In one of them...

In one of them, he will be present during the Hajj season; he will see the people but they will not be able see him.” `Iqd al-durar[^9]: From (Imam) Abū `Abd-Allah al-Ḥusayn b. `Alī, peace be on him, who said: “The master of this affair—meaning the Mahdī, peace be on him—will have two occultations.

One of them will become so elongated that some will say, ‘he has died,’ others will say, ‘he has been killed,’ and others will say, ‘he has gone.’ No one will be aware of his whereabouts, not his friends nor anybody else, except the servants who look after his affairs.” The following tradition also proves the above concept: 254. [^1]: Al-Kāfī, vol. 1, chap. “Fī l-ghayba,” p. 340, no. 19; Mir`āt al-`uqūl, vol. 4, p. 52, no. 19; Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 10, p. 170, no. 2, with a slight difference.

Al-Nu`mānī has also recorded this tradition on p.170, no. 1: “From ibn `Uqda, from `Alī b. al-Ḥasan al-Taimulī, from `Umar b. Uthmān, from al-Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb, from Isḥāq b. `Ammār al-Ṣairafī, from (Imam) Abū `Abd-Allah, peace be on him, who said, ‘The Qā’im will have two occultations: one will be long and the other short. In the first occultation, his special followers (khāṣṣatu shī`atih) will know his whereabouts.

As for the other, no one will know his whereabouts except his special servants.’” In this tradition, the long occultation has been mentioned before the shorter one which should have been first. This does not affect our goal and intention for mentioning this tradition. [^2]: Yanābī` al-mawadda, chap. 71, p. 427; al-Maḥajja fī mā nazala fī l-Qā’im al-Ḥujja, p. 200, under verse 43:28. [^3]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, p. 171, no. 3. [^4]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, pp. 171–172, no. 5. [^5]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, pp.

172–173, no. 7; Dalā’il al-imāma, sect. “Ma`rifat mā warada min al-akhbār fī wujūb al-ghayba,” p. 293, to his saying: “He said, ‘Yes.’” [^6]: Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, p. 173, no. 8. [^7]: Al-Kāfī, vol. 1, chap. 138, p. 340, no. 12; Ghaybat al-Nu`mānī, chap. 10, pp. 175–176, no. 9, which says: “He will return in one of them” and “Then ask him about those great matters that only someone like him can answer”; Mir`āt al-`uqūl, vol. 4, p. 54, no. 20.