Abu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani

Abu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani, also known as the Isfahani Mahdi, was a young Persian man who in 931 CE was declared to be "God incarnate" by the Qarmatian leader of Bahrayn, Abu Tahir al-Jannabi. This new apocalyptic leader, however, caused great disruption by rejecting traditional aspects of Islam, and promoting ties to Zoroastrianism. ^[1]

Abu Tahir thought that he had identified the Mahdi as a young Persian prisoner from Isfahan by the name of Abu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani, who claimed to be a descendant of the Sassanid Persian kings. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]} Al-Isfahani had been brought back to Bahrayn from the Qarmatians' raid into Iraq in 928. ^[7] In 931, Abu Tahir turned over the state to this Mahdi-Caliph, said in fact to be a Zoroastrian revivalist with anti-Arab sentiments. He reinstituted the veneration of fire and engaged in burning of religious books during an eighty-day rule. Isfahani also is thought to have some links with established Zoroastrian orthodoxy as the high priest of the Zoroastrians. Esfandiar Adarbad^{[ clarification needed ]} was executed by the Abbasid Caliph after being accused of complicity with Abu Tahir. ^[8] His reign culminated in the execution of members of Bahrayn's notable families, including members of Abu Tahir's family. ^[9] Abu Tahir's mother conspired to get rid of Abu'l-Fadl; she faked her death and sent a messenger to call the Mahdi to resurrect her. When he refused, he was exposed as being a normal human, and Abu Tahir's brother Sa'id killed Abu'l-Fadl after the Mahdi had reigned for only eighty days. ^[10] Other accounts say fearing for his own life, Abu Tahir announced that he had been wrong and denounced the al-Isfahani as a false Mahdi. ^[11] Begging forgiveness from the other notables, Abu Tahir had him executed.

References

1. Abbas Amanat (9 February 2002). Imagining the End: Visions of Apocalypse from the Ancient Middle East to Modern America. I.B.Tauris. pp. 123–. ISBN   978-1-86064-724-6.
2. Imagining the End: Visions of Apocalypse By Abbas Amanat, Magnus Thorkell - Page 123
3. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam - Page 26 by Delia Cortese, Simonetta Calderini
4. Early Philosophical Shiism: The Ismaili Neoplatonism of Abū Yaʻqūb Al-Sijistānī - Page 161 by Paul Ernest Walke
5. The Other God: Dualist Religions from Antiquity to the Cathar Heresy by Yuri Stoyanov
6. Classical Islam: A History, 600–1258 - Page 113 by Gustave Edmund Von Grunebaum
7. Halm 1991, p. 257.
8. "CARMATIANS – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
9. Farhad Daftary, The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Isma'ilis, IB Tauris, 1994, p21
10. Delia Cortese; Simonetta Calderini (2006). Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 26–. ISBN   978-0-7486-1733-3.
11. Daftary 2007, p. 162.

Sources

• Canard, M. (1965). "al-D̲j̲annābī". In Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch. & Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume II: C–G. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 452–454. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1998. OCLC   495469475.
• Daftary, Farhad (2007). The Ismāʿı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-61636-2.
• Halm, Heinz (1991). Das Reich des Mahdi: Der Aufstieg der Fatimiden[The Empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the Fatimids] (in German). Munich: C. H. Beck. ISBN   978-3-406-35497-7.
• Madelung, Wilferd (1978). "Ḳarmaṭī". In van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch. & Bosworth, C. E. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume IV: Iran–Kha. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 660–665. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0451. OCLC   758278456.
• Madelung, Wilferd (1996). "The Fatimids and the Qarmatīs of Bahrayn". In Daftary, Farhad (ed.). Mediaeval Isma'ili History and Thought. Cambridge University Press. pp. 21–73. ISBN   978-0-521-00310-0.