the Imām had gone into Occultation and his Nā'ib al-Khass was no longer present, all the functions invested in the Imām had lapsed. The principal functions of the Imām had been: Leading the Holy War (jihad) Division of the booty (qismat al-fay) Leading the Friday Prayer (salat al-juma) Putting judicial decisions into effect (tanfidh al-ahkam) Imposing legal penalties (iqamat al-hudud) Receiving the religious taxes of zakāt and khums. However, it soon became apparent that the situation caused by the lapse of functions of the Hidden Imām was extremely impractical and left the Twelver Shī‘a community at a great disadvantage, with no leadership, no organization and no financial structure. History Akhbaris contend that, over the course of the history of Twelver Shi'ism since the Occultation, Usuli ulama have progressively usurped more and more of the functions of the Hidden Imam. They distinguish five stages in this usurpation. First transgression As early as the 5th century AH / 11th century CE, more than 150 years after the Occultation of the 12th Imām, Shaykhu t-Ta'ifa reinterpreted the doctrine to allow delegation of the Imām's judicial authority to those who had studied fiqh. Although he implies in his writings that this function should only be undertaken by the ulama if there is no one else to do it. Shaykhu t-Taifa considered the ulamā' the best agents of the donor to distribute religious taxes since they knew to whom it should be distributed. Nevertheless, individuals were free to do this themselves if they wished. He allowed fuqahā' to organize Friday prayers in absence of the Imām or his special representative. The prominent Shī‘a scholars who rejected this thesis were: `Alam al-Huda Ibn Idris Allamah al-Hilli It is to be noted that `Alam al-Huda was from among the Shaykhu t-Taifa's group. Second transgression By the 13th century, Muhaqqiq al-Hilli was able to advance these concepts very considerably. He extended the judicial role of the ulama to iqamat al-hudud the imposition of penalties by ulama themselves. In his writings it is possible to see the evolution in his thinking whereby the fuqahā' develop from the deputies of the donor for the distribution of religious taxes in his early writings to being the deputies of the Hidden Imām for collection and distribution of the taxes in his later works. In effect, transgressing the limits set by Shaykhu t-Taifa (two centuries earlier) in his first transgression. Third transgression Muhaqqiq