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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Occultation

Scholarly observations
Some scholars, including Bernard Lewis[10] also point out, that the idea of an 
Imam in occultation was not new in 
873 but that it was a recurring factor in Shia history. Examples of this 
include the cases of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah (according to the Kaysanites 
Shia), Muhammad ibn Abdallah An-Nafs Az-Zakiyya, Musa al-Kadhim (according to 
the Waqifite Shia), Muhammad ibn Qasim (al-Alawi), Yahya ibn Umar and Muhammad 
ibn Ali al-Hadi.
[edit] Bahá'í views
In the Bahá'í Faith, which sees the Báb as fulfilling the Islamic prophecy of 
al-Mahdi, Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá considered the story of the Occultation 
of the twelfth imam in Twelver belief to have been a pious fraud conceived by a 
number of the leading Shí`ahs in order to maintain the 
coherence and continuity of the Shí`ah movement after the death of the 
11th Imam, Hasan al-`Askarí.[11] Bahá'ís believe that Sayyid `Alí 
Muhammad-i-Shírází, known as the Báb, is the 
promised Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi, who had already made his advent and 
fulfilled all the prophecies. The Shaykhi movement of the early 19th century 
claimed to have made preparations for the 
Mahdi. In 1848 the Báb and his followers began to teach more openly, and the 
Báb was publicly executed in 1850.[citation needed]

If you think about it, it really an absurd theory, the Occulation being a pious 
fiction. 

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