Mahdi
The Mahdi (Arabic: ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, romanized: al-Mahdī, lit. 'The Guided One') is the Islamic messianic and eschatological figure, who is believed to appear before the End Times to restore justice and defeat tyranny alongside Isa (Jesus). He forms an important part of Islamic eschatology, although Sunni and Shia Muslims differ slightly in their interpretation of him. While the Mahdi is mostly developed in Shia Islam, he is also present in numerous Sunni hadiths. In Twelver Shia Islam, the Mahdi has a significant role. He is identified with the twelfth and final Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, who was born in 869 AD, entered occultation, and remains alive until his eventual reappearance at the end of times alongside Jesus. He is a descendant of Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, and Fatima, the Prophet's daughter, through their second son Husayn, the Prophet's grandson. Every year, millions celebrate Mid-Sha'ban, marking the birth of Muhammad al-Mahdi.
In Sunni Islam, the Mahdi is also described as a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima, who will emerge in the end times to prepare the world for the return of Jesus. However, Sunni traditions do not identify him with a historical individual, nor do they attribute to him a occultation. The difference in Sunni Islam is that the Mahdi is a future figure who has not been born yet, whereas in Shia Islam, he is already been born and is currently in occultation. The Mahdi has occupied a central place in Islamic theology, devotional literature, and popular piety for over a millennium. He has influenced numerous religious, political, and messianic movements. Throughout history, there have been a vast number of Mahdi claimants.
Etymology
[edit]The term Mahdi is derived from the Arabic root h-d-y (ه-د-ي), commonly used to mean "divine guidance".[1] Although the root appears in the Quran at multiple places and in various contexts, the word Mahdi never occurs in the book.[2] The associated verb is hada, which means to guide. However, Mahdi can be read in active voice, where it means the one who guides, as well as passive voice, where it means the one who is guided.[3]
Historical development
[edit]Pre-Islamic ideas
[edit]Mahdi's advent is linked to the Christian concept of the Second Coming of Jesus, the Jewish concept of Mashiach ben David, and the Zoroastrian concept of the Saoshyant.[4] Some historians suggest that the term itself was probably introduced into Islam by southern Arabian tribes who had settled in Syria in the mid-7th century. They believed that the Mahdi would lead them back to their homeland and re-establish the Himyarite Kingdom. They also believed that he would eventually conquer Constantinople.[2] It has also been suggested that the concept of the Mahdi may have been derived from earlier messianic Jewish and Christian beliefs.[5][6] Accordingly, traditions were introduced to support certain political interests, especially anti-Abbasid sentiments.[6] These traditions about the Mahdi appeared only at later times in hadith books such as Sunan Abi Dawud and Sunan al-Tirmidhi, but are absent from the early works of Muhammad al-Bukhari and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj.[7]
A historical hypothesis in comparative religion, championed by orientalists such as James Darmesteter and Ignaz Goldziher, suggests that the concept of The Mahdi—particularly in its eschatological and metaphysical dimensions—was structurally influenced by the ancient Zoroastrian savior myth of Saoshyant. Proponents of this hypothesis argue that because the Quran lacks explicit mention of the Mahdi and early Sunni Hadith literature provides limited metaphysical details, a theological vacuum was left in Islamic eschatology; this vacuum allegedly allowed Persian society, following the Muslim conquest of Persia, to project the mythological attributes of Saoshyant (such as pre-existence, occultation, and the cosmic renewal of the universe) onto general prophetic traditions regarding a reformer from the Prophet's lineage.
