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The symbol of Al-Haqiqa. The seven sides represent the first seven Abjaksan and the empty space in the middle represents the higher being they serve.
Al-Haqiqa (الحقيقة) is a religion of Ikaj origins equivalent to Septifidelity, worshiping the first seven abjaksan, referred to in the faith as the al'Uwalsebiea (الأولسبعة). Followers are referred to as Shahada (شهادة) (singular and plural) and the governor of the faith is the Khalifa (خليفة). The holy text is the al-Kharafat (الخرافات)
The founder of Al-Haqiqa and the writer of the al-Kharafrat was a holy woman named Shahirazadi (شهيرظاضي) (al-Wilada 17, 42QA – 0BA/Yuisk 16, 2490 – 2532PGZ). The Shahada, whom commonly referred to her as "Muqadasa al-Mar'a" (مقدسة المرأة/Holy Woman) in conversation, view her as the unofficial first Khalifa of Al-Haqiqa and a prophetess who told the truth about the first seven yet was unjustly punished for it by the Synkratics.
Since its introduction, Al-Haqiqa has been competing with Din faith, the ancestral religion of the Ikaj people, for centuries. It's gotten to the point that it's an almost even split between them.
Al-Haqiqa is prominent mainly in southeastern Aquilonis and to a minor extent in New Albion and northern Tarak. Bialidrak and neighboring states worship Al-Haqiqa roughly equally with Din. Xsassa alone has fully adopted it as its sole official state religion.
Core Beliefs[]
While Septifidelity worships the first seven as "divine vessels" or "mortal incarnations" of seven deities, the Shahada worship a being of higher power and view the first seven abjaksan as their proxies in the mortal world.
No one is sure of the identity of the higher power the first seven were in service to, no more than the Septifideles are of the identity of the god that Tallulah and Zenovia, the creators of the abjaksan, are descended from. Early believers assumed it to be Al'aelaa Alwujud (الأعلى الوجود), the supreme deity that is central to Din faith; as the supreme deity, he made the most sense at the time. Most elite scholars of the time disputed and rejected this idea, and it wasn't long before the notion was discarded completely.
Without an official name, Shahada typically refer to the higher power the abjaksan serve as al-Qiwaa alty Yakun (القوى التي يكون). This unofficial name gave rise to the Shahada phrase, "Mayu al-Qiwaa alty Yakun sayr maeakum (مايو القوى التي يكون سير معكم/May al-Qiwaa alty Yakun walk with you)".
Shahada also refer other important Septifidelic figures, mainly the ones of Imahut origin, by their original names as a sign of respect with Ikaj transliterations and pronunciations: i.e. Tallulah (تاللولاح/Tallulah), Zinubia (زينوبيا/Zenovia), Tianni (تياننى/Tianne), & Jalatia (جالاتيا/Galatea).
The holy text of Al-Haqiqa is the al-Kharafat al-Sabeat Al'uwlaa (الخرافات السبعة الاولى/Fables of the First Seven), or simply the al-Kharafat (الخرافات/Fables), which tells similar stories found in the Mythos Septem, but with some big differences. Most of the memoirs and journals of the latter are simply translated, with a few minor differences, and most of the post-first seven stories and legends have similar morals, yet are told very differently.
Included in the al-Kharafat are several pages titled the Alf Wawahid Al'amthal (الف وواحد الامثال /one thousand and one proverbs), written by Shahirazadi herself, a collection of expressions with a variety of wisdom and morals that Shahada society lives by, and are often quoted from depending on the situation.
History[]
Shahirazadi was born 2490PGZ, then under the name Shahirazadi bint La'ahad (شهيرظاضي بنت لاأحد), as a slave in the Kingdom of Waljazir (والجزير) – now the southern region of the Sultanate of Bialidrak. When she was eight she was sold to a Soligaian slave trader and ended up in a brothel in what is now Işıkarazi while praying to the deities of Din faith to liberate her, but her prayers went unanswered and she despaired, to the point she eventually gave up her faith. She was eventually freed by purchase and brought to a Synkratic monastery in what is now Altınşahil, where she was miraculously reunited with her long-lost brother, Kulthum (كلثوم), and educated to become a nun, all the while enduring racist criticism from many of her fellow initiates.
