It would appear that the emotional appeal of the new doctrine to both the prophet and his followers is in considerable part based on its immediate satisfaction of a need to find a supremely powerful and potentially benevolent leader. For both the prophet and his followers, this wish is gratified in fantasy (subjectively real, of course) ; but the follower’s fantasy is directed toward the person of the prophet, to whom are attributed charismatic properties of leader- ship (Weber 1946, 1947).