Canonized Twelver narratives imply that the “envoys” (sufarāʾ) of the hidden Imam were recognized as key authority figures immediately after the eleventh Imam’s death. However, it is argued inthat the authority of the agents was established piecemeal, and they came to be known collectively as the “nāḥiya,” a new term for the ambiguous Occultation-era institutions. The first of the canonized envoys, ʿUthmān b. Saʿīd al-ʿAmrī, is not depicted as an active agent in the earliest layer of reports. Instead, he appears as a mere eyewitness to the hidden Imam. Meanwhile, the earliest clearly active agents included several who were not canonized as envoys, and none emerges clearly as a preeminent “envoy.” Early reports indicate a rupture in authority when the old guard agents of Imam al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī all died out. The office of the “envoys” was only fully established thereafter, to fill this vacuum of authority.

This chapter focuses on the theme of dignity as identity and particularly Arab identity. One of the important components in the construction of nationality is consolidating a sense of identity. Karama/dignity – in the sense of being an image of God with inherent worth – has supported for millennia a sense of identity for humans. In the discussion of karama as identity in the slogans of the 2011 Arab Uprisings in Egypt, the chapter shows that there is a widespread understanding of the lack of dignity in Arab contexts, mostly due to oppressive political regimes in a postcolonial setting, which can be seen through various expressions of karama as identity in arts and in the interviews. The chapter also highlights how identity politics are also essential to increasingly globalized societal contexts around the world.