A Comparison Between the Occultation of Prophet Adam and the Occultation of Imam al-Mahdi

Occultation is among the divine practices that also occurred in the case of earlier prophets. One example is the occultation of Prophet Adam, which was more severe than the occultation of Imam al-Mahdi.

Occultation is the most important test for the Prophet’s community in the end times, because faith in an imam who is present and visible becomes faith in an imam who is present yet hidden. Believing in something beyond a person’s outward senses is not only difficult; it also provides an occasion for devils to cast doubts and engage in mischief. For this reason, the Noble Qur’an identifies “faith in the unseen” as a quality of the pious, for whose guidance the Qur’an was sent down (Qur’an 2:2–3). Indeed, calling people to believe in truths absent from their senses has been among the most difficult tasks of the prophets.

For example, one instance of faith in the unseen is the call to worship a God who cannot be seen and whose existence and being must be established through the faculty of reason.

Faith in the hidden Proof is likewise among God’s practices among His creatures. In other words, believing in a Proof concealed from sight requires insight and firm faith, because the hiddenness of God’s Proof is the best ground for Satan and the devils to cast doubts. Can one truly believe in a Proof who is not seen? Were monotheists living in earlier communities subjected to such a difficult test?

Because the occultation of God’s Proof always gives rise to various questions and inquiries, devils exploit this opportunity and spread doubts. Yet so long as believers remain close to the Qur’an and the narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt, the plotting of devils will lead nowhere.

In the noble verse, “And when your Lord said to the angels: ‘Indeed, I am placing a vicegerent on the earth,’” there is strong evidence for the validity of occultation in imamate. For through this statement—“I have placed My vicegerent on the earth”—the angels were obliged to believe that this vicegerent was God’s Proof and that obeying him was obligatory. Even God’s enemy, Satan, though hypocritically, believed in this hidden Proof.

This noble verse refers to the concealment of the Proof from creatures, because before the creation of Prophet Adam, the angels had to believe in him. Occultation before existence is a higher and more severe form of occultation, for before Adam the angels had not seen God’s vicegerent on earth. Before the occultation of Imam al-Mahdi, however, humanity had witnessed the presence of the earlier imams and prophets, as indicated by the Qur’an and by the recurrent transmission of narrations and reports from earlier generations.

Thus, this occultation was harder for the angels than the occultation faced by Shi‘is during the occultation of the Twelfth Imam. Moreover, the occultation of God’s final Proof occurred because of the many enemies and out of fear of being killed (1); whereas Adam’s absence from the angels occurred by God’s will and without the hostility of a group of oppressors.

Shi‘i narrations state that seven hundred years passed from this statement of God until the creation of Prophet Adam on earth. During this period, the angels had to have faith in and belief in this divine Proof. Thus, Adam remained in occultation for seven hundred years, and during that time God granted the angels the reward for faith in the unseen.

If an opponent does not accept the narration about the seven-hundred-year interval between the Lord’s announcement and the angels, the occultation of Prophet Adam may still be argued from the apparent meaning of the verse itself, without considering the narration.

That is, from the moment God informed the angels that He intended to place a vicegerent on earth until the time He created Prophet Adam, there must have been an interval, even if only one or two hours. Therefore, even within one hour occultation occurred: belief in the Proof was obligatory for the angels, while the Proof remained behind the veil of occultation, and the angels had to believe in the hidden Proof during that time, however brief.

Consequently, the verses of the Qur’an clearly point to a divine practice: a practice according to which the Proof and Imam remain hidden from the eyes of followers and Shi‘is. This practice has come to pass with regard to the Twelfth Imam of the Shi‘is.

Adapted from the introduction to Shaykh al-Saduq’s Kamal al-Din, vol. 1, p. 11.

1. One of the wisdoms of occultation is the preservation of the life of Imam al-Mahdi.