Nuqtavi

The Nuqtavi movement was founded by Mahmoud Pasikhani when he proclaimed himself the Mahdi in 1397, after being expelled from the Hurufi movement, of which the Nuqtavis are an offshoot, for arrogance. It first arose in Anjudan, near Kashan in Iran, an area associated with Nizari Ismaili Shia Islam, and after Pasikhani's death his followers attempted to proclaim the Safavid ruler Tahmasp I as the Mahdi. The movement placed exceptionally heavy emphasis on the number nineteen, held a cyclical view of time dividing a sixty-four-thousand-year cycle of the earth into periods of sixteen thousand years, emphasized celibacy among its followers, and focused on the numerical and phonemic meanings of Persian letters; it later influenced or connected to the teachings of the Bab during the emergence of Babism.