A mysterious letter received by Abu al-Samarri, the last of the Four Deputies, marked the start of this period, which will end sometime after the earth becomes wicked and the hearts of its residents hardened. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this period that began in 941 CE and will last until the return of the Hidden Imam, whose absence during this period led to the rise of the Twelver jurists that filled in the power vacuum.
ANSWER: Major Occultation [or the complete occultation; or al-Ghayba al-Kubrā; accept Greater Occultation; prompt on the occultation or second occultation; reject “Minor Occultation”]
[10m] The gradual accumulation of political prestige by Twelver jurists at the expense of kings helped embolden this cleric’s advocacy of a jurist “guardianship” of the state in his 1970 book, Islamic Government, which he wrote while exiled in Najaf.
ANSWER: Ayatollah Khomeini [or Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini; reject “Khamenei”]
[10e] Velâyat-e Faqih, or the “guardianship of the Islamic Jurist,” gives jurists the right to issue these legal rulings. A particularly famous one of these rulings was issued against Salman Rushdie by Khomeini.
ANSWER: fatwas
<KT, Religion>