He was a companion of the 11th Shia Imam Hasan al-Askari and was designated as the fourth and last of the The Four Deputies for a period of 3 years after the death of the third deputy Abul Qasim Husayn ibn Ruh al-Nawbakhti.
Former apartheid Askari was released from the Pretoria Central Prison on parole after he had served 22 years of a life sentence.
He was very knowledgeable and despite being confined to house arrest for almost his entire life, Hasan al-Askari was able to teach others about Islam, and even compiled a commentary on the Qur'an that would be used by later scholars.
Hasan al-Askari | Rashid Askari | Askari | Abi Helal al-'Askari al Balaghi | 2007 al-Askari Mosque bombing | 2006 al-Askari Mosque bombing |
During this time he marched over 2700 kilometres in pursuit of General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck's askari battalions.
She narrowly escaped death in a close encounter with a lion (thinking the visitor one night was a hyaena, she left her tent to chase it off with a pail, realising her mistake too late to retreat: she was so close to the lion she could have touched it), and twice with charging rhinos that missed her by inches; she climbed two mountains (Ol Doinyo Orok and Longido); and she killed no animals except, at the request of the local Maasai, a man-eating lioness, shot by her askari.