The Garrison of Samarra
Hasan al-Askari lived under the same house-arrest surveillance as his father Ali al-Hadi in Samarra. The Abbasid state was aware that the Imam’s religious authority made him a political figure regardless of his behavior. He maintained correspondence with followers through the wakil network his father had built.
He was married and had at least one son — Muhammad — whose very existence was kept secret from the Abbasid authorities, who watched for the birth of an Imam’s son as a political threat. In Twelver tradition, very few people saw Muhammad as a child.
His Brief Imamate and Death
Hasan al-Askari assumed the Imamate in 868 CE upon his father’s death and held it until his own death in 874 CE — approximately six years, not two as sometimes stated. He died at approximately 28 years of age, reportedly of illness related to poisoning under Abbasid instigation.
The brevity of his Imamate and his youth at death left the Twelver community in a crisis: his son Muhammad was a child of approximately 5, and immediately went into hiding. This triggered the most consequential theological crisis in Twelver history.
The Shrines at Samarra
Hasan al-Askari is buried alongside his father Ali al-Hadi in Samarra — the ‘Askariyyan shrine. The shrine was destroyed by bombing in 2006 and 2007 in the Iraq conflict, provoking a significant sectarian crisis. It has since been largely rebuilt.
See also: Ahl Al Bayt, Seerah Ali Hadi, Seerah Mahdi Occultation, Fitna Islamiyya, Quran Sciences, Tafsir Overview