Muhammad al-Mahdi
12th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam
869 CE to 941 CE
Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Mahdī is believed by Twelver Shī‘a Muslims to be the Mahdī, an ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams who will emerge with Isa (Jesus Christ) in order to fulfill their mission of bringing peace and justice to the world.
Twelver Shī‘a believe that al-Mahdī was born in 869 (15 Sha‘bān 255 AH) and assumed the Imamate at 5 years of age following the death of his father Hasan al-Askari.
In the early years of his Imamate, he would only contact his followers through The Four Deputies.
After a 72-year period, known as Minor Occultation, a few days before the death of his fourth deputy Abul Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samarri in 941, he is believed to have sent his followers a letter.
In that letter that was transmitted by al-Samarri he declared the beginning of Major Occultation during which Mahdi is not in contact with his followers.
Followers of Sunni Islam and other minority Shias believe that the Mahdi has not yet been born, and therefore his exact identity is only known to Allah.
Aside from the Mahdi's precise genealogy, Sunnis accept many of the same hadiths Shias accept about the predictions regarding the Mahdi's emergence, his acts, and his universal Caliphate.
Sunnis also have a few more Mahdi hadiths which are not present in Shia collections.
The belief in the appearance of Hidden Imam as the Mahdi helps Shias to endure under unbearable situations and to hope for a just future pending the return of Mahdi.
It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that without such a belief in the role of the twelfth Imam the Imammite religion might not have been able to survive persecutions under different dynasties in the course of Islamic history.
The hope in the future coming of the Imam thus became the moderating force among the Imamiya who postponed any political action pending the appearance of the Awaited Mahdi
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Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam, is believed to have been only five years old when he becomes Imam in 874 on the death of his father.
Because his followers fear he might be assassinated, the Twelfth Imam is hidden from public view and is seen only by a few of his closest deputies.
Sunnis claim that he never existed, or that he died while still a child.
Shia believe that the Twelfth Imam never died, but disappeared.
Since then, the greater occultation of the Twelfth Imam has been in force, which will last until God commands the Twelfth Imam to manifest himself on earth again as the mahdi, or messiah.
Shia believe that during the occultation of the Twelfth Imam, he is spiritually present—some believe that he is materially present as well—and he is besought to reappear in various invocations and prayers.
His name is mentioned in wedding invitations, and his birthday is one of the most jubilant of all Shia religious observances.
The Twelve Imam Shia doctrine of the imamate is not fully elaborated until the tenth century.
Other dogmas will develop still later.
Svatopluk distinguishes himself in the conduct of political affairs.
After the death of Louis the German in 876, Svatopluk acquires large territories with Slavic populations.
The Great Moravia that he creates includes all of Bohemia, the southern part of modern Poland, and the western part of modern Hungary.
He annexes some territories and leaves local princes who recognize his suzerainty in others.
Such is apparently the case of the Czech prince Borivoj I. Propagation of Christianity follows Svatopluk's advances.
According to legends, Borivoj is baptized by Methodius and then admits clerics of the Slavic rite to his principality.
While the archbishop is engaged in missionary work in the annexed territories, however, advocates of the Latin rite, headed by a Frankish cleric, Wiching, bishop of Nitra, strengthen their position in Moravia.