Sufyani
The Sufyani (Arabic: السفیاني) is an evil figure in Islamic eschatology, usually portrayed in hadith as a tyrant who will spread corruption and mischief. According to Shia Hadith, the Sufyani will rise in the month of Rajab.[1]
Reports about the Sufyani are available in both Sunni and Shia Hadith.[2][3] The Sufyani is a not to be confused with another villainous figure of end times, the Dajjal.[4] It is said that he:
It is also said that when the Mahdi appears, Sufyani will send an army to seize and kill him, but, when Sufyani and his army would reach the desert of Bayda, they would be swallowed up.[5]
However some (mostly Sunni) sources claim Hadith describing the Sufyani as tyrannical figure of end times as unreliable,[6][7] based on a "garbled version" of a legend "fabricated by traditionists with Shia and pro- 'Abbasid sentiments".[8] Others reverse his role as an evil-doer, describing him as an ally not enemy of the Mahdi.[9]
Persons claiming to be Sufyani[edit]
At least nine figures revolted in the Levant using Sufyani as their title between 749 and 1413 CE. The first one was Ziad ibn Abdollah ibn Yazid ibn Muawiah ibn Abi Sufyan who revolted against Abbasids. The second Sufyani revolted in 754. Abu Harb al-Muburqa claimed the mantle about one hundred years later. In 1413, someone used this title and revolted against Mamluk Sultanate. He tried to exactly follow the Hadiths, but Mamluks suppressed and killed him.[23]