It was not yet a century passed away from disappearance of sun, from the sky of Imamat1 and Wilayah2 (i.e. Imam Mahdi A.S.)3, that a bright star appeared on the horizon of Baghdad, and with its illumination created a ray of hope in the hearts of those lovers, who were eagerly awaiting for the arrival of the hidden Imam. He was born in the year 3594 A.H. (939 AD) in the Shiite quarters of Karakh in Baghdad in a house full of fresh flowers, radiating the per­ fumes of faith, sincerity, knowledge, and action.

The newborn child was named Muhammad (the blessed one) and later on became famous as Sayyid Radi and Ash-Sharif ar-Radi He opened eyes in a religious family which had the honor of producing the rarest and most celebrated religious scholars, ascetics, pious, and saintly personalities of that period.

• 1. Imamat: The position of leadership in religious and civil matters in the Islamic society is known as the Imamate, and its holder is known as the Imam. It is the belief of Shi'i Muslims that God Most High must have designated an Imam for the people after the death of the Most Noble Messenger (S) to uphold the culture and laws of the religion and to guide people on the way of truth.
  The term imam as used in a technical sense in Shi’ism differs from the general usage of the term in Arabic, where it means “leader”, or in Sunni political theory where it means the caliph himself. As used technically in Shi’ism the term refers to the person who contains himself the “Muhammadan Light” which was handed down through Fatimah, the daughter of the Blessed Prophet, and ‘Ali, the first Imam, to the others, terminating with the Hidden Imam who is to appear again one day as the Mahdi. As a result of the presence of this light, the Imam is considered to be “sinless” and to possess perfect knowledge of the esoteric as well as the exoteric order.
  The Imams are like a chain of light issuing forth from the “Sun of Prophecy” which is their origin, and yet they are never separated from that Sun. Whatever is said by them emanates from the same inviolable treasury of inspired wisdom. Since they are an extension of the inner reality of the Blessed Prophet, their words really go back to him. That is why their sayings are seen in the Shi’i perspective as an extension of the prophetic Hadith, just as the light of their being is seen as a continuation of the prophetic light. In Shi’i eyes, the temporal separation of the Imams from the Blessed Prophet does not at all affect their essential and inner bond with him or the continuity of the “Prophetic light” which is the source of his as well as their inspired knowledge. (Tr).
• 2. Wilayah: “the governance” (Wilayah) of the Imams is intrinsic to their persons, unlike that of the fuqaha; moreover, its scope is not limited to men but embraces the whole of creation. They therefore exercise “cosmic governance” (Wilayah-i takvini), in part through the performance of miracles. This form of Wilayah is common to the Imams and to the foremost of the prophets, who exercised a governmental function while also propagating a Divine message. The statement here that “no one can attain the spiritual status of the Imams, not even the cherubim or the prophets" thus carries the strict sense that the Imams are superior to those prophets whose mission lacked the dimension of governmental leadership. Concerning the different types of Wilayah, see Murtaza Mutahhari, Vilaha va Wilyatha (Qum 1355, sh./1975).” Hamid Algar, Islam and Revolution pp 156-156.
• 3. Imam al-Mahdi (‘a): The son of Imam Hasan Askari was born in Samarra on Friday, 15th Sha’ban 255 A.H, the twelfth Imam lives in hiding under the protection and tutorship of his father until the latter’s martyrdom, when by God’s command he went into occultation, during period known as “lesser occultation” (al-Ghaybat as-Sughra). During this period, four special deputies in succession would answer the questions of the Shi’i and resolve their problems. After that in the year 329 A.H. the Imam went into the Greater occultation (al-Ghabat al-Kubra), until a day when by God’s command he will reappear to fill the world with justice as it is now filled with oppression.
• 4. Al-Najoom al-Zahra', Vol. 4, p. 240.