Moreover...

Moreover, the views of the Imamite Shi’a about him were being circulated, and it was becoming known that they were waiting for him to rise. For this reason al-’Askari had not revealed his son during his lifetime, not even to the greater portion of his own adherents[^6].

Because the Imamites were distinguished from other Islamic denominatons by the principle of the designation of the Imam by his predecessor they seem to have found themselves in a critical situation after their Imam's death, since he had not designated his successor openly. Therefore the Imamite jurists had recourse to the traditions of the Prophet and his progeny to determine who was to be the Twelfth Imam. They found many traditions to support their various claims.

Amongst them were transmissions which stated that an Imam could not die without seeing his offspring who would succeed him; that the world cannot be without a Proof[^7]; that the Imamate cannot pass to two brothers after al-Hasan and al-Husayn, and that it will be occupied by one of the progeny of ‘Ali b.

al-Husayn[^8]; that the Imam knows who will succeed him and does not die until he gives his testament to his successor[^9]; and that the Imamate should belong to the eldest son of the preceding Imam[^10]. These traditions seem to have been adopted by the greater portion of the Imamites, and their interpretation of these traditions led to various viewpoints, which in turn led to new divisions amongst the Imamites.

Sa’d al-Qummi counted fifteen schisms, whereas al-Nawbakhti and al-Mufid enumerated them as fourteen. Al-Mas’udi thinks that there were twenty sects, while al-Shahristani counts only eleven[^11]. Nevertheless a study of the claims of these factions reveals that there were apparently only five major schisms. However, each of these became further split over the theological and traditional arguments employed to support their claims.

At any rate it seems important to set down the major claims of these schisms in order to achieve a clear conception of the Imamites at that time. B) Schism I: the Waqifa at al-’Askari What brought the people of this faction together was their claim that the eleventh Imam, al-’Askari, was al-Qa’im al - Mahdi although they differed as to how he became al-Qa’im. i) The first faction of this schism deemed that al- ‘Askari had not died, but had gone into occultation[^12].