The Occultation in
Shi'a IslamShia Islam , is the second largest denomination of Islam, after Sunni Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'as or Shi'ites....
refers to a belief that the messianic figure,
al-MahdiAccording to the Shia and Sunni versions of the Islamic eschatology the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on earth seven, nine, or nineteen years before the coming of the day, Yawm al-Qiyamah...
, who in Shi'a thought is an
infallible‘Iṣmah "Protection" is the concept of infallibility or "divinely bestowed freedom from error and sin" in Islam. Muslims believe that Muhammad and other prophets in Islam possessed ‘iṣmah. Twelver and Ismaili Shī‘ah Muslims also attribute the quality to Imāms and Fatima Zahra, daughter of Muhammad...
male descendant of the founder of
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
,
MuhammadMuhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh , is the founder of the religion of Islam [ إِسْلامْ ] and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets as taught by the...
, has been born but has disappeared and will one day return and fill the world with justice. Some Shi'a, such as the Zaidi and
NizariThe Shī‘a Imami Ismā‘īlī Tariqah also referred to as the Ismā‘īlī or Nizārī , are a path of Shī‘a Islām, emphasizing social justice, pluralism, and human reason within the framework of the mystical tradition of Islam. The Nizari are the second largest branch of Shia Islam and form the majority of...
Ismaili' is a branch of the Islamic faith. It is the second largest part of the Shī‘ah community, after the mainstream Twelvers...
, do not believe in the idea of the Occultation. The groups which do believe in it differ upon which lineage of imamate is correct, and therefore which individual has gone into the Occultation.
The Occultation in
Shi'a IslamShia Islam , is the second largest denomination of Islam, after Sunni Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'as or Shi'ites....
refers to a belief that the messianic figure,
al-MahdiAccording to the Shia and Sunni versions of the Islamic eschatology the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on earth seven, nine, or nineteen years before the coming of the day, Yawm al-Qiyamah...
, who in Shi'a thought is an
infallible‘Iṣmah "Protection" is the concept of infallibility or "divinely bestowed freedom from error and sin" in Islam. Muslims believe that Muhammad and other prophets in Islam possessed ‘iṣmah. Twelver and Ismaili Shī‘ah Muslims also attribute the quality to Imāms and Fatima Zahra, daughter of Muhammad...
male descendant of the founder of
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
,
MuhammadMuhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh , is the founder of the religion of Islam [ إِسْلامْ ] and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets as taught by the...
, has been born but has disappeared and will one day return and fill the world with justice. Some Shi'a, such as the Zaidi and
NizariThe Shī‘a Imami Ismā‘īlī Tariqah also referred to as the Ismā‘īlī or Nizārī , are a path of Shī‘a Islām, emphasizing social justice, pluralism, and human reason within the framework of the mystical tradition of Islam. The Nizari are the second largest branch of Shia Islam and form the majority of...
Ismaili' is a branch of the Islamic faith. It is the second largest part of the Shī‘ah community, after the mainstream Twelvers...
, do not believe in the idea of the Occultation. The groups which do believe in it differ upon which lineage of imamate is correct, and therefore which individual has gone into the Occultation. The hidden imam is still considered to be the
Imam of the TimeImāmah is the Shī‘ah doctrine of religious, spiritual and political leadership of the Ummah. The Shī‘ah believe that the A'immah are the true Caliphs or rightful successors of Muḥammad, and Twelver and Ismā‘īlī Shī‘ah further that Imams are possessed of supernatural knowledge, authority, and...
, and is seen to still have authority over the community, and continues to guide and protect individuals and the Shi'a community.
Twelver
In Twelver Shi'a Islam, the largest branch of the Shi'a faith, the
twelfth imamThe Twelve Imams are the spiritual and political successors to Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, in the Twelver or Ithna-‘ashariyyah branch of Shī‘ah Islam....
,
Muhammad al-MahdiMuhammad al-Māhdī also known as Hujjat ibn al-Hasan is the individual believed by Twelver Shī‘a Muslims to be the Māhdī, the ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams...
