As to the history of Mokanna and the Sefiddjamegan, this movement might have had, certainly, dangerous consequences for Islam in Central Asia, if the authorities in Bokhara, and particularly the Khalif Mehdi, had not used all proper precaution. Mokanna, (as is related in the MS. lying before me), the veiled prophet of Khorassan, whose real name was Hashim bin Hekim, was born in the village of Geze, near Merw, and early occupied himself with many kinds of knowledge, but especially with enchantments and secret arts.
He was named Mokanna, or the Veiled Prophet, on this account, because he covered his head constantly with a veil, for he was deformed in features, one-eyed, and, moreover, bald. He had, no doubt, under Ibn Muslim a high military rank, as he there once came out in his character of prophet; he was seized, sent to Bagdad, and there put in prison. He escaped thence and came back to Merw, and when he showed himself among his people, for the first time, he demanded, "Know ye who I am?" They said unto him, that he was Hashim bin Hekim. He replied, "You are in error. I am your God, and I am the God of all people. I call myself what I will. I was earlier in the world in the form of Adam, Ibrahim, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Ibn Muslim, and now in the form in which you see me." "How is it, then," they asked of him, "that these make themselves known as prophets, but you wish to be God?" "They were too sensual, but I am through and through spiritual, and have constantly possessed power to appear in any form." He lived, then, in Merw, but his agents moved about everywhere in order to gain followers, and his letters of mission began thus:—
"In the name of the Merciful and Gracious God, I, Hashim, son of Hekim, Lord of all lords. Praised be the One God, He who was before in Adam, Noah, Ibrahim, Moses, Christ, Mohammed, Ibn Muslim; He who was manifested before all these, namely, I Mokanna, lord of might, brightness, truth,—rally round me and learn, for mine is the lordship of the earth, mine the glory and power. Besides me there is no god; he who is with me goes to Paradise; he who flies from me goes to hell."
Among his adherents an Arab, named Abdullah, principally distinguished himself, and, in the vicinity of Kesh, misled very many. At a later period the greater part of the villages around Samarkand and Bokhara went over to him. The professors of the new sect became from day to day stronger, and with their numbers increased also both uproar and riot, and the alarm and cries of the Musulmans. When the governor of Khorassan was informed of this issue he wished to seize Mokanna; who then kept himself concealed a long time, and though all the passes of the Oxus were guarded, he succeeded in escaping over to the Transoxanian side, and effected a retreat into a strong fortress on the mountain of Sam, near the town of Kesh (the modern Shehr Sebz). The Khalif Mehdi also was struck with terror at the intelligence. He sent first troops, and then arms in person to Nishapur, for it had become a question whether the partisans of Mokanna would not obtain the upper hand, and Islam sink to the ground. At that time in the new sect robbery and murder having been permitted, immense hordes out of Turkestan joined the revolters, the Musulmans were hard pressed on all sides, their villages plundered, their women and children carried away to prison. In the year 159 Heg. the commandant of Bokhara went against them with a considerable force, and the contest between the partisans of Mokanna and the Mohamedans lasted in that country many years. The Veiled Prophet moved not from his fortified position, his spiritual influence was sufficient to stimulate his followers.
The Arabian garrison of Bokhara, with the few which remained true to Islam, soon felt itself too weak against the number and fanaticism of their far superior enemy. Aid was sent from Bagdad under the command of Djebrailo bin Yahya; and the well fortified place, Narshakh, which was a residence of the Sefiddjamegan, was first attacked. After a close and vain siege the walls could only so far be damaged as to allow a ditch that was fifty yards long to be filled with wood and naphtha: this they fired, and the cross beams of the wall became consumed, and the whole mass without support fell. With sword in hand the Mohamedans rushed into the fortress, many were massacred, many yielded under the condition of retreating with their arms. The fortress was evacuated, yet when the Sefiddjamegan heard that their commanders were put to death in a traitorous fashion, they themselves took up arms in the enemy's camp. A fresh contest arose, in which the Arabs conquered, and the supporters of Mokanna were partly destroyed, partly put to flight. After Narshakh, Samarkand had to be forced, the inhabitants of which, in great part, were known to belong to the new sect. The sieges and battles of these places lasted more than two years (because a great number of the Turks had joined the Samarkanders without any result being obtained).
Mokanna, the mysterious prophet, kept himself during this period always in his fortress, attended by one hundred of the loveliest women of Transoxiana. The interior of the castle was kept only for these with himself and one male page; besides these was no earthly eye permitted to penetrate into his sanctuary. They say that 50,000 of his followers lay at the gate of the fortress, and earnestly implored him to show but once his god-like splendour. He refused, sent his page with the message:—"Say to my servants that Musa (Moses) also wished to see my godhead, but the beams of my splendour he could not support. My glance kills instantly the earth-born." The enthusiastic adherents assured him that they would gladly offer their lives as a sacrifice if this high enjoyment was allowed to them. When he could not furthermore deny them, Mokanna consented to their entreaty, and appointed them to come at a certain time before the gate of the fortress, where he promised to show himself. On the evening of the appointed day he ordered that his women should be placed in a line, with looking-glasses in their hands, as the beams of the setting sun were reflected in the looking-glasses, and when everything was illuminated by that reflection, he ordered them to open the doors. The splendour blinded the eyes of his devoted adherents, who fell prostrate, and called out,—"God! enough for us of thy glory, for if we see it more all will be destroyed!" They lay long in the dust supplicating him, until at length he sent his page with the message:—"God is pleased with you, and he has given you for your use the good of all the world."
Fourteen years long Mokanna is reported to have lived in this fortress consuming his time with women in drinking and carousing. The Arab field marshall, Said Hersi, had at last, after a hard siege, driven him into straits. The outer part was taken, and there was only the inaccessible citadel on a higher eminence. With the extinction of his ascendant star Mokanna was abandoned by his followers, and when he saw the inevitable ruin nigh he decided, in order not to fall into the hands of his enemies, rather to destroy himself with his women and treasures. He gave to the women at a last carouse a strong dose of poison in wine, and challenged them to empty a goblet with him. All drank but one, who poured the wine into her bosom, and as an eye-witness, told later the whole catastrophe. According to her, Mokanna, after all the women had fallen dead, cut off the head of his faithful page, and, quite naked, burnt himself, with his treasures, in a furnace, which had been heated for three days. He announced before that he wished to go to heaven to call the angels to his help. "I have long watched the furnace," said the fortunate woman who escaped, "but he never came back in that fashion." After the death of Mokanna there were many curious sects and creeds, but they concealed themselves from the ever increasing power of Islam. Under the Samanides the doctrine of Mohammed spread more and more, and Transoxanian countries became soon famous for their religious zeal.