TALIYAH AL-MAHDI vs CULTS OF PERSONALITY
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
On September 9th, 1999, the precursor group that became known as the Taliyah al-Mahdi stepped out from the shadows of revolutionary action and activism, into the spotlight of promoting a core idea that had not been pushed before in the Muslim world: We may hasten the Rise or Qayyim of the Imam al-Mahdi al-Qa’im through preparing for that Rise in the way that the close students and companions of the generational leaders, the A’immah of the Ahl al-Bayt themselves did.
What are these methods of preparation?
Consider masters of spiritual and meditative disciplines such as Harun al-Makki.[1] Consider the clear martial abilities of Muhammad that could only be likened to “soft method” Jiujitsu – in submitting a much larger challenging wrestler.[2] Consider even the mastery of the Chinese Jian double-edge straight sword that is Zhu’l-Fiqar, in contrast to the dao or broadsword or machete common to infantry throughout the Middle and Far East. Consider even the Tao Jiao “Dark Room Meditation” practices of Muhammad in the Cave of Hira, which were engaged in as a spiritual discipline of Tahannuth[3] long before revelation came to the Seal of the Prophets, the Last of the Era of Prophethood, Muhammad ibn `Abdullah.[4]
The Taliyah al-Mahdi had a unique message, but one which we did not originate, but instead found in the inspirational words of the Ahl al-Bayt themselves: “When your Imam disappears from your midst… expect faraj or relief to come from beneath your own feet.”[5]
What does this mean? Does it mean that the 12th Imam isn’t going to return? Not at all. It means that perhaps the manner in which he will return – or is returning – is not what we expected. It means that we do not call the proverbial shots. It means that whether he guides us collectively and individually from the barzakh, the realm which the `urafa termed Hurqaliyyah because of the “Herculean” concentration of niyyah intent required to sustain conscious awareness there, his return is assured but it is not subordinate to our expectations and assumptions.
We know from the Ahl al-Bayt that without even five students of the discipline, practical knowledge and development of Harun al-Makki, there could be no rise. Perhaps this hadith is not familiar. Allow me to explain. In the narration, a disciple of the sixth Shi`i Imam, Ja`far al-Sadiq, the great, great grandson of Muhammad, and a teacher of numerous founders of Islamic schools of thought (Imam Abu Hanifa, for instance, of the Hanafi mazhhab), named Harun al-Makki (Aaron the Meccan), demonstrated the latent potential in every human being, when properly trained. In the narration, a partisan or Shi`i of Imam Ja`far approached him about the idea of rising in revolt against the Caliphate. From the perspective of Muhammad’s family, and their partisans or Shi`ah, the power to lead the Muslim community had been usurped, robbed from them, first by the Umayyad dynasty who originated with Muhammad’s arch-enemy Abu Sufyan, and then by the Abbasids.
Sahl ibn al-Hasan al-Khurasani who was one of the followers of Ahl al-Bayt in Khurasan [a province in Iran] came to Medina to meet imam Ja`far As-Sadiq. Sahl al-Khurasani said: “O son of the Messenger of Allah! You are of the Spiritual Leaders of Ahl al-Bayt. What prevents you from getting your right [to rule] while you find more than one hundred thousand Shi`ah who are ready to fight for you?”
The Imam asked him to sit down, and then ordered to turn on the oven that was in the house. After the oven became very hot and turned red, the Imam said: “O Khurasani step into the oven and sit in it.”
The Khurasani said: “My master, o son of the Messenger of Allah! Do not punish me by fire and make it easy for me.”
At this time, Harun al-Makki entered the room, and after the greetings exchanged, the Imam told him to put down his shoes and to sit down inside the oven. He did so and the Imam started talking to Sahl about Khurasan as if nothing had happened. After some time, the Imam said: “O Khurasani stand up and look inside the oven.”
