Major Occultation
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In Twelver Shia Islam, the Major Occultation (Arabic: الغيبة الكبرى, al-Ghayba al-Kubrā) (329 AH–present; 941 CE–present) is the second occultation of the Hidden Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, which is expected to continue until his rise at the end of time to establish peace and justice on earth. While Muslim groups and sects disagree about the identity of the eschatological Mahdi, and whether he was born or not already, most Muslims believe in the figure of al-Mahdi owing to the numerous prophetical traditions in canonical Sunni and Shia sources mentioning him.
The Major Occultation began in 329 AH (941 CE) with the death of the fourth successive agent of the Hidden Imam, Abu al-Hasan al-Samarri, marking the end of the Minor Occultation (260-329 AH, 874-941 CE). According to Twelver sources, shortly before his death, al-Samarri received a letter from the Hidden Imam, which predicted his imminent death, ordered him not to designate a successor, and announced the beginning of the "complete occultation," in which there would be no agent of the Hidden Imam, though he is believed by the Twelvers to remain responsible for the affairs of men and their inward spiritual guidance during the occultation.
The concept of occultation was already present among Muslims in the 7th century since the Kaysanites who believed Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya (637–700), son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, was the Mahdi. After his death in 700, some Kaysanites thought he had entered occultation (ghayba) until his reappearance. In particular, the Twelver belief of occultation crystallized in the first half of the fourth (tenth) century based on rational and textual tradition and arguments, following the start of the Major occultation in 941. Twelver belief in occultation entails that the life of Muhammad al-Mahdi has been miraculously prolonged, arguing that the earth cannot be void of the Imam as the highest proof of God. In the absence of the Hidden Imam after 941, the leadership vacuum in the Twelver community was gradually filled by jurists. It is popularly held that the Hidden Imam occasionally appears to the pious, and the accounts of these encounters are numerous and widespread among the Twelvers.