RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES(d. 723), who usually lived in Madina, expected Mul).ammad ibn al-
l;Ianafiyya to return (Ar. raj'a) from his concealment as the Mahdi
who would fill the earth with justice, possibly through the transmi-
gration (Ar. taniisukh) of his soul. l;Iamza ibn 'Umara, who also lived
in Madina, held similar views and had followers at Kufa.^87
Many of the ideas associated with the early supporters of 'An and
his family have an Arabian background and were brought by Arabs
to Iraq. This is understandable since almost no non-Arabs were in-
volved until 685. Tribal Arab concepts of leadership contributed to
the concept of the ahl al-bayt and to hopes for the return of the leader.
The importance of inheritance, the responsibilities of the wa$t, revenge
for the death of al-l;Iusayn, and the protection of the weak by the
strong emerged from an Arabian social background. The religious
status of the caretaker (Ar. siidin) of a shrine and the practice of tawwiif
(Ar.) had a pagan Arab religious origin. However, the tawwiif of the
companions of the chair is unique and this was not typical of later
Shi'ism.
This is not to say that the origins of Shi'ism can be explained by
the Arab background of these ideas. The vast majority of Arabs in the
seventh century who shared this background did not follow 'Ali or
his family. Why, then, did some Arabs follow 'An: while others did
not? One explanation is that they were former pastoralists who had
trouble adjusting to sedentary life.s8 But this is also true of many
Khawarij, and this explanation, if applicable to anyone, would be
most applicable to them. Such blanket explanations do not work very
well, however. They are based on a general tendency to assume that
most Arabs had been pastoral and on a broad disregard for identifying
the actual economic background of each tribe or clan. The main ar-
gument against such an explanation, however, is that the Arabs who
suppressed these risings and supported the regime were often of pas-
toral background themselves.
Another explanation for Arab support of 'An has been offered in
terms of tribal genealogy. Arabs who belonged to genealogically
"southern" tribes are supposed to have been more likely to support
'Ali and his family because of Yamani traditions of hereditary holy
87 S. Moscati, "Per una storia dell' antica SI'a," Rsa 30 (1955),258; van Arendonk,
"KaisanIya," E1(1), Il, 658; idem, "Kuthaiyir," E1(1), Il, 1169-70; Montgomery Watt,
Formative Period, pp. 47-49.
88 Montgomery Watt, Formative Period, pp. 41-42.