The Occultation
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The 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 and Nizari Ismaili, 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 Time, and is seen to still have authority over the community, and continues to guide and protect individuals and the Shi'a community.
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[edit] Twelver
In Twelver Shi'a Islam, the largest branch of the Shi'a faith, the twelfth imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, went into the Occultation. The Occultation according to Twelver Shi'a, is split into the Minor Occultation and the Major Occultation.
[edit] Bahá'í View
In the Bahá'í Faith, which sees the Báb as fulfilling the Islamic prophecy of al-Mahdi, Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá considered the story of the Cccultation of the twelfth imam 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 [1]. Bahá'ís believe that Siyyid `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 movement 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 executed in 1850.
[edit] Ismaili
[edit] Sevener
Ismailii before the rise of the Fatimid Empire used to believe that Muhammad ibn Ismail had gone into Occultation, and were called Sevener to reflect their belief in only seven imams. The Qarmatian Sevener branch accepted a Persian prisoner,a young 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.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] as their Mahdi, and violently rampaged across the Middle-East in the tenth century, climaxing their bloody campaign with the stealing of the Black Stone from the Kaaba in Mecca in 930 under Abu Tahir Al-Jannabi. 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.[8]
[edit] Mustaali
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In Mustaali Ismaili Shi'a Islam, during the Occultation of the twenty-first imam, Taiyab abi al-Qasim, a Da'i al-Mutlaq, meaning unrestricted missionary, mantains contact with him. The three branches of the Mustaali, the Alavi Bohra, Sulaimani Bohra, and Dawoodi Bohra differ on who the current Da'i al-Mutlaq is.
[edit] Druze
Druze believe the imam Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah has gone into the Occultation. Born in 386 AH (985 AD), he ascended as ruler at the age of eleven and was feared for his eccentricity and believed insanity. The typical religiously tolerant Fatimid Empire saw much persecution under his reign. When in 411 AH (1021 AD) his mule returned without him, soaked in blood, a religious group that was even forming in his lifetime broke off from mainstream Ismailism and refused to acknowledge his successor. Later to be known as the Druze, they believe Al-Hakim to be the incarnation of Allah and the prophecized Mahdi, who would one day return and bring justice to the world. [9] The faith further split from Ismailism as it developed very unique doctrines which often classes it separately from both Ismailism and Islam.
[edit] Scholarly observations
Some scholars, including Bernard Lewis[10] 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Abbas Amanat, Magnus Thorkell. Imagining the End: Visions of Apocalypse, 123.
- ^ Delia Cortese, Simonetta Calderini. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam, 26.
- ^ Abbas Amanat, Magnus Thorkell. Imagining the End: Visions of Apocalypse, 123.
- ^ Abū Yaʻqūb Al-Sijistānī. Early Philosophical Shiism: The Ismaili Neoplatonism, 161.
- ^ by Yuri Stoyanov. The Other God: Dualist Religions from Antiquity to the Cathar Heresy.
- ^ Gustave Edmund Von Grunebaum. Classical Islam: A History, 600-1258, 113.
- ^ Yuri Stoyanov. The Other God: Dualist Religions from Antiquity to the Cathar Heresy.
- ^ Qarmatiyyah. Retrieved on 2007-04-24.
- ^ al-Hakim bi Amr Allah: Fatimid Caliph of Egypt. Retrieved on 2007-04-24.
- ^ The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam, Bernard Lewis, pp. 23, 35, 49.
