Maẓlūm and Manṣūr: Early Messianic Interpretation of Quran al-Isrāʾ 17:33

Messianic interpretations of the Qurʾān and their proposed hermeneutical manifestations (taʾwīl) concerning past and future events remain underexplored. The Islamic messianic figure, Imam al-Mahdī (“the guided one”), or al-Qāʾim (“the standing one”) in Shīʿī sources, is portrayed as the bringer of global justice and the restorer of the corrupted Islam (Sachedina 1981; Reynolds 2001; Cook 2002). Beyond these roles, Shīʿī exegetical and devotional texts emphasize his mission to avenge the blood of Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī, who was martyred in Karbala on the Day of ʿĀshūrā in Muharram 61/680. 

Shīʿī Imams reportedly interpreted certain qurʾānic verses in relevance to this post-qurʾānic tragic event and the messianic expectations surrounding the coming of the Qāʾim/Mahdī. This paper examines the messianic reception history of the seemingly legal verse Q al-Isrāʾ 17:33: 

And do not kill the person which Allah has forbidden, except by right. And whoever is slain oppressively, We have appointed to his next-of-kin authority, but he does not exceed in taking life. Indeed, he has been supported. (wa‑lā taqtulū l‑nafsa allatī ḥarrama allāhu illā bil‑ḥaqqi wa‑man qutila maẓlūman fa‑qad jaʿalnā li‑waliyyihi sulṭānan fa‑lā yusrif fī l‑qatli innahu kāna manṣūran). (Q Al-Irsa 17:33)

I demonstrate how the second/eighth-century Shīʿī Imams—Muḥammad al-Bāqir (d. 114/732) and Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765)—reportedly interpret maẓlūm (“the oppressed one”) in this verse as their martyred forefather, Imam Ḥusayn, and manṣūr (“the helped one”) as the Qāʾim/Mahdī from their progeny. While the term maẓlūm appears only once in the Qurʾān, manṣūr also occurs in Q al-Ṣāffāt 37:172, where God promises victory to His apostles and His army.  

The concept of divine retribution for Ḥusayn’s blood through Qāʾim is further emphasized in primary Shīʿī ḥadīth sources. For example, according to a narration echoing the hermeneutical interpretation of Q 17:33, Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq links the tragically oppressed Imam Ḥusayn to the divinely supported avenger, Qāʾim:  

When this [brutal killing] happened to Ḥusayn, the angles wept and cried out to God, saying, “this has been done to Ḥusayn, your chosen one and the son of your prophet [and you do nothing?].” [In response,] God raised [and showed] the shadow of the Qāʾim to them and said, “With him, I will exact retribution for this.” (al-Kulaynī, Kitāb al-Kāfī, 1.534) 

Similarly, in Shīʿī zīyārah devotional literature, the pilgrim not only acknowledges the Qāʾim’s dedicated role in avenging Ḥusayn’s blood but also prays for the opportunity to join and assist him in this mission. For instance, in Ziyārat ʿĀshūrāʾ, issued by Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, the pilgrim addresses the spirit of Imam Ḥusayn as follows:

I ask God, who honored you [Ḥusayn] above others, to be generous towards me on account of you, and to grant me the opportunity to take part in your blood-avengement (ṭalaba ṣārika) with the supported/victorious (manṣūr) Imam, from the household of Muḥammad (God sends peace upon him and his family). …. . And I ask Him [God] to grant me access to your highly praised station, bestowed upon you by God, and to give me the opportunity to take part in your blood-avengement with the Imam of guidance from your progeny, who will appear and proclaim the truth. (Ibn Qulawayh, Kāmil al-Zīyārāt, 174–175)

In this text, both references to the “supported” (manṣūr) Imam explicitly identify him as belonging to the Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet Muḥammad. This aligns with the broader, non-sectarian belief that the Mahdī is from the progeny of ʿAlī and Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ, as reflected in the Sunnī ḥadīth, stating: “The Mahdi is from my close kin, from the children of Fāṭimah (al-Bukhārī, al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr, 4:266; 10:484; Ibn Mājah, Sunan Ibn Mājah, 2.1368). 

I also demonstrate how the Shīʿī Imams parallelled the Qāʾim’s eschatological events and locations with those of Ḥusayn’s final months. First, both Ḥusayn and the Mahdī have been described in Shīʿī sources as Qāʾims appearing after a sequence of synonymous precursor Imams. For example, during the turmoil of the Abbasid revolution, some Shīʿas asked Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq whether he was the Qāʾim. He responded typologically, referring to two Qāʾims—the historical Ḥusayn and the eschatological Mahdī—by stating: “Whenever the three names, Muḥammad, ʿĀlī, and Ḥasan appear in sequence, the fourth person will be the Qāʾim” (Ibn Bābawayh, Kamāl al-Dīn, 1.55). 

Second, just as Imam Ḥusayn refused to pledge allegiance to Yazīd (d. 64/683), the Qāʾim is also prophesied to confront the eschatological antagonist figure, Sufyānī, who is portrayed as a descendant of Yazīd I (Madelung 1986; Shaddel 2017). (Madelung 1986; Shaddel 2017). This historical and eschatological Hashemite-Umayyad rivalry is encapsulated in the following ḥadīth attributed to Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq: 

Truly, we [the Ahl al-Bayt] and the household of Abū Sufyān are two families at enmity for the sake of God. We said, ‘God has spoken the truth,’ and they said, ‘God has lied.’ [Thus,] Abū Sufyān fought against the Apostle of God (may God send peace upon him and his family), Muʿāwīyah fought against ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (peace be upon him), Yazīd b. Muʿāwiyah fought against Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī (peace be upon him), and Sufyānī will fight against the Qāʾim. 

Third, according to Shīʿī sources such as al-Ghaybah of Nuʿmānī (d. 360/971), the Sufyānī like Yazīd seizes control of Damascus in the month of Rajab. Upon Yazīd’s demand for Ḥusayn’s forced allegiance, Ḥusayn fled Medina for Mecca, where he remained for several months before departing for Kufa. Similarly, faced with the Sufyānī’s threat, the Qāʾim will flee Medina for Mecca. As Sufyānī dispatches forces from Damascus to Medina, an apocalyptic event known as khasf al-bayḍāʾ will occur, in which his troops are swallowed by the earth en route through the desert. The Qāʾim will then begin his movement near the Kaʿbah in Mecca and advance toward Kufa, which will have fallen under the control of Sufyānī’s forces. However, the Qāʾim unlike Ḥusayn will conquer Kufa and subsequently Damascus and kill Sufyānī.

Altogether, this early typological reading presents Ḥusayn as a prefiguration of the Qāʾim’s movement, offering deeper insight into the development of messianic interpretations of the Qurʾān.