Imagining the End: Visions of

al-qa'im

 (the Standing

One, the Riser) became a major ingredient of  the Shi'ite apocalyptic tradition.

A valuable Syriac text, which pre-dates Islam and is suggestive of  the influence

of  Kaysani Persian clients on the development of  the notion, foretells that

the Dajjal will beguile the Magi by telling them that Pashutan, one of  the

Zoroastrian immortals, has awakened from his sleep, ‘and he is the Standing

One (

qa'em

) before the Hurmizd, your God, who has appeared on earth’.

53

The fact that the Syriac 

qa'em

 was also the term used to translate the Greek

ho hestos

 (the Standing One) gave the notion a welcome surplus of  apocalyptic

meaning.

54

 In any event, the notion of  occultation soon acquired chiliastic

connotations through its association with the manifestation or 

parousia

 (

zuhur

),

of the apocalyptic Qa'im.

Early Shi'ite traditions represent the Qa'im as the expected redresser of  the

cause of  God (

al-qa'im bi amr Allah

) and the riser by the sword (

al-qa'im bi'l-

sayf

), wearing the armour of  the Prophet and wielding his sword, the 

dhu'l-

fiqar

. This picture can be supplemented by the early Imami Shi'ite traditions

which present the Qa'im as the redresser of  the house of  Muhammad (

qa'im

al Muhammad

),

55

 modelled clearly on the Messiah as the restorer of  the house

of  David.

56

 He is at the same time the Lord of  the Sword (

sahib al-sayf

)

57

 and

the avenger of  the wrong done to the House of  Muhammad by the usurpers

of  their rights: ‘The weapon [of  the Prophet] with us is like the ark with the

children of  Israel.’

58

 The Qa'im will establish the empire of  truth (

dawlat

al-haqq

).

59

The messianic idea of  the Mahdi spread widely beyond the Kaysaniyya

and other extremist Shi'ite groups, and as it became dissociated from its

historical archetype, Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya. Other groups projected the

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115

Messianism, Millennialism and Revolution

image of  the Prophet on to him. An enormously influential tradition, attributed

to 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud, has Muhammad foretell the coming of  a Mahdi

coined in his own image: ‘His name will be my name, and his father’s name

my father’s name.’

60

 Furthermore, widely-spread traditions assert that the

number of  the Mahdi’s companions in battle is exactly the same (usually put

at 



) as those of  Muhammad in the apocalyptic battle of  Badr.

61

 One Sunni

tradition goes even further and affirms that ‘on his shoulder is the mark of

the Prophet’,

62

 while some Shi'ite traditions have Gabriel to the right of  the

Mahdi on the battlefield and Michael to his left.

63

The Abbasids

Islam’s social revolution came a century and a quarter after the death of  the

Prophet. It was the Abbasid revolution, in which the apocalyptic worldview

and political messianism played a major role. It is well known that the 'Alid

and the Abbasid branches of  the House of  Muhammad vied for the leadership

of  the revolutionary movement that overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate. The

intense apocalyptic character of  the Abbasid revolution (



–



) remains

largely unrecognized, however. This is surprising in view of  the fact, firmly

established by the publication of  an Abbasid history of  the mission in 

,

that the Hashimiyya, who organized the powerful clandestine revolutionary

machine which eventually chose the Abbasids as its leaders, named themselves

after the son of  Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya, Abu Hashim, and were the main

bearers of  the Kaysanid apocalyptic tradition and Mahdism.

64

The year 



  (



–



) was before long seen as the year of  the