However...

O best of those who walked on Earth, be not far! The poet Jarir applies this term to Ibrahim, the prophet[^4]. The Sunnites often applied it to the four caliphs after the Prophet, who were called al - Khulafa' al - Rashidun al - Mahdiyyun , the divinely guided caliphs.[^5]' Sulayman b. Surd called al-Husayn, after his martyrdom, Mahdi b. al - Mahdi [^6]. As for the theological usage of this term, according to Rajkowski, Abu Ishaq Ka'b b. Mati' b. Haysu’ al-Himyari (d.

34*/ 654 )* was the first individual to speak of al - Mahdi as the Saviour[^7]. But it is worth mentioning that the second caliph, ‘Umar b. al-Khattab, had spoken of occultation before Ka'b. When the Prophet died in 11*/ 632, ‘ U mar contended that Muhammad had not died but had concealed himself as Moses did and would return from his occultation.

‘Umar's claim, however, was refuted by Abu Bakr, who reminded him of the Qur'anic verse revealing the death of the Prophet[^8] which states *:** "Surely you shall die and they [too] shall surely die. Then surely on the Day of Resurrection you will contend with one another before your Lord" [al-Zumar, 39:30-31]. The follower of Ibn al-Hanafiyya (d.

81-4/700-3)[^9], al-Mukhtar, who was in revolt in Kufa in 66/685, named him as claimant to the Imamate and called him al - Mahdi in the messianic context[^10]. Later the name of Ibn al-Hanafiyya became associated with the Kaysaniyya sect, which denied his death and held that he was the promised Mahdi, who had concealed himself in Mound Radwa, and who would rise in arms to eliminate injustice[^11].

The Kaysaniyya dogma played an important role in Islamic political history during the Umayyad period, since the ‘Abbasid propaganda, which brought about the collapse of the Umayyads, was in fact derived from this sect[^12]. The dogma of al-Kaysaniyya can be seen in the poetry of Kuthayyir (d. 105/723) and al-Sayyid al-Himyari (d. 173/789).