Before Imam Mahdi (a.s) began the major occultation, he sent an epistle to his last special deputy Janab Ali Ibne Muhammad Saymoori (a.r.) in which the following was written:

_"The full occultation has begun and there shall be no appearance, but after Divine permission, and that shall be after a long time, after the hardening of the hearts, and the earth’s repletion with inequity. Individuals who will claim they have seen me will come to my Shia. Behold, whoever claims seeing me before the rise of Sufyani and the call (from the sky), is a liar and a slanderer."_

In this chapter the learned author has reconciled that this does not contradict with the incidents of meeting him recorded in the previous chapter.

He quotes Allamah Majlisi (a.r.) as follows:

_The (denial of meeting) implies refutation of one, who claims of having met the Imam in the capacity of his deputyship and in conveying the reports of the Imam to his Shia as the special deputies of the Imam were able to do during the Minor occultation._

Thus the person who meets Imam in occultation should not claim the status of a special deputy.

He even narrates a tradition from Imam Jafar Sadiq(as) in which it is indicated that Imam Mahdi (a.t.f.s) would always be having the company of 30 confidants.

In another tradition from Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) it is further elucidated as follows:

_Al-Qaaem disappears twice; one is a short disappearance and the other is long. In the first disappearance some of his close Shia knows his location and in the other one no one knows his location, except the guardians of his religion._

*May the Almighty hasten his reappearance and enumerate us amongst those having the honour of meeting his Holy personality.*