Editing Fatimid Caliphate (section)

====Early Shi'ism and the roots of Isma'ilism====
The Shi'a opposed the [[Umayyad]] and [[Abbasid]] caliphates, whom they considered usurpers. Instead, they believed in the exclusive right of the descendants of [[Ali]] through Muhammad's daughter [[Fatimah|Fatima]], to lead the Muslim community. This manifested itself in a line of [[Imamate in Shia doctrine|imams]], descendants of Ali via [[al-Husayn]], whom their followers considered as the true representatives of God on earth.{{sfn|Madelung|1971|pp=1163–64, 1167}} At the same time, there was a widespread messianic tradition in Islam concerning the appearance of a ''[[mahdi]]'' ("the Rightly Guided One") or ''[[Qa'im Al Muhammad|qa'im]]'' ("He Who Arises"), who would restore true Islamic government and justice and usher in the [[Islamic eschatology|end times]]. This figure was widely expected{{snd}}not just among the Shi'a{{snd}}to be a descendant of Ali.{{sfn|Madelung|1986|pp=1230–34}} Among Shi'a, however, this belief became a core tenet of their faith, and was applied to several Shi'a leaders who were killed or died; their followers believed that they had gone into "[[occultation (Islam)|occultation]]" ({{transliteration|ar|ghayba}}) and would return (or be resurrected) at the appointed time.{{sfn|Madelung|1986|pp=1235–37}}

These traditions manifested themselves in the succession of the sixth imam, [[Ja'far al-Sadiq]]. Al-Sadiq had appointed his son [[Isma'il ibn Ja'far]] as his successor, but Isma'il died before his father, and when al-Sadiq himself died in 765, the succession was left open. Most of his followers followed al-Sadiq's son [[Musa al-Kazim]] down to a [[Muhammad al-Mahdi|twelfth and final imam]] who supposedly went into occultation in 874 and would one day return as the {{transliteration|ar|mahdī}}. This branch is hence known as the "Twelvers".{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=18}}{{sfn|Daftary|2007|p=89}} Others followed other sons, or even refused to believe that al-Sadiq had died, and expected his return as the {{transliteration|ar|mahdī}}.{{sfn|Daftary|2007|pp=88–89}} Another branch believed that Ja'far was followed by a seventh imam, who had gone into occultation and would one day return; hence this party is known as the "Seveners". The exact identity of that seventh imam was disputed, but by the late ninth century had commonly been identified with [[Muhammad ibn Isma'il|Muhammad]], son of Isma'il and grandson of al-Sadiq. From Muhammad's father, Isma'il, the sect, which gave rise to the Fatimids, receives its name of "Isma'ili".{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=18}}{{sfn|Halm|1991|pp=27–28}}{{sfn|Daftary|2007|pp=89–90}} Due to the harsh Abbasid persecution of the Alids, the Ismaili Imams went into hiding and neither Isma'il's nor Muhammad's lives are well known, and after Muhammad's death during the reign of [[Harun al-Rashid]] ({{reign|786|809}}), the history of the early Isma'ili movement becomes obscure.{{sfn|Daftary|2007|pp=90–96}}