Hadi Taqavi, Ehsan Roohi, Hadi Sabouhi, University of California-Irvine

SBL 2019 International Meeting, Italy, Rome, July 3rd

Apocalyptic Literature
The Mahdī and the Last Roman Emperor:
Some Notes On The Role of Muslim-Christian Polemics
Hadi Taqavi, Ehsan Roohi, Hadi Sabouhi, University of California-Irvine
hsabouhi@uci.edu

Introduction
 The religious context of the Late Antique and early Islamic Near East was

charged with deep apocalyptic sentiments culminating in the belief in the

imminent appearance of a divinely-guided redeemer.
 The Last Roman Emperor and the Mahdī were, in the eyes of the members of

two adjacent confessional milieus viz., Muslims and Christians, the fulfiller of
these aspirations. (Alexander, 1985; Kraft, 2013)
 While there can be little doubt that the notion of the Last Emperor had

blossomed by the turn of the seventh century AD, there has been a perennial
controversy as to where it came into being for the first time.

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Introduction
Literature Review

 Some Scholars posit a fourth-century origin, believing the Tiburtine Sibyl to be the
ultimate source for the Last Emperor tradition.
 Others ascribe the crystallization of the tradition to the seventh-century

Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, construing the mention of the messianic ruler in

the Tiburtine Sibyl, as later accretion. There has also been an agnostic view hold by
such scholars as McGinn who states that there would be no inevitable conclusion
to arrive at. (Bonura, 2016).
 Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius was written, is commonly assumed to be the
earliest discernible stage of the Muslim’s apocalyptic expectations. (Madelung, 1981).

Introduction
Literature Review

 That said, some scholars carry the existence of the intense apocalyptic beliefs back to

the time of the Prophet Muḥammad himself. (Donner, 2010; Shoemaker, 2014)
 Motivated by the occurrence of certain parallels in the Islamic and Christian

apocalyptic heritage, the comparative analysis of the messianic thoughts of these

Near Eastern religions has been the subject of certain scholarly endeavours.
 These works have been preoccupied, inter alia, with two major topics: first, the
influence of the Last Emperor tradition on the eschatological excitement purportedly
prevailed in nascent Islam, second, the polemic nature of Muslim-Christian dialogue
on the issue of Messianism.

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Literature Review
 The wide circulation enjoyed by the Tiburtine Sibyl prior to the emergence of Islam
was, according to Shoemaker, the principal source of inspiration for the “apocalyptic
political ideology that seems to have fueled formative Islam.” (Shoemaker, 2014).
 Attributing an early forth-century date to the Tiburtine Sibyl, Donner likewise stresses
the influence that the Christian eschatological thought supposedly have had on the
early community of the Believers (mu’minūn). (Donner, 2010)
 Recently, Kraft has propounded the theory that the Mahdī and the Last Roman
emperor are “structurally isomorphic (messianic) topoi”, whose formation and mutual
correspondences should be understood in the light of the politico-religious context of
the late seventh-century Mesopotamia.

Literature Review
 According to Kraft, The Doctrine of Mahdīsm was articulated, as was the notion of the
Last Roman Emperor, in response to the current regime of the Caliphate, a belief
representing the hopes and apprehensions of the factions hostile to the Caliphal
system.
 This apocalyptic view, he states, would “mean the struggle for the Caliphal office for
one party (the Zubayrid cause), while it could mean the repulsion of the Muslim
occupation for another (Byzantines).”
 The fact that Muslims and Christians were cognizant of their respective messianic
view, avers Kraft, gave rise to Muslims-Christians polemics in the centuries to come.
(Kraft 2013)

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Literature Review
 Similar to this view is Cook’s contention that the Last Roman Emperor’s portrayal

within Muslim texts is monstrous, as opposed to the salvific picture painted by the
Christian texts. “This is one of the most common themes in apocalyptic as a whole: to
take the figure adored by one’s opponent and use him for the demonic or satanic
figure in one’s own story line,” asserts Cook.
 This may explain why in Muslim texts, supernatural creatures and inhuman foes are
prevalent on the Byzantine side. (Cook, 2002)
 It worth highlight in this context Möhring’s view that there is no indication of the

idea of Mahdīsm having been inspired by the Last Emperor notion.

