Mahdi

In Sunni Islam, the mahdi doctrine is not theologically important and remains as a popular belief instead.[6][7] Of the six canonical Sunni hadith compilations, only three—Abu Dawood, Ibn Maja, and Tirmidhi—contain traditions on the Mahdi; the compilations of Bukhari and Muslim—considered the most authoritative by the Sunnis and the earliest of the six—do not, nor does Nasai.[8][9] Some Sunnis, including the philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), and reportedly also Hasan al-Basri (d. 728), 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.[10][4] 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.[11]

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.[4] He is held to be from among the descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali, his name being Muhammad, and his physical characteristics including a broad forehead and curved nose. He will eradicate injustice and evil from the world.[12] He will be from the Hasanid branch of Muhammad's descendants, as opposed to the Shi'a belief that he is of the Husaynid line.[13] Abu Dawood quotes Muhammad as saying: "The Mahdi will be from my family, from the descendants of Fatimah".[14] 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.[14]

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.[15] 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. Against his will, would the Mahdi be recognized as ruler by the people.[16] The Dajjal would appear and will spread corruption in the world.[4][17] With an army bearing black banners, which would come to his aid from the east, the Mahdi would confront the Dajjal, but would be unable to defeat him. Jesus will then descend from the heavens and join the Mahdi. Jesus would pray behind the Mahdi and then kill the Dajjal.[18][17] 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 caliphate. The Mahdi will die after 7 to 13 years,[19] whereas Jesus after 40 years.[20] Their deaths would be followed by reappearance of corruption before the final end of the world.[19]

The Al-Askari Shrine Samarra, Iraq, stands where the house of the 11th Twelver imam Hasan al-Askari and the Mahdi once used to be.

In Twelver Shi'ism, the largest Shi'i branch, the belief in the messianic imam is not merely a part of creed, but the pivot.[21] For the Twelver Shi'a, the Mahdi was born but disappeared, and would remain hidden from humanity until he reappears to bring justice to the world, a doctrine known as the Occultation. This imam in occultation is the 12th imam Muhammad son of the 11th imam Hasan al-Askari.[22]

According to the Twelvers, the Mahdi was born in Samarra in 868 and lived under his father's care until 874 when the latter was killed by the Abbasids. The Mahdi then went into occultation by the divine command and was hidden from public view for his life was in danger. Only a few of the elite among the Shi'a, known as the deputies (sufara; sing. safir) of the 12th imam, were able to meet him; hence the occultation in this period is referred to as the Minor Occultation (ghayba al-sughra).[23] The first of the deputies is held to have been Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Amri, a trusted companion and confidant of the 11th imam. Through him the Mahdi would answer the demands and questions of the Shi'a. After his death, the date of which is unknown, his son Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Amri held the office for around 50 years and died in 917. His successor Husayn ibn Rawh al-Nawbakhti was in the office until his death in 938. The next deputy, Ali ibn Muhammad al-Simari, abolished the office on the orders of the imam just a few days before