Editing Ismailism (section)

===Imamate===
{{Main|Imamah (Ismaili doctrine)|List of Ismaili imams}}
For this sect, the Imām is the manifestation of truth, and hence he is their path of salvation to God.<ref name="Ismaʻilism">{{cite web |url=http://lexicorient.com/e.o/ismailis.htm |title=Ismaʻilism |access-date=2007-04-24 |archive-date=4 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004105617/http://lexicorient.com/e.o/ismailis.htm }}</ref>

Classical Ismāʿīlī doctrine holds that divine revelation had been given in six periods (daur) entrusted to six prophets, who they also call ''Natiq'' (Speaker), who were commissioned to preach a religion of law to their respective communities.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Whereas the Natiq was concerned with the rites and outward shape of religion, the inner meaning is entrusted to a ''Wasi'' (Representative). The Wasi would know the secret meaning of all rites and rules and would reveal them to small circles of initiates.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The Natiq and the Wasi are in turn succeeded by a line of seven Imāms, who guard what they received. The seventh and last Imām in any period becomes the Natiq of the next period. The last Imām of the sixth period, however, would not bring about a new religion of law but rather supersede all previous religions, abrogate the law and introduce ''din Adama al-awwal'' ("the original religion of Adam") practised by [[Adam]] and the [[angel]]s in [[paradise]] before the fall, which would be without ritual or law but consist merely in all creatures praising the creator and recognizing his unity. This final stage was called [[Islamic eschatology|the Qiyamah]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Heinz |last=Halm |title=Die Schia |location=Darmstadt, Germany |publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft |year=1988 |isbn=3-534-03136-9 |pages=202–204}}</ref>