- For the Abbasid Caliph, see al-Mahdi
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The Mahdi (Arabic: مهدي, also transliterated as: Mehdi or Mihdi; translated as: guided one), in Islamic eschatology, is a prophecy about the redeemer of Islam, who will change the world into a perfect society before Yaum al-Qiyamah (the "Day of Resurrection" or the end times).
In a hadith widely regarded as authentic, Muhammad stated:
- "Even if the entire duration of the world's existence has already been exhausted and only one day is left before the Day of Judgment, Allah will expand that day to such a length of time, as to accommodate the kingdom of a person out of my Ahl al-Bayt who will be called by my name. He will then fill the Earth with peace and justice as it will have been filled with injustice and tyranny before then."
- Sahih Tirmidhi, V2, P86, V9, P74-75.
The exact nature of the Mahdi differs between Sunni and Shia Muslims. For a more in-depth Shia account of the Mahdi, see Muhammad al-Mahdi.
Birth of the Mahdi
Sunni and Shia sources
Sunni sources
- He is born in Medina, Saudi Arabia
- His father's name is Abdullah and his mother's name is Aamina (same as Muhammad's father and mother)
Shia sources
- He was born in 868 and is still alive
- He went into occultation since the age of five years
- His father is the 11th Shia Imam, Hasan al-Askari
- His mother is Narjis, a Byzantine princess
- Twelver Shia Muslims believe that the Mahdi is the 12th and last of the Shia Imams
Characteristics of the Mahdi
Sunni and Shia sources
- His first name is "Muhammad"
- He is tall
- His facial features are similar to those of the prophet Muhammad
- His character is like that of Muhammad
Sunni sources
- He has a fair complexion
- He has a broad forehead and a bent prominent nose
- His age at the time of his emergence is forty years (like the prophet Muhammad)
Signs indicating the emergence of the Mahdi
Shia sources
- The 6th Shia Imam, Jafar al-Sadiq, is reported to have said:
- "Before the appearance of the one who will rise, peace be upon him, the people will be reprimanded for their acts of disobedience by a fire that will appear in the sky and a redness that will cover the sky. It will swallow up Baghdad, and will swallow up Kufa. Their blood will be shed and houses destroyed. Death will occur amid their people and a fear will come over the people of Iraq from which they shall have no rest."
- There will be an insurgence by the Sufyani, a descendent of Abu Sufyan. Abu Sufyan is considered by Shias to have been one of Muhammad's greatest enemies, along with his son, Muawiya I and Muawiya's son, Yazid. According to Shia narrations, the Sufyani's revolution will start from Palestine/Jordan, and his reign of tyranny will span the Middle East from Iraq to Egypt.
- A loud call from the sky signals the Mahdi's appearance.
Emergence of the Mahdi
Sunni and Shia sources
- He emerges during the last days of the world from Mecca
- He and Jesus are two different individuals
- He precedes the second appearance of Jesus, the Islamic messiah
- He establishes justice, peace and truth throughout the world by establishing Islam as the global religion
Sunni sources
- Jesus defeats the false Messiah or anti-christ, known as the ad-Dajjal
- Once the Dajjal is defeated, Jesus and the Mahdi live on Earth to live out their natural life
- According to some traditions, Jesus gets married, has a family, and dies. There are claims that a grave is dug for him next to prophet Muhammad's grave in Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, but this is not a universal Sunni belief.
Shia sources
- Upon his emergence, the young among his followers, without any prior appointment, reach Mecca that very night
- Each of his soldiers has the power of forty strong men
- Sinful opposers call their own followers to fight
- A large number of non-believers will convert to Islam once they see that the signs in the reports have occurred
Claims of being the Mahdi
Salih ibn Tarif
Salih ibn Tarif, the second king of the Berghouata, proclaimed himself prophet of a new religion in the 8th century. He appeared during the caliphate of the Ummayad Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. According to Ibn Khaldun's sources, he claimed receiving a new revelation from God called a Qur'an, written in the Berber language with 80 chapters. He established laws for his people, which called him Salih al-Mu'minin ('Restorer of the Believers'), and the final Mahdi.
Islamic literature considers his belief heretical, as several tenets of his teaching contrast with orthodox Islam, such as capital punishment for theft, unlimited wives, unlimited divorces, fasting of the month of Rajab instead of Ramadan, and ten obligatory daily prayers instead of five. Politically, its motivation was presumably to establish their independence from the Umayyads, establishing an independent ideology lending legitimacy to the state. Some modern Berber activists regard him as a hero for his resistance to Arab conquest and his foundation of the Berghouata state.
Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart
The Moroccan Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart sought to reform Almoravid decadence in the early 12th century. Rejected in Marrakech and other cities, he turned to his Masmuda tribe in the Atlas Mountains for support. Because of their emphasis on the unity of God, his followers were known as Al Muwahhidun ('unitarians', in western language: Almohads).
Although declaring himself mahdi, imam, and masum (literally in Arabic: innocent or free of sin), Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart consulted with a council of ten of his oldest disciples, and conform traditional Berber representative government, later added an assembly of fifty tribal leaders. The Almohad rebellion began in 1125 with attacks on Moroccan cities, including Sus and Marrakech. But as Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart died in 1130, his successor Abd al Mumin took the title of Caliph -claiming universal leadership in Islam- and placed members of his own family in power, converting the system into a traditional sultanate.
Syed Mohammad Jaunpuri
Syed Mohammad Jaunpuri (1443 - 1505), another historical claimant was born in northeastern India, in Jaunpur, in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. His father's was Syed Abdullah (a.k.a Syed Khan) and his mother's name was Bibi Aamina, the same as Muhammad's father and mother. He was descendent of Muhammad from the offspring of Muhammad's daughter who was married to Ali. He declared himself the Mehdi thrice; once in Makkah and twice in different parts of India. He passed away in 1505 in Farah,Afghanistan. Today, his followers live primarily in India, Pakistan, and sparsely throughout the Islamic world.
Siyyid Mírzá 'Alí-Muhammad
In 1844, Ali Muhammad declared to be the promised Mahdi in Shiraz, Iran, taking the title of "the Báb" (Gate).
He was preceded by Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsa'i, who started the Shaykhi movement in preparation for the awaited Mahdi. Almost all the Shaykhis accepted the Báb, who was executed 6 years later by the Persian government. An estimated 20,000 followers of the Báb were also killed in government sponsored massacres across the Persian Empire.
The religious tradition continued into what is today the Bahá'í Faith.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
The Punjabi Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founded the Ahmadiyya Movement within Islam in 1889.
According to a Hadith and the Ahmaddiya movement, one of the signs which will indicate the emergence of the Mahdi will be that in the month of Ramadan prior to his emergence, a solar eclipse, followed by a lunar eclipse will be visible from the East and the West. These signs were visible right after the claim of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be the promised Mahdi. These claims are disputed by many non-Ahmadi Muslims.
Muhammad Ahmad
Muhammad Ahmad, who founded a short-lived empire in Sudan in the late 19th century made a claim of being the promised Mahdi. His troops laid siege to Khartoum starting on March 13, 1884 against the defenders led by British General Charles George Gordon. The heavily damaged city fell to the Mahdists on January 26, 1885. Omdurman, a suburb of Khartoum, was the scene of the bloody battle (September 2, 1898) in which British forces under Sirdar Horatio Kitchener defeated the Mahdist forces defending the city.
Mohammed bin Abdullah
Mohammed bin Abdullah, the "Mad Mullah" of Somaliland. He was a problem for the British and Italian authorities in Africa from 1900 to 1920.
He was a charismatic figure credited by his followers with supernatural powers. At first peaceful, he began attacking neighbouring tribes friendly to the British and declared himself a Mahdi.
Juhayman ibn-Muhammad ibn-Sayf al-Utaibi
In November of 1979 the Grand Mosque in Mecca was seized by a well-organized group of 1,300 to 1,500 men under the leadership of Juhayman ibn-Muhammad ibn-Sayf al-Utaibi. A former captain in the Saudi White Guards (National Guard), he declared himself to be the Mahdi, the redeemer of Islam. [1]
Most of the 6,000 pilgrims taken hostage rallied to support him, and joined the fight. After the two week long siege of the Mosque by Saudi special forces, foreign paramilitary troops from France and Pakistan were brought in to end the fight.
Wallace Fard Muhammad
Wallace Fard Muhammad, is said to be the Mahdi by the Nation of Islam
The Mahdi in fiction
Several authors have used the concept of the Mahdi in fictional stories. Perhaps the best known is Frank Herbert, whose Dune science fiction novels centered on the character of Paul Atreides, who was proclaimed by his followers, the Fremen, to be the Mahdi. Paul's Fremen name, "Muad'Dib", means "teacher of adāb (manners and respect)" in Arabic, although within the novel it is a word in the Fremen language of Chakobsa, and is the name of a kind of desert mouse.
See also
- Mahdi army
- Isa for the Muslim perspective of Jesus.
External links
Shia view
- Al-Imam al-Mahdi: The Just Leader of Humanity by Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini
- The Awaited Saviour by Ayatullah Baqir al-Sadr and Ayatullah Murtada Mutahhari
- A Discussion Concerning the Mahdi by Martyr Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr-Quddisa Sirruh