Al-Muqanna

Al-Muqanna‘ (Arabic: المقنع‎ "The Veiled One", died 779 CE) was a Persian man who claimed to be a prophet and is viewed as a heretic by mainstream Muslims.

Biography

Al-Muqanna‘ was an ethnic Persian from Merv named Hashim ibn Hakim, originally a clothes pleater. He became a commander for Abū Muslim of Khorasan. After Abū Muslim's murder, al-Muqanna‘ claimed to be an incarnation of God, a role, he insisted, passed to him from Abū Muslim, who received it via ‘Alī from the Prophet Muhammad. Al-Muqanna‘ was reputed to wear a veil in order to cover up his beauty; however, the Abbasids claimed that he wore it to hide his ugliness, being one-eyed and bald. His followers wore white clothes in opposition to the Abbasids' black. He is reputed to have engaged in magic and quackery to impress his followers as a maker of miracles. Al-Muqanna‘ was instrumental to the formation of the Khurramiyya, a sect that claimed Abū Muslim to be the Mahdi and denied his death. When Al-Muqanna‘'s followers started raiding towns and mosques of other Muslims and looting their possessions, the Abbasids sent several commanders to crush the rebellion. Al-Muqanna‘ poisoned himself rather than surrender to the Abbasids, who set fire to his house when he was on the verge of being captured. After his death, the sect continued to exist until the 12th century, waiting for al-Muqanna‘ to return again.

Cultural references

The first poem in Lalla Rookh (1817) by Thomas Moore is titled The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, and the character Mokanna is modeled loosely on al-Muqanna‘.

St. Louis, Missouri, businessmen referenced Moore's poem in 1878 when they created the Veiled Prophet Organization and concocted a legend of Mokanna as its founder.^[1] For many years the organization put on an annual fair and parade called the "Veiled Prophet Fair," which was renamed Fair Saint Louis in 1992. The organization also gives a debutante ball each December called the Veiled Prophet Ball.

The Mystic Order of the Veiled Prophet of the Enchanted Realm (founded 1889), a social group with membership restricted to Master Masons, and its related organization, The Daughters of Mokanna (founded 1919), also take their names from Thomas Moore's poem.^{[2] [3]}

Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges used a fictionalized al-Muqanna‘ as the central character of The Masked Dyer, Hakim of Merv, a 1934 short story, and in another story fifteen years later, The Zahir, as a past avatar of the titular object.

References

1. ^ History, Veiled Prophet Organization, 2009, http://www.veiledprophet.org/content/view/37/41/, retrieved 2009-12-15 
2. ^ The Grotto, MasonicDictionary.com, 2007, http://www.masonicdictionary.com/grotto.html, retrieved 2009-12-15 
3. ^ Lalla Rookh Caldron, Daughters of Mokanna, Lalla Rookh Grotto, http://lallarookhgrotto.com/id18.html, retrieved 2009-12-15 

External links

• Veiled Prophet of Khorasan - a historical study from many sources, includes original texts