This matter seems to be the reason why the Waqifiyyah would...

This matter seems to be the reason why the Waqifiyyah would deny the death of the Imam though financial issues contributed more to the emergence of this sect. Yes, the infallible Imams ( ‘a ) were under constant ‘Abbasid surveillance. They even coerced Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-‘Askari ( ‘a ) to live in the military city of Samarra so as to keep them under constant surveillance.

After the martyrdom of Imam al-‘Askari ( ‘a ), the ‘Abbasids imprisoned his spouses and bondwomen with the aim of identifying the Imam’s successor (the Master of the Age, Imam al-Mahdi ( ‘a )). Even Ja‘far ibn ‘Ali, known as Ja‘far al-Kadhdhab (Ja‘far the Liar) used to act against his brother Imam al-‘Askari ( ‘a ). As such, the Ghulat doctrines were spread through Nasiriyyah founded by Muhammad ibn Nasir Fihri.

A number of them gathered around Ja‘far and then he started claiming for the Imamate.[^9] Taqiyyah {Dissimulation} Taqiyyah {dissimulation} means expression of what is contrary to the truth when there is fear for the life of a Muslim. It is adopted in following previous laws and the law of Islam as dictated by both the text and reason. For example, ‘the believer among the family of Pharaoh’ { mu’min al fir‘awn } kept his faith in secret out of fear of Pharaoh and his men.

Among the companions of the Messenger of Allah (S), ‘Ammar also exercised taqiyyah on account of torture and persecution perpetuated against him by the polytheists { mushrikun } (of Mecca). When he was crying (for repentance) beside the Prophet (S) for doing so, the Prophet (S) said to him: “You have to do the same if they torture you again.”[^10] Since the Shi‘ah have always been few in numbers, they practiced taqiyyah in a bid to survive and save their lives.

This method was responsible for the preservation of the school of Shi‘ism. As Dr. Samirah Mukhtar al-Laythi writes, Among the contributory factors for the perpetuation of the Shi‘ah movement are taqiyyah and the clandestine propagation, which gave opportunity to the nascent Shi‘ah movement to advance away from the attention of the ‘Abbasid caliphs and their governors.[^11] But on the other hand, taqiyyah has been one of the causes of rifts within Shi‘ism because the Shi‘ah used to conceal their beliefs out of fear of the tyrants of the day.

Even the Imams ( ‘a ) used to do so. On account of the atmosphere of strangulation, the infallible Imams ( ‘a ) somehow refrained from explicitly declaring their Imamate.