MUSLIMS: DOCTRINESby less than two dozen men: Arabs from the tribes of BajIla, 'Ijl, and
Kinda, and mawiill. Those who rebelled were executed, but others
among their followers survived. The followers of Abii Man~iir were
also Arabs from these three tribes and mawiill.ll2 All of these groups
were small and they are more important for their ideas than for their
impact on events.
One of their main beliefs was the continuation of revelation and
prophetic inspiration and authority, which they claimed for a descen-
dent of 'Ali or for themselves. Bayan said that Abii Hashim ibn Mu-
~ammad ibn al-I;Ianafiyya had the gift of prophecy and claimed to be
Abii Hashim's designated successor as prophet.^113 Mughira also claimed
to be a prophet but recognized Mu~ammad ibn 'Abdullah an-Nafs
az-Zakiyya (the Pure Soul), a descendent of al-I;Iasan, as the Mahdi.^114
Abii Man~iir claimed to have ascended to heaven, where he was touched
by the hand of God who spoke to him in Syriac, called him "my son",
and told him to go and preach. Abii Man~iir's son succeeded him as
the prophetic leader of his followers.11s The followers of Abii 1-Khanab
held that each believer received a personal revelation for their own
guidance.^116
These groups sometimes split or disintegrated when the prophetic
leader died. Some members would expect him to return in a truly
Messianic fashion. Bayan belonged to a subdivision of the Kaysaniyya
which expected Abii Hashim to return as the Mahdi.ll7 When Mu-
~ammad the Pure Soul died in 762, some of the Mughiriyya said that
he was not really dead but was hidden in the mountains of Radwa
and would return as the Mahdi, conquer the earth, and establish a
reign of justice.11s Likewise, when Ibn Mu'awiya died, some of the
112 Al-'AII, "al-Mada'in," p. 421; al-Khatib al-Baghdacli, Ta'rtkh Baghdad, (Cairo,
1931) VI, 378-81; Nawbakhti, Firaq ash-Shfa (Najaf, 1959), pp. 22, 29, 34; W. Tucker,
"Abii Man~iir al-'IjII and the Man~iiriyya: a study in medieval terrorism," Der Islam
54 (1977), 67; idem, "'Abd Allah Ibn Mu'awiya and the Janahiyya: Rebels and Ideo-
logues of the Late Umayyad Period," Studia Islamica 51 (1980),54-55 idem, "Bayan
b. Sam'an and the Bayaniyya: ShI'ite Extremists of Umayyad Iraq," The Muslim World
65 (1975),241-42; idem, "Rebels and Gnostics: al-MugIra ibn Sa'Id and the MugI-
riyya," Arabica 22, (1975), 33-36.
113 Tucker, "Bayan," pp. 244-46.
114 Tucker, "al-MugIra," pp. 37, 39.
l1S Tucker, "Abii Man~iir," pp. 66, 69-71.
116 M. Hodgson, "How Did the Early Shi'a Become Sectarian?" lAOS 75, (1955),
7.
117 Tucker, "Bayan," p. 244.
118 Tucker, "al-MugIra," pp. 37-38.