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All the Imams, with perhaps the exception of the last one, were murdered. The third Imam, 'Ali's youngest son Husayn, whose brother and predecessor Hasan had been poisoned, died on the plain of Karbila on 10 October 680. The band of his followers, nearly dying of thirst, was massacred by the troops of the 'Umayyad Caliph Yazid I. His head was severed from his dead body and placed on a spear. The martyrdom of Imam Husayn at Karbila, as well as the sufferings inflicted on the whole family of the Prophet, carry a special significance in the Shiah world. The twelfth Imam, known by the name 'Abu'l-Qasim, is said to have disappeared in mysterious circumstances at the age of eight in the year 260 A.H. According to Shiah teachings, he was withdrawn from the earth and has been living ever since as the hidden Imam in 'ghaiba' (absence), in order to appear at some future date, as the world's saviour. He is the "Lord of the Age" who, living in the mysterious towns of Jabulqa and Jabulsa, will return at the time of the end and inaugurate the millennium.
(127:1)
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