The Four Deputies

The Four Deputies or Gates (Arabic: أبواب‎)[1], in Twelver Shia Islam, were the four individuals who served as messengers between the community and the twelfth and final Imam, upon his going into the Minor Occultation. The deputies are also referred to with the Arabic terms Safir (emissary), Na'ib (deputy)[2] or Wakil (advocate).[3][4]

Twelver tradition holds that four deputies acted in succession to one another from 873–941 CE:

  1. Uthman ibn Sa’id al-Asadi († 873-80)
  2. Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Sa’id al-Asadi († 917)
  3. Abul Qasim Husayn ibn Ruh al-Nawbakhti († 938)
  4. Abul Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samarri († 941)

The Major Occultation began following the death of the last deputy and, according the Shia doctrine, will continue until the return of the Mahdi.

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopaedia Iranica (2011). BĀB (1)
  2. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Coeli; Walker, Adam Hani, eds. (2014). Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God [2 volumes] (illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 644. ISBN 9781610691789.
  3. ↑ Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi. Divine Guide in Early Shi'ism, The: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam. SUNY Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780791494790.
  4. ↑ The Essence of Islam. Concept Publishing Company. 2012. p. 195. ISBN 9788180698323.
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