Satr,聽鈥渃oncealment鈥, a term used in a variety of senses, particularly by the聽滨蝉尘补鈥榠濒颈测测补.
The聽Isma鈥榠lis聽originally used it in reference to a period in their early history, called聽dawr al-satrLit. 鈥榩eriod of concealment鈥. Al-Q膩岣嵞 al-Nu士m膩n (d. 974) uses the term dawr al-satr to refer to the period of around 150 years in which the Isma鈥榠li imams were hidden from…, stretching from soon after the death of聽Imam聽Ja鈥榝ar al-Sadiq in 148/765 CE to the establishment of the Fatimid state in 297/909 CE.
The Isma鈥榠li聽imamIn general usage, a leader of prayers or religious leader. The Shi’i restrict the term to their spiritual leaders descended from 士Al墨 b. Ab墨 峁乴ib and the Prophet’s daughter, Fatima., recognised as the聽qa鈥檌m聽or聽mahdi聽by the majority of the early聽Isma鈥榠lis, was out of the public domain (mastur) during this period of concealment; in his absence, he was represented by聽hudjdjas (see Ja鈥榝ar b. Mansur al-Yaman,聽Kitab al-Kahf, ed. R. Strothmann, London 1952, 98-9; al-Shahrastani, 146). Later, the聽Isma鈥榠lis聽of the Fatimid period, who allowed for continuity in their聽imamate, recognised a series of three such聽imams between聽Imam聽Muhammad b. Isma鈥榠l b. Ja鈥榝ar, their seventh聽imam, and聽Imam聽鈥楢bd Allah al-Mahdi, founder of the Fatimid dynasty (see H.F. al-Hamdani,聽On the genealogy of Fatimid caliphs, Cairo 1958, text 11-14).
Author
Dr Farhad Daftary
Co-Director and Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications
An authority in Shi’i studies, with special reference to its Ismaili tradition, Dr. Daftary has published and lectured widely in these fields of Islamic studies. In 2011 a Festschrift entitled聽Fortresses of the Intellect聽was produced to honour Dr. Daftary by a number of his colleagues and peers.