Minor Occultation

The Minor Occultation (Arabic: الغيبة الصغرى, al-Ghayba al-Ṣughrā), also known as the First Occultation (Arabic: الغيبة الأولى, al-Ghayba al-Ūlā), refers in Twelver Shia Islam to a period of nearly seventy years (874–941 CE) during which the Hidden Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is believed to have communicated regularly with his followers through the Four Deputies. This period was followed by the Major Occultation (941–present), where there is no agent of the Mahdi, whose reappearance is expected to fill the earth with justice and peace in the end times.