Sahl looked into the oven and saw Harun sitting cross-legged inside the fire. Then Imam As-Sadiq asked Harun to come out of oven and he came out healthy with no burn or injury. At this time, the Imam asked Sahl: “How many individuals do you know in Khurasan like this man?”
Sahl replied: “By Allah, not even one.”
The Imam confirmed his saying and said, “We do not rise at this time when we do not even have five helpers [like him]. We know better about the proper time.”[6]
Harun al-Makki was simply a student of Imam as-Sadiq. He did not claim to have Divine powers. He did not claim that people should follow him unquestioningly because of these abilities. Could you imagine if someone had these abilities today? They could demonstrate them and countless foolish people would follow them as a new prophet if they decided to claim as much. That is the poverty of the human condition. Thus, the Qur’an tells us that “the majority are like unto cattle – No! Further astray!” (7:179), and “if you follow the majority of those on Earth, they will lead you away from the path of Allah. They follow nothing but conjecture and guesswork” (6:116).
Hadith literature tells us that even the Masih ad-Dajjal comes with a myriad of signs and miracles,[7] yet people still use claims of fascinating “miracles” as evidence for someone supposedly being sent from the Divine. But what were Muhammad’s “miracles?” He came with the Qur’an. The Qur’an itself was the proof of Muhammad’s truth. What was the proof of his military fitness? The willingness and ability to step up to martial challenges, and to subdue with gentleness and skill. These are examples of “miracles” that proved Muhammad’s calling. Today, however, people come claiming grandiose things, but they cannot step up like Muhammad did with an oration like or even knowledge of the Qur’an. They cannot step up with martial skills like he demonstrated, yet they claim to be prophesied military leaders. They cannot step up with skills in debate like Muhammad, `Ali, or members of the Ahl al-Bayt like Imam `Ali ar-Ridha[8] and yet they want us to “just trust them.” Reason, Al-`Aql, the First of Creation according to the cosmology of the Ahl al-Bayt[9] – that through which all of creation was given form – tells us that we should never “just trust” someone. As the Qur’an says, “hatu burhanakum in kuntum sadiqin” (هَاتُوْا بُرْهَانَكُمْ اِنْ كُنْتُمْ صٰدِقِیْنَ) or “bring proof if you are truthful” (2:111; 27:64).
Hadith tells us that Imam As-Sadiq did not even have five people like Harun al-Makki, yet today there are cults flourishing with thousands of people claiming to be the Jaysh al-Mahdi. Indeed, however, without a foretold 313 – the number of Jaysh or Troops of the Battle of Badr,[10] the number of 300 Troops and 12 Generals, along with Talut,[11] the Holy Leader Gideon, there could be no successful Rise. For this reason, the Ahl al-Bayt waited…
What is that Rise to which the Ahl al-Bayt referred? It is the forerunning and ground-laying of what in Kabbalah is called the “Messianic Era.”
From our earliest days, even before coining the name Taliyah al-Mahdi, our inner circle promoted this idea that first and foremost, we must be concerned with the return of the Ruh Allah – the Spirit of Allah within us all – within our own collective consciousness. From these earliest days we advanced the idea that this was the “Superior Eden” which the Zohar spoke of us moving towards – an Era of Conscious Harmony, rather than the “Inferior Eden” of the past where we existed in harmony with the Natural Order simply because we did not yet have “knowledge of good and evil.”
These ideas were startling to many. First of all, our founder who coined the name “Taliyah al-Mahdi,” Shifu Micah Ben David Naziri, PhD, was openly Jewish in his expression of his Islam and what he explained Judeo-Sufi rabbis like Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paqudah called Istislam[12] of the Covenant of the entire 613 Commandments of the Torah, which the Qur’an tells us are still very much present in existing copies of the Torah (e.g. 3:93-94; 5:43-6; 7:156-7; 10:37; 10:94; 28:48-49; 32:23; 35:31), and still obligatory for the Bani Israel (2:65; 4:154; 5:43; 5:46-7; 5:48-9).
