false claimers and the promotional strategies in the middle centuries of Iran’s history(4th-9th century)

The middle Islamic period of Iran’s history witnessed a great deal of heretical religious ideas and subsequently, the advent of many false claimers of divinity, prophecy, Imamat, and Mahdism. They employed a variety of propagandist strategies in order to look believable in the eyes of the people, to be accepted in the mainstream society, to attract public support, and to react to the challenges posed by the detractors. Adopting descriptive-analytical method, this study tries to find out the propagandist strategies used by the false claimers in the middle centuries of Iran’s history. The results of the study show that the false claimers attempted to look similar to prophets and imams and in this way, claimed spiritual miracles, communication with the metaphysical world, and receiving inspirations from the unseen world. They also claimed closeness to Sophism and their austere lifestyle, used a fake lineage, provided a dark picture of the past and a promising picture of the future, employed magic, and wore masks to fulfill their aims. All these deceptive propagandist strategies were adopted to convince public opinion, provide a mystical halo around the false claimers, and ultimately to serve their needs and ambitions.