بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ
In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful
الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله
وعلى آلك واصحابك يا سيدي يا نور الله
Apocalyptic fervor was an undeniable feature of Islamic religious discourse throughout the early days of Muslim history. The Holy Quran is an apocalyptic text which speaks about the imminent Apocalypse, Resurrection and final Judgment. Likewise, the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم sounded the alarm with regard to portents of the Hour, such as the appearance of the Antichrist and the Second Coming of Jesus. This type of narrative motivated much excitement about the end of the World, especially near the beginning of the second century Hijri, a time of turbulence and civil war in the Abbasid Empire. In this article I shall outline several apocalyptic movements among the Muslims in those early days and mention various figures claiming an apocalyptic role, especially Mahdi claimants:
The Mahdi
We Sunni Muslims believe in the Mahdi prophecy, a man from the Prophet’s عليه السلام blessed progeny through his daughter Fatimah رضى الله عنها whose name shall be the Prophet’s name (Muhammad or Ahmad), and shall fill the land with justice as it was previously filled with injustice. He shall be a glorious warrior and conqueror in whose time there will be much wealth distributed among the community of Believers. However, historically and presently, some Muslims questioned or outright rejected the concept of the Mahdi for various reasons. One such group believed that Jesus عليه السلام alone shall fulfill the role of the Mahdi and that there is no other Mahdi to come in addition to him, including from the Prophet Muhammad’s offspring, “others recognized only the Second Coming of Jesus. As one tradition put it, there would be ‘no Mahdi except Jesus, the son of Mary.’ While such individuals seem to have shared a historical vision common to many prophecies in seeing a perpetual decline shortly after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, they openly rejected the idea of a Mahdi figure.” (Yücesoy, Hayrettin. Messianic Beliefs & Imperial Politics in Medieval Islam: The Abbasid Caliphate in the Early Ninth Century, p.2)
The belief in the Second Coming of Jesus is more fundamental in Sunni Islam than that of the Mahdi who shall rise from the descendants of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم
While there may be room for disagreement concerning the details and identity of the Mahdi, questioning the Second Coming of Jesus surely removes one from the Sunni fold.
The Qahtani and the Mansur
The Holy Prophet Muhammad صلوات الله والسلام عليه said:
لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى يَخْرُجَ رَجُلٌ مِنْ قَحْطَانَ يَسُوقُ النَّاسَ بِعَصَاهُ
The Hour shall not be established until a man from Qahtan comes forth driving the people with his staff (Sahih al-Bukhari & Sahih Muslim).
Apparently, Abd al-Rahman bin Muhammad bin al-Ash’ath al-Kindi claimed he was the Qahtani spoken of in this prophecy during his failed revolt against the Umayyads and their governor al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf. He also claimed to be the Mansur “aided one”, another apocalyptic figure. This claim to being the Mansur was likewise made by the Murji’ite rebel al-Harith bin Surayj during his failed uprising against the Umayyads and their governor Nasr bin Sayyar in Khorasan (Yücesoy, Hayrettin. Messianic Beliefs & Imperial Politics in Medieval Islam: The Abbasid Caliphate in the Early Ninth Century, p.20).
The Sufyani
The prophecy concerning the Sufyani, whose authenticity is contested, inspired Umayyad revolts against the Abbasids, “Abu Muhammad Ziyad b. Abdallah, one of the grandsons of the second Umayyad caliph, Yazid b. Mu’awiya, claimed the title of al-Sufyani during his revolt against al-Saffah as the expected savior who would return the caliphate and the fortune, or dawla, of the Umayyads to the Sufyanids” (ibid, p.21). The second major Umayyad figure to make this claim was Abu al-Amaytir, “Ali b. Abdallah b. Khalid b. Yazid b. Mu’awiya who declared himself the expected Sufyani who would restore the Umayyad rule, revolted in Damascus in Dhu al-Hijja 195 / August-September 811. In doing so, he was clearly attempting to fulfill earlier prophecies. An aged (in his nineties) Umayyad notable and scholar with no extraordinary previous fame, Abu al-Amaytir was a Hashimi from his mother’s side and an Umayyad from his father’s. Thus he had enough reason to see himself all at once the Sufyani, the Mahdi, the commander of the faithful, and al-rida min al Muhammad” (ibid, pp.74-75).