Literature Review
 The messianic beliefs in Muslim milieu owes its existence, according to Möhring, to a
mélange of the Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian and South-Arabian (Himyarite) ideas in
whose dissemination a significant role is to be ascribed to none-Arab mawālīs. (Möhring,
2000)

 Having surveyed our extant academic literature, it is to be noted that the present essay
does not strive to readdress, let alone to settle the vexatious problem of the Last Roman
Emperor’s genesis, nor does it attempt to argue in favour of the emergence of the Islamic
Apocalypticism in the Second Fitna or rather in the Prophet’s era.
 For the research in both areas seems to have been embroiled in “so many indecisive
debates”. It might be wise to postpone further studies on these topics to the appearance
of more conclusive evidence.

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Literature Review
 We may deal in turn with “the trajectory of [these notions’] subsequent development”, the issue
addressed by Kraft which he rather tentatively asserts to have been dominantly influenced by
the inter-confessional dialectics. The issue one may call into question is the extent to which
these apocalyptic expectations may have been fashioned by virtue of inter-religious polemics.
 This is not, however, to say that the polemic played an unimportant part, for Pseudo-
Methodius’ work and those of later Christian apocalyptists vehemently directed against Islam.
But there are other, subtler points in the development of Muslim and Christian messianism that
should likewise be taken into consideration.
 What this theory appears to have taken for granted is each party’s knowledge of the “Other’s
eschatological scenario” which eventuated in the stereotypical repetition of certain apocalyptic
motifs in the Islamic and Christian texts.

Brief Remarks On Kraft’s Hypothesis

 Kraft’s argument about the Muslims and Christians’ close acquaintance with the other’s
apocalyptic scheme is based on a single tradition in the Tribulations of Nu‘aym and one
episode in the the Baḥīrā Legend.
 This does not entail, however, that they were “well aware” of their respective doctrine in
the course of their history. Called “rudimentary” by Kraft himself, his suggested
“structural isomorphism” between the medieval Islamic and Christian saviours seems
nonetheless insufficient for postulating the hypothesis of direct barrowing.
 To begin with, the Pseudo-Methodian Last Emperor is of an incontrovertibly
eschatological role, a point which is entirely lacking in the character of the victorious
ruler of the Qatāda ḥadīth.

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Brief Remarks On Kraft’s Hypothesis

 Had there been any direct influence, the integral component of the Last Emperor’s
character, his messianic role, would likely have been present in the Qatāda ḥadīth’s Mahdī?
 Some other parallels also sound tenuous and do not seem to speak in favour of Christian
and Muslim apocalyptists’ having been cognizant of the other’s scenario.
 One may reasonably quibble, for instance, with the assertion that “the paramount
attention paid to the genealogy of the Mahdī” would have been inspired by the Last Roman
Emperor’s illustrious pedigree reaching back, through a Kushite princess, to Alexander the
Great.
 Moreover, Kraft can be said to have blurred the line between the “incipient uses” of the
idea of the Mahdī and what later came to be evolved, according to previous scholarship,
around the triumphant ruler spoken of in the Qatāda ḥadīth.

Brief Remarks On Kraft’s Hypothesis

 It is claimed that the unexpected appearance of the Mahdī is in correspondence with the Last
Roman Emperor’s “sudden awakening”, but this analysis disregards the fact that the Mahdī of
Qatāda ḥadīth is entirely devoid of apocalyptic dimension, and the Ghayba, besides its’ being
absent in this ḥadīth, is a Shī’ī concept which the Sunnī apocalyptist would not have incorporated
in his material.
 The notion of Ghayba seems to have first been advocated by the adherents of Ibn Hanafiya, or as
Möhring observes, may have its provenance in the Saba’iyya beliefs who disseminated the idea of
Alī b. Abī Ṭālib’s return.
 If the latter was the case, the Ghayba concept should have preceded the composition of Pseudo-
Methodius’ Apocalypse, and needless to say, might not have been influenced by it.
 A great significance has been attributed by Kraft to inter-religious polemics, but ironically, in the
very apocalyptic text of which he makes reference, the Baḥīrā Legend.