Conversely, Islamic scholars reject this influence hypothesis, asserting the prophetic authenticity of Mahdism based on mutawatir (successive) traditions, and interpret these structural similarities as a distorted "early divine prophecy" preserved in ancient faiths. Furthermore, historians note that this influence hypothesis weakens significantly when applied to the traditional Sunni view of the Mahdi, which conceptualizes him strictly as a human leader and historical reformer operating under natural laws, entirely stripped of the theosophical and metaphysical attributes assigned to the Zoroastrian savior.[8][9]
In Islamic eschatology, particularly within Shīʿite traditions, various titles and names are attributed to the promised messianic figure, Imam al-Mahdi, to identify him as the universal savior prophesied in ancient civilizations. In his prominent work Al-Najm al-Thaqib (The Piercing Star), the Shīʿite scholar Mirza Husain Noori Tabarsi cites a treatise titled Dhakhirat al-Albab. According to this account, the Mahdi is mentioned across different ancient languages and scriptures. Specifically, the text records that in a book referred to as "Ista' " (interpreted by scholars as a corruption of the Zoroastrian holy text, the Avesta), the Mahdi is prophesied under the names "Bahram" (a Middle Persian term signifying the divinity of victory and the smiter of resistance) and "Bande Yazdan" (literally meaning "Servant of God" or Abdullah).[10]
Origin
[edit]The term al-Mahdi was employed from the beginning of Islam, but only as an honorific epithet ("the guide") and without any messianic significance. As an honorific, it was used in some instances to describe Muhammad (by Hassan ibn Thabit), Abraham, al-Husayn, and various Umayyad caliphs (هداة مهديون, hudat mahdiyyun). During the Second Muslim Civil War (680–692), after the death of Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), the term acquired a new meaning of a ruler who would restore Islam to its perfect form and restore justice after oppression. Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, who laid claim to the caliphate against the Umayyads and found temporary success during the civil war, presented himself in this role. Although the title Mahdi was not applied to him, his career as the anti-caliph significantly influenced the future development of the concept.[1] A hadith was promulgated in which Muhammad prophesies the coming of a just ruler.[11][a]
There will arise a difference after the death of a caliph, and a man of the people of Medina will go forth fleeing to Mecca. Then some of the people of Mecca will come to him and will make him rise in revolt against his will ... An expedition will be sent against him from Syria but will be swallowed up ... in the desert between Mecca and Medina. When the people see this, the righteous men ... of Syria and ... Iraq will come to him and pledge allegiance to him. Thereafter a man of the Quraysh will arise whose maternal uncles are of Kalb. He will send an expedition against them, but they will defeat them ... He will then divide the wealth and act among them according to the Sunna of their Prophet. Islam will settle down firmly on the ground ... He will stay seven years and then die, and the Muslims will pray over him.[14]
Refusing to recognize the new caliph, Yazid I (r. 680–683), after Mu'awiya's death in 680, Ibn al-Zubayr had fled to the Meccan sanctuary. From there he launched anti-Umayyad propaganda, calling for a shura of the Quraysh to elect a new caliph. Those opposed to the Umayyads were paying him homage and asking for the public proclamation of his caliphate, forcing Yazid to send an army to dislodge him in 683. After defeating rebels in the nearby Medina, the army besieged Mecca but was forced to withdraw as a result of Yazid's sudden death shortly afterward. Ibn al-Zubayr was recognized caliph in Arabia, Iraq, and parts of Syria, where Yazid's son and successor Mu'awiya II (r. 683–684) held power in Damascus and adjoining areas. The hadith hoped to enlist support against an expected Umayyad campaign from Syria. The Umayyads did indeed send another army to Mecca in 692, but contrary to the hadith's prediction was successful in removing Ibn al-Zubayr. The hadith lost relevance soon afterward, but resurfaced in the Basran hadith circles a generation later, this time removed from its original context and understood as referring to a future restorer.[11][2]