Throughout the United States, Dr. Naziri could be seen with his friends in the Taliyah at masajid from South Central Los Angeles, to South East San Diego, to communing with the leadership of Shi`i Blood set in the Jungles projects, to “H.Q.” in Venice, to the masajid of West Covina and Irvine. Throughout the week he was a regular at such Muslim houses of worship, as well as regularly attending Shabbat (Yawm as-Sabt) services at local synagogues, building the foundation for what became the Hashlamah Project.[13] even teaching courses on Shi`i eschatology and the previously-unheard of ahadith related to the 313 and even to the concept of a 12 Mahdiyyin[14] who would follow the return, death and burial of the 12th Imam al-Mahdi al-Qa’im – and his subsequent 309 year reign[15] before passing the mantle to the other Mahdiyyin. All of this happened during the years that the Ahmadi Religion of Plagiarism and Lies founder Abd[ullah] Hashem was in Southern California, eagerly taking notes but refusing to reference citation for these new ideas he stole from the Taliyah al-Mahdi (albeit with the most superficial and shallow knowledge, which led to his perversion of these teachings).
The Taliyah al-Mahdi taught about the prophets Zoroaster, Imhotep, Akhenaten, Buddha (Zhul-Kifl), and Lao Tzi (Laozi) – the Taliyah logo even having a Taoist Yin-Yang and Bagua featured prominently. The Taliyah also taught about the Diaspora Essene-descended Persian prophet Mani. All of these became central teachings in Abd[ullah Hashem’s] concocted religion. Because the Taliyah had gone underground, the Ahmadi cult-founder thought there would never be anyone to pull his proverbial card and call him out on this plagiarism.
There were many details of the teachings, however, which the Ahmadi Religion founder did not advance to, within the Taliyah lessons. He did not learn the historical identities of Zoroaster, Imhotep or Akhenaten. He did not learn of the community that Mani came from, nor did he have any depth of knowledge in Tao Jiao or Buddhist disciplines and ideas. For good measure, he threw in claims that various Greek pedophiles were also prophets. Far from legitimizing his knowledge, he only demonstrated how little he knew, to those with knowledge on the topics and figures which he referenced.
The Taliyah did not teach these things in secret, and no “tests” were administered to prove sincerity before knowledge was shared. The Taliyah taught the Shi`ah about the two genres of Dajjal Hadith literature, with Dr. Naziri identifying Paul of Tarsus (Shaul Ha’Sheol) as the historical Dajjal spoken of in the earliest narrations. Dr. Naziri would eventually speak of a later polemic development of a class of Dajjal Hadith narrations which were commissioned by the Abbasid Caliphate itself, following the victory of the `Isawiyah Jewish Movement – with even the Abbasids embarrassingly admitting that Abu `Isa al-Isfahani defeated their entire first wave single-handedly![16]
These ahadith and this knowledge was previously unknown to all but a tiny number of scholars in the Shi`ah world. It is little wonder that Dr. Naziri was singled out by Muslim scholars of history in academia to himself become a professor of subjects related to these passionate teachings. All the while, however, Dr. Naziri never said these teachings were given by Divine Revelation. He never said to follow him because he knows something that you do not have access to know. He never said to give him status, or rank or money.
When some Taliy`un even suggested that he himself might be the “Return of `Isa,” he referred them simply to the third lesson in the Kitab as-Sirat al-Kamal – on the Ruh Allah, as taught by the Ahl al-Bayt, not from his own imagination or concoction. He said “be concerned with the Ruh within you – which is the same Ruh within me, or within a homeless man sleeping in a tent under a bridge in Hollywood. I am not special. You are not special – “you” and “I” are pure illusions. If you focus on “me” then you have missed the entire point. The “Buddha Nature” is within us all and we all have equal access to it. By fixating on someone you see tasting that Buddha Nature, or tapping into it sporadically, you are focusing on the illusion of separation, of “I” and “you” and thus are taken further away from embodying it yourself.”
