MUSLIMS: DOCTRINESbetween the two. AI-Mukhtar claimed to be acting on behalf of Mu-
l).ammad ibn al-I:Ianafiyya, whom he called the Mahdi, the son of the
wa?z, and said that he had been appointed to be his trusted agent (Ar.
amzn) and helper (waztr). He called himself the helper of the family
of Mul).ammad (Ar. wazzr at Mu~ammad), proclaimed the Book of
God and the sunna of Mul).ammad, vengeance for his family, war
against their enemies, and defense of the weak.^82 When his army
marched out of Kufa against 'Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad in 686, it was
joined by some of al-Mukhtar's followers led by I:Iawshab al-Bursumi
of the Hamdan. He had covered a chair (Syr. kurst), which was sup-
posed to have belonged to 'Ali, with silk and brocade, set it on a gray
mule, and walked around it. I:Iawshab prayed, "Oh Lord, command
us to follow you and make us victorious over the adversaries. Re-
member us and do not forget us and protect us," while his companions
were saying "Amen, Amen."83 They used it as a kind of Ark of the
Covenant (Ar. tabut), with seven men on each side at the Battle of the
Khazir. 84 AI-Mukhtar himself claimed to be a prophet with a revelation
brought to him by Gabriel in rhymed prose (Ar. saj'). It was claimed
that angels with white faces on horses of flame fought on his side in
the battle in which the Kufan ashraf were defeated.^85
These ideas were associated with al-Mukhtar's personal followers
who were called Khashabiyya because they were armed with wooden
staffs or clubs like the shurta of Ziyad, or Kaysaniyya after their leader,
Abii 'Amra Kaysan.^86 Some of them survived the fall of al-Mukhtar
as a small sect. They continued to recognize MUQ,ammad ibn al-I:Iana-
fiyya, believing that he possessed secret knowledge about souls and
the celestial spheres that he had received from al-I:Iasan and al-I:Iusayn.
When MUQ,ammad died in 700, some of them recognized his son, Abii
Hashim, as the heir of his secret knowledge. Others said that he had
not died but was concealed on Mt. Radwa, east of Madina, and would
return. The Kaysani poet, Kuthayyir ibn 'Abd ar-RaQ,man al-Khuza'i
82 BaiadhurI, Ansiib, V, 207-8, 228; Dixon, Umayyad Caliphate, pp. 35-36, 45;
Tabari, Ta'rtkh, n, 351-52, 569, 633.
83 TabarI, Ta'rtkh, n, 701.
84 Baiadhuri, Ansiib, V, 241-42, 247-48; Dixon, Umayyad Caliphate, p. 68; Tabari,
Ta'r"ikh, 11, 701-6.
85 Baiadhuri, Ansiib, V, 234; DinawarI, Akhbiir apiwiil, p. 309; Dixon, Umayyad
Caliphate, p. 64; 1bn ai-Paqih, Buldiin, p. 185; G. Levi Della Vida, "Mukhtar," E1(l),
rn, 715-16; Tabari, Ta'rtkh, n, 663.
86 Baiadhuri, Ansiib, V, 231, 237-53; DinawarI, Akhbiir at-tiwiil, p. 297; Dixon,
Umayyad Caliphate, pp. 78-79.