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Brief Remarks On Kraft’s Hypothesis

 We see that the Christian Apocalyptist apparently seeks to placate, at least in part, his (Shī’ī)

Muslim audience, as he speaks of the “utopian” Mahdī (b. Fātima) who, though without

eschatological role, is nevertheless a righteous sovereign.

 This facet of the Christian apocalyptic scenario demands an explanation other than polemic, and,

as Roggema aptly puts it, should be considered as the “intricacy of the interaction between

Jewish, Christian and Muslim apocalyptic thought”. (Roggema, 2009)

 “The mutually exclusive character” of the Mahdī and the Last Roman Emperor is not, pace Kraft,

one may grasp from the sources. The polemic did play a significant part, but to belittle the

influence of other parameters would likely to lead us to a premature conclusion.

Brief Remarks On Kraft’s Hypothesis

 The messianic conviction of a nation may at times owe more to its own socio-religious

concerns than the religious polemics with other confessional communities.

 In what follows, we shall deal with certain aspects of Muslim and Christians messianism which

the inter-religious polemics might not have accounted for.

 Our foremost focus will be directed towards the Shī’ī messianism that adopts a quite pacifying

attitude to Christianity, at least vis-à-vis its Sunnī counterpart.

 Had there been any direct influence, the integral component of the Last Emperor’s character,

his messianic role, would likely have been present in the Qatāda ḥadīth’s Mahdī?

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Brief Remarks On Kraft’s Hypothesis

 Some other parallels also sound tenuous and do not seem to speak in favour of Christian and
Muslim apocalyptists’ having been cognizant of the other’s scenario.
 One may reasonably quibble, for instance, with the assertion that “the paramount attention paid
to the genealogy of the Mahdī” would have been inspired by the Last Roman Emperor’s illustrious
pedigree reaching back, through a Kushite princess, to Alexander the Great.
 The seven-year-old reign of the Mahdī has been arbitrarily reckoned correspondent with the Last
Emperor’s rule which elapsed circa 10 years.
 Moreover, Kraft can be said to have blurred the line between the “incipient uses” of the idea of
the Mahdī and what later came to be evolved, according to previous scholarship, around the
triumphant ruler spoken of in the Qatāda ḥadīth.

The Anti-Arab Nature of The Mahdī And The Last Emperor’s Uprising

 Having been penned in the wake of the Muslim conquests, the Apocalypse of Pseudo-
Methodius and its successors are vivid indications of the Christians’ fervent hopes rested
on a messianic ruler who was to annihilate the Arab invaders. (Alexander, 1985)
 This “polemical attitude towards the Arab conquerors” came to be “an integral part of
the subsequent tradition” of the Last Roman Emperor, recurring persistently in the
ensuing wave of the Byzantine apocalyptic material. (Reinink, 2008; Kraft, 2012)
 It should come as no surprise that the Byzantines would have adopted a belligerent
position towards the Arabs, but that the Arabs themselves are castigated in their own
apocalyptic tradition may well sound peculiar.

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The Anti-Arab Nature of The Mahdī And The Last Emperor’s Uprising
 In Shī’ī view, the Arabs are the Islam’s formidable apocalyptic foes whose evil deeds would
ultimately unleash the divine wrath. Among the most overt manifestation of this anti-Arab
sentiments is a groups of traditions which, despite exhibiting minor variants in wording, all
considered the Mahdī’s appearance to be the harbinger of a cataclysm for the Arabs.
 The sixth Shī‘ī Imām, Ja‘far al-Ṣādiq is quoted as saying: “woe unto the Arabs (wailun li-l-Arab)
from evil drawing near.” Elsewhere we hear of the Arabs’ paucity in the Mahdī’s army: “Caution
the Arabs, there will be bad tidings (khabara saw’in) for them, as none of them is to be join al-
Qā’im’s revolt”.
 The Mahdī is believed to launch a fierce onslaught against the Arabs (‘ala l-Arabi shadīd) and
“there will be nothing between him and the Arabs but the sword” viz., an intense battle.
 The Shī’ī tradition’s acrimonious passion for the Arabs is to be elicited in the light of the Shī’ī-
Sunnī struggle for legitimacy.

