Encyclopedia of Islam

Mahdi

  

447  J

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among Sunni religious scholars over both the mes-

sianic function and the political role of the Mahdi. 

In fact, in the 18th and 19th centuries, a number of 

rebellions against the colonialist powers were led 

by Sunni Muslims who claimed to be the expected 

Mahdi, the most famous of whom was the Suda-

nese Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad (d. 1885), whose 

forces managed to keep Britain and e

gypt

 at bay 

until 1898.

Nonetheless, it is among the Shia that the 

doctrine of the Mahdi has had its greatest develop-

ment. Over the centuries, a number of Shii theo-

logians have prophesied the Mahdi’s imminent 

return, which, according to the traditions, will 

be heralded by civil wars, false prophets, earth-

quakes, and the abolition of Islamic law. In the 

20th century, these messianic expectations were 

revived by the tumultuous events of the i

ranian

r

evolUtion

 

oF

 1978–1979, which was led by the 

Ayatollah r

Uhollah

 k

homeini

, whom some Irani-

ans believed to be the expected Mahdi.

See also a

hmediyya

; b

ahai

 F

aith

; 

eschatology

; 

i

smaili

 s

hiism

.

Reza Aslan