espoused by Hamza "are but a logical if extreme development of Isma'ili ideas over the previous century and a half". According to Bryer, the core of Hamza's motivation was the divinity of al-Hakim, and an increasingly pronounced hatred to organized religion, as expressed in both the Isma'ili and the traditional Sunni religious establishment. As a result, while the terminology and cosmology of his new religion betray their Isma'ili origins, his approach to Isma'ili tenets was highly eclectic: "Like some juggler, Hamza threw up the whole Isma'ili system into the air, catching and reshaping those aspects he liked, throwing out those he did not". Cosmology Early Isma'ilism regarded history as a sequence of cycles, each inaugurated by a prophetic figure like Noah or Muhammad, followed by seven imams and culminating in the appearance of a messiah (the or ) who would usher in a golden age or the last judgment. Hamza adapted this concept by asserting that in each historical cycle, God is made manifest by assuming corporeal form. As a result, during this cycle, the immediate presence of God meant that no revealed religion or law was necessary. In addition, God the Creator emanated a series of lower creations, from the Universal Intellect on downwards. As the Universal Intellect in its pride considered itself to be God, the Creator also juxtaposed an adversary () to it and to each of the lower creations. Like God, each of these pairs is incarnated in each historical cycle. During the Biblical Creation, God was incarnated as al-Bar (from an Arabic or Persian word meaning "Creator" or "God"), while the Universal Intellect was incarnated as Adam, and its adversary as the Devil (named Harith ibn Murra). The Devil managed to seduce Adam, Eve, and their offspring, to rebel against al-Bar. God disappeared from the world, inaugurating a cycle of occultation (). Since God was no longer manifest in the world, he instead sent prophets—Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and finally Muhammad—to create religious law () in order to punish mankind. In a sharp break with both Sunni and Shi'a doctrine, Hamza considered Muhammad as the incarnation of the Devil, whereas the incarnation of the Universal Intellect at the time was Salman the Persian. All four Rashidun caliphs, including Ali ibn Abi Talib, are likewise ranked among the adversaries. Hamza continued to accept the fundamental Isma'ili dogma that the had both an outer meaning (), corresponding