Minor Occultation

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Ahl al-Kisa Muhammad Ali Fatima Hasan Husayn
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The Minor Occultation (Arabic: ٱلْغَيْبَة ٱلصُّغْرَىٰ, al-Ghaybah aṣ-Ṣughrā), also known as the First Occultation (Arabic: ٱلْغَيْبَة ٱلْأُولَىٰ, al-Ghaybah al-ʾŪlā), refers in Twelver Shia Islam to a period of nearly seventy years (874–941 CE, 260–329 AH) during which the Hidden Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is believed to have communicated regularly with his followers through four successive agents. This period was followed by the Major Occultation (941–present), where there is no agent of the Hidden Imam, whose reappearance is expected by the Twelvers to fill the earth with justice and peace in the end of time.