The New International Encyclopædia/Hakim ibn Allah

HAKIM IBN ALLAH, hä'kīm ĭbn ȧl'lȧ, also called al-Mokanna, ‘the veiled.’ Founder of a Mohammedan sect in the eighth century, and leader of a revolt against Mahdi, the third Abbaside Caliph. He came from Merv in Khorassan and began his career as a private soldier, soon became captain, and subsequently headed a band of his own. In one of his fights he lost an eye, and henceforth wore a veil. Hakim's religious teaching was that God enters the body of men at various times—e.g. Adam and Noah—and that He had entered his body. He claimed to perform miracles and is said on one occasion to have caused the moon to appear out of a wall; hence he is sometimes called ‘moon-maker.’ His alleged miracles gained him numerous adherents and with them he captured many strongholds. For a time the armies sent against him were defeated, but finally Mahdi dispatched Said al-Harashi, who took city after city, and compelled Hakim to withdraw to Kash, where he was surrounded. In this predicament Hakim poisoned his soldiers and burned himself to death. The story of the veiled prophet has been put into poetical form by Moore in Lalla Rookh. Consult Weil, Geschichte der islamitischen Völker (Stuttgart, 1866).