, went into the Occultation in 873. The Occultation according to Twelver Shi'a, is split into the
Minor Occultation and the
Major Occultation.
Minor Occultation
The
Minor Occultation (
Ghaybat al-Sughra), refers to the Twelver Shia Muslim belief in a period in the disappearance, or
OccultationThe Occultation in Shi'a Islam refers to a belief that the messianic figure, al-Mahdi, who in Shi'a thought is an infallible male descendant of the founder of Islam, Muhammad, has been born but has disappeared and will one day return and fill the world with justice. Some Shi'a, such as the Zaidi...
, of the final and twelfth Imam,
Muhammad al-MahdiMuhammad al-Māhdī also known as Hujjat ibn al-Hasan is the individual believed by Twelver Shī‘a Muslims to be the Māhdī, the ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams...
, when the Imam still maintained contact with his followers via deputies (
Arab.Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
an-nuwāb al-arbaʕa). During this period, from
874-Europe:* Ingólfur Arnarson arrives as the first permanent Viking settler in Iceland, settling in Reykjavík .* The Danes invade Mercia.* The territory of the Vistulans is conquered by King Svatopluk I of Great Moravia.-Asia:...
-
914This article is about the year 914. For the automobile, see Porsche 914.-Europe:* The town of Warwick, England is founded on the River Avon.* The Vikings conquer much of Ireland.* Ireland's first city, Waterford, is founded on the River Suir....
AD, the deputies represented him and acted as agents between him and his followers.
Shia believe that in 873, after the death of his father al-`Askari, the eleventh Imam, the 12th Imam (who was only four years old) was hidden from the authorities of the `Abbasid caliphs as a precaution. His whereabouts were disclosed only to a select few. Four of his father's close associates became mediators - known as
Saf’ir - between the Imam and his followers, until the year 941. This period is considered by Twelvers to be the first or the Minor Occultation (
al-Ghayba) of the Twelfth Imam.
Whenever the believers faced a problem, they would write their concerns and send them to his deputy. The deputy would ascertain his verdict, endorse it with his seal and signature and return it to the relevant parties. The deputies also collected
zakatZakāh or "alms giving", one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a small percentage of one's possessions to charity generally to poor and needy Muslims individual...
and
khumsKhums is the Arabic word for One Fifth . According to Shia Islamic legal terminology, it means "one-fifth of certain items which a person acquires as wealth, and which must be paid as an Islamic tax"...
on his behalf. For the Shia, the idea of consulting a hidden Imam was not something new because the two prior Shia Imams had, on occasion, met with their followers from behind a curtain.
Shia Tradition hold that four deputies acted in succession to one another:
- Uthman ibn Sa’id al-Asadi
- Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Uthman
- Abul Qasim Husayn ibn Ruh al-Nawbakhti
- Abul Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samarri
In 941 (329 AH), the 4th deputy announced an order by Muhammad al-Mahdi, that the deputy would soon die and that the deputyship would end and the period of the Major Occultation would begin.
The 4th deputy died six days later and the Shi'a Muslims continue to await the reappearance of the Mahdi. In the same year, many notable Shi'a scholars such as
Ali ibn Babwayh QummiAli ibn Babawayh Qummi was a Twelver Shi'a scholar from the time of the Ghaybat al-Sughra. He's the father of Shaikh Saduq.He wrote a letter to Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, asking for prayer for him to have a child, as doctors had told him he could not have one. Thus was always called his son, Shaikh...
and Muhammad ibn Yaqub Kulayni, the learned compiler of al-Kafi also died.
Major Occultation
In Twelver Shia Islam, the
Major Occultation refers to the longer duration of the Occultation of the final and twelfth Imam,
Muhammad al-MahdiMuhammad al-Māhdī also known as Hujjat ibn al-Hasan is the individual believed by Twelver Shī‘a Muslims to be the Māhdī, the ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams...
