The Sufyani in Early Islamic Kerygma: An Enquiry into His Origins and Early Development

摘要

The present study aims to contribute to the quest for the origins of belief in the eschatological figure of the Sufyani, a matter of hot debate since the late nineteenth century. To this end, three different bodies of evidence are produced and analysed: reports indicating that the Sufyani was, indeed, thought of as a redemptive personality in some Syrian quarters, traditions on him in the Muslim endtimes literature that contain an ex eventu pronouncement, and reports concerning the propaganda activities of the first Sufyani claimant, Abu Muhammad Ziyad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Yazid "al-Sufyani", in the historical record. Making use of hitherto unavailable sources and looking afresh at the previously studied sources, it is argued that the myth of the Sufyani emerged during the counterrevolutionary revolt of Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani in 132 ah, with vague residues of it traceable to his earlier military activities, against the Umayyad caliph YazTd III, in 126 AH.