Imam Hasan al-Askari's Teaching on Communicating with the Imam of the Age

All the Shi'i Imams possess the stations of divine office, and in this respect there is no difference among them. All of them are guides of the community; they held the leadership of the Shi'i community, and even now the leadership of the Shi'i community is in their hands. Yet the method of guidance differs in different times.

At times we examine the circumstances of the Imams, peace be upon them, in terms of whether armed uprising was possible or impossible. In that case, the circumstances of Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba, Imam Husayn, and the two Sadiqs, peace be upon them, come into view. Sometimes the situation of the time requires peace with the enemy. In another situation, the uprising of Karbala is the answer demanded by the time. In some conditions, students must be trained, and in such conditions the Imam appears more in the cultural arena. Of course, this way of looking at the lives of the Imams is not wrong, but one must notice that looking at a subject from only one particular angle does not make all its aspects clear to us.

From another perspective, one can categorize the degree of each Imam's presence in society and determine how much each Imam was present in society. In other words, every Imam was in some way forced into occultation from among the Shi'a, but the degree of this occultation differed from one Imam to another. By occultation here, we mean a change in the quality of the Shi'a's connection with the pure Imams. We do not mean occultation in today's technical sense, even though that term may express the whole reality of occultation.

In particular circumstances, the quality of the Imams' connection with the Shi'a differed from ordinary forms and methods of connection. At times some of the Imams were forced into silence and into speaking from behind a veil. At other times, such as the brief period of the outward caliphate of the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib, God's blessings be upon him, he could easily deliver sermons to the people from the pulpit. On the other hand, in some places direct contact with the Shi'a was not possible, while the duty of guiding society was never suspendable. Therefore, the quality of the Imam's connection with the people changed.

As reports indicate, Imam al-Sajjad, peace be upon him, even when people had difficulty in a subject such as tawhid, could not easily explain that doctrinal deviation through argumentation as the later Imams did. Rather, through supplications whose content contained issues of tawhid, he conveyed the correct belief.

From the perspective that he could not teach the people directly in the form of a sermon or a lesson, the Imam was in occultation. But from the perspective that people saw his person and that he could connect with the people through supplication, he was present.

In the time of the two Sadiqs, peace be upon them both, when the conditions had opened for these two noble Imams, they trained students. But their teaching sessions did not exist in every period of their lives. In some periods, because of problems created for them by worldly politicians, connection with these two great Imams was not possible and the quality of connection changed. It is narrated that someone went to the Imam's house to ask a question in the guise of a wandering cucumber seller, and the Imam answered his questions in the form of someone intending to buy cucumbers.

During the lifetime of these two noble ones, because of the vast geography of the Muslim world and the limitations on the Shi'a traveling to Medina and reaching the presence of their Imams, distant cities were deprived of the blessing of the Imam's presence. Therefore, one can say that the Imam, peace be upon him, had a kind of occultation in distant cities, and the quality of the connection of those cities with their guiding Imam had changed.

The Imam, peace be upon him, would appoint a person in each city or region so that the Shi'a could refer to him when they had questions. Thus we again see that under conditions imposed on the Imam by the vast geography of the Muslim world and by the tyrants of the time, conditions that forced the Imam into occultation from society in the sense explained above, the quality of the Imam's connection with the Shi'a changed, and the Imam appointed an intermediary for the people to refer to and to hear the hadiths of the Imams.

Therefore, in the practice of the Shi'i Imams, occultation occurred very often in different forms, but the Imam's guiding connection with society was never cut off. The most that happened was that the quality of the people's connection with the Imam changed. But this change in the quality of connection with the Imam never caused the Shi'a to fall into misguidance and bewilderment, nor did it suspend the work of guidance.

After the two Sadiqs, peace be upon them both, the occultation of the Shi'i Imam became more intense, because Musa ibn Ja'far, peace be upon him, spent a very large portion of his noble life in prison, and even the martyrdom of that infallible Imam took place in prison. Therefore, occultation was more intense than before, because in the time of this Imam, connection with him appeared extremely difficult.

At that time, exposure of one's connection with the Imam was equal to being identified as Shi'i, being pursued by the oppressor of the time, and finally being imprisoned and martyred. On the other hand, the Imam himself was not among society. For this reason, during a period of time, the phrase 'his person is not seen,' which is used about Imam al-Mahdi, peace be upon him, also applied to Musa ibn Ja'far, peace be upon him.

Yet at that time as well, the Imam's guiding connection with his Shi'a was not cut off. Guidance in the community took place through books compiled from the narrations of earlier infallibles, through the Imam's written correspondence from prison with the Shi'a, and through hadith scholars approved by previous Imams or by Musa ibn Ja'far himself. Again, we observe that occultation became more prominent for the Shi'a, but the guidance and leadership of the Shi'a were not suspended.

In the time of Ali ibn Musa al-Rida, peace be upon him, when the issue of heir-apparency arose, these problems continued with their own particular color. But because of the deceitful policy of the oppressor of his time, pressure on the Shi'a became somewhat lighter. Therefore, in that time the Imam's companions began writing comprehensive hadith collections, compiling the hadith books of earlier generations into comprehensive works, and presenting doubtful narrations to Imam al-Rida, peace be upon him. This presentation of narrations and the Imam's permission to transmit some of the books that had reached them from the past purified Shi'i hadith collections from weak or fabricated narrations.

