[5] The two Imams witnessed the deterioration of the Abbasid caliphate,[6] as the imperial authority rapidly transitioned into the hands of the Turks,[7] particularly after al-Mutawakkil.
[8] Contemporary to the tenth Imam, the Abbasid al-Mutawakkil violently prosecuted the Shia,[9][10] partly due to a renewed Zaydi opposition.
[15] Tabatabai suggests that these restrictions were placed on al-Askari because the caliphate had come to know about traditions among the Shia elite, predicting that the eleventh Imam would father the eschatological Mahdi.
[16] Immediately after the death of al-Askari in 260 (874),[17] Uthman ibn Sa'id claimed that the eleventh Imam had a young son, named Muhammad, who had entered a state of occultation (ghayba) due to the Abbasid threat to his life.
[19] Twelver sources detail that Muhammad al-Mahdi made his only public appearance to lead the funeral prayer for his father instead of his uncle, Ja'far.
[20][21] Thus began a period of about seventy years, later termed the Minor Occultation (al-ghaybat al-sughra, 260-329 AH, 874–940 CE), during which it is believed that four successive agents acted as intermediaries between the Hidden Imam and his followers.
[14] However, following the 306 (918) downfall of the Banu al-Furat,[33][32] the influential Twelver family in the Abbasid court, Ibn Ruh was temporarily forced into hiding and later imprisoned in 312 (924–25) by al-Muqtadir for financial reasons.