The Anti-Arab Nature of The Mahdī And The Last Emperor’s Uprising
 The words “Arabs” or “Arabs of Quraysh” in Shī’ī apocalyptic traditions should then be treated
synonymous with the Arab Caliphs and their followers. (al-Nu’mānī, al-Ṭūsi, Ibn al-Babawayh)
 Strikingly enough, the wailun li l-Arab tradition appears likewise in the Sunnī compendia, but the
apocalyptist has situated this extortive statement in fundamentally different contexts, which, as
we shall see, could be taken as an attempt to invent a counter-context, and in so doing, to
disparage the Shī‘ī version of wailun li l-Arab tradition.
 “The Prophet awoke from sleep with a reddened face and said,” we are told, “‘Woe to the Arabs
because of the evil that is imminent. Today part of the rampart of Gog and Magog is opened like
this,” and he made a round with his thumb and the next finger.
 Zaynab bint Jaḥsh said: ‘Oh Prophet! Shall we perish even if there are righteous people among us?’
He said: ‘Yes, for there is much wickedness.’” (Ibn Ḥanbal, d. 855; al-Bukhārī, and Muslim)

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The Anti-Arab Nature of The Mahdī And The Last Emperor’s Uprising

 It is within the framework of Gog and Magog’s advent that the Sunnī recension of the tradition
“defines” the impending catastrophe facing the Arabs. These invasive nations’ menace is tightly
linked here with the “wickedness” or in the more general term, the moral degradation in the
society.
 There is no mention whatsoever of the Mahdī’s rage against the Arabs. Gog and Magog’s threat
can be said to have been given the role which in the Shī‘ī tradition is fulfilled by the Mahdī’s
appearance.
 The imminent disaster for the Arabs is identical in some other Sunnī traditions with the End-time
fitan: “Woe unto the Arabs from an impending evil, (i.e.) The Tribulations (Fitan) like the pitch-dark
night. A man wakes up a believer and becomes a disbeliever at night. People sell their faiths for the
vanities of this world.” (Nu‘aym; Cook, 2017)

The Anti-Arab Nature of The Mahdī And The Last Emperor’s Uprising
 This tradition speaks neither of the rebellious nations of Gog and Magog nor of the Mahdī’s
fury against the Arabs. The imminent threat is relegated here to the infidelity and apostasy
of the believers. In sum, the Mahdī’s appearance inaugurates, for the Shī‘īs, the demise of
the “hostile autocratic government”, the Arabs of Quraysh under whose oppression they
lived and flourished.
 While the Shī‘ī apocalyptic tradition bears a bitter hostility towards the Arabs, the Sunnī
apocalypses’ animosity is centered to a considerable extent upon the Byzantine Empire, the
fearsome adversary of the Caliphal office.
 Though efficient in providing us with a convincing explanation as to the anti-Byzantine
Sunnī material, Kraft’s hypothesis falls short of satisfactorily justifying the anti-Arab facet of
Shī‘ī messianism, as it has nothing to do with the polemics with the Christian neighbor.

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The Anti-Arab Nature of The Mahdī And The Last Emperor’s Uprising

 This Shī‘ī character owes its existence to a totally domestic interaction, unlike the anti-
Byzantine nature of the Sunnī apocalyptic texts that were articulated in response to an
extrinsic parameter.
 To conclude, suffering the oppression at the hands of the Arab caliphs was the Shī‘īs’
impetus behind the expectation of a sviour who is to rise suddenly in response to a long
period of the Arabs’ bloodshed, injustice, pains and tribulations, and obliterate the their
tyrannies.
 And, it need not to be stressed that the Muslim-Christian dialectics cannot account for
this observation.

The Roman Provenance of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 The loathing Muslim and Christian apocalyptists felt towards each other’s redeemer
exemplified at times in the “demonization” of their respective salvific actors. (Cook, 2002;
Shaddel, 2016)

 The “demon child” who is to wrest control of Byzantium, and a Roman captain being born
to a jinnīyya, are notable instances adduced by Cook in favour of this argument. (Cook,
2002)

 The autobiographical account ascribed to Malīka, the slave-girl (jārīya) of the eleventh Shī’ī
Imām, Hasan al-Askarī, is illustrative in this respect.
 Malīka supplies us with a good deal of information on the Shī’ī hagiography, introducing
herself as the progeny of Jesus’ executor (waṣī) and the granddaughter of a Roman Caesar
(variously designated in the Arabic as “Ghayṣar”,” “Malik al-Rūm,” and “Ghayṣar Malik al-
Rūm”).