The importance of this issue lies in the fact that the level of every Imam's direct connection with the Shi'a increased or decreased under different conditions. Whenever, for any reason, this connection decreased, or in other words an occultation occurred, the burden of guiding society fell upon trusted and famous books in the hands of the Shi'i elders. These books were purified in the time of Imam al-Rida, peace be upon him.

Thus we see that the Ahl al-Bayt kept a path open for the Shi'a during times of occultation, namely referring to these books. From Imam al-Rida onward, that is, from Imam al-Jawad to Imam Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon them, the circle of siege around the Imams became tighter and tighter. In other words, all the later Shi'i Imams lived in a prison-like confinement. Therefore, the possibility of the Shi'a's connection with the pure Imams decreased and this occultation became more prominent for the Shi'a. For this reason, the volume of narrations that has reached us from these Imams is much smaller than the volume that has reached us from the earlier Imams.

The very important point here, one that must not be overlooked, is that the Imam's connection with the Shi'a was not cut off even in the hardest conditions. In the time of Imam al-Jawad and the two Askari Imams, peace be upon them, when connection with them was impossible, the Shi'a referred to the hadiths that remained among the Shi'a from the earlier Imams.

Thus Imam al-Hadi and Imam Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon them both, who lived at the height of pressure and dissimulation, performed two very important tasks. One was creating the network of agents, a lighter form of which had existed among the Shi'a from earlier times. The other was teaching the Shi'a how to connect during the time of occultation.

Through the creation of the network of agents, the journeys of the Shi'a toward the Imam's place of residence, Samarra, decreased, and people's connection with the Imam, peace be upon him, was established through correspondence. This means that if someone had a request from Imam Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon him, he would convey his need to him in writing. In the hadith collections, letters that the Imam, peace be upon him, wrote to people in different cities are preserved, including, for example, the Imam's letter to the people of Qom and Awa.

Nearly all researchers have said that the network of agents prepared the Shi'a to accept the Imam hidden from sight. While emphasizing this point, one must also say that the quality of the people's preparation for occultation is very important and has been neglected, because this preparation of the people for occultation has many dimensions that must be examined.

In any case, one dimension of the people's preparation for occultation was the scholarly preparation of the Shi'i community for the time of occultation. The function of the network of agents under Imam Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon him, was to create written connection with Imam Hasan al-Askari. From this point onward, the Shi'a had to trust the writings and signed letters of Imam Hasan al-Askari and become familiar with the books that had reached the Shi'a from the earlier Imams.

For this reason, the same event that had occurred in the time of the earlier Imams occurred again in the time of Imam Hasan al-Askari: in the time of occultation, in the sense explained above, the quality of the Shi'a's connection with Imam al-Askari changed and the connection took a written form. The difference was that Imam Hasan al-Askari's occultation was more intense than that of the previous Imams, and the next Imam's occultation would be complete and total.

On the other hand, guidance and the people's connection with the Imam, peace be upon him, could not be suspended. For this reason, Imam Hasan al-Askari's concern that the Shi'a choose a path other than direct connection for connecting with their Imam is highly important. In reality, Imam Hasan al-Askari taught the Shi'i community that even during the Imam's occultation one can have connection with the hidden Imam. Imam Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon him, taught the Shi'i community this very important point: the Imam's occultation does not mean distance from the Imam or lack of access to the Imam.

Imam Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon him, also taught the Shi'a scholarly life during occultation. That is, the time of occultation is not a time of no connection with the infallible Imam; rather, during occultation only the quality of connection with the infallible Imam is different. During occultation, referring to the famous Shi'i hadith books is itself connection with the hidden Imam, and Imam Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon him, taught the Shi'i community that they must adhere to these narrations just as they adhere to the spoken commands of the present Imam.

After the martyrdom of Imam Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon him, Imam al-Mahdi, peace be upon him, continued this same work during the Minor Occultation, with the difference that the oral connection of the Imam of the Age, peace be upon him, with the Shi'a was almost completely cut off, and the connection was only written.

At that same time, when the Imam's deputy wrote a jurisprudential book among the people, even though he himself was the Imam's deputy and the only channel of connection for all the Shi'a with the infallible Imam, he presented it to the hadith transmitters of Qom. Perhaps this act shows that from then on, for connection with their infallible Imam, the Shi'a had to act according to the letters that had come from the Imam of the Age and the earlier Imams, meaning hadith itself. In his final letter, which delivered the bitterest news in Shi'i history and announced the complete occultation, the Imam of the Age, peace be upon him, commanded referral to the transmitters of hadith.

The Imam's final message, which also reached the Shi'a in writing, reminded the Shi'a that our connection, the connection of the Ahl al-Bayt, with the Shi'a has not been cut off; rather, the quality of the infallible Imams' connection with the Shi'a has changed. Therefore, until today, in every issue, especially doctrinal issues, the path for connection with the Imam of the Age is open, but the quality of this connection has changed from the past.

For this reason, today referring to the Four Books, which have been the axis of Shi'ism throughout the history of the complete occultation, and to books that are as famous among the Shi'a as the Four Books, is referral to the Imam of the Age, peace be upon him. Throughout his life, Imam Hasan al-Askari, peace be upon him, taught this important matter to the Shi'a: occultation does not mean the cutting off of connection with the Imam of the Age; rather, it means a change in the quality of connection with the Imam of the Age.