dear child, you are the Master of the Age, you are the Mahdi, you are the Proof of Allah on earth, my child, my Wasi (representative), and, as my offspring, you are Muhammad, my good son a child of the Apostle, the last of the Imams, pure and virtuous. The Apostle of Allah has informed the people about you. He has mentioned your name and your patronymic. This is the covenant of my father that has come down to me’. And at that moment the Imam (A.S.) died (Shaikh Tusi).