Minor Occultation

Template:Short description Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists The Minor Occultation (Template:Langx, ), also known as the First Occultation (Template:Langx, ), refers in Twelver Shia Islam to a period of nearly seventy years (874–941 CE, 260–329 AH) during which the Hidden Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is believed to have communicated regularly with his followers through four successive agents. This period was followed by the Major Occultation (941–present), where there is no agent of the Hidden Imam, whose reappearance is expected by the Twelvers to fill the earth with justice and peace in the end of time.

Historical background

Until their deaths, the tenth and eleventh Shia Imams (Ali al-Hadi and Hasan al-Askari, respectively) were held under close surveillance in the garrison town of Samarra by the Abbasids,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn who are often responsible in Shia sources for poisoning the two Imams.Template:Sfn The two Imams witnessed the deterioration of the Abbasid caliphate,Template:Sfn as the imperial authority rapidly transitioned into the hands of the Turks,Template:Sfn particularly after al-Mutawakkil.Template:Sfn

Contemporary to the tenth Imam, the Abbasid al-Mutawakkil violently prosecuted the Shia,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn partly due to the renewed Zaydi opposition.Template:Sfn The restrictive policies of al-Mutawakkil towards the tenth Imam were later adopted by his son, al-Mu'tamid, who is reported to have kept the eleventh Imam under house arrest without any visitors.Template:Sfn Instead, al-Askari is known to have mainly communicated with his followers through a network of representatives.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Among them was Uthman ibn Sa'id,Template:Sfn who is said to have disguised himself as a seller of cooking fat to avoid the Abbasid agents, hence his nickname al-Samman.Template:Sfn

Tabatabai suggests that these restrictions were placed on al-Askari because the caliphate had come to know about traditions among the Shia elite, predicting that the eleventh Imam would father the eschatological Mahdi.Template:Sfn

Underground network

The underground network of representatives might date back to Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Imam, in response to the Abbasid restrictions on him. At the time, the main purpose of this network was to collect the Islamic alms, such as and .Template:Sfn The Abbasid al-Rashid is said to have carried out a campaign of arrests in 179 (795) to decimate this underground network which ultimately led to the arrest of Musa al-Kazim, the seventh Imam, and his death in prison.Template:Sfn

By the time of Muhammad al-Jawad, the ninth Imam, some of the representatives took administrative and military roles in the caliphate by practicing religious dissimulation ().Template:Sfn The underground network of Ali al-Hadi, the tenth Imam, was highly developed, especially in Samarra, Baghdad, Mada'in, and Sawad. However, a campaign of arrests and the subsequent tortures by the Abbasid al-Mutawakkil (Template:Reign) might have led the caliph to discover that the Imam was behind their activities. Al-Mutawakkil then summoned the Imam to Samarra, where he was kept under close surveillance and possibly house arrest.Template:Sfn According to Hussain, restrictions on the later Imams inevitably expanded the role and authority of their representatives, particularly their main agent ().Template:Sfn By performing certain functions of the Imams, these representatives might have hoped to save the Imams from the political pressure of the Abbasids.Template:Sfn

Deputies

Immediately after the death of al-Askari in 260 (873–874),Template:Sfn Uthman al-Amri (Template:Died in) claimed that al-Askari had a young son, named Muhammad, who had entered a state of occultation () due to the Abbasid threat to his life.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn As the special representative of al-Askari, Uthman also claimed that he had been appointed to represent the son of the eleventh Imam.Template:Sfn A Shia tradition attributed to the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq, states that this threat was specific to Muhammad al-Mahdi, who was expected to rise, unlike his predecessors who practiced religious dissimulation () and were politically quiescent.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Twelver sources detail that al-Mahdi made his only public appearance to lead the funeral prayer for his father instead of his uncle, Ja'far.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It is also said that the occultation took place in the family home in Samarra, where currently a mosque stands, under which there is a cellar () that hides a well (Bi'r al-Ghayba, Template:Lit). Into this well, al-Mahdi is said to have disappeared.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In his new capacity as the caretaker of the office of imamate,Template:Sfn Uthman received petitions and made available their responses, sometimes in writing.Template:Sfn As the closest associate of al-Askari,Template:Sfn most of al-Askari's local representatives continued to support Uthman.Template:Sfn However, there might have been doubts among the Shia about his authority to collect and manage the religious funds.Template:Sfn

Uthman later introduced his son, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Uthman (Template:Died in), as the next representative of al-Mahdi.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Abu Ja'far, who served for some forty years, has been credited with the unification of the mainstream Shia behind the son of al-Askari as the twelfth Imam in concealment.Template:Sfn In turn, as his replacement, Abu Ja'far nominated Abu al-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Ruh al-Nawbakhti (Template:Died in), who is said to have been a well-respected figure in the Abbasid court.Template:Sfn Under Abu al-Qasim, it is reported that the communications with the Hidden Imam resumed after a lapse of about twenty-five years.Template:Sfn

