The Four Deputies

The Four Deputies or Gates (Arabic: abwāb, singular: bāb ), in Twelver Shia Islam, were the four individuals who served as messengers between the community and the twelfth and final Imam, upon him going into the Minor Occultation. The deputies are also referred to with the Arabic terms Safir (emissary), Na'ib (deputy) or Wakil (advocate).

Twelver tradition holds that four deputies acted in succession to one another from 873–941 CE:

1. Uthman ibn Sa’id al-Asadi († 873-80)
2. Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Sa’id al-Asadi († 917)
3. Abul Qasim Husayn ibn Ruh al-Nawbakhti († 938)
4. Abul Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samarri († 941)

The Major Occultation began following the death of the last deputy and will continue until the return of the Mahdi.