The Kaysaniyyah
Perhaps the first figure in Muslim history to be considered the Mahdi was Amir ul-Mu’minin Ali bin Abi Talib’s son through his wife Khawlah bint Ja’far al-Hanafiyyah, Muhammad, “al-Mukhtar designated Ibn al-Hanafiyya the Mahdi. The supporters of Ibn al-Hanafiyya continued to believe that he was the Mahdi even after the defeat of al-Mukhtar. Some of his ardent supporters, who gave birth to the Kaysaniyya movement, began to claim soon after his death that Ibn al-Hanafiyya was not dead but was in hiding and that they expected his return” (ibid, p.24).
The Hashimiyyah and the Bayaniyyah
Ibn al-Hanafiyyah’s son Abu Hashim Abdallah, was believed by some of his followers to be not only his father’s successor to the Imamate, but also the Mahdi, “His party, known as the Hashimiyya, split into several groups after his death. One group claimed that Abu Hashim was the Mahdi and that he was alive, hiding in the mountains of Radwa...The followers of Bayan b. Sam’an (d. 119/736), known as the Bayaniyya, believed that Abu Hashim would return as the Mahdi” (ibid).
The Harbiyyah
Some of the Hashmiyyah accepted Abu Hashim’s death, but disputed over the identity of his successor. One such disputant was “Abdallah b. Amr b. Harb, one of the Hashimiyya, claimed that the imamate had passed to him after Abu Hashim. After Ibn Harb died, he was believed to be still alive and was expected to return” (ibid).
The Khidashiyyah
Another faction that descended from the original Hashmiyyah were known as “The Khidashiyya were the followers of Ammar b. Yazid, nicknamed Khidash, who was an Abbasid propagandist active in the area of Nishapur and Marw. After Muhammad b. Ali and Khidash had a fallout over doctrinal differences, the supporters of Khidash announced that Muhammad b. Ali had given up the imamate and that it had passed to Khidash. After the execution of Khidash in 118/736, his supporters claimed that he was alive and had been raised to heaven by God” (ibid).
The Janahiyyah
The Janahiyyah, followers of the Talibid Abdallah bin Mu’awiyah, inherited their heretical beliefs from Ibn Harb and the Harbiyyah, “Consisting mainly of the former Harbiyya, the Janahiyya sect supported the imamate of Abdallah b. Mu’awiya. Abdallah b. Mu’awiya is reported to have encouraged their extremist beliefs, claiming that the Divine Spirit had been transferred through the prophets and imams to him and that he was able to resurrect the dead. After he died in 131/748-49 in the prison of Abu Muslim, who was a Khurasani and the head of the Abbasid revolutionary army, a group of Abdallah b. Mu’awiya’s followers claimed that he was alive and hiding in the mountains of Isfahan. Some said that he would return as the Mahdi, while others held that he would surrender the leadership to a descendant of Ali before his death” (ibid, p.25).
The Abu Muslimiyyah
Abu Muslim al-Khurasani was the main general of the Abbasid uprising in Khorasan, “Abu Muslimiyya was a subgroup of the Kaysaniyya and maintained that the imamate had passed from the first Abbasid caliph, al-Saffah, to Abu Muslim, whom the group considered its leader. After the execution of Abu Muslim by the caliph al-Mansur in 137/755, some of the supporters of Abu Muslim maintained that the imamate had been transferred from al-Saffah to Abu Muslim and that Abu Muslim was still alive. This group, called the (Abu) Muslimiyya, believed that al-Mansur had killed not Abu Muslim but a person who only resembled him and that Abu Muslim had gone into hiding” (ibid). Incidentally, two originally non-Muslim (Zoroastrian) figures, Sunbad and the false prophet al-Muqanna, led revolts in the name of Abu Muslim, “Believing that Abu Muslim was not killed and would return to rule, Sunbad revolted only two months after Abu Muslim’s murder in 755 to avenge his death, but was defeated. Another revolt in Transoxiana in the name of Abu Muslim was led by al-Muqanna, the Veiled One, in Marw in 777. His was an ideology of incarnation and transmigration of souls, as he claimed to be divine and an incarnation of Adam, whom God created in his image. He claimed to have been incarnated in Noah and reincarnated in Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and finally Abu Muslim” (ibid).