, continuing to the present day. Shia believe the last Saf’ir announced on his death-bed in 941 that the Twelfth Imam had decided not to appoint another Saf’ir and had entered into total occultation. From this point to the present is the Twelfth Imam's second occultation, or
Major Occultation. According to the last letter of Muhammad al-Mahdi to Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samarri "from the day of your death [the last deputy] the period of my major occultation (al ghaybatul kubra) will begin. Hence forth, no one will see me, unless and until Allah makes me appear. My reappearance will take place after a very long time when people will have grown tired of waiting and those who are weak in their faith will say: What! Is he still alive?"
Another letter from Muhammad al-Mahdi says: "Rest assured, no one has a special relationship with Allah. Whoever denies me is not from my (community). The appearance of the Relief (al-Faraj) depends solely upon Allah. Therefore those who propose a certain time for it are liars. As to the benefit of my existence in occultation, it is like the benefit of the sun behind the clouds where the eyes do not see it." - Usul Al-Kafi, Ibn Kulayni
With regards to advice for his followers during his absence, he is reported to have said: "Refer to the transmitters of our traditions, for they are my
hujja (proof) unto you and I am God’s proof unto them."
Sevener
Ismaili before the rise of the Fatimid Empire believed that
Muhammad ibn IsmailMuhammad ibn Ismail was the son of Ismail ibn Jafar and an Ismaili Imam. He is believed by Sevener Ismailis to be in the Occultation and will one day return as al-Mahdi and bring about an age of justice...
had gone into Occultation, and were called Sevener to reflect their belief in only seven imams, Muhammad's father Ismail being the last till his return. The Qarmatian Sevener branch accepted a Persian prisoner by the name of Abu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani from Isfahan, who claimed to be the descendant of the Persian kings, as the returned Muhammad ibn Ismail
and also as their Mahdi. They rampaged violently across the Middle-East in the tenth century, climaxing their bloody campaign with the stealing of the
Black StoneThe Black Stone also called as "Hijre Aswad" or "Sang-e-Sayah" in Urdu, is a Muslim relic, which according to Islamic tradition dates back to the time of Adam and Eve. Some consider it to be a tektite or a meteorite...
from the
KaabaThe Kaaba is a cuboidal building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The building predates Islam, and, according to Islamic tradition, the first building at the site was built by Abraham. The building has a mosque built around it, the Masjid al-Haram...
in
MeccaMecca , sometimes spelled Makkah is the holiest meeting site of the Islamic religion. The city is modern, cosmopolitan and whilst being closed to non-Muslims is nonetheless ethnically diverse.Islamic tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants...
in 930 under
Abu Tahir Al-JannabiAbū-Tāhir Sulaymān Al-Jannābī was the ruler of the Qarmatian state in Bahrain and Eastern Arabia, who in 930 led the sacking of Mecca.The son of ‘Abu Sa’id al-Jannabi, the founder of the Qarmatian state, Abu Tahir became leader of the state in 923...
. After the arrival of the Mahdi they changed their qiblah from the Kaaba to the Zoroastrian-influenced fire. After their return of the Black Stone in 951 and defeat by the Abbasids in 976 they slowly faded out of history and no longer have any adherents.
Mustaali
According to the
Tayyebi branchA branch of Mustaali Ismailism that split with the Fatimid supporting Hafizi branch by believing Tayyab Abī l-Qāsim was the rightful Imam. They are the surviving branch of the Mustaali and have split into Dawoodi Bohra, Sulaimani Bohra, and Alavi Bohra....
of
MustaaliThe Musta‘lī Ismā'īlī Muslims are so named because they accept al-Musta‘lī as the nineteeth Fatimid Caliph and legitimate successor to his father, al-Mustansir...
Ismaili' is a branch of the Islamic faith. It is the second largest part of the Shī‘ah community, after the mainstream Twelvers...
