'lady Hakima'), was the daughter of Muhammad al-Jawad (d. 835), sister of Ali al-Hadi (d. 868),[1] and paternal aunt of Hasan al-Askari (d. 874), who were the ninth, tenth, and eleventh Imams in Twelver Shia Islam, respectively.
[2] A revered figure in Twelver Shia, she is buried in the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, located in modern-day Iraq, which has been targeted by Sunni militants as recently as 2007.
In Bihar al-anwar, a major collection of Shia traditions, the Twelver theologian Majlesi (d. 1699) describes her as "the one who possessed the secret knowledge of the Imams and was among the agents and abwab."
[5] Hakima also plays a prominent role in the Twelver accounts of al-Mahdi's birth,[4] which is said to have been hidden from the public out of the fear of persecution by the Abbasid caliphs,[6] as they sought to eliminate an expected child of Hasan al-Askari, whom persistent rumors described as a savior.
[10][11] The mother of al-Mahdi is introduced as Narjis, a slave born and raised in the house of Hakima, according to the biographical Kitab al-irshad by the prominent Twelver theologian al-Mufid (d. 1022).