This is a name given to all of these.
The qutb (spiritual pole) is only one at any given time, and he is also the ghawth (spiritual succor). He is among the muqarrabūn (those brought near to God) and is the leader of the community in his era. Some of them possess outward authority (ṣāḥib) as well as inward caliphate, and in terms of their station (maqām), they may also have outward caliphate. Among these are: Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Ḥasan, Muʿāwiya, Yazīd, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and the Caliph Mutawakkil. Some of them, however, have no outward authority and possess only inward caliphate; among these are Aḥmad Hārūn al-Rashīd al-Sabtī and Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī. Most of the qutbs do not have outward authority.
The number of imams never exceeds two. There is no third. One is ʿAbd al-Rabb, the other is ʿAbd al-Malik. The qutb is ʿAbd Allāh. If the number of these imams were more than three, the following statement (of Ibn ʿArabī) would not be correct: When the qutb dies, ʿAbd al-Rabb and ʿAbd al-Malik become his successors. These are in the position of viziers to the qutb. One oversees the realm of dominion (mulk), the other the realm of sovereignty (malakūt). (Nabhānī, I, 39)
(See also: ghawth)