Shi'a
muslimsIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
, during the Occultation of the twenty-first imam,
Taiyab abi al-QasimAccording to Ṭayyibī Musta‘lid Isma‘ili Muslims, aṭ-Ṭayyib Abī l-Qāṣim was the 21st and last Fatimid Imām, the hereditary leader of the Muslim community in the direct line of ‘Ali). Abī l-Qāṣim was the son of the 20th Fatimid Imām, Mansur al-Amir Bi-Ahkamillah, ruler of Egypt from 1101-1130...
, a
Da'i al-MutlaqThe term Dāˤī al-Mutlaq literally means "the absolute or unrestricted missionary". In Ismā'īlī Islām, the term dāˤī has been used to refer to important religious leaders other than the hereditary Imāms and the Daˤwa or "Mission" is a clerical-style organisation. "The Daˤwa" was a term for the...
, meaning
unrestricted missionary, mantains contact with him. The several branches of the Mustaali differ on who the current Da'i al-Mutlaq is.
Druze
The
DruzeThe Druze are a religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other philosophies, similar to other followers of Ismaili Shi'a...
believe the imam
Al-Hakim bi-Amr AllahAbu ‘Ali Mansur Tāriqu l-Ḥākim, called Al-Hakim bi Amr al-Lāh , was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam ....
has gone into the Occultation after he disappeared in 1021 followed by the four founding
Da'iDa‘wah usually denotes preaching of Islam. Da‘wah means literally "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation", being the active participle of a verb meaning variously "to summon, to invite" . A Muslim who practices da‘wah, either as a religious worker or in a volunteer community effort, is...
of the Druze sect including
Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-AhmadHamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad was an 11th century Ismaili and founding leader of the Druze sect. He was born in Zozan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia ....
leaving the leadership to a fifth leader called Baha El-Deen. The Druze refused to acknowledge the successor of Al-Hakim as an
ImamAn imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the leader of a mosque and the community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads the prayer during Islamic gatherings. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have an Islamic question...
but accepted him as a
CaliphThe Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transliterated version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
. The faith further split from Ismailism as it developed very unique doctrines which often classes it separately from both Ismailism and Islam.
Scholarly observations
Some scholars, including
Bernard LewisBernard Lewis, FBA is a British-American historian, Orientalist, and political commentator. He is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University...
also point out, that the idea of an Imam in occultation was not new in 873 but that it was a recurring factor in Shia history.
Bahá'í views
In the
Bahá'í FaithThe Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories.The Bahá'í Faith teaches a doctrine of...
, which sees the
BábSiyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází was the founder of Bábism, and one of three central figures of the Bahá'í Faith. He was a merchant from Shíráz, Persia, who at the age of twenty-four claimed to be the promised Qá'im . After his declaration he took the title of Báb meaning "Gate"...
as fulfilling the Islamic prophecy of al-Mahdi,
Bahá'u'lláhBahá'u'lláh , born Mírzá usayn-`Alí Nuri , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith...
and
`Abdu'l-Bahá‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born `Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith...
considered the story of the Occultation of the twelfth imam in Twelver belief to have been a pious fraud conceived by a number of the leading Shí`ahs in order to maintain the coherence and continuity of the Shí`ah movement after the death of the 11th Imam, Hasan al-`Askarí.
Bahá'ísThe Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories.The Bahá'í Faith teaches a doctrine of...
believe that Sayyid `Alí Muhammad-i-Shírází, known as the Báb, is the promised Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi, who had already made his advent and fulfilled all the prophecies. The
Shaykhi movementShaykhism is an Islamic religious movement founded by Shaykh Ahmad in early 19th century Qajar Iran. It began from a combination of Sufi and Shi‘a doctrines of the end times and the day of resurrection. Today the Shaykhi populations retain a minority following in Iran and Iraq...
of the early 19th century claimed to have made preparations for the Mahdi. In 1848 the Báb and his followers began to teach more openly, and the Báb was
publicly executedOn the morning of July 9, 1850 in Tabriz, a young Persian merchant known as the Báb was charged with apostasy and shot by order of the Prime Minister of the Persian Empire...
in 1850.