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The Roman Provenance of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 She is mentioned in this tradition as having been taken into captivity in a war between
the Arabs and Byzantium and subsequently brought to Samarrā where she is bestowed to
Hasan al-Askarī and gives birth to a son of his. (al-Ṭūsi, Ibn al-Babawayh).
 Though not an end-time prophecy, this tradition has much to tell us about the Shī’ī
messianism. Unlike the Sunnī material’s widespread tendency of demonizing the figures
on the Roman side, Malīka’s autobiography claims the Roman origin for the Mahdī
himself.
 The notion of claiming a Christian Roman descent for an Islamic saviour is scarcely a
familiar one, standing in stark contrast with the Sunnīs’ inexorable hostility with
Byzantium and the Christian world as a whole.

The Roman Provenance of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 To investigate into the roots of the belief on the Mahdī’s “Royal and apostolic
lineage”, one needs to compare some testimonies about the maternal lineage of the
Shī’ī Imāms in general and of the Shī’ī saviour in particular.
 The last sixth Imāms were born from the slave-girls (jawārī), of differing ethnic and
religious background. These jawārī’s ancestry and erstwhile religion is central in the
Shī’ī faith to the “matrilineal nobility” both of the Imāms and the Mahdī. (Dann, 2018)
 These jawārī, according to an oft-repeated statement in each of these women’s
biographical traditions, were to give birth to “the best amidst the people of the
earth” (khayru ahl al-arḍ), the expected Mahdī. (Pierce, 2016; Dann, 2018).

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The Roman Provenance of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 By virtue of his maternal pedigree, the Shī’ī Mahdī would be of strong cultural ties with
other confessional and ethnic entities which partly brings about a relatively pacifying view
towards the other nations and their messianic convictions.
 That is perhaps why the Mahdī’s being of Roman descent causes no difficulty in the Shī’ī
faith, unlike the official Sunnī view for which the chasm of deep-rooted antagonisms
between the Byzantines and the Arabs sounds all but bridgeable.
 Noteworthy in the context of Muslims’ attitude towards the Rūm is a comparative analysis
on the Arab-Byzantine wars one is likely to find in the Shī’ī and Sunnī collections.
 An examination of the malāḥim tradition would reveal the paramount import of Byzantium
and its heartland, Constantinople in the Sunnī worldview along with the evil role has been
assigned to the Rūm thereon. (Bashear, 1991)

The Roman Provenance of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 Thought felt first and foremost by the Syrian scholars, this apprehension finally
broke the geographical borders and became a predominant theme in the Muslim
apocalyptic tradition. (Cook, 2000)
 These feelings were strong to the extent that Constantinople’s capture was linked
somehow or other in the Sunnī tradition to the Day of Judgments itself.
 In sum, the all-out battle not merely with the Rūm but also with all the Christian
lands became an indispensable element of the Sunnī faith’s malāḥim. (Bashear, 1991;
Cook, 2017)

 Not unexpectedly, the whole scene would dramatically change if one turns to the
Shī’ī apocalyptic texts. Here, there is no indication of an innate animosity with the
Rūm.

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The Roman Provenance of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 The Byzantines’ mere culpability is their granting the Umayyads asylum and it is

with the former’s giving the latter to the Mahdī’s generals that the struggle comes
to a rather amicable end.
 “When al-Qā’im arises,” it is reported, “he would dispatch his army to Syria (al-

Shām) against the Banū Ummaya who has fled to Byzantium (al-Rūm).
 The latter informs them that they are not given asylum unless they convert to

Christianity. The Umayyads admit, hang the crosses around their necks and enters
the country. Upon arriving al-Qā’im’s troops, the Byzantines sue for peace but they
are demanded the surrender of the Banū Umayya so they give them to al-Qā’im’s
entourages.

The Roman Provenance of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 It is with respect to this circumstance that God Almighty has said: ‘Flee not,

but return to that (existence) which emasculated you and to your dwellings,
that ye may be questioned.’”

 Another tradition speaks of al-Qā’im’s sending an expedition to

Constantinople where, much to Byzantines’ astonishment, the Mahdī’s

soldiers write something on the soles of their shoes and cross the strait.

