MUHAMMAD IBN FALAH

born c. 1400, , Wasit, Iraq died 1461, Hoveyzeh, Iran Muslim theologian who founded the extremist Musha'sha' sect of Shi'ism. Muhammad ibn Falah was reputed to be descended from the seventh Shi'ite imam, Musa al-Kazim. He received a traditional Islamic religious education in al-Hillah, a famous centre for Shi'ite studies. As a student he was noted for his extremist religious views, which bordered on heresy, and he was excommunicated from the faith by his teacher, himself a noted Shi'ite theologian. From 1436 onward Muhammad ibn Falah actively propagated his views among Arab tribesmen, trying to create a coalition of discontented Arab tribes on what is now the border between Iraq and Iran. This coalition was held together by his contention that he was the mahdi (the divinely guided one) and the representative of 'Ali (whom the Shi'ites regarded as the legitimate successor to the Prophet Muhammad). In 1440 he and his followers were defeated in a clash with the authorities, but in February 1441 they managed to capture the city of Hoveyzeh, which became the seat of the Musha'sha' movement. Warfare persisted for the next 10 years, during which time Muhammad ibn Falah was able to consolidate his power in the vicinity of Hoveyzeh and the Tigris River. He owed his success as much to the weakness and division of his opponents as to his own messianic zeal and doctrinal propaganda. The doctrinal foundations of the Musha'sha' are found in Muhammad ibn Falah's Kalam al-mahdi (The Words of the Mahdi). Written in the style of the Qur'an, the book contains a rigid code of conduct regulating the affairs of the community. Beside acting as the spiritual leader of the Musha'sha', he was also the military and temporal ruler of the movement. On his death he was succeeded by his son 'Ali as the head of the movement.