In this book I have traced an evolutionary trajectory of various iterations and manifestations of Fatimid apocalyptic myth. It first illustrated how social structures such as oath-taking, tithing, and centres of the daʿwa terrestrially instantiated a vision for the establishment of utopia on earth, a utopia to be inaugurated imminently by the mahdī. To be part of this cause, intiates pledged an oath of allegiance that provided them the keys to understanding some of the mysteries of the universe. Initiation also bestowed upon them an exalted lineage, a lineage shared by prophets and imāms that emplotted all oath takers as the true inheritors of righteousness throughout Quranic history. Textual evidence from the Kitāb al-kashf illustrates in detail how, at the level of taʾwīl, the Quranic text was interpreted to argue for this cause. Specifically, we find that the re-signification of Quranic visions of the end of time as the mahdī reoriented the tenets of salvation around belief and support for his cause, while walāya operated to specify and distinguish those on the right and wrong sides of history. The Kitāb al-rushd picks up these themes too, adding a sense of mahdist anticipation through a numerological hermeneutic.

In both the social structures of the revolutionary Fatimids and the early texts that are analysed here we find the theme of emplotment, the inscription of human actors in a cosmic drama that will unfold according to a scripted plan and result in the complete terrestrial vindication of true believers. The mahdī's arrival and relationship to his believers is, for instance, rehearsed in the Kitāb al-kashf, while portions of both texts also make the organisational structure of the daʿwa integral to the cosmic order. This emplotment is not unusual in the sociology of millenarian movements; in fact, the sociologist Michael Barkun writes that: