View source for Musha'sha'

{{Short description|Emirate of Masha'sha'iya}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Emirate of Masha'sha'iya
| native_name            = [[Arabic]]:إمارة المشعشعية<br>[[Persian language|Persian]]:امارت مشعشعیان<br> عربستان
| common_name            = 
| religion               = [[Shia Islam]]
| government_type        = [[Monarchy]]
| life_span              = 1435–1736
| era                    = 
| p1                     = Timurid Empire
| flag_p1                = 
| p2                     = Qara Qoyunlu
| flag_p2                = 
| s1                     = Emirate of Muhammara
| p10                    = 
| flag_s1                = 
| s2                     = Safavid Empire
| s3                     = Al-Muntafiq
| today                  = {{flagicon image|Flag of Iraq.svg}}[[Iraq]]<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of Iran.svg}}[[Iran]]<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg}}[[Saudi Arabia]]<br> {{flagicon image|Flag of Kuwait.svg}}[[Kuwait]]<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of Bahrain.svg}}[[Bahrain]]
| flag_s2                = 
| image_coat             = 
| alt_coat               = 
| image_flag             = 
| image_map              =
| image_map2             = الدولة المشعشعية2.png
| image_map_caption      = 
| image_map2_caption     = Arabic Map of the Musha'sha Dynasty at Its Greatest Extent {{legend|#008000|long term influence}}
{{legend|#22B14C|short term influence}}
{{arrow|red|right}} invasions between 1450-1457 AD.<br/>{{arrow|grey|right}} invasions between 1457-1463 AD.<br/>{{arrow|blue|right}} invasions between 1477-1479 AD.
| national_motto         = 
| national_anthem        = 
| capital                = [[Hoveyzeh]]
| common_languages       = [[Arabic language|Arabic]]
| title_leader           = [[Sayyid]]<br>[[Sultan]]<br>[[Emir]]
| year_leader1           = 1436-1461
| leader1                = [[Muhammad ibn Falah|Sayyid Muhammad I]]
| year_leader2           = 1466-1500
| leader2                = [[Mohsen the Great]]
| year_leader3           = 1719-1736
| leader3                = [[Muhammad III Ibn Abdullah]]
| title_deputy           = 
| deputy1                = 
| deputy2                = 
| stat_area3             = 
| stat_pop1              = 
}}
[[File:Shah Ismail I Watches His Troops Defeat the Musha' sha' leader Sultan Fayyad. Persian manuscript, created c. 1688.jpg|thumb|right|Shah [[Ismail I]] ({{reign}}1501-1524) watches his troops defeat the Musha'sha leader Sultan Fayyad. Album-mounted folio of Bijan's history created by [[Mo'en Mosavver]], {{circa|1688}}]]
The '''Musha'sha'''' (also spelled '''Mosha'sha''''; {{langx|ar|المشعشعية}}) were a [[Shia Islam|Shi'i]] [[Arabs|Arab]] dynasty based in the town of [[Hoveyzeh]] in [[Khuzestan province|Khuzestan]],{{sfn|Luft|1993|p=673}} ruling from 1435 to 1924.{{sfn|Bosworth|1996|p=277}} Initially starting out as a tribal confederation, they gradually transformed into a zealous [[Isma'ilism|Isma'ili-Shi'i]] dynasty.{{sfn|Matthee|2015|p=450}} The independence of the Musha'sha' was put to an end in 1508 by the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid]] [[shah]] (king) [[Ismail I]] ({{reign|1501|1524}}), who claimed to be the only legitimate Shi'i ruler.{{sfn|Luft|1993|p=673}} Following this, the Musha'sha' remained compliant, typically serving as ''valis'' or governors under Iranian suzerainty for the following centuries.{{sfn|Bosworth|1996|p=279}}

==History==

The Musha'sha' were founded and led by [[Muhammad ibn Falah]], an [[Iraq]]i-born theologian who believed himself to be the earthly representative of [[Ali]] and the [[Mahdi]]. From the middle of the 15th century to the 19th century, they came to dominate much of western Khuzestan  in southwestern [[Iran]].

Beginning in 1436, Ibn Falah [[dawah|spread]] his messianic beliefs amongst the less powerful [[Arab]] tribes along the area of the present-day border of Iraq and Iran, gaining converts in an attempt to forge a strong tribal alliance.<ref>Britannica</ref> In 1441, they succeeded in capturing the city of [[Hoveyzeh]] in Khuzestan, and during the following ten years the Musha‘sha’iyyah increased their strength and consolidated their power in the area around the city and the [[Tigris]]. These early military ambitions were fueled by Muhammad ibn Falah's zealous [[Millenarianism|millenarian]] theology, which continued to significantly influence the later military campaigns of the Musha‘sha’iyyah decades after his death.

Successors of Ibn Falah were  in continual conflict with the [[Safavid dynasty|Safavid]] rulers as well as with Iranian Arab tribes until overcome by the Safavids in 1508.<ref name="Moojan102">
{{Citation | last =Momen | first =Moojan|authorlink= Moojan Momen
 | year =1985 | title =An introduction to Shiʻi Islam : the history and doctrines of Twelver Shiʻism | place =New Haven | publisher =Yale University Press | page =102 | isbn = 0-300-03531-4 }}</ref> The conflict with the Safavids was driven not only by politics and territorial domination, but also by theological differences and competition between two rival Shi'a schools of thought.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} According to [[Moojan Momen]], both sects adhered to heterodox (''[[Ghulat|ghuluww]]'') Shi'i beliefs{{dubious|date=December 2018}}.<ref name="Moojan102"/>{{better source needed|date=December 2018}}

According to the order's [[Islamic eschatology]], the Mahdi will appear at the end times in [[Yemen]] to lead the forces of good in a struggle against the forces of evil, who will be based in [[Syria]] and [[Greater Khorasan]]. The Musha‘sha’iyyah believed that the end times were imminent and that they would need to defeat the Safavids and gain control of Iran in order to fulfill the prophecy heralded by ibn Falah.

The Musha‘sha’iyyah gradually abandoned their heretical beliefs and were absorbed to mainstream Twelver Shī‘ah orthodoxy. Like other mystical Shī‘ah sects{{which|date=December 2018}}, they placed a great deal of importance upon poetry and art.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

Unreferenced sources indicate that their rule ended towards the 19th century with the rise to power of the [[Banu Ka'b]], which, under the leadership of [[Jabir al-Kaabi]], had become the dominant power in the western region of Iran. However, Momen writes that by the 16th century they were already reduced to being the governors of Khuzestan.<ref name="Moojan102"/>

==See also==
* [[List of Shi'a Muslim dynasties]]
* [[History of Iraq]] 
* [[History of Iran]] 
* [[Arabs]] 
* [[Iranian Arabs]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== Sources ==
{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFBosworth1996}}
{{refbegin}}
* {{Bosworth-The New Islamic Dynasties}}
* {{EI2|last=Luft |first=P. |author-link=Paul Luft |title=Mus̲h̲aʿs̲h̲aʿ |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/mushasha-COM_0809 |volume=7 |pages=672—675}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Matthee |first1=Rudi |title=Relations between the Center and the Periphery in Safavid Iran: The Western Borderlands v. the Eastern Frontier Zone |journal=The Historian |date=2015 |volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=431–463 |doi=10.1111/hisn.12068|s2cid=143393018 }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1=Akopyan |first1=A. V. |last2=Mosanef |first2=F. |title=The Coinage of the Mus̲h̲aʿs̲h̲aʿ |journal=Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society |date=2015 |volume=223 |pages=13–20 |url=https://www.orientalnumismaticsociety.org/archive/ONS_223.pdf#page=20 |issn=1818-1252 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Floor|first1=Willem|author-link=Willem Floor|title=Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri|date=2008|publisher=Mage Publishers|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-1-933-82323-2}}
* {{cite book | title = Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan | year = 2011 | publisher = I.B.Tauris | location = London| editor-last = | editor-first = | last = Matthee | first = Rudi |author-link=Rudi Matthee | isbn = 978-0-857-73181-4 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fFaw4od7nfUC }}
* {{cite book |chapter=The Evolution of the Safavid Policy towards Eastern Georgia |first=George |last=Sanikidze |author-link=Giorgi Sanikidze |title=Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires: The Idea of Iran |volume=10 |editor-first=Charles |editor-last=Melville |editor-link=Charles P. Melville |location=London |publisher=I.B. Tauris |pages = 375–404 |year=2021  }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Borgomale |first1=H. L. Rabino di |title=Coins of the Jalā'ir, Ḳara Ḳoyunlu, Musha'sha', and Āḳ Ḳoyūnlū dynasties |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society |series=Sixth Series |date=1950 |volume=10| issue =  37/38 |pages=94–139 |issn=0267-7504 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musha'sha'Iyyah}}
[[Category:15th century in Iran]]
[[Category:15th-century Islam]]
[[Category:Shia Islamic branches]]
[[Category:History of Khuzestan province]]
[[Category:Safavid Iran]]