Al-Mahdi (a.s.)after distribution of the inheritance, jaffar-e-khazzab approached my father and said: 'grant me the status of my father and brother (i.e. the position of imamat) and i will in turn, give you twenty thousand dinars.' on hearing this, my father became furious and said: 'o stupid person! the caliph strikes the people with his sword and lashes them with his whip in order to take back their belief in the imamat of your father and brother. in this regard, he has strived a lot but has remained unsuccessful till today. if, in the eyes of the shi'ites you are the imam, then you are no more dependent on caliph or others for giving you the position of imamat. conversely, if you are not the imam before. the shi'ites, the caliph and others cannot procure this position to you. when my father realized his stupidity and ignorantly ordered his men not to allow him from attending his gathering any more. thence forth, he did not attend until my father died. at present too, the caliph is still in pursuit of the imam of the age but with no trace of him.' muhammad-ibn-yaqoub kulaini has imputedly narrated the afore-mentioned tradition in the first volume of his book 'usul-e-kafi' in the chapter 'birth of imam hassan askari' (a.s.) muhammad-ibn-hassan tusi in his book 'fehrest' in the chapter 'life of ahmad-ibn-obaidullah - ibn yahya' has also narrated the afore-mentioned tradition but with a minor difference. ahmad-ibn-abbass-ibn-muhammad-ibn-abdullah a najashi has also narrated the same tradition in his book 'fehrest'. the author says: 'shaikh mufid in his book 'irshad', fazl-ibn-hassan tabarsi in his book 'el'am-ul-warah' and muhammad-ibn-mohsin (faiz-kashani) in his book 'wafi' have narrated the afore-said tradition from muhammad-ibn-yaqoub kulaini.' muhammad-ibn-muhammad-ibn-nu'man (i.e. shaikh mufid) in his book 'irshad' says: imam hassan askari fell ill on the first day of rabiul-awwal in the year of 260 a.h. and passed away on the friday the eighth of rabiul-awwal of the same year. at the time of his demise, imam hassan askari (a.s.) was twenty-eight years old. he was laid to rest in the same house which he had in samerra and where his great-father was buried and appointed his son for the establishment of the just government. imam hassan askari (a.s.) would keep secret the birth of his son and would conceal his affairs because situation of that time was unfavourable. the caliph of that time searched severely for imam's sons and strived to know about their affairs because belief on Mahdi had become widespread amongst the shiah imamiah and who were expecting him to come. during his life, imam hassan askari never disclosed his son in public and after his demise too, the enemies never got the chance of recognizing his son. jafar-ibn-ali (i.e. jafar-e-kazzab) took away imam hassan askari's inheritance and strived hard to imprison his wives and slaves. he rebuked and reprimanded imam's companions just because they were awaiting his son's appearance and had faith in his imamat. he even enconraged the people against them so that in this manner he would be able to strike fear in their hearts and bring pressure on them. as such, imam's followers were subjected to all sorts of persecution like arrest, imprisonment, threat, insult, abasement and abjectness. on the other hand, the caliph did nothing to assist them. apparently, jaffar-e-kazzab derived inheritance of imam hassan askari and strived to take his brothers place and become the imam of the shi'ites. however, none of the shi'ites accepted his imamate. thereafter, he sought the caliphs help and asked him to bestow the position of imamate on him. he even agreed to donate huge sums of money but all these were of no avail. «Mahdi and his place of
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