RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESbackground is often suggested. HamdanIs were also among the Pen-
itents and their combination of guilt, repentance, and atonement through
self-sacrifice seems very Jewish. The Jewish background of some Arab
tribes probably provided only incidental reinforcement for these ideas,
however. The Kinda had been Jewish before Islam. The father of al-
Ash'ath, Qays ibn Ma'dikarib, was Jewish, and al-Ash'ath's aunt
had married a Jew. I:Iujr ibn 'AdI is said to have prayed successfully
for rain.^99 But the family of al-Ash'ath was never attracted to such
ideas and his son Mul).ammad actively opposed al-Mukhtar. Nor do
such ideas seem to be associated with I:Iujr. All one can say is that
some members of Kinda were attracted to extremist ShI'I groups in
the eighth century. In fact, related ideas can be found among contem-
porary non-Jews. In a letter he wrote in 680 discussing Psalms 2, 45,
and 110, the Nestorian catholicos George I spoke of David as king
and prophet. lOO
It is also common to explain these ideas in terms of the involvement
of non-Arabs, especially Persian and Aramaean converts in Iraq.IOI
But there is hardly any evidence for the presence of Aramaean converts
at Kufa in the seventh century, or of the involvement of non-Arabs
before the rising of al-Mukhtar. DInawari's claim that the core of
support for al-Mukhtar came from the Hamdan and the descendents
of Persians (J:lamrii') living in Kufa is an oversimplification but con-
tributed to the popular view that early support for the family of 'An
at Kufa was a matter for Yamani Arabs and Persians.I02 There is no
question that al-Mukhtar was followed by large numbers of J:lamrii'
(who should not be called mawiili) and mawiilf of Persian origin at
Kufa.^103 Out of thirty-two hundred men who took part at the begin-
ning of al-Mukhtar's rising in October of 685, five hundred were
mawiilt, and four thousand of the six thousand followers of al-Mu-
khtar who surrendered in the citadel of Kufa and were executed by
Mu~<ab were Persians, while two thousand were Arabs.1^04 Theoreti-
cally, such Persians could have easily coordinated Arab concepts of
the ahl al-bayt and claims based on inheritance with their own ideas
99 Ibn Rustah, A'liiq, pp. 205, 217; Lamrnens, "Ziad," pp. 222-23; Tha'alibi, Latii'if,
p.70.
100 Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 232-33, 497-98.
101 Moscati, "Antica Sl'a," pp. 263-67; Montgomery Watt, Formative Period, pp.
45-46.
102 Dinawari, Akhbiir at-#wiil, pp. 296, 306; Jafri, Shi'a Islam, p. 117.
103 Baladhuri, Ansiib, V, 254; Tabari, Ta'rlkh, n, 724.
104 Dinawari, Akhbiir at-#wiil, p. 315; Dixon, Umayyad Caliphate, pp. 44-45.