In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “armed iraqi shi'a messianic sect led by ahmed hassani al-yemeni”. Today it says “iraqi shia religious militant cult known for fighting in the battle of najaf in january 2007 against iraqi”.
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 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “armed iraqi shi'a messianic sect led by ahmed hassani al-yemeni”. Today it says “iraqi shia religious militant cult known for fighting in the battle of najaf in january 2007 against iraqi”.
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The opening as it read in 2025
Soldiers of Heaven ( Arabic : جند السماء ; Jund As-Samāʾ) were an Iraqi Shia religious militant cult known for fighting in the Battle of Najaf in January 2007 against Iraqi, American and British forces. Led by Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim , who was killed in the battle, the Soldiers of Heaven were accused of trying to start a " messianic insurrection" at the holy city of Najaf during the event of Ashura . Prior to the battle, members of the group were settled with their families at a "camp in Zarga, north of Najaf", where "the main part" of the fighting took place. The group has been described as an apocalyptic Muslim cult that separated from another group called the "Supporters of the Imam Mahdi" led by Ahmed al-Hasan . The Soldiers of Heaven were said to believe that spreading chaos would hasten the return of the 12th Imam / Mahdi , who will then rule the world, destroying tyranny and falsehood and bringing peace and justice before the Day of Judgement . While some sources report that the Soldiers of Heaven were annihilated at the Battle of Najaf, others report that a large number were captured and that there was continued activity by the sect. "محافظ النجف يتهم السعودية بتمويل "جند السماء" | Radiosawa" .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1292396337.
The opening as it stood in 2010
The Soldiers of Heaven or Jund As-Samaa ( ), also known as Supporters of the Mahdi is an armed Iraqi Shi'a messianic sect led by Ahmed Hassani al-Yemeni , who reportedly died in fighting in Basra, Iraq on 18 January 2008. The group is a destructive cult , believing that spreading chaos will hasten the return of the 12th Imam .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 362825015.
The opening as it stood in 2015
The Soldiers of Heaven or Jund As-Samaa ( ), is an armed Iraqi Shi'a messianic sect led by Dia Abdulzahra, who reportedly died in fighting in Basra, Iraq on 29 January 2007.The group has been described as an apocalyptic Muslim cult and is reported to believe that spreading chaos will hasten the return of the 12th Imam .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 664592337.
The opening as it stood in 2020
The Soldiers of Heaven or Jund As-Samaa ( ), were an armed Iraqi Shi'a messianic sect which was led by Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim , who reportedly died in fighting in Basra, Iraq on 29 January 2007. The group has been described as an apocalyptic Muslim cult and is reported to believe that spreading chaos will hasten the return of the 12th Imam .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 941442257.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Soldiers of Heaven or Jund As-Samāʾ ( ), were an armed Iraqi Shi'a messianic sect who suffered major losses, and their leader Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim killed, in the late January 2007 Battle of Najaf , as they allegedly attempted to start a "messianic insurrection" against the holy city of Najaf and the grand ayatollahs living there during the holy day of Ashura .The sect were settled (prior to the battle), with their families at a "camp in Zarga, north of Najaf", where "the main part" of the fighting took place (despite the battle being called the Battle of Najaf).The group has been described as an apocalyptic Muslim cult , "the most radical" members of another group -- the "Supporters of the Imam Mahdi" -- led by Ahmad al-Hassan ; and to believe that spreading chaos would hasten the return of the 12th Imam / Mahdi , who will then rule the world, destroying tyranny and falsehood and bringing peace and justice before the Day of Judgement .While some report the group was annihilated at the battle, other sources report a large number captured and continued activity by the "soldiers"."محافظ النجف يتهم السعودية بتمويل "جند السماء" | Radiosawa" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176021125.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “armed iraqi shi'a messianic sect led by ahmed hassani al-yemeni”. Today it says “iraqi shia religious militant cult known for fighting in the battle of najaf in january 2007 against iraqi”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
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2025
militant
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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 between 2010 and 2025.
Then
armed iraqi shi'a messianic sect led by ahmed hassani al-yemeni
Now
iraqi shia religious militant cult known for fighting in the battle of najaf in january 2007 against iraqi
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.
