Al-Rihla al-Makkiyya

In Islam, messianic beliefs are typically associated with the doctrines of the Shi?a. The idea of the Manifestation of the Hidden Imam at the appointed time has always been part of their beliefs, then and now. Besides mainstream Shi?a movements such as Twelver Shi?ism, Zaydism, or Ismailism, there have also been marginal and extremist groups around charismatic leaders claiming a messianic role. One of these is Sayyid Muhammad b. Falah (d. 861/1456-7), founder of the Musha?sha? movement among the Shi?i Arab tribes of Khuzistan, western Iran. Fighting or arranging themselves temporarily with their neighbors, notably the Safavids and the Ottomans, the Musha?sha? dynasty continued to exist in different forms and shapes well into the nineteenth century. The present work is a nineteenth-century Persian translation of a history of the Musha?sha? dynasty in Arabic by the governor of Huwayza and descendant of Ibn Falah, ?Ali Khan Musha?sha?i (alive in 1128/1716). Based on written and oral sources.