This period, later termed the Minor Occultation (),Template:Sfn ended after about seventy years with the death of the fourth agent, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samarri (Template:Died in),Template:Sfn who is said to have received a letter from al-Mahdi shortly before his death.Template:Sfn The letter predicted the death of Abu al-Hasan in six days and announced the beginning of the complete () occultation,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn later called the Major Occultation ().Template:Sfn The letter, ascribed to al-Mahdi, added that the complete occultation would continue until God granted him permission to manifest himself again in a time when the earth would be filled with tyranny.Template:Sfn The letter emphasized that anyone claiming to be the deputy of the Imam henceforth had to be considered an imposter.Template:Sfn This and similar letters to the four agents and other Shia figures are reported to have had the same handwriting, suggesting that they were written by the Hidden Imam.Template:Sfn

Shia authority in this period

The number of these agents was not limited to four in early Shia sources.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Sachedina suggests that the later stress of the Twelver literature on the four deputies (Template:Sfn) was likely due to their prominence in Baghdad, the Shia center of the time.Template:Sfn Similarly, Momen reckons that al-Askari's network of the representatives () likely continued to operate during the Minor Occultation of al-Mahdi.Template:Sfn Indeed, Ibn Babawayh (Template:Died in) speaks of other trusted men of the Hidden Imam in different cities in addition to the four agents.Template:Sfn Sachedina writes that the Shia community lacked a notable figure to replace the fourth agent after his death.Template:Sfn

The authority of the four agents on behalf of the Hidden Imam was challenged by some Shia figures, more so during the term of the third agent, al-Nawbakhti.Template:Sfn For instance, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shalmaghani turned against al-Nawbakhti and claimed to be the rightful agent of al-Mahdi, before denouncing the concept of occultation as a lie.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Another instance was a disciple of al-Askari, named al-Karkhi, who was later condemned in a rescript, said to be written by al-Mahdi.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Some miracles are also ascribed to the four agents, perceived by the faithful to be the result of their initiation by the Hidden Imam.Template:Sfn

Shia community in this period

At the time, the occultation of al-Mahdi was likely not a radical change for his followers. Indeed, the tenth and eleventh Imams were already effectively in occultation for the majority of the Shia, as both Imams were held nearly isolated in Samarra by the Abbasid caliphs.Template:Sfn It also appears that the idea of occultation was a well-established concept for the Shia, and the related traditions were already in circulation among them. These traditions forecasted the occultation and rise of a future Imam,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn referred to as al-Qa'im (Template:Lit) and less frequently as al-Mahdi.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These traditions were appropriated by various Shia sects in different periods. For instance, they were used by the Waqifites to argue that Musa al-Kazim, the seventh Imam, had not died but was in occultation.Template:Sfn Even earlier, the now-extinct Kaysanites denied the death of Muḥammad ibn al-Hanafiyya and awaited his return.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The political situation of the Shia in Iraq improved after the rise of the Buyid dynasty in the fourth (tenth) century.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Perhaps it was the relative safety of the Shia that prompted the second agent to issue a rescript to the effect that al-Mahdi remained in occultation to avoid the burden of commitment () to unjust rulers of the time who were the usurpers of the Imam's right in the Shia view.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Ibn Babawayh (Template:Died in) suggested that the situation remains unknown until the reappearance of al-Mahdi but also added that the large population of the Shia did not necessarily guarantee his safety.Template:Sfn

Nevertheless, many did not expect the occultation to continue beyond six years or beyond the fortieth birthday of al-Mahdi,Template:Sfn and this might have contributed to an atmosphere of doubt and uncertainty among the Shia.Template:Sfn According to Modarressi, these doubts gradually disappeared from the Shia community, possibly due to the efforts of the Shia traditionists during the period of transition to the Major Occultation.Template:Sfn These traditionists heavily relied on prophetic traditions and specific interpretations of the Quran to vindicate the imamate of al-Mahdi.Template:Sfn In this period, possibly after 295 (908), Shia traditionists also settled the number of Imams with the help of a Sunni hadith, in circulation long before the occultation, which stated that the prophet would be followed by twelve successors. The Hidden Imam was thus also the last Imam.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

See also

• The Twelve Imams
• The Fourteen Infallibles
• Eschatology
  • Islamic eschatology
• Du'a Nudba
• Occultation (Islam), on the broader concept of occultation in Shia Islam
  • Major Occultation, the second period of occultation, lasting from 941 until present
• Kitab al-Ghayba (al-Nu'mani), a work on the topic by the 10th-century Twelver Shia scholar Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Nu'mani
• Kitab al-Ghayba (al-Tusi), a work on the topic by the 11th-century Twelver Shia scholar al-Shaykh al-Tusi
• Rajʿa ('return'), the concomitant concept of return after occultation
  • Reappearance of Muhammad al-Mahdi, the concept of return in Twelver Shi'ism
  • Signs of the appearance of the Mahdi (in broader Islam)
• Network of agents (Wikalah)