H 84 - Saad bin Abdullah Ashari said: Narrated to me Abu Hashim Dawood bin Qasim Ja’fari that: I was with Abul Hasan Askari [Imam Hadi] at the time when his son, Abu Ja’far passed away, Imam pointed to him emphatically so that we may see his son, who had passed away. I said to myself: This is just how it happened in the case of Abu Ibrahim [Imam Kadhim ] and Ismail Ibn Ja’far that when Ismail passed away, Imam Sadiq publicly announced his death, so that no one may claim that Ismail or his descendants are Imams. Thus Imam Hadi came to me and said: Yes, Aba Hashim, change of destiny occurred (Bada) with regard to Abu Ja’far and Almighty Allah replaced him with Abu Muhammad as He did in the case of Ismail, son of Imam Sadiq , after Imam Ja’far Sadiq had declared him to be the Imam after him and appointed him as his successor; just as you said to yourself, although it would be displeasing to the followers of falsehood, my son, Abu Muhammad is my successor and he is having all that which the Shia society is in need of and he is having the distinctive signs of Imamate, by the grace of God.

As for the saying that Abu Muhammad did not have any offspring and that there is a hidden conceived baby, who will be born: It is invalid, because this suggests that this age is devoid of an Imam of guidance and we have demonstrated the falsity of this. Additionally, we will demonstrate that he sired a famous son and we will mention the traditions with that respect, which will invalidate this assertion as well.

As for the saying that the situation is confusing and it cannot be decided whether Imam Hasan Askari sired a son or not, and until the birth of his son is established, we will adhere to the Imamate of Hasan; it is also invalidated through our assertion that no time can be without an Imam, because we know Hasan is dead just as we know many other people to be dead, and we will prove the birth of his son as well, so their claim is also falsified.

As for the belief that there is no Imam after Hasan : It is invalid due to our rational as well as Shari proofs that no time can be devoid of an Imam. The belief that Abu Muhammad passed away and he will come back to life after his death, is also invalid, because it suggests lack of an Imam from the time of his death until Allah brings him back to life.

The argument, which is based on the tradition that “the Master of this Affair will live after he dies” and that he has been named Qaim, since he will rise after he dies, is invalid, because first the tradition is not reliable, and even if it is reliable, it can be interpreted to mean that he will rise after his name dies, that is, no one mentions him, except those who believe in his Imamate and then Allah will manifest him to all. Besides, we have established that every Imam, who stands in place of a previous Imam, is called the Qaim.

As for believers in Imamate of Abdullah Ibn Ja’far, namely the Fatahiyya, and that of Ja’far Ibn Ali, their creed is wrong, because an Imam has to be infallible and these two were not. Their evident actions, which contradict infallibility, are widely known and scholars have narrated them and they are present in books and we will not prolong the discourse by quoting them here. Besides, the established principle, which is beyond doubt amongst the Shia, is that Imamate shall not pass from one brother to another, after Hasan and Husain . Therefore, the Imamate of Ja’far, after his brother, is void.