e-Makalat Mezhep Araştırmaları Dergisi

Abstract

The concept of the expected saviour exists as a phenomenon in various religions and cultures, albeit with some differences. In the Shīʿite sect that emerged in Islamic history after the death of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661), ʿAlī and his descendants were referred to as imams based on the imamate doctrine. Members of the sect, who had difficulty accepting the death of the imams to whom they attributed political and sometimes spiritual leadership, believed that the imam they followed would return to the world and bring justice to the oppressed earth. In the Imāmiyya Shīʿa (Twelvers), one of the main branches of the sect that has survived to the present day, the doctrine of the Imamate is one of the basic tenets of the faith, and the line of the imamate ends with the twelfth imam, Muhammad b. al-Hasan. With the twelfth imam went into occultation in 260/874, the belief that he would one day come and rule the oppressed world with justice under the title of al-mahdī (the guided one) and al-muntaẓar (the expected one) has become an important tenet in Imāmiyya. This study deals chronologically with the claims of mahdism that emerged from within Shiʿism during the so-called occultation period. Especially in Iran and its surroundings, where Imāmiyya Shīʿites live densely, some messianic movements have emerged around people who declared themselves or were declared as the expected saviour. In this article, the movements that emerged around the idea of messiahship such as Ḥurūfism, Musha’sha’a, Ṣafavism, Bābism and Bahā’īsm are discussed.