False Prophets

Holy Prophet (PBUH) said:

“In my Ummah, 30 liars will be born. Each will claim Prophethood and claim to be a Prophet, even though I am the last Prophet and there shall be no Prophet after me.
(Abu Dawood)

1 - Musailama al-Kazzab: Among the first false claimants to Prophecy was Musailama al-Kazzab, who appeared during the time of Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be blessings and peace) and his Companions and caused numerous troubles among Muslims and had many followers. He eventually surrendered along with his supporters in Al-Yamam battle, led by the first Caliph Abu Bakr, and was killed.

2 - Sajah al-Kahenah: Along with Musailama in falsely claiming Prophethood, was his wife, Sajah al-Kahenah, although she later reversed her position after her husband, Musailama, had been killed.

3 - Saf son of Sayyad: Another False claimant to Prophethood that appeared during the time of the Prophet and his companions, was Saf son of Sayyad. He claimed he was a Prophet when he was on the threshold of adolescence, and was initially believed to be the False Messiah, as his characteristics were the same as those of the False Messiah. He later repented and embraced Islam.

4 - Tulayha son of Khwailid: Tulayha was another of the false Prophets who appeared during the time of the Prophet and his companions, but later repented and returned to the fold of Islam.

5 - Aswad al-Ansi: Also during the time of the Prophet and his companions was another false Prophet, named Aswad al-Ansi. He was based in Yemen and was killed by the Companions of the Prophet.

6 - Al-Mukhtar Al-Thaqafi: A Shi’ite rebel, al-Mukhtar son of Abi Ubayd is also accused of being a False Prophet. He claimed to be a representative of the Mahdi. Millennialist connotations surfaced after Mukhtar's rebellion, following his announcement to the people of Kufa that he was a representative of the Mahdi.

7 - Mahmud son of al-Faraj: In Samara, a false Prophet by the name of Mahmud son of al-Faraj appeared in 849-850 CE with a claim that a Quran was revealed to him through the angel Gabriel. He is reported to have some followers in Samara and Baghdad. He was executed on the orders of caliph, al-Mutawakkil.
8 - "Bab": Another liar/false claimant to prophecy, and the predecessor of Bahaullah, was Mizra Ali Muhammad, who initially declared himself the "Bab" (Gate) to the Shi'ite's Mahdi, and eventually progressed into other claims. He was embraced by the Shaykhis sect of Shi'a , who were then renamed "Babis". Subsequently, he declared himself to be the Shi'ite's hidden Mahdi. After declaring himself the Mahdi, he moved on to call himself Nuqtiyiula and declared that the Quran and Muslim Shari'a were now abrogated. Shi'a and Sunni scholars condemned him and Bab faced a series of imprisonment, trials, and indignities before being shot dead by a firing squad in 1850.

9 - "Bahaullah": The self-proclaimed successor to the Bab, and another liar/false claimant to prophecy was Mizra Hussein Ali Nuri. In 1863 Hussein Ali, a prominent member of the Babi group, declared himself to be the person whom God will make manifest, whom the Bab had foretold. He also took the name Bahaullah (Glory of God) and formed a new religion, the Bahai faith. Bahaullah was banished from Persia and was eventually imprisoned in Akka-Palestine. There he wrote his main work, his Kitab-ul-Aqdas (Most Holy Book), and developed the doctrine of the Bahai faith into a comprehensive teaching.

10 - Elijah Muhammad: Elijah Muhammad, succeeding Wallace Dodd Ford, was another in the line of False Prophets. He founded the convoluted belief system based on ideas extracted from everything from Christanity to Masonry to Islam in Detroit, Michigan in the 1930s. He referred to it as the "Nation of Islam".

11 - Kareem Agha Khan: In the early 1970s, another false-claimant to prophecy appeared within the Ismaili sect of Shi'ism, who proclaims himself to be a manifestation of God on Earth and a spokesman for Allah.

12 - Rashid Khalifa: Then we have another False Prophet, Rashid Khalifa, who came from Egypt, and claimed there to be an intricate numerical pattern to the Qur'an revolving around the number 19 in 1974. Because of this, he claimed to be a Messenger of God, alongside Prophets Ibraheem (Abraham) and Muhammad, and founded the group called "United Submitters International", rejecting the hadeeths of the Prophet, and denounced ayats 9:128-129 of the Qur'an. For many years he was the Imam at the Tuscon Mosque in Arizona, where he was later stabbed to death in 1990.

