 However, the radical change of hypotheses about the dating of the epistles after the identification of the role that Maslama al-Qurtubî would have played in them, also led to rethinking the political (and possibly messianic) beliefs of the Ikhwân and the attempts to identify the polemical targets of their assertions. Madelung remarks that while the Fatimids were used to see both Umayyads and ‘Abbasids as usurpers and enemies of ‘Alî, the Ikhwân had no longer contacts with any hidden imâm, as they believe that the advent of the Mahdî has been delayed to a remote future. Therefore, they adopted a quietist attitude towards the existing regimes: their purpose was only to purify Islam through the study of ancient thought, thus preparing humanity for the advent of the true Mahdî. Maslama al-Qurṭubî remained a loyal subject of the Umayyad governor of Andalus, ‘Abd al-Raḥmân III. Hence, the Ikhwân no longer regarded the Umayyads as the inveterate enemies of the Family of the Prophet. The imâm, direct descendants of the Prophet, are instead described as the only ones entitled to rule humanity, and for this purpose divinely chosen; but their persecutors – although denounced as tyrants – are not identified. Kacimi 2019 returns on the anti-‘Abbasid polemic of the Ikhwân.