The great Shia scholar, Abu Ja’far Mohammad ibn Uthman al-Amri
On 29th of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Awwal in 305 AH, the great scholar, Abu Ja’far Mohammad ibn Uthman al-Amri, passed away in Baghdad, after serving for 40 years as deputy of the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (AS), the 12th and Last Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), during the 69-year period of “Ghaybat as-Soghra”. He was the second of the four deputies, who are known as Nawabeen al-Arba’.
He had been confirmed as Deputy by the Imam himself in 265 AH on the death of his father, the celebrated scholar Uthman ibn Sa’eed al-Asadi, who as a 11-year old had the honour of the company of the Prophet’s 9th Infallible Heir, Imam Mohammad at-Taqi al-Jawad (AS), and thereafter was a close confidante of Imam Ali an-Naqi al-Hadi (AS) and Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS) – the 10th and 11th Infallible Heirs of the Prophet.
Mohammad al-Amri authored several books including “al-Ashrabah” on jurisprudence. The 12th Imam, prophesied by the Prophet as the Mahdi who will establish the global government of peace, prosperity and justice by ending oppression and corruption on Planet Earth, was only five years old when his father was martyred by Mu’tamid the 15th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abassid regime.
By the Will of God he went into Minor Occultation to be safe from the manhunt launched by the caliph, and during this period only some selected figures from among the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt knew of his whereabouts and could meet him, while the rest were in contact with him through the Special Deputy, who led a cloistered life in order to avoid any suspicion by the regime. Thanks to the foolproof system of “Wikala” (Representation) set up half-a-century earlier by the 9th Imam, a network of dedicated persons had emerged throughout the Islamic lands during the crucial period of the 10th and 11th Imams who were either under virtual house arrest or imprisonment in Samarra by the Abbasid caliphs.
Thus, during the Minor Occultation, whenever the believers faced a problem, they would write their concerns and send them to the Special Deputy, who would present it to the Imam, ascertain his verdict, endorse it with his seal and signature, and return it to the relevant parties. With the start of the “Ghaybat al-Kubra” (Major Occultation) in 329 AH, there was no need for any Special Deputy, until by the Will of God, the 12th Imam reappears in the end times as the Saviour of Humanity.