For this reason, Dr. Naziri’s brother `Oseh, who remains with our chapter in Gaza at Masjid `Isa today, said:
“Worship no human being, nor physical body or form. Do not worship by prostrating on your faces, nor by falling down and lowering your intellect and reason to the feet of any alleged incarnation of the Divine.
“In the East it is said ‘If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.’ So too do I tell you that ‘If you meet the Messiah on the road, the path, kill him.”
Astonished, and whispering amongst themselves, they asked him what he meant. Were they to kill the Messiah?
`Oseh said, “Who would come to you and tell you ‘I am the Messiah, follow me! Abandon your reason and obey! Such a person has come to spread a cult of their ego and narcissism! The Buddha is within you, and all around you. Yet one who has not realized what might be called in that tradition, their ‘Buddha Nature’ still needs the guidance of a Buddha, no? But who is that man who says ‘I am the Buddha, and you are not?’ That man cannot be remedied. He is here to mislead and guide those who are psychologically suffering to their own ruin.
`Oseh continued, “And if you, on your own path to Enlightenment and ‘Buddhahood’, should happen to ‘meet’ within yourself an identity that says ‘Look! You are the Buddha! Go and tell the world to follow you!’ Then this too is an imposter who must be confronted and killed within yourself, and on your personal path!
“What you call ‘Messiah’ they call the ‘Buddha’ and if you look at a man and see it in them, it is because they are reflecting something pure within you that you should seek to embody. That is your higher self, and it is within each of you and speaking to you through these words today. But it is not separate from you, it is within each of you just as each of you are within the Mind of the Creator.
“All who are born will perish. All who are born and die are incapable of being worshipped. Worship instead the Creator which is Every-Living and is neither born nor dies. Realize as well, that all are living expressions of the Creator’s thoughts, within the Universal Mind. I and the Creator are One just as you and I are One. There is no separation. No division. Trust no one who divides and sets themselves as lord over you. Let reason be your guide in all things, for reason was the first of creation, and the power by which all of the Universe sprang into being.”[17]
In the Hebrew Injil – known as Sefer Ha’Basar – of the `Isawiyah Jewish community – the only Injil mentioned in the Qur’an, rather than the Kristiyani plural Gospels or Anajil, `Isa said, “if anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all; he must be the one to care for all – seeking nothing for himself.”[18]
The Taliyah al-Mahdi rose to prominence on the global scene in 2003 and 2004, following the widely disseminated article on the Double Eclipse of the lunar month of Shahr Ramadhan al-qamari, and its mystical implications. Excitement was high and you could feel the messianic fervor in the air. Still, when attention became too high, when praise of the leadership of the Taliyah was given to Dr. Naziri and others, the group was taken completely underground, away from sight.
In the aftermath of this ghaybah or occultation of the group, so to speak, a vacuum was created and two former outer-circle students of the Taliyah – neither having undergone full initiation, nor instruction – created cults to draw attention, favor and adoration to themselves. They claimed their “I” was in fact a “reincarnation” foretold. The first claimed he was the Yamani of prophecy, even though he was from Basra, not Yemen. The second found out, after the Soldiers of Heaven (Jund as-Sama’) incident in Iraq, where the former tried in vain to rise militarily, that its leader had died. When this second was not cut into the organized crime of the first group, he grew angry and said he would start his own group and claim the dead self-described Yamani had appointed him. All the while, the claims of ego-identity only escalated. This cult leader – what is called in Psychology a “Communal Narcissist”[19] – then took teachings from the Taliyah’s Kitab as-Sirat al-Kamal, and even a quirky, now-out-of-print book Dr. Naziri had written on similarities with ancient accounts of beings from the heavens, and modern claims of extraterrestrial contact.
Instead of seeing this book as something interesting and worthy of private discussion with friends and family, the Communal Narcissist – Abd[ullah] Hashem – plagiarized it, added right-wing and antisemitic conspiracy theories to it and made a movie about it. Instead of citing the book he got his information from, he decided to use this as “secret teachings” for his new cult, which he quickly spread throughout every nation besides the United States.
Why did his cult not spread throughout the United States? Put simply, it is hard to sustain CIA-funding when you are creating mischief within the borders of the United States. So while the Taliy`un were finding themselves on the FBI’s No-Fly List, and subject to multi-million-dollar federal investigations and witch-hunts, the Ahmadi Religion of Plagiarism and Lies was about to openly speak of acts of terrorism, murder, and to privately rape, and threaten with murder any defectors from their cult, without any repercussions, even though its founder – Abd[ullah Hashem] – was an American citizen.
Today the Taliyah al-Mahdi has returned from the underground, while still primarily operating in secret. Because of the flourishing of these cults who have plagiarized and misrepresented teachings which they did not author and do not have true knowledge or understanding of, we have a personal debt to the Shi`ah world to handle these dajajilah and combat their wicked cult of personality at every turn.
A true revolutionary movement must always deflect attention away from the self. They must always understand – as with Indigenous models of Leadership – that leadership itself is merely a role one steps into for a moment – like a garment or uniform – in order to fulfill a need, and then quickly discards. Our leadership is no more or less special than any of you reading this. We are no more or less the Ruh Allah than you reading this – no more the Buddha than any of you reading this. We do not wish for you to disassociate from your family, your friends, your masjid, your marja`, let alone your religion. We do not come speaking of a new path, but an old one – the Fitrah, the Natural Order. We do not want your money; we do not want you to engage in hurmah so that we might have evidence to use against you for blackmail; we do not want your spouses; we do not want your bay`ah.
There is a reason why ahadith say that Bay`ah is to Allah ALONE will be written upon the banners of the Mahdi. It is not for show or self-fulfilling prophecy of those who sophomorically read these statements literalistic ally. There is a reason why it is said that the Imam al-Mahdi al-Qa’im will come praying with the Hebrew Name of Allah, and why the true metaphorical, spiritual Black Banners of such a movement and epoch would say sam`ayna wa-`adhayna (سَمِعۡنَا وَعَصَیۡنَا) – “We listen and we obey”[20] – just as the Bani Israel did at Sinai in the Qur’an (2:93). This, like so much of the Qur’an, references the Torah, in Sefer Ha’Shmot (Exodus 24:7), where it is said “we will do and listen” (נעשה ונשמע).
The metaphorical meaning of there being “black banners” with the Imam al-Mahdi al-Qa’im is that he will come in the same mission and message as Muhammad who said that Jewish people and Muslimin are an Ummatan Wahidatan – “One Ummah” – as articulated in the Constitution of Medinah.[21] As such, he will judge the nations by the Noachide Covenant of Al-Islam and judge the Jewish people by the Torah’s Covenant of 613 Commandments of Istislam. What is most important is that we understand the symbolism and that we look at such prophecies as the metaphors which they are – not slouching into the literalism which the cattle-like masses try to dumb us down into accepting. For if literalism was what the Ahl al-Bayt had in mind when saying these words then any imposter could simply fabricate such a banner as a self-fulfilling prophecy. That would hardly be a way to determine that someone was foretold by the prophets and sages of old.
So, what this refers to then is that such a movement would return in the spirit of Muhammad calling the Bani Israel and the Muslimun to the Constitution of Medinah – where, again, we were called One Ummah, an Ummatan Wahidatan. This is because such a movement would understand why prophethood was an institution which ended with the Bani Israel before the current era – because the Covenant had been delivered. It would understand why `Isa, the Ruh Allah, embodied by the Holy Warriors Shim`on ben Yosef, his younger brother Yehudah Ha’Galili, and his son “Ahmed” (John 14:16 and Qur’an 61:6) – Menachem ben Yehudah[22] – said he was only sent to the Lost Tribes of Israel (Matthew 15:24).
