However, due to the rival group that recognized Musa al-Kazim as their imam, and the Abbasid Caliphate's persecution of all Alid partisans, Muhammad fled Medina with his sons for the east.
[1] Muhammad's life is relatively obscure, with most information known today deriving from the account of the 15th-century Yemeni Isma'ili scholar and religious leader, Idris Imad al-Din.
[7] Threatened by his uncle's supporters, Muhammad abandoned his native Medina for the east, going into hiding and acquiring the epithet al-Maktum (lit.
[4][8]He was in Medina when he rose to the protection of the religion of God, despatched his da'is, spread his doctrine, and ordered his missionaries to scarch for the 'land of refuge' (dar hijra) in which to seek safety.
[8]Juvayni (d. 1283) records that, during the Abbasid persecution carried out against Isma'il ibn Ja'far, Muhammad and his brother Ali were in hiding in Medina.
[10] Muhammad ibn Isma'il seems to have spent the latter part of his life in Khuzestan, in southwestern Persia, where he had a certain number of supporters and from where he despatched his own da'is to adjoining areas.