Hasan al-Askari

Hasan ibn Ali ibn Muhammad (c. 846 – 874) was the 11th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam. He was also called Abu Muhammad and Ibn al-Ridha, and is generally known as al-Askari (Askar being the word for military) for the city (Samarra) he had to live in was a garrison town. He was the eleventh Shia Imam after his father Ali al-Hadi and lived under house arrest in Samarra, especially since it was known that the Shia were looking forward to his son, Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Imam, who was destined to remove injustice from the world. Al-Askari married Narjis Khatun and was kept in house arrest or prison most of his life until, according to some Shia sources, he was poisoned at the age of 28 at the instigation of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tamid and was buried in Samarra.

Birth and early life

Hasan al-Askari was born about the time his father Ali al-Hadi, the tenth Imam, was suspected of being involved in plan against the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, and was taken along with his family to Samarra in the year 230, 231 or 232 A.H., and was kept there under house arrest; thus there is doubt as to whether his son, al-Askari, was born in Medina or Samarra. In Samarra, al-Askari spent most of his time peruse the Quran and the Sharia; and, according to Donaldson he must have occupied himself with languages too, for in later years it was known that he could talk Hindi with the pilgrims from India, Turkish with the Turks, and Persian with the Persians. According to Shia accounts however, it is part of divine knowledge given to all Imams to be able to speak all human languages.

Al-Askari Shrine

Al ‘Askarī Shrine or the ‘Askariyya Shrine (Arabic: مرقد الامامين علي الهادي والحسن العسكري‎ Marqad al-Imāmayn ‘Alī l-Hādī wa l-Ħassan al-‘Askarī) is a Shī‘ah Muslim holy site in the Iraqi city of Sāmarrā 125 km (78 mi) from Baghdad. It is one of the most important Shī‘ah Shrines in the world, built in 944. Adjacent to the shrine is a mosque, which is called Al-Askari Mosque. The dome of the Shrine was destroyed in a bombing by extremists in February 2006 and its two remaining minarets were destroyed in another bombing in June 2007, causing widespread anger amongst Shī‘ah Muslims. The remaining clock tower was also destroyed in July 2007. The dome and minarets were repaired and the mosque reopened in April 2009.

The remains of the 10th and 11th Shī‘ah Imāms, ‘Alī al-Hādī ("an-Naqī") and his son Hasan al-‘Askarī, known as: al-‘Askariyyain ("the two ‘Askarīs"), rest at the shrine. Also buried within the Mosque are: Hakimah Khātūn, sister of ‘Alī al-Hādī; and Narjis Khātūn, the mother of Muħammad al-Mahdī. Adjacent to this shrine is another mosque, built over the location where the Twelfth or "Hidden" Imām, Muħammad al-Mahdī first entered the Minor Occultation.

Askar

Askar may refer to:

Places

People

Military units