At this time...

At this time, Hazrat (as) possessed all the qualities and the divine knowledge that was bestowed upon the previous Imams (as), by the Almighty. In the same way as Hazrat Yahya (as) in his childhood and Hazrat Isa (as) in his infancy was favoured with the divine office of Prophethood by Allah.[^8] Although all the Imams (as) were holding the divine office of wilayat, the efforts of the enemies to eliminate the twelfth Imam (as) were maximum.

Hence Imam az-Zaman (as) was entrusted to ghaibat and being away from the sight of people, he had to fulfill all the duties of an Imam. It is said that the concealed life of Hazrat Mahdi (aj) is not something extraordinary. Rather, in the life of so many Prophets (as) and even Imams (as) it is seen, that they were at some time, in concealment from the people.

The Holy Quran records the concealment of various prophets (as) like Hazrat Ibrahim (as)[^9], Hazrat Musa (as)[^10] and Hazrat Isa (as)[^11]. The Holy Prophet (S) and the Imams (as) had pointed out to the people the imminent occultation of their last proof (Imam Mahdi-aj), so that no doubt or misunderstanding should remain, regarding this problem.

The occultation (Ghaibat) of the twelfth Imam consists of two phases: one is Ghaibat al-Sughra (The lesser occultation) and the second is Ghaibat al-Kubra (The greater occultation). Imam Ja’far as Sadiq (as) said: 'There are two occultations for Qaem. One is short and the other prolonged. In the short occultation only the special shias will know of his whereabouts.

And in the longer occultation only his trustworthy servants will know where he is"[^12] According to the well-known reports, the lesser occultation (ghaibat al-sugra) commenced from the year of his Imamat in 260 A.H and continued for 69 years. Some of the scholars like Shaykh Mufeed and Syed Mohsin Amin Amili maintain that ghaibat al-sugra began right from the time of his birth.[^13] Because, even in those early years, Hazrat (aj) was concealed from the common people.

According to this method, the period of ghaibat al-sugra comes to seventy four years. During the period of ghaibat al-sugra. Imam Mahdi (aj) himself appointed his deputies from among the righteous shias. Four of them succeeded each other and continued to fulfill the duty of intermediaries. These four personalities conveyed the questions and problems to Imam (aj) and brought back the Imam's (aj) answers for the people. The first of these deputies was Janab Abu Amroo Usman Bin Saeed Amri.