Kaysanites

The Kaysanites (Kaysāniyya) were a Shi'i sect of Islam that formed from the followers of Al-Mukhtar. They traced Imamate from Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and his descendants. The name Kaysaniyya was most likely derived from the name of Mukhtar's chief guard, Abu Amra Kaysan. The followers of Al-Mukhtar who emerged from his movement (including all subsequent sub-sects which evolved from his movement) who firstly upheld the Imamate of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and his descendants or any other designated successors were initially named the "Mukhtariyya" (after Al-Mukhtar), but were soon more commonly referred to as the "Kaysānīyya" (i.e. Kaysanites). The name "Kaysānīyya" must have been based on the "kunya" (surname) Kaysān, allegedly given to al-Mukhtar by Ali, or the name of a freed mawlā of ʿAli who was killed at the Battle of Siffin called Kaysān, from whom it is claimed Al-Mukhtar acquired his ideas. Similarly, it may be named after Abu Amra Kaysan, a prominent mawālī and chief of al-Mukhtar’s personal bodyguard. Others claim that either ʿAli or Ibn al-Ḥanafiya named al-Mukhtar ‘Kaysān,’ because of his ingeniousness. The Kaysanites as a collective sect held the following common beliefs: They condemned the first three Caliphs before Ali as illegitimate usurpers and also held that the community had gone astray by accepting their rule. They believed Ali and his three sons Hasan ibn Ali, Husayn ibn Ali and Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah were the successive Imams and successors to Muhammad by divine appointment and that they were endowed with supernatural attributes. They believed that Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah was the Mahdi. They believed in Bada’. The Dualist Zoroastrian sub-sect Mazdakism influenced Kaysanite beliefs. Furthermore, some Kaysanite sub-sects established their own unique beliefs, such as: Some believed that Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah was concealed (ghayba) at Mount Radwa near Medina, guarded by lions and tigers and fed by mountain goats and would return (raj'a, i.e.