Draft:Ubaydallah al-Mahdi

Ubaydallah al-Mahdi
Name	Ubaydallah al-Mahdi
Other Names	Ubaydallah al-Mahdi
Personal Details
Birth Place	Salamiyah
Brith Date	259 AH (872–873 CE)
Death Place	{{{death_place}}}
Death Date	322 AH (934 CE)
Religion	Islam
Works

Ubaydallah al-Mahdi (259–322 AH), was the founder and first ruler of the Alavid Ismaili dynasty in the Maghreb and the first Caliph of the Fatimids in North Africa. There are differing opinions regarding his lineage; some consider him attributed to the Ahl al-Bayt and Alid, some consider him of Jewish origin, and others consider him a dualist Zoroastrian. Ubaydallah ruled for twenty-five years and finally died at the age of 63.

Biography

His lineage is recorded in most sources as follows: Abu Muhammad, Ubaydallah ibn Muhammad (Habib) ibn Ahmad ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ismail ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq al-Talibi al-Alawi. He was the founder of the Alavid state of the Maghreb and the ancestor of the Ubaidids (kings of Egypt). Ubaydallah resided in the city of "Salamiyah" (near the city of Hama in Syria). His father sent missionaries to surrounding areas to preach for the Awaited Mahdi. The missionary he sent to Yemen was named Rustam ibn Husayn ibn Hawshab al-Najjar, through whose efforts his preaching in Yemen became effective and he found companions and followers.

Ibn Hawshab sent a determined, effective, clever, and cunning missionary, knowledgeable in the secrets of preaching, eloquent, and capable in debate and persuading opponents, known as Abu Abdullah al-Shi'i, to the Maghreb. He was able to spread the call with his unique knowledge and cunning in the tribe of "Kutama" (which was one of the largest Berber tribes) and conquer other lands with the help of this tribe, promising them the imminent appearance of the Mahdi (Imam al-Zaman (peace be upon him)). By doing this, he prepared the ground for Ubaydallah and sent messengers to invite Ubaydallah to him.

The news reached Al-Muktafi Billah. The Caliph ordered his agents in Syria to arrest Ubaydallah in a letter. When Ubaydallah became aware of this order, he fled to Egypt and from there to the Maghreb, passing all the dangers that were lying in wait for his arrest. On this journey, his son Muhammad al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah and his close companions were with him. He met Abu Abdullah al-Shi'i in Raqqada. Abu Abdullah had captured Kairouan in the year 296 AHTemplate:Efn, defeated the last ruler of the Aghlabids, and declared to the people that Ubaydallah was the Mahdi. The people pledged allegiance to him. Ubaydallah settled in the city of Raqqada and selected governors from the Kutama tribe, sending them to Tripoli, Barqa, and Sicily. He captured Tahert and again tried to seize Egypt, but was unsuccessful, and the troops of the Abbasid Caliph prevented his domination over Egypt. In the year 303 AH, he laid the plan for the construction of the city of "Mahdia" and made it the center of his government, and died at the age of 63 after 24 years of rule.

Lineage

There are differing opinions regarding the lineage of Ubaidullah, and various viewpoints have been proposed.

Jewish

Ubaidullah was of Jewish origin; his Jewish father, who was a blacksmith in the city of Salamiyah, named him Sa'id. When his father died, his mother married a man named Husayn ibn Abdullah ibn Maymun ibn Abdullah al-Qaddah al-Daisani (Daisan was of Iranian descent and before Mani claimed Prophethood. He, like Mani, believed in two gods, the God of Light and the God of Darkness. Whatever is good and beneficial is Light, and whatever is evil and harmful is from Darkness. The followers of this creed were called Zindiq or Dualists (believers in two gods). The ancient Persians worshipped fire because it was a manifestation of light and they believed it had magical power from which they hoped to benefit. They became known as Magi.) al-Ahwazi. This Husayn was a slave of [Imam] Jafar al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) and had learned the Shia creed from him. He raised Sa'id and taught him the secrets and teachings of the creed (Shi'ism) and propaganda in its favor. When Sa'id grew up, he claimed that he was an Alavid and called people to follow him. Then he went to the Maghreb and adopted the name Ubaidullah al-Mahdi and the kunya Abu Muhammad, and gave his son the kunya Abu al-Qasim.

Zoroastrian

Other deniers claim: Ubaidullah al-Mahdi is the same as Ibn Maymun al-Qaddah. Al-Qaddah's grandfather was a dualist Zoroastrian; one God of Light and the other God of Darkness. Ubaidullah grew up with the religion of his father and grandfather, and their ultimate goal was the eradication of Islam and belief in the esoteric through interpretation and justification, and the belief that the Quran and Prophetic Tradition have an exterior and an interior, and it is the interior in both that is valid, not the exterior. With these justifications, they intended to revive Magian and Daisani beliefs.

A number of Sunni scholars have attributed these views to the Ubaidids, some of whom are historians; such as: Qadi Abd al-Jabbar al-Basri, Qadi Abu Bakr al-Baqillani, Al-Dhahabi, Ibn Taghribirdi, and Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi.

Alavid

But among those who say the attribution of the Ubaidids to the Ahl al-Bayt is correct are Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Khaldun, and Al-Maqrizi, and their argument is that the Ubaidid leaders hid themselves due to fear of the severity of the Abbasids' actions, and to cover their tracks, they adopted pseudonyms. Ibn Khaldun, in support of this theory, says: "As soon as the people were obedient and submissive to them and their call was established in Mecca and Medina, [this] is the best evidence for the correctness of their lineage."

Ibn al-Athir cites a poem composed by Al-Sharif al-Radi in which he admits the correctness of the Ubaidid lineage; whereas Radi had previously signed a document prepared against them.

Ibn al-Athir says: "Al-Sharif Radi's father had asked his son to apologize to Al-Qadir Billah al-Abbasi, but he did not do so." Ibn al-Athir adds: "Radi's refusal to apologize is strong evidence for the correctness of the Ubaidid lineage." Ibn al-Athir says: "I myself asked a number of prominent Alavid elders about the lineage of Ubaidullah al-Mahdi and none of them had any doubt about its correctness. In addition, some early historians and traditionists such as Ibn al-Nadim and Ibn Khallikan did not give a definitive opinion; although some of them leaned towards one of the two views without certainty or explicit declaration."

(One of the researchers denies the attribution of Ubaidullah al-Mahdi to the Ahl al-Bayt. In the book Asl al-Muwahhidin al-Duruz written by Amin Tali'a, a great Lebanese judge who is among the Druze figures, it is stated: Ubaidullah attributed himself to the Ahl al-Bayt and closed [the matter]. He names the Isma'ili Imams as follows: Ismail ibn Jafar al-Sadiq; then Muhammad ibn Ismail; then Husayn ibn Muhammad; then Ali ibn al-Husayn. And then Muhammad ibn Ali. But the person whose name was Sa'id al-Khair ibn Qaddah and grandson of Abdullah Qaddah, cared for Muhammad ibn Ali during childhood, and when he grows up he takes him to the Maghreb and tries to take the Imamate from him, therefore, he names himself Ubaidullah and gives himself the title al-Mahdi and with the help of Abu Abdullah al-Shi'i, forms a government. When he dies, the government reaches Muhammad ibn Ali and he takes the title Al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah. He is the first Imam who appeared and also the first Fatimid Caliph. This interpretation is very close to the interpretation that the Russian orientalist Ivanov wrote about Isma'ilis; he used the book Ghayat al-Mawalid written by one of the Isma'ili guardians named Khattab (d. 533 AH/1138 CE) .