Before his death in 881, he entrusted the care of his son and successor, Abd Allah al-Mahdi who was then around 8 years old to his full brother, Sa'id al-Khayr, also known as Abu'l-Shalaghlagh.
With the death of Ja'far al-Sadiq in 765, Isma'il (d. 775) and Muhammad (d. 813), the gravity of the persecution of Isma'ili Imams and their supporters by the Abbasids had considerably increased.
[8] A modern historian of the Fatimid period, Shainool Jiwa, explains that during dawr al-satr Ismaili doctrine had spread as far as from Yemen to Ifriqiya (modern-day Tunisia and eastern Algeria), with its most prominent adherents being the Kutama Berbers of North Africa.
[10] His father Muhammad al-Taqi is remembered for his Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity (Rasāʿil Ikhwān al-ṣafā), which his son is said to have summarised in his Jāmiʿat al-Jāmiʿa.
[12][15][16]He organised the propaganda, spread it further afield, broadcast instruction to his followers, making it manifest; he established proofs, explained the risalas (apparently the Encyclopedia of the Ikhwān al-ṣafā') and despatched his da'is everywhere.
[16]Al-Radi travelled to Kufa, on pilgrimage to the tombs of Ali ibn Abi Talib and his son, Husayn.