The Mughiriyyah
Apparently, the righteous Imam Muhammad bin Abdallah, Nafs al-Zakiyah, who led a failed uprising in Medina against the Abbasids, considered himself the Mahdi. He certainly fulfilled many though not all of the recognized signs of the Mahdi, such as bearing the name Muhammad son of Abdallah and being a descendant of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
A devious heretic, al-Mughirah bin Sa’id, taught many falsehoods in the name of Nafs al-Zakiyah, “The followers of Mughira b. Sa’id al-Bajali, a blind old man who practiced magic and jugglery, supported the belief that the Hasanid Muhammad b. Abdallah, the Pure Soul, would come forth as the Mahdi. When Muhammad b. Abdallah vanished from the authorities’ sight, the Mughiriyya claimed that he was alive, hiding in Mount al-Tamiyya, which was located east of the route from al-Hajir to Mecca. In his doctrine, Mughira b. Sa’id al-Bajali elevated the Alid imams to the rank of divinity. Nevertheless, until the appearance of the Pure Soul as the Mahdi, al-Mughira taught that he himself was the imam, the imamate of the Alids having elapsed. He claimed to be a prophet and taught that Muhammad b. Abdallah had given him from his mouth the Holy Spirit, with which he was able to bring the dead to life and to heal those who are blind or have leprosy” (ibid, pp.25-26).
Other Mahdi Claims
The Mughiriyyah weren’t the only ones to believe Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyah was the Mahdi, “The Pure Soul’s fame among the more moderate Shi’is as the expected Mahdi in Medina was also widespread. His popularity increased to the degree that no one, if we believe al-Isfahani, had any doubt that he was the Mahdi. In fact he honored himself with this name in one of his addresses to his supporters: ‘You have no doubt that I am the Mahdi, I am indeed he.’ After him, his brother Ibrahim, who adopted the title al-Hadi, led an unsuccessful uprising against al-Mansur. After Ibrahim’s death, some of his supporters claimed that he was the expected one. In the Husaynid branch of the Alids, some of the followers of Ja’far al-Sadiq and his father, Muhammad al-Baqir, saw them as Mahdis. Later the followers of the Husaynid Musa al-Kazim (d. 799) declared him to be the messianic Qa’im. When he died, they awaited his return from concealment. These were known as the Waqifa” (ibid, p.26). The Abbasid ruler, al-Mansur, claimed his son Muhammad was the Mahdi, “al-Mansur honored his son, Muhammad b. Abdallah, as the Mahdi around the year 143/760-61, even before his victory over the Pure Soul and before adopting his own title, al-Mansur, and made a concerted effort to publicize this. He did not shy away from publicly arguing that the Mahdi was indeed his son, not the Pure Soul. In the succession dispute within the Abbasid family, the caliph al-Mansur forced the heir apparent in line, Isa b. Musa, to cede his place to his son Muhammad because, al-Mansur argued, ‘he was the expected Mahdi.’” (ibid, pp.26-27). For a while, a son of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq, Muhammad al-Dibaj, thought he might be the Mahdi, “In 200/816 another Alid and the uncle of Ali al-Rida, Muhammad al-Dibaj b. Ja’far, claimed the title commander of the faithful in Mecca for a short while...Muhammad b. Ja’far hoped that he was the expected Mahdi and al-Qa’im...He used to say, ‘I hope I am the Mahdi, the Qa’im’” (ibid, p.70).
Analysis and Conclusion
The sheer number of apocalyptic and Mahdist movements and claimants in the early days of Islam is fascinating. While all the aforementioned ones were either failures or heresies (and usually both), this should never be a reason for us mainstream, orthodox Sunni Muslims to abandon messianic expectation and fervor. Yet a Sunni apocalyptic movement must necessarily refrain from any premature and violent uprising against the ruling system or government. Hence, when the real Mahdi is recognized and given the pledge of allegiance in the shade of the sacred Ka’bah in Mecca, an incredible sign shall occur confirming him in that an army that seeks to attack him from the direction of the north will be decimated and swallowed up by the ground beneath their feet. Any armed uprising in the name of the Mahdi before this cataclysmic event is premature and violates the Sunni doctrine of maintaining obedience to the established government of the Muslims.
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