2. The Imamat & Ghaybat
AfterthemartyrdomofImamHasanal-‘Askariin 260 A.H.,theimamate
of Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi (may Allāh hasten his appearance)
began.Hisimamateisdividedintotwoparts:1.Thefirst 69 yearswhich
isknown as theperiod of“al-Ghaybatu ’s-Sughra—the MinorOcculta-
tion”. 2.The period after 329 A.H. which is known as “al-Ghaybatu ’l-
Kubra— the Major Occultation”.
TheimamateofImamal-Mahdi(a.s.)beganwithOccultation(ghaybat)
whichhascontinued tillthepresent time.However,duringthe first 69
years,theShi‘ascouldgetintouchwiththeImamonlythroughhisspe-
ciallyappointedagents;whereasafter 329 A.H.,nosuchagentswereap-
pointed.ToexplainthedifferenceintheintensityoftheOccultation,the
firstperiodisdescribedas“minor,lesser,sughraorqasira,”whereasthe
second period is described as “major, greater,kubraortawila.”
IftheOccultationhadtakenits“major”formfromdayone,theShi‘a
communitycouldnothaveadjustedtothesituationeasily;therewould
havebeen greatchaosandconfusion. Thegradualintensificationinthe
Occultation made the Shi‘as used to the idea of not dealing with the
Imam directly.[48]