Around the time when Ibn al-Zubayr was trying to expand his dominion, the pro-Alid revolutionary al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi took control of the Iraqi garrison town of Kufa in the name of Ali's son Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, whom he proclaimed as the Mahdi in the messianic sense.[1] The association of the name Muhammad with the Mahdi seems to have originated with Ibn al-Hanafiyya, who also shared the epithet Abu al-Qasim with Muhammad, the Islamic prophet.[15] Among the Umayyads, the caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 715–717) encouraged the belief that he was the Mahdi, and other Umayyad rulers, like Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (r. 717–720), have been addressed as such in the panegyrics of Jarir (d. 728) and al-Farazdaq (d. 728–730).[1]
Early discussions about the identity of the Mahdi by religious scholars can be traced back to the time after the Second Fitna. These discussions developed in different directions and were influenced by traditions (hadith) attributed to Muhammad. In Umayyad times, scholars and traditionists not only differed on which caliph or rebel leader should be designated as Mahdi but also on whether the Mahdi is a messianic figure and if signs and predictions of his time had been satisfied. In Medina, among the conservative religious circles, the belief in Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz being the Mahdi was widespread. Said ibn al-Musayyib (d. 715) is said to have identified Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz as the Mahdi long before his reign. The Basran, Abu Qilabah, supported the view that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was the Mahdi. Hasan al-Basri (d. 728) opposed the concept of a Muslim Messiah but believed that if there was the Mahdi, it was Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz.[16]
By the time of the Abbasid Revolution in 750, Mahdi was already a known concept.[17] Evidence shows that the first Abbasid caliph al-Saffah (r. 750–754) assumed the title of "the Mahdi" for himself.[18]
Shia Islam
[edit]In Shia Islam, the eschatological Mahdi was commonly given the epithet al-Qa'im (القائم),[19][20] which can be translated as 'he who will rise,'[21] signifying his rise against tyranny in the end of time.[22] Distinctively Shia is the notion of temporary absence or occultation of the Mahdi,[19] whose life has been prolonged by divine will.[23][24] An intimately related Shia notion is that of raj'a (lit. 'return'),[21][25] which often means the return to life of (some) Shia Imams, particularly Husayn ibn Ali, to exact their revenge on their oppressors.[21][26]
Traditions that predicted the occultation and rise of a future imam were already in circulation for a century before the death of the eleventh Imam in 260 (874 CE),[27][21] and possibly as early as the seventh-century CE.[21] These traditions were appropriated by various Shia sects in different periods,[28] including the now-extinct sects of Nawusites and Waqifites.[29] For instance, these traditions were cited by the now-extinct Kaysanites, who denied the death of Ibn al-Hanafiyya,[19][30] and held that he was in hiding in the Razwa mountains near Medina.[2] This likely originated with two groups of his supporters, namely, southern Arabian settlers and local recent converts in Iraq, who seem to have spread the notions now known as occultation and raj'a.[2] Later on, these traditions were also employed by the Waqifites to argue that Musa al-Kazim, the seventh Imam, had not died but was in occultation.[27]
In parallel, traditions predicting the occultation of a future imam also persisted in the writings of the mainstream Shia, who later formed the Twelvers.[28][19] Based on this material, the Twelver doctrine of occultation crystallized in the first half of the fourth (tenth) century,[31] in the works of Ibrahim al-Qummi (d. 919), Ya'qub al-Kulayni (d. 941), and Ibn Babawayh (d. 991), among others.[5] This period also saw a transition in Twelver arguments from a traditionist to a rationalist approach in order to vindicate the occultation of the twelfth Imam.[32][6]
The Twelver authors also aim to establish that the description of Mahdi in Sunni sources applies to the twelfth Imam. Their efforts gained momentum in the seventh (thirteenth) century when some notable Sunni scholars endorsed the Shia view of the Mahdi,[19][33] including the Shafi'i traditionist Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Gandji.[19] Since then, Amir-Moezzi writes, there is Sunni support from time to time for the Twelvers' view of Mahdi.[33] There has also been some support for the mahdiship of the twelfth Imam in Sufi circles,[33] for instance, by the Egyptian Sufi al-Sha'rani.[19]