After several years living in the monastery, in 2508PGZ, Shahirazadi, just eighteen years old then, eventually came to question the origins of the way the first seven were worshiped. For years she had been having trouble understanding how the first seven abjaksan could be the supreme ones of Septifidelity when they originally didn't exist but were created for the purpose of ending the rampage of the Dark Lord Voldrazar (pronounced Buldrazar (بُلْضْراظار) in Ikaji); and Septifideles also believed that they were akin to mortal incarnations of seven deities whose names have been lost to time. Shahirazadi eventually concluded that they were wrong, that the first seven were not divine vessels or mortal incarnations of gods to be worshiped but servants of a higher power. It was at this point that she finally felt like she found her faith and began writing the al-Kharafrat, detailing her views on the first seven and transcribing the stories in the Fabella Septem into her native language, while making a few alterations that made more sense to her.
Having achieved spiritual enlightenment with her newfound faith, Shahirazadi left the monastery behind and vanished from public eye, aware that her views would be seen as heresy by the Church. For over twenty years she worshiped her newfound faith and even starting teaching and converting others – both people from her homeland, including her brother, and from elsewhere, and many locals of places she visited – to her views in secret meetings everywhere she went. These converts proceeded to spread their new faith far and wide themselves via various avenues; even to Soligaia and parts of northern Tarak. Before long the Church caught on the spreading of the new faith and launched a series of "inquisitions" to determine the source and convert people back to Synkratism; but Shahirazadi, whose identity remained a secret from the Church, remained out of their grasp. However, in 2531PGZ, Shahirazadi and her leadership in the movement was uncovered by the papal authorities when she made the mistake of speaking of her teachings to some of her followers in a public area in Soligaia, unawares that a local who understood her native language was eavesdropping. Shahirazadi managed to evade the authorities for weeks, but was betrayed by one of her students whom feared for his life. Shahirazadi was arrested, charged with heresy, and sentenced to be burned at the stake. Some of her followers, her husband and Kulthum among them, were also arrested and similarly charged. But the majority of them, including her sons and daughters, managed to escape, along with copies of her writings and the original al-Kharafrat so they would survive.
On the day of her execution a year later in the summer of 2532PGZ, as Shahirazadi stood on the scaffolding waiting for the end – stripped naked and stained with the remains of rotten food thrown at her by the jeering crowd of devout Synkratics, as well as branded with the inverted Septifidelic Star (a symbol of sin) on her stomach – she noticed some of her followers in the crowd and wordlessly made it clear to them that they were not to interfere. Before the executioner, a Synkratic archdeacon whose name has been lost to history, lit the flames, she was asked if she would recant her teachings, but she refused and spat in his face. When asked if she had any last words, it was then that she spoke out loud of her faith and views before an open crowd for the first time. Just for amusement, then-Popess Arnhild II allowed her to finish before ordering Shahirazadi burned, an inaction many of her faith soon regretted. This event, combined with more that followed, sparked a perpetual animosity between Synkratism and Al-Haqiqa, which is what Arnhild II, a secret member of the Cult of Chaos, intended all along.
Al-Haqiqa was already gaining provenience in the Ikaj homelands and many of her followers escaped persecution so the new religion did not die with her. Shahirazadi, as the founder of Al-Haqiqa, was inscribed in the al-Kharafrat as a martyr, renamed Shahirazadi bint al-Jana (شهيرظاضي بنت الجنة).
Shortly after her death, Shahirazadi's eldest son who managed to escape the purge, Shahnaz ibn Shahirazadi (شهناز ابن شهيرظاضي), was proclaimed the first official Khalifa of Al-Haqiqa, a title that has passed through Shahirazadi's lineage ever since.
Following Shahirazadi's death, the papacy of the Synkratic Church launched more forceful inquisitions throughout Aquilonis and Soligaia, which saw the persecution, and often execution, of anybody even slightly suspected of being what they saw as a heretic. The inquisitors of the inquisitions led mass forced conversions of people back to Synkratism and almost eradicated Al-Haqiqa from Soligaia. Additionally, fearing the spread of Al-Haqiqa in southern Aquilonis and the Holy Land – one of seven lands of religious importance assumed to be the birthplace of an abjaksan; Aragrawp Dryhlano's in this case, which includes what is now southeastern Işıkarazi, the entirety of Altınşahil and western Mübarek, three Araziyerli states – the Papacy authorized and organized a series of international military campaigns referred to as the Crusades, with the intention of halting the spread of Al-Haqiqa, or even eliminating it entirely, and keeping the Holy Land in Septifidelic hands. The Crusades reached as far as the Ikaj homelands themselves, but failed to stop the spread of the new faith. The papacy organized a total of sixteen of them over the course of one and a half millennia – the last one was from 4125 – 4140PGZ.
