They sent their woman spies to inspect all the women...

They sent their woman spies to inspect all the women, whether a slave girl or not, to see if there were any pregnant women among them. They suspected one of the slave girls to be pregnant. They took her and kept her for a year. Then, they realized that they had made a mistake. The mother of the holy being of Imam al-‘Askari is called “Hudayth”. She was famously known as “Jaddah” (grandmother) because she was the grandmother of the Imam of the Time (may Allah hasten his glorious advent).

There are other women in history who were famous because of the prestige of their grandchild and they are called Jaddah. One such woman is the grandmother of Shah ‘Abbas. There are two schools in Isfahan by the name of Jaddah. A woman whose fame is because of her grandchild will inevitably become famous as Jaddah. This honorable woman became famous by the title Jaddah. But it was not only being a grandmother that made her famous.

She had a certain status, greatness and a special personality which have been written. The late Muhaddith Qummi (may he reside in Allah’s paradise) wrote in “Al-Anwar al-Bahiyyah”, “She was the Shi‘ah shelter after Imam al-‘Askari.” In other words, this honorable woman was the Shi‘ah refuge. Inevitably, in that time (because Imam al-‘Askari was twenty eight, when he passed away and if we also calculate the age of Imam al-Hadi), she was a woman of fifty to sixty years of age.

This woman was so learned and great that when a Shi‘ah came across a problem, he would present it to this woman. A man said, “I went to visit Imam al-‘Askari’s aunt; i.e. Hakimah Khatun, the daughter of Imam al-Jawad. I went and spoke to her in relation to the dogmas and beliefs and the issues of Imamate and etc.

She spoke about her beliefs until she got to Imam al-‘Askari and said, ‘At present, his child, who is hidden and in occultation, is my Imam.’ I said, ‘Now that he is in occultation, who do we refer to if we have any problems?’ She replied, ‘Refer to Jaddah.’ I said, ‘How strange! The Imam passed away and made a will to a woman?’ She replied, ‘Imam al-‘Askari did the same thing Imam al-Husayndid.

The real trustee of Imam al-Husaynwas ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn, but did he not leave most of his will with his sister Zaynab? Al-Hassan ibn Al-‘Askari did exactly the same thing. His inward trustee is this child who is hidden but he could not overtly say he is my trustee.