Imamate in Ismaili doctrine

[3] These groups consider Muhammad ibn Isma'il, the foundation Imam of the Isma'ili branch of Shia Islam, to be the Mahdi and to be preserved in hiding, which is referred to as the Occultation.

After Adam and his son Seth, and after six “Nātiq” (Speaker) – “Sāmad” (Silent) silsila[5] (Noah–Shem), (Abraham–Ishmael), (Moses–Aaron or Joshua), (Jesus–Simeon), (Muhammad bin ʿAbd Allāh–Ali ibn Abu Tālib); the silsila of “Nātıqs and Sāmads have been completed with (Muhammad bin Ismā‘īl as-ṣaghīr (Maymūn al-Qaddāh[6]) – ʿAbd Allāh Ibn-i Maymūn[7] and his sons).

Early Ismāʿīlis believed that hierarchical history of the mankind is created in Seven Eras of various durations each one inaugurated by "speaker-prophet" (known as nātiq).

In the first Six Eras of human history, nātiqs or ūlul’l-ʿazm had been Adam, Nūh, Ibrāhīm, Mūsā, ʿIsā, Muhammad bin ʿAbd Allāh.

Furthermore, they believed that each of the first six nātiqs were succeeded by a spiritual legatee called wāsi or foundation asās or silent sāmit, who interpreted the inner esoteric (batin) meaning of the revelation.