Imam Al-Askari (a.s.) grew up in the house of guidance and the center of Imamate and general authority of Muslims. He was from the noble house whose people Allah had kept uncleanness away from and purified thoroughly.
Ash-Shabrawi says regarding this exalted house, ‘What an honourable house it is and what a glorious lineage it is! It is the house of pride and exaltation. They are all equal in the noble root, in the good inners, and in glory like the teeth of a comb. How exalted a house it is! It has all qualities of perfection to the extent that it is not excepted by limitations such as “other than” or “except”. These imams have been ordered in glory like the order of pearls, and harmonized in honor that the first of them equals the next. Many were those who strove to degrade this house but Allah exalted and still exalts it, and many were those who spared no effort to separate the unity of this house but Allah gathered and gathers it. How many rights of this house were lost but Allah does not ignore or lose…’
Scholarly studies note that one’s household has great influence on the forming of man’s behavior and the building of his personality. The good or bad scenes he sees inside the house are impressed upon him and adhere to him throughout his life. In the light of this fact, Imam Abu Muhammad (a.s.) obtained the best scenes of the purest education. He grew up in a house that Allah had purified and exalted … the house that raised the Word of Allah high in the Earth and offered dear sacrifices for the sake of Islam.