13 - Al Mizra Abbas: Another liar, Al-Mizra Abbas, in 1233 AH/1818 CE, appeared in Tehran, Iran and died in Palestine.

14 - Shabbatai Zevi: Shabbatai Zevi was one of the False Prophets who appeared during a desperate period of Ashkenazi Jewish history in the 16th and 17th centuries, promising to lead his compatriots out of tzuresdike golus (painful exile) to dwell with the Lord in Eretz Yisroel (the land of Israel). It neither turned out as prophesised, nor did the high hopes of the Jewish colonies in Brazil.

15 - Saleh son of Tarif Burghwati: Saleh claimed prophethood and Mahdihood in 125 AH. After ruling over his people for 47 years, in 174 AH he abdicated the throne in favour of his son.

16 - Abu Mansoor 'Eessa: Abu Mansoor 'Eessa claimed prophethood and Mahdihood in 341 AH and ruled over his people for 28 years.

17 - Al-Harith son of Sa'id: Al-Harith son of Said claimed prophethood during the reign of the Umayyad caliph, Abd al-Malik son of Marwan. A number of royal soldiers were suspected of supporting him. He was executed in 698-699 CE.

18 - Mizra Ghulam Ahmad: Mizra Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian is a British-engineered false Prophet who appeared in India to quell resistance against the British colonialists. He claimed to be the Messiah as the similitude of Prophet 'Eessa, the Mahdi, a Prophet, a Messenger, and the second advent of Prophet Muhammad simultaneously. He invited his fiercest oppenent, Molvi Sanaullah Amratsari, to a prayer duel. He advertised his supplication to Allah pleading Him to annihilate the liar amongst the two in the lifetime of the truthful one, by Cholera or by Plague. He considered them to be the sign of Divine Anger and Punishment. Mirza subsequently died of cholera a year later.

19 - Muhammad son of Sa'id: Muhammad son of Sa’id is considered as one of the four infamous forgers of hadith. He distorted the hadith: "I am the seal of prophets and there is no prophet after me" by adding: "unless Allah wills {otherwise}". He is reported to have drawn his own conclusions from this addition and claimed prophethood for himself. He was executed on the orders of Abbasid caliph, Abu Jafar al-Mansoor.

20 - Mahmood Muhammad Taha: Mahmood Muhammad Taha was also a false claimant to prophecy who was based in Sudan, and he tried with maximum endeavor to mislead normal people from their Islamic way of life until he was beheaded in 1985.

21 - Jasmin: A more recent individual who has appeared, and could potentially be a False Claimant to Prophecy is Jasmin. He appeared in 1998 in Bosnia, claiming the War of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the Battle of Armageddon, and claims that he is the Messiah, tasked by God to introduce the human community into the "golden age", and claims that his destiny has been described under the symbol and notion of a lamb.

22 - Dr. Dwight York: Another fairly recent false claimant to prophecy was Dr. York. In the late 1960s York, started calling himself "Amunnnubi Rooakhptah," and founded various quasi-Muslim black-nationalist movements (among these was the Ansaarullah Community) based on something called the "Science of Nuwaubu". In the 1990s, he changed his community from worshipping Allah to worshipping pagan idols. Soon thereafter, he claimed to receive divine revelation, forming his own cult of Nuwaubians, following, what they call, "The Holy Tablets", with beliefs, based on pantheism, with an anthropomorphic view of Allah. In 2002, he was arrested and charged with child molestation. In 2004, he was convicted, and sentenced to 135 years in prison.

23 - Riyaz Ahmad Gohar Shahi: Another claimant to Mahdihood and prophecy, is Gohar Shahi. He was born in 1941 in the Indian sub-continent. He had a traditional Sufi upbringing, and at age 34 he went on a 3 year spiritual retreat (which he says to have been under the guidance of a "divine spirit") into the mountains of Sehwan Sharif. Afterwards, he returned (claiming it to have been commanded by God), and started to preach his message of "Remembrance and Love of God", disregarding religion and its practices, also claiming that his image is implanted on the moon, gaining a significant number of followers. The Ulema have since issued various fatwas against him.