Al-Muqanna (Arabic: المقنع "The Veiled", died c. 783[1]) born Hashim, (Arabic/Persian: هاشم), was an 8th-century political and military leader who operated in modern Iran.
At the time, the city was under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate, whose heads claimed successorship to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and leadership of the Muslim community.
He was reputed to wear a veil in order to cover up his beauty, whereas his followers wore white clothes in opposition to Abbasid rulers' black.
When Hashim’s followers began raiding towns and mosques of other Muslims and looting their possessions, the Abbasid caliph sent several commanders to crush the rebellion.
[5] The first poem in Lalla-Rookh (1817) by Thomas Moore is titled The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, and the character Mokanna is modeled loosely on al-Muqanna‘.
St. Louis businessmen referenced Moore's poem in 1878 when they created the Veiled Prophet Organization and concocted a legend of Mokanna as its founder.