# Nuqtavi

Part of a series on Shia Islam :
Twelver Shi'ism :
The Fourteen Infallibles
Muhammad
Fatimah
The Twelve Imams
Ali
Hasan
Husayn
al-Sajjad
al-Baqir
al-Sadiq
al-Kazim
ar-Rida
al-Taqi
al-Naqi
al-Askari
al-Mahdi :
Principles
Monotheism
Justice
Prophethood
Imamate
Judgement Day :
Other beliefs
Imamate of the Family
Angels
Mourning of Muharram
Intercession
Occultation
Wilayat al-Faqih
Usul al-fiqh
Ijtihad
Taqlid
Irfan :
Practices
Salat
Sawm
Hajj
Zakat
Khums
Jihad
Amr bi-l maʿrūf
Nahy ani l-Munkar
Tawalli
Tabarri :
Other practices
Mourning of Muharram
Arba'een Pilgrimage
Intercession :
Holy cities
Mecca
Medina
Najaf
Karbala
Mashhad
Jerusalem
Samarra
Kadhimiya
Qom :
Groups
Ja'fari
Usuli
Akhbari
Shaykhi :
Other related sects and groups
Alawites
Sufi orders and Alevism
Qizilbash
Safaviyya
Bektashism and folk religion
Malamatiyya
Qalandariyya
Hurufism
Bektashism
Galibi
Ni'matullāhī :
Scholarship
Law
Marja' (list)
Hawza
Ayatollah (list)
Allamah
Seghatoleslam
Hojatoleslam
Ijtihad :
Hadith collections
The Four Books
Kitab al-Kafi
Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih
Tahdhib al-Ahkam
Al-Istibsar
Other hadith collections
Book of Sulaym ibn Qays
Bihar al-Anwar
Wasā'il al-Shīʿa
Reality of Certainty
Nahj al-Balagha
Mafatih al-Jinan
Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya
Al-Amali :
Sources of ijtihad and jurisprudence
Qur'an
Hadiths of The Infallibles
Consensus
Reason :
Related topics
List of Twelver Shia books
Criticism of Twelver Shi'ism :
Shia Islam portal :
vte :
The Nuqtavi (Persian: نقطویان Nuqṭawiyyah) movement was founded by Mahmoud Pasikhani (Persian: محمود پسیخانی) when he proclaimed himself the Mahdi in 1397. The group is an offshoot of Hurufism, from which Pasīkhānī was expelled for arrogance. The group first arose in Anjudan near Kashan an area known for its Nizari Isma'ili Shia Islam. The group attempted to proclaim Tahmasp I as Mahdi after Pasikhani died.

## Doctrines

Mahmoud Pasikhani never married and encouraged celibacy among his followers saying that the celibate have reached the rank of wāḥid, which has the numerical value of nineteen. The Nuqtavis placed an exceptionally heavy emphasis on the number nineteen. They also advanced a cyclical view of time, which is reminiscent of the Isma'ilis. The Nuqtavis held that the total length of the Earth's existence is 64,000 years and that this is divided into four periods of 16,000 years and these in turn are subdivided into two sections of 8,000 years, one an Arab epoch and the other a Persian epoch.

## Intellectual influences

The Nuqtavis owe most of their doctrines to the ḥurūfis. Most obviously the personal link between Mahmoud Pasikhani and Fazlallah Astarabadi (d.1394), founder of Hurufism. The notable influences were the obsession with the numerical and phonemic meanings of the letters of the Persian alphabet. Likewise, Astarabadi had proclaimed himself Mahdi as well as Jesus returned. Like many of the Muslim splinter groups in Iran, Hurufis believed that Astarabadi's Javedanname abrogated previous revelation (i.e. the Qur'an).

## Modern influences

The writings of Ali Mohammad Shirazi, known as the Báb, contained many codified chronograms, cabbalistic interpretations, talismanic figures, astrological tables, and numerical calculations, some of which appear to be similar to Nuqtavi symbolism. ʿAlī Muḥammad Nāżim al-Sharī‘ah claims that the Báb was taught the Nuqtavi doctrines while imprisoned in Maku and that he incorporated them directly into his Bayán. Saiedi states, however, that while some elements found in the Nuqtavi school are confirmed in the writings of the Báb (Nuqtaye Ula), the literal emphasis that the Nuqtavi school placed on letters as direct elements of divine creation are foreign to the Báb's teachings; his teachings have little to do with the issue of the actual letters or their literal divine character, but instead, concern a mystical world view where the sacred character of human beings is the image of God.