Abu Isa al-Isfahani אבו עיסא אלאספהאני
the first Jewish sectary of the Islamic age: a prophet who raised Isfahan
His teaching was unheard of: Jesus and Muhammad are true prophets, but each for his own people. Seven prayers a day instead of three, wine and meat forbidden, divorce forbidden. It was told that, unlettered, he wrote books—the sources pass this on as the claim of his followers.
The rising ended in defeat near the city of Rayy, where he fell.
When all this happened is disputed, and we name the dispute. Qirqisani places him under Abd al-Malik, 685–705; al-Shahrastani under Marwan II, 744–750, with his death in the days of al-Mansur. The later reading agrees with the circumstances of his death, and we set the window by it, naming the earlier. On the ribbon he must stand in any case: the argument over the Oral Torah that would explode a century later into Karaism begins in this ferment.
On the timeline
Places
Related
Sources
Documents of the period
- Qirqisani, Kitab al-Anwar — the Isawite teaching and the earlier dating
- Al-Shahrastani, The Book of Sects and Creeds — the later dating and the death near Rayy
Basis: Talmud and midrash.