Imam Muhammed b. Ismail lived in a time that had become increasingly hostile to the Ismailis, and had to therefore live in disguise and in hiding from the governing bodies of those times, in particular from the Abbasid Caliph, Haroon al-Rashid. Despite the unfavourable conditions and his humble dwelling in a small town he founded called Muhammedabad in Rey, the movement of Ismailism spread as far as India.

Imam Muhammed bin Ismail was born on the 12th of Rabi-el-Awwal, 128AH (746AD), in Medina.