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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam (A Historical Background) The Underground Activities of the Second Saf’ir of the Twelfth Imam The Designation of the Second Saf’ir, Abu Ja’far The second Saf’ir was Muhammad b. ‘Uthman b. Said al‑‘Umari. His kunya was Abu Ja’far.

He carried out his activities first as the agent of the Twelfth Imam and then as his Saf’ir for about fifty years, having been the principal assistant of his father, the first Saf’ir , from the time of the eleventh Imam, al‑ ‘Askari. According to al‑Tusi, when the first Saf’ir died, Abu Ja’far carried out the last rites for the dead man, washed the corpse, clad him in his shroud and buried him.

For the Imamites, these are the unmistakable signs that Abu Ja’far was acting as the representative and the Saf’ir of the hidden Imam. According to them he did all this at the order of the first Saf’ir . Moreover he was promoted to the office of the sifara both by the designation of al‑‘Askari and of the first Saf’ir , ‘Uthman b. Said, according to the order of the Twelfth Imam[^1].

After his father's death, Abu Ja’far received a letter of condolence attributed to the Twelfth Imam, who offered his sympathy at his father's death and pointed out that he had been installed in his office[^2]. However, some of the principal agents of the organization had serious reservations and doubts about his designation, as did Muhammad b. Nusayr, the leader of the extremist trend, the Ghulat. So Abu Ja’far did not succeed to his office without encountering certain difficulties.

A) Ibn Hilal Ahmad b. Hilal al‑‘Abarta'i was one of those who denied the validity of Abu Ja’far's designation. He was born in the year 180/796 in ‘Abarta', a village in the district of Askaf near Nahrawan, and died in the year 267/880. It is clear from the numerous references to his name in the chain of transmissions ( isnad ) of the Imamite narrations that he was a well‑known theologian who had narrated most of the Shiite books of traditions (usul).

Beginning in 204/819 he had related several traditions indicating, that the Twelfth Imam would be al-Qa’im , having first gone into occultation[^3]. Al-Kashshi reports that he was a pious mystic and an eminent scholar, and some biographers respectfully mention the fact that he undertook fifty‑fourpilgrimages to Mecca, twenty of them on foot[^4].