Wikipedia's first sentence called it “an 11th century ismaili and founding leader of the druze sect”. Today it says “an 11th-century persian ismai'li missionary and founding leader of the druze”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “11th-century Persian Ismaili missionary and founder of the Druze faith”. It now reads “Persian Isma'ili missionary and founder of the Druze faith”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmed ( Arabic : حمزة بن علي بن أحمد , romanized : Ḥamza ibn ‘Alī ibn ʾAḥmad ; c. 985 –c. 1021) was an 11th-century Persian Ismai'li missionary and founding leader of the Druze . He was born in Zuzan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Razavi Khorasan Province , Iran ), and preached his heterodox strand of Isma'ilism in Cairo during the reign of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah . According to Hamza, al-Hakim was God made manifest. Despite opposition from the established Isma'ili clergy, Hamza persisted, apparently being tolerated or even patronized by al-Hakim himself, and set up a parallel hierarchy of missionaries in Egypt and Syria. Following al-Hakim's disappearance—or, most likely, assassination—in February 1021, Hamza and his followers were persecuted by the new regime. Hamza himself announced his retirement in his final epistle to his followers, in which he also promised that al-Hakim would soon return and usher the end times . Hamza disappeared thereafter, although one contemporary source claims that he fled to Mecca , where he was recognized and executed. His disciple Baha al-Din al-Muqtana resumed Hamza's missionary effort in 1027–1042, finalizing the doctrines of the Druze faith.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1292241750.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Hamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad (985-???) (Arabic and Persian حمزه بن علي بن أحمد) was an 11th century Ismaili and founding leader of the Druze sect . He was born in Zozan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Razavi Khorasan Province , Iran ). Hamza is considered the founder of the Druze sect of Islam and the primary author of the Druze manuscripts.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 356743842.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Hamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad (985-???) (Arabic: حمزة بن علي بن أحمد) was a 11th-century Ismaili and founding leader of the Druze sect . He was born in Zozan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Razavi Khorasan Province , Iran ). Hamza is considered the founder of the Druze and the primary author of the Druze manuscripts.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667966095.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Hamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad (985 – c. 1021) ( , Hamze Pesare Ali , literally Hamze Son of Ali , (Arabic: حمزة بن علي بن أحمد) was an 11th-century Ismaili and founding leader of the Druze . He was born in Zozan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Razavi Khorasan Province , Iran ). Hamza is considered the founder of the Druze and the primary author of the Druze manuscripts.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 956810873.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
11th-century Persian Ismaili missionary and founder of the Druze faith Hamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad ( ; 985 – c. 1021) was an 11th-century Ismaili missionary and founding leader of the Druze .He was born in Zozan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Razavi Khorasan Province , Iran ), and preached his heterodox strand of Isma'ilism in Cairo during the reign of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah .According to Hamza, al-Hakim was God made manifest.Despite opposition from the established Isma'ili clergy, Hamza persisted, apparently being tolerated or even patronized by al-Hakim himself, and set up a parallel hierarchy of missionaries in Egypt and Syria.Following al-Hakim's disappearance—or, most likely, assassination—in February 1021, Hamza and his followers were persecuted by the new regime.Hamza himself announced his retirement in his final epistle to his followers, in which he also promised that al-Hakim would soon return and usher the end times .Hamza disappeared thereafter, although one contemporary source claims that he fled to Mecca , where he was recognized and executed.His disciple Baha al-Din al-Muqtana resumed Hamza's missionary effort in 1027–1042, finalizing the doctrines of the Druze faith.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175013329.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “an 11th century ismaili and founding leader of the druze sect”. Today it says “an 11th-century persian ismai'li missionary and founding leader of the druze”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “11th-century Persian Ismaili missionary and founder of the Druze faith”. It now reads “Persian Isma'ili missionary and founder of the Druze faith”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
an 11th century ismaili and founding leader of the druze sect
Now
an 11th-century persian ismai'li missionary and founding leader of the druze
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
