Desires of Heart and Mind (Imam Hasan Askari A.S)

Name : Hasan ibn Ali - the 11th Holy Imam
Title : al-Askari
Agnomen : Abu Muhammad
Father : Imam Ali Naqi-al-Hadi(a.s.) - the 10th Holy Imam
Mother : Bibi Hadithah ( or Susan )
Birth : At Madina, on Monday, 10th Rabi-us-Sani 232 AH (845 AD)
Martyred : In Samarrah at the age of 28 on Friday, 8th Rabi-ul-Awwal 260 AH (872 AD)
Cause of Death/Burial: Poisoned by al-Mu`tamid ,the Abbasid ruler and buried at Samarrah in Iraq

While he was a prisoner in Baghdad there was a severe draught. Rain had not fallen for some time and crops were drying up. People were facing a famine. They did not know what to do. A Christian priest came to the rescue. He lifted his hands in prayer and rain fell. The Caliph became concerned lest for this reason people would forsake Islam and become Christians. When the Imam was consulted, he said that when people assembled to see the so called miracle performed by the Christian priest, he would remove their doubts. The Imam was allowed to leave the prison to go where the crowd assembled to see the miracle performed by the priest. Imam stood there with the crowd and when the priest raised his hands for prayand rain began to fall, Imam told one of his companions to seize the hands of the priest and bring the piece of bone hidden in his hands. When this bone was brought before the Imam, he said that it was the bone of a Prophet of God. It was the effect of this holy bone when lifted in prayers to God that brought God's mercy and brought rain to the land. This way the Imam lifted the doubts from the minds of the people. After this the Imam himself spread his prayer mat and performed two Rak’ats of prayers then lifted his bare hands to God for rain to come to the land and wipe out the draught. The Imam’s prayers were heard by the Almighty and rain fell so much that the land became fertile again and crops began to grow. (Kulaini, Akhbarus Alam) In recognition of this service the Imam was allowed to leave the prison in Baghdad and live in his house in Samarrah, still under house arrest. He was still not allowed to go to Madina.