Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Jassim M. Hussain, Occultation of the 

Twelfth Imam (London: The Muhammadi Trust, 1982); 

Moojan Momen, An Introduction to Shi’i Islam (New 

Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985); Abdulaziz 

A. Sachedina, Islamic Messianism (New York: State Uni-

versity of New York Press, 1981).

Mahdiyya movement

This revolutionary movement was launched in the 

s

Udan

 in 1881 by the religious reformer, Muham-

mad Ahmad, who claimed to be the m

ahdi

 (the 

rightly guided messianic leader, whose just rule 

will usher in the end of the age). Like many other 

19th-century 

Jihad

 

movements

, the Mahdiyya had 

religious elements (fed by widespread eschato-

logical expectations in the region) and political 

elements (based upon anticolonial sentiments 

directed toward Turco-Egyptian, and later Brit-

ish, dominance of the Sudan). Ahmad’s followers 

succeeded in establishing an independent state, 

which implemented a government based upon 

classical Islamic institutions until its defeat by the 

British at Omdurman in 1898.

Upon revealing himself to be the long-awaited 

Mahdi in early 1881, Ahmad called upon Suda-

nese Muslims to make the 

hijra

 (emigration) from 

serving the infidels and to join him in establishing 

a just Islamic government. Those who answered 

this appeal were called a

nsar

, in imitation of the 

Medinans who first aided the prophet m

Uham

-

mad

. The Mahdi’s jihad was tremendously suc-

cessful, partially due to unrest within e

gypt

 that 

limited the Egyptian government’s response and 

partially due to Ahmad’s religious aura, which 

made Egyptian Muslim soldiers hesitant to fight 

him. However, shortly after establishing his state, 

the Mahdi died in 1885, leaving his disciple, 

Abdallahi, to succeed him as 

caliph

. After put-

ting down internal opposition, Abdallahi secured 

his authority over a broad expanse of territory 

roughly corresponding to the modern nation of 

the Sudan. However, the consolidation of British 

colonial power in Egypt led to an expedition by 

The tomb of Muhammad Ahmad, the Sudanese 

Mahdi, in Omdurman, Sudan 

(Juan E. Campo)

K  448