Before the rise of the Fatimid Caliphate, as a major Isma'ili Sh'a dynasty,[34] the terms Mahdi and Qa'im were used interchangeably for the messianic imam anticipated in Shia traditions. With the rise of the Fatimids in the tenth century CE, however, al-Qadi al-Nu'man argued that some of these predictions had materialized by the first Fatimid caliph, Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah, while the rest would be fulfilled by his successors. Henceforth, their literature referred to the awaited eschatological imam only as Qa'im (instead of Mahdi).[19] In Zaydi view, imams are not endowed with superhuman qualities, and expectations for their mahdiship are thus often marginal.[19][35] One exception is the now-extinct Husaynites in Yemen, who denied the death of al-Husayn ibn al-Qasim al-Iyani and awaited his return.[19]
In Islamic doctrine
[edit]Sunni Islam
[edit]In Sunni Islam, the Mahdi doctrine is not theologically important and remains as a popular belief instead.[36][37] Of the six canonical Sunni hadith compilations, three—Abi Dawud, Ibn Maja, and al-Tirmidhi—contain traditions on the Mahdi; the compilations of al-Bukhari and Muslim—considered the most authoritative by the Sunnis and the earliest of the six—do not, nor does al-Nasa'i.[38][39] Some Sunnis, including the philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), and reportedly also Hasan al-Basri, an influential early theologian and exegete, deny the Mahdi being a separate figure, holding that Jesus will fulfill this role and judge over mankind; Mahdi is thus considered a title for Jesus when he returns.[40][2] Others, like the historian and the Qur'an commentator Ibn Kathir (d. 1373), elaborated a whole apocalyptic scenario which includes prophecies about the Mahdi, Jesus, and the Dajjal (the antichrist) during the end times.[41]
The common opinion among the Sunnis is that the Mahdi is an expected ruler to be sent by God before the end times to re-establish righteousness.[2] He is held to be from among the descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali, and his physical characteristics including a broad forehead and curved nose. He will eradicate injustice and evil from the world.[42] He will be from the Hasanid branch of Muhammad's descendants, as opposed to the Shia belief that he is of the Husaynid line.[43] The Mahdi's name would be Muhammad and his father's name would be Abd Allah.[44] Abu Dawud quotes Muhammad as saying: "The Mahdi will be from my family, from the descendants of Fatimah".[45] Another hadith states:
Even if only one day remains [until the doomsday], God will lengthen this day until He calls forth a man from me, or from the family of my house, his name matching mine and his father's name matching that of my father. He will fill the Earth with equity and justice just as it had previously been filled with injustice and oppression.[45]
Before the arrival of the Mahdi, the earth would be filled with anarchy and chaos. Divisions and civil wars, moral degradation, and worldliness would be prevalent among the Muslims. Injustice and oppression would be rampant in the world.[46] In the aftermath of the death of a king, the people would quarrel among themselves, and the as yet unrecognized Mahdi would flee from Medina to Mecca to take refuge in the Ka'ba. He would be the Mahdi recognized as ruler by the people.[14] The Dajjal would appear and will spread corruption in the world.[2][47] With an army bearing black banners, which would come to his aid from the east, the Mahdi would fight the Dajjal, and will be able to defeat him. Dressed in saffron robes with his head anointed, Jesus would descend at the point of a white minaret of the Umayyad Mosque in eastern Damascus (believed to be the Minaret of Jesus) and join the Mahdi. Jesus would pray behind the Mahdi and then kill the Dajjal.[48][47] The Gog and Magog would also appear wreaking havoc before their final defeat by the forces of Jesus. Although not as significant as the Dajjal and the Gog and Magog, the Sufyani, another representative of the forces of dark, also features in the Sunni traditions. He will rise in Syria before the appearance of Mahdi. When the latter appears, the Sufyani, along with his army, will either be swallowed up en route to Mecca by the earth with God's command or defeated by the Mahdi. Jesus and the Mahdi will then conquer the world and establish a caliphate. The Mahdi will die after 7 to 13 years,[49] whereas Jesus after 40 years.[50] Their deaths would be followed by reappearance of corruption before the final end of the world.[49]