Awtād (sing. watad), also known as the 'four pillars' (awtād al-arbaʿa), are four individuals, each of whom is located at one of the four corners of the world: one’s station (maqām) is in the east, one’s in the west, one’s in the north, and the other’s in the south. (Istilāh, 531)
The awtād are those through whom Allah preserves the world, and they are four in number. They are more specific than the abdāl (substitutes). The two imams who stand to the right and left of the pole (quṭb) are among the awtād, while the quṭb is even more specific than all of them.
Abdāl is a general term used for those who replace bad qualities with good ones, and it refers to a certain number of individuals, such as forty, thirty, or seven. Some say their number is seven. Among us, those who say their number is seven consider the abdāl and the awtād as separate. Others among us count the four awtād among the abdāl. Thus, the abdāl become seven in number: four of them are the awtād, two are...