Therefore the simple confinement inflicted on IMAM ALI...

Therefore the simple confinement inflicted on IMAM ALI AN-NAQI (AS) was considered inadequate for IMAM HASAN AL-'ASKARI (AS), so he was imprisoned, away from his family. No doubt the revolutionary intervals between two regimes gave him brief periods of freedom. Yet as soon as the new king came to the throne, he followed his predecessor's policy and imprisoned the Imam again. The Imam's brief life, therefore, was mostly spent inside dungeon cells.

The hardship of imprisonment reached its extremity during the reign of AL-MU'TAMAD, although the latter knew the rank and righteousness of the Imam as did all other preceding rulers. Once during a devastating drought, a Christian hermit was able to demonstrate that he could being rain whenever he prayed to God. This led many Muslims to convert to Christianity. In order to save Islam from this calamity, IMAM HASAN AL-'ASKARI (AS) was brought out of jail.

He noticed how that Christian hermit raised his hands in prayers, and how as soon as he did so rain started pouring down. Approaching him, the Imam opened the Christian's hand and took away from it a piece of bone the hermit was holding. Turning to the crowd, the Imam explained that it was that piece of bone, not the Christian that caused the rain to pour.

He told them that that piece of bone belonged to the corpse of one of the Prophets of God, and he proved his point upon raising it himself in his hand, an upon doing so, lo, rain started pouring down again, as if the skies were weeping for the prophet. The Imam thus removed the common doubts from the hearts of the people and kept them firmly on Islam. AL-MU'TAMAD was so impressed that he felt too ashamed to send the Imam back to prison; so, he put him under house arrest instead.

Complete freedom, however, was not granted. APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTIES Under all circumstances, the Imams carried out their duties of guiding the people. IMAM HASAN AL-'ASKARI (AS) was subjected to numerous restrictions, so much so that those who sought to learn the teachings of AHL AL-BAYT (AS) and their SHI'AH point of view could not reach him. In order to solve this problem, the Imam appointed certain confidants as his deputies in view of their knowledge of jurisprudence.

These persons satisfied the curiosity of inquirers as much as they could. But if they could not solve certain theological problems, they would keep them pending the acquisition of their solutions from the imam whenever they got the opportunity to see him.