Organization[]
Al-Haqiqa is governed by a Khalifa, and the office/state the Khalifat (خليفات), but the official holder of the title has been in dispute for centuries. For the last several centuries, due to the emergence of several denominations of varying beliefs, there have always been at least two or three people claiming the Khalifat at any given time.
Denominations[]
Al-Haqiqa today is divided into four main denominations.
Taqlidiun[]
Taqlidiun (تقليدي) is the term for the traditional sect of Al-Haqiqa today, adhering to the original core beliefs and practices passed down since the time of Shahirazadi and viewing and maintaining that her descendants – the unofficial Shahirazadi dynasty (سلالة حاكمة شهيرظاضي/Sulalat Hakimat Shahirazadi), passing through the lines descended from Shahirazadi's children and nephews, only required to be descended from either Shahirazadi or her brother Kulthum – are the rightful successors of the Khalifat and the guiding lights of al-Qiwaa alty Yakun in the mortal world.
Aikhtiari[]
Aikhtiari (اختياري) is sect of Al-Haqiqa that emerged during the Third Crusade. While believers in Shahirazadi's enlightenment of the true nature of the al'Uwalsebiea, Aikhtiar Shahada believe that the successor to the Khalifat should be democratically elected at the will of the people to serve as the guiding lights of al-Qiwaa alty Yakun in the mortal world. The emergence of this belief led to the founding of several independent Khalifats over the course of Al-Haqiqa's history.
Al-Zawaj[]
Al-Zawaj (الزواج) is a sect of Al-Haqiqa that, while believers in Shahirazadi's enlightenment of the true nature of the al'Uwalsebiea, believes that the Khalifat can-and-should only be claimed when a true Shahada engages in matrimony with one of the abjaksan, irrelevant of whether one of the spouses is a descendant of Shahirazadi.
Al-Sabetat[]
Al-Sabetat (السبعةات) is an unorthodox sect of Al-Haqiqa that emerged during the Fifth Crusade. While believers in Shahirazadi's enlightenment of the true nature of the al'Uwalsebiea, Al-Sabetat Shahada don't believe in the Khalifat and believe that only the seven abjaksan, as the successors of the al'Uwalsebiea, can lead them to the light of al-Qiwaa alty Yakun.
Relationship with Septifidelity[]
Because of the major differences between the denominations of Septifidelity, Al-Haqiqa as a whole has a different relationship with each of them.
Synkratic Chrurch[]
The Shahada of Al-Haqiqa have an openly hostile relationship with Synkratics, stemming mainly from the animosity that festered from the Church's persecution of early Shahada and the unjust execution of Shahirazadi. The Synkratic Church, meanwhile, views the very existence of Al-Haqiqa as heresy and an affront to an orderly civilization, to the point that even saying the name of the religion is forbidden, and doing so is considered heretical. Instead Synkratics refer to the religion as "Hostibus" (lit. "The Enemy").
Ganzheitism[]
As the rise of Al-Haqiqa predates Ganzheitism by at least twelve hundred years, the relationship between the two faith is relatively recent. In stark contrast to the mutual hostility Shahada share with Synkratics, followers of Al-Haqiqa have a courteous relationship with Ganzheitists. Because Ganzheitists believe that true enlightenment comes from universal acceptance of all things, the faiths Al-Haqiqa and Ganzheitism have little to no conflict with one another. As a matter of course, their faiths dispute the nature of the first seven abjaksan, but since neither bears any ill-will over the matter, followers of both faiths simply agree to disagree.
Northern Vozrod Church[]
The relationship between Al-Haqiqa and the Northern Vozrod Church, the latter which predates the former by roughly eight hundred years (give or take), is one of mutual animosity for each other, but a common enemy in the Synkratic Church, leading to mostly neutral interaction. With no real reason to fight over each other's beliefs, most of the time the followers of both faiths simply pretend they aren't there.
Notes & Trivia[]
- Al-Haqiqa – which literally means "the truth" in Arabic – is the Qirsyllvian equivalent of real-world Islam, and a Shahada – an Arabic word for "witness" – is the equivalent of a Muslim.
- al-Qiwaa alty Yakun literally means "the powers that be" in Arabic.
- Today there a more than a thousand living people eligible for the title of Khalifa based on the differing beliefs of the denominations.
- Shahirazadi (شهيرظاضي) is a respelling of "Scheherazade" (شهرزاد).