Hence the Imam in the Tawqi denies that he will have any...
Hence the Imam in the Tawqi denies that he will have any personal Saf’ir during the second occultation before his return: “And someone shall come to my partisans (Shi’a) claiming that he has seen me; but beware of anyone claiming to have seen me before the rise of al-Sufyani and the outcry from the sky, for he shall be a slanderous liar” .[^15] The highly developed activities of the organization, which continued for about 69 years between the years 260-329/874-941 were ended by the death-bed statement of the fourth Saf’ir as regards his successor: God would do what He wished in this matter, "Li - llah a mr huwa balighuh." [^16] Thirdly, the Tawqi’ announces the beginning of the second, or the complete occultation ( Fa - qad waqa T.
al - Ghayba al - Thaniya aw al - Tamma )[^17], which al-Nu'mani describes as the period of confusion, al-Hayra[^18]. Al-Mufid calls it the longer occultation ( al - Ghayba al - Tula) , whereas the later Imamites refer to it as the major occultation (al-Ghayba al-Kubra)[^19]. Fourthly, there can be no appearance of the Imam until Allah gives him His permission.
His return will take place when it becomes far from the expectation of the people because of the hardening of their hearts and the filling of the world with tyranny[^20]. Fifthly, the Tawqi' indicates that the appearance of the Imam will be preceded by two inevitable signs, that is the rise of al-Sufyani, who according to early traditions will rise and dominate Syria, and the outcry in the sky in the name of the Imam. After quoting the-Tawqi' Rajkowski states as follows: “. . .
this document is a clear indication that the leaders of al-Shi’a al-Qat’iyya had lost hope in the speedy arrival of al-Mahdi and thought that the moment of al-Zuhur might still be very distant; so that it was no longer possible to keep up the pretences of direct communication between the successive Ambassador and the Sahib al-Zaman. It was better to leave the Shiites without an official mediator, and rely only on al-Mahdi's invisible protection and inspiration”.
[^21] Rajkowski seems to be suggesting that the eleventh Imam died heirless and the leading Imamites invented the idea of the occultation (al - Ghayba) and claimed that the Saf’irs had direct communications with al-’Askari's successor. Rajkowski's theory seems to have inspired Jihad al-Hasani to hold similar views concerning the role of the four Saf’irs. He says, “...