The Importance of Having an Imam on Earth

Farhad Daf: Ismaelis and other Shis get themselves into a similar situation. If the Imam is in occultation you don't have this access to living revelation. That has happened for the 12 Shis since the time of the occultation of their 12th Imam in the 874. Next time I'll actually be looking at the Sunni side of the story to some extent because I'll be speaking about Asha'ism which becomes a dominant form of theology or kalam in the Sunni tradition as the centuries roll forward.