 The miraculous walking on the waters would convince the Romans to

capitulate to the Mahdī’s army. (al-Nu’mānī, al-Ṭūsi, Ibn al-Babawayh).

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The Nubian Origin of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 As was the case for Byzantium, one discerns a dichotomy between the Sunnī

and Shī’ī attitude towards the Nubian Christians.

 The Arab conquerors’ futile attempt to the Nubian empire’s subjugation

following the conquest of Egypt, and the occasional clashes between the latter
and its Christian neighbor have left their traces in the Sunnī apocalyptic
material.
 Though apparently less serious than threat of the Rūm, the menace posed by

the Nubians to the Muslim-held territories has been accompanied by the Sunnī
apocalyptists’ concern over the issue of the Nubian (Ethiopian) invasion.

The Nubian Origin of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 Not only this view of the Nubians is almost entirely absent in the Shī‘ī material, but they
are mentioned as joining the Mahdī’s troops.
 A tradition attributed to Imām Ja‘far al-Ṣādiq denotes that the Nubians belong to those
Christians about whom God has revealed: “And with those who say: ‘Lo! we are Christians,’
We made a covenant, but they forgot a part of that.” They will recall nonetheless this
covenant, the tradition adds, and a faction of them will advocate al-Qā’im. (al-Kulaynī).
 More Significantly, the Shī’ī faith asserts Nubian descent for the Mahdī himself. The mother
of the ninth Imām, al-Jawād, is reported to have been a Nubian slave girl whom the
tradition present in an enormously favourable light.
 She is venerated for her being a “saintly vessel” (al-muntajaba al-raḥim) who carries the
“light” of the expected saviour.

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The Nubian Origin of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 The ascription of Nubian origin to the Mahdī has its roots, as stated above, in the

conviction of the Shi’i saviour’s association with different confessional and cultural
groups.
 Thus we hear in the Shī’ī texts not only of the Mahdī’s Nubian and Roman origin, but

of his Iranian provenance as well.

 He is unambiguously proclaimed to be “the Mahdī of all nations” (al-Mahdīyyu min-

nā fi akhir al-zamān lam yakun fi-ummatin min al-umam Mahdīyyan yuntaẓar

ghayruh )” whose Arab, Kushite, Roman and Iranian ancestry can be said to make
him, in the Shī’ī view, the legitimate heir to the throne of Muslim and Christian lands
across the globe.

The Nubian Origin of the Mahdī and the Last Emperor

 To recapitulate, the medieval Christian and Shī’ī messianic figures are alike in

their Nubian descent, but what has brought about this resemblance ought

not to be reduced to interreligious polemics, nor does this feature betray a

Christian influence on the Shī’ī messianism.

 What we have to do here is a doctrinal parallel which has been formulated in

two distinct milieus in response to each party’s domestic needs and

aspirations.

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Conclusion
 Aside from the religious polemics, there are certain subtle points in
development of Muslim and Christian messianic notions that should be
taken into consideration.

 The messianic conviction of a nation may at times owe more to its own
socio-religious concerns than the religious polemics with other
confessional communities.

 This seems to be the case for the Shī’ī messianism whose defining
features have been fashioned in response to totally domestic interactions.

Conclusion

 To say that “the trajectory” of the messianic hopes’ evolution has been
merely determined by the polemic runs the risk of oversimplifying a
complicated issue.

 The lack of political polemics in the Shī’ī faith with respect to the
Christian Byzantine neighbour, has brought about a relatively pacifying
attitude towards the Byzantines and the Christian world as a whole, at
least vis-à-vis the Sunnī worldview.

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SBL 2019 International Meeting, Italy, Rome, July 3rd

Apocalyptic Literature
The Mahdī and the Last Roman Emperor:
Some Notes On The Role of Muslim-Christian Polemics
Hadi Taqavi, Ehsan Roohi, Hadi Sabouhi, University of California-Irvine
hsabouhi@uci.edu

SBL 2019 International Meeting, Italy July 2019

To have a copy of this presentation, please send an email to:

Hadi Sabouhi
University of California-Irvine,

hsabouhi@uci.edu

SBL 2019 International Meeting, Rome July 2019 18