But evil fortune brought down on him in that he had laid in...

But evil fortune brought down on him in that he had laid in ruins the tomb of Imam Husain, at Karbala, and furthermore he had prevented people from making their visitation to the same - decreed. that, shortly after his death, his Kiosk should be demolished, so that no trace of it now remains.

Indeed, of Samarra itself, at the present time, only a restricted portion is inhabited.”[^9] The restricted portion that was still occupied in the fourteenth century was approximately the same as the modern Samarra, and was part of the “Camp of Mu'tasim.” Here the Imams, Ali Al-Naqi and his son, Hasan Al-Askari were imprisoned and poisoned and hence they were called the Askariyan, or the “Dwellers in the Camp.” It was here also that both of them were buried.

The modern Samarra is only a few paces removed from the walls of the old Friday Mosque, which agrees with Mustawfi's observation that “in front of the mosque stands the tomb of the Imam Ali Al-Naqi, grandson of the Imam Ali Al-Ridha; and also of his son, the Imam Hasan Al-Askari.” That the city of the Caliphs was much more extensive is indicated by the modern observation that “the ground plan of the many barracks, palaces and gardens can be very plainly seen by anyone flying over the site in an aeroplane.”[^10] The historical topography of the ephemeral capitol of the Caliphs as outlined by the Arab geographers, Ya'kubi and Yakut, has been investigated recently by archaeologists, so that the location of the principal streets and of the many of the palaces has been determined.

Also the findings have proved to be of special value to students of Muslim art, for they are representatives of the period when the civilization of the Abbasid caliphate was “shedding its lustre over the world.”[^11] It was in this part of Samarra that still remains that the Imam Muhammad ibn Hasan Al-Askari disappeared from human sight. Mustawfi says this happened in 264 A.H.

(878 A.D.) at Samarra.[^12] The fact that the Shia community was permitted to have its headquarters after the fall of the Buyids in the nearby city of Hilla, from which place they conducted their negotiations at the time of the invasion of Khulagu Khan, gave rise to the tradition that the Hidden Imam would reappear in that town. This accounts for the confusion of the traveller, Ibn Batuta (A.D. 1355), who found shrines dedicated to the last Imam, both in Hilla and Samarra.