Deaths on January 4

Hasan al-Askari, eleventh of the Twelve Imams (b. 846)

Hasan ibn Ali al-Askari (Arabic: ٱلْحَسَن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْعَسْكَرِيّ, Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-ʿAskarī, c. 846 – 874) was a Muslim scholar and the 11th Imam in Twelver Shia Islam, after his father Ali al-Hadi. He is also an important figure to Sunni-Sufis. He was called Abu Muhammad and Ibn al-Ridha. Because Samarra, the city where he lived, was a garrison town, he is generally known as al-Askari (Askar is the word for military in Arabic). Al-Askari married Narjis Khatun (also recorded as Sawsan, Mariam) and was kept under house arrest or in prison for most of his life. According to some Shia sources, he was poisoned at the age of 28 on the orders of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tamid and was buried in Samarra. The Twelver Shia are looking forward to the succession of his son, Hujjat-Allah al-Mahdi, as they believe him to be the twelfth Imam, and that he is destined to remove injustice from the world.