by resorting to the claim of being agents for the concealed Twelfth Imam...

by resorting to the claim of being agents for the concealed Twelfth Imam, the four Twelver agents were apparently able to put themselves forward in the position of the leadership though they were not from the line of descent of the Prophet”.

[^22] The hypothesis of these two authors might be sound if there were no clear proof that al-’Askari had left a successor or that traditions were circulating in Imamite circles before 260/874 indicating that the series of the Imams would end with the Twelfth Imam, who would be al-Qa’im .[^23] However, it has been demonstrated that it was highly probable that the eleventh Imam had showed his son to about forty of his adherents among whom were the first two agents, ‘Uthman b. Said and Muhammad b.

‘Uthman[^24]. Furthermore, the evidence has strongly suggested that the eleventh Imam sent his son to Medina in 259/873,[^25] where…