Tag Archives: Occultation

This Ph.D. Dissertation by Edmund Hayes seeks to answer why the doctrine of the Occultation of the Twelfth Imam was successful, among all the possible solutions to the crisis in the Imamate that were proposed in the first few years after the martyrdom of the...

The occultation (Ghaybah) of the twelfth Imam consists of two phases: one is Ghaybah al-Sughra (The lesser occultation) and the second is Ghaybah al-Kubra (The greater occultation)....

Concerning the Mahdi, the Qur’an does not mention him explicitly, either by name or by description. The time of his reappearance is also not mentioned.

At present we are living in the period of Greater Occultation which is the period of “general deputyship”. That is, guidance of the Shiites is an obligation as well as a responsibility of the grand jurists and prominent religious scholars who bear the necessary qualifications and the...

Although it is possible for the imam (as) to have a spouse and children, and such a matter is in no way in conflict with his occultation, nevertheless, there isn't any substantial hadithic reasoning that proves anything regarding this subject. It can be said that just as how Allah (swt) wished for...

Supposing that the hypothesis of the Expected Leader and all that it comprehends of prolonged life, early leadership and a silent absence, is possible, that would not be enough proof for his existence, thus, how can we indeed believe in the existence of...

This article addresses the necessity of the existence of the Representative of Allah on the earth at any time. The opponents of Shi’a protest that although Shi’a consider the Imam necessary in order to expound the injunctions and verities of religion and to guide the people, the occultation of the Imam is the negation of....

The history of the development of the Jaʿfarī Shiʿa Islamic legal school has always fascinated me, all the more so when I continuously observed that existing academic works in the English language purporting to discuss the origins and development of the...

The reason behind the occultation of the Imam of the Age is steeped in divine mystery; and it is possible that we will never be able to fathom it in all its profundity....

Edmund Hayes provides an innovative approach to exploring early Shiʿism, moving beyond doctrinal history to provide an analysis of the socio-political processes leading to the canonisation of the Occultation of the...