Who were they? They were those Bani Israel scattered throughout the world – to return them to the Covenant which they had forgotten cultural memory of. Such a movement would understand that with Muhammad, the “Noachide” Covenant to the Bani Nuh – a covenant which the Torah calls the Gerei Toshav (Avodah Zarah 8:4, Sanhedrin 56a-b) towards, and which were called in the time of the Hawariyyun of `Isa the “Theosebes” God-fearers movement[23] – a Holy Covenant to all the nations of the world, delivered and finalized by the Prophet Muhammad. There is no need for any prophet after him. The message has been delivered. We do not need a new message, but a call to return to the Covenants – both for the Covenant for the nations of the world and that for the Children of Israel – which have already been given to us by the prophets of old! This is that call.
CITATION
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[1] Allamah Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 51, pp. 161
[2] Attested in many narrations, e.g. Jami`at Tirmidhi 1784, Book 24, Hadith 73; English translation: Vol. 3, Book 22, Hadith 1784; Sahih Muslim 2609a and b, Book 45, Hadith 140 and 141, English reference: Book 32, Hadith 6313; Sahih Muslim 2608a, Book 45, Hadith 138, Book 32, Hadith 6311
[3] According to Ibn Hisham and al-Tabari, tahannuth may be interpreted as tabarrur, “the holding of pious exercises.” This is akin to the Chinese concept of “Qi Kung” (Energy Exercises) or “Nei Kung” (Internal Exercises).
[4] This was also a practice of the Buddhist Jewish offshoot of the Essene sect in Alexandria, Egypt, known to Philo as the Therapeutae, in his in De vita contemplativa (On the Contemplative Life). It was echoed in the Matthian Christian account of Matthew 6:6, and described in more detail in the original `Isawiyah and Nazarene, Ebionite Sefer Ha’Basar.
[5] Majlisi, Bihar, vol. 51, pp. 161
[6] Majlisi, Bihar, vol. 47, pp. 123, hadith 172; also cited in Manaqib by Ibn Shahr Ashub
[7] e.g. Sahih Al-Bukhari, Hadith 6713
[8] For examples, see the article by Mahdi Alizadeh and Vahid Dehghani Firuzabadi, The Ethics of Scientific Debate in the Sira of Imam Reza (PBUH), Akhlagh, Volume 15, Issue 36, March 2020 Pages 11-39
[9] Examples of this are replete throughout The Book of Reason and Ignorance (Kitab al-`Aql wa al-Jahl), in the Shi`i work ‘Usul al-Kafi, compiled by Al-Kulayni.
[10] “Al-Bara narrated: The companions of Muhammad, who took part in Badr, told me that their number was that of Talut’s companions who crossed the river [of Jordan] with him, and they were over three-hundred-and-ten men. By Allah, none crossed the river with him, but a believer.” Bukhari: Book 5: Volume 59: Hadith 293: Military Expeditions led by the Prophet (Al-Maghazi).
[11] As found in the Book of Judges, Sefer Ha’Shoftim (7:5-7) of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and Qur’an 2:249
[12] In Arabic, we see the term Islam (اسلام), which is the infinitive of aslama (اسلم), indicating harmonious action with the Divine will. The most extreme form of this, the ninth form verbal intensifier istislam (استسلام), indicates a complete and peaceful lack of resistance to the Creator, non-contentiousness and yielding. It is little wonder then that the Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paqudah, the 11th century Andalusian Rabbi whose work is still today studied in Orthodox Yeshivot, characterized Judaism or Yahadut (the “Praising of God” through the performance of the Commandments of the Torah) by this name istislam, in his Judeo-Arabic Duties of the Hearts (Al-Hidayat ila al-Fara’id al-Qulub).
[13] For an in depth discussion of the Hashlamah Project, see Dr. Naziri’s doctoral dissertation: Micah B.D.C. Naziri, (2020). Persistence of Jewish-Muslim Reconciliatory Activism in the Face of Threats and “Terrorism” (Real and Perceived) From All Sides. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/542
[14] For a full treatment of this topic, the reader is directed to old Taliyah al-Mahdi website editions of Dr. Naziri’s article “The Revolution of the Mahdi,” or his upcoming work: writing an article: The 12 Mahdiyyin of Shi`ism As Myth and Metaphor: Why Eschatological Literalism and Claims of Reincarnation In Extremist Movements Fail To Measure Up To Hadith Narrations.
[15] Again, one should consult the previous footnote’s referenced work for a full treatment of the 309-year reign of Mahdi al-Hussein. The hadith in question, however, derives from Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 2, pp. 1059 and is cited in the tafsir of Al-`Ayyashi, an Imami Shi`ah exegesis of the Qur’an, written by Mohammad ibn Masoud Ayyashi (d. 932 CE).
[16] See Nemoy’s edition of Qirqisani vol. III p. 283. Kitab al-Anwar wa al-Maraqib (ed) Leon Nemoy, 5 vols. in 4 (New York, 1939-1943) vol. I, p. 12; Nemoy, “Al-Qirsisani’s Account of the Jewish Sects and Christianity,” HUCA VII (1930) 317-397; retranslated and annotated by B. Chiesa (introductory essay) and W. Lockwood (trans.), Ya`qub al-Qirsisani, on Jewish Sects and Christianity [Book I] (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1984). Another source on the `Isawiyah is perhaps the most elucidating. As the author is a Muslim, he is willing to tell us more about the group than the Karaite sources. Abu al-Fatah Muhammad al-Shahrastani, writing in 1127 CE, authored Al-Kitab al-Milal wa-l-Nahal (The Book of Beliefs and Sects of Opinions). This work was a summary of the Islamic sources on the group. He is, as Lenowitz notes, attempting to “show the errors of various sectarian opinions in respect to the truth of Orthodox Islam” (Lenowitz, 74). Unlike our Karaite sources, he is not seeking to justify his religious views to a community that accepts the `Isawiyah, as was the case for our Karaite authors. Shahrastani thus emerges as our most straight forward source, in many ways.
[17] `Oseh Ben David, translated by M.B.D. Taw’ami, The Way of `Oseh: The UNAUTHORIZED Teachings of `Oseh Ben David, New Dawn Publications (2020)
[18] The Hebrew Sefer Ha’Basar of the `Isawiyah Jewish community and the now-defunct Nazarene sect, is available to Taliyah members who advance to the 7th level of the Kitab as-Sirat al-Kamal lessons – the Level of `Isa.
[19] For an introduction to this topic, refer to Paul Wink, Michele Dillon and Kristen Fay, “Spiritual Seeking, Narcissism, and Psychotherapy: How Are They Related?”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Vol. 44, No. 2 (June 2005), pp. 143-158, and Daniel White, Marianna Szabo and Niko Tiliopoulos, “Exploring the Relationship Between Narcissism and Extreme Altruism”, The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 131, No. 1 (Spring 2018), University of Illinois Press, pp. 65-80
[20] Allamah Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 52, pp. 305
[21] See Dr. Micah Naziri’s discussion on “How the Constitution of Medina can help us understand Muhammad’s Islam” in People of the Book: What the Religions Named in the Qur’an Can Tell Us About the Earliest Understanding of “Islam”, his first master’s thesis, published by New Dawn Publications (2012)
[22] For a full treatment of these identifications, read Dr. Micah Naziri’s upcoming magnum opus, entitled: The Greatest Story NEVER Told: The Truth About the “Jesus” Myth and the Historical Figures Behind It
[23] For a full treatment of the Theosebes movement of the Second Temple Era, read Micah Naziri, The Significance of the God Fearers in the Environment of Early Christianity: Gentile Sympathizers of Judaism and the Success of the Paulean Meme, New Dawn Publications (2011)
