An analysis of some of the social structures that reflected belief in an imminent utopia reveals the fundamental interplay between secrecy, walāya, and obligation among believers to work on behalf of the mahdī. This cause was after all articulated as true religion – a return to various moments of the pristine past and a regeneration of true believers under the guidance of the mahdī and his authorised agents through the daʿwa. The daʿwa, the dār al-hijras and the wider organisation of the islands or jazāʾir were highly symbolic – reminiscent of the Prophet's own mission – and anticipatory, insofar as these centres logistically operated as visions of a terrestrial utopia.

Texts from this period too anticipate an imminent apocalypse – or at least an expectation that an eschatological figure would arrive imminently to vanquish the enemies of the Shia. Historian Michael Brett carefully outlines how these texts anticipated the advent of the mahdī, and illustrates the ways in which these expectations might have been tied to the emergence of the Fatimids. But what was the nature of the apocalyptic visions embedded within these texts? And what were some of the arguments put forth for belief in the Fatimid mahdī?

The next two chapters examine the apocalyptic topographies of two such texts: the Kitāb al-kashf and the Kitāb al-rushd wa-l- hidāya. Both texts are complex works of Fatimid esoteric interpretation (taʾwīl) that provide us with further details concerning the ways in which authors used specific verses of the Quran to argue for the coming of the mahdī. While these texts do not exclusively discuss apocalypticism, the theme of the mahdī reappears throughout, making them particularly rich sources for outlining some of the features of this symbolism. In addition to enhancing our understanding of how these authors used apocalyptic or eschatological imagery of the Quran to argue for the advent of the mahdī, this analysis provides us with further insights into the inner workings of Fatimid taʾwīl as a mode of Quranic exegesis more generally. Further, many of these apocalyptic or eschatological verses of the Quran were used in the taʾwīl of these two texts. This not only illustrates an abundant concern with the imminent end of time but it also shows us how Quranic apocalypticism and its Fatimid interpretive product operated as powerful rhetorical constructs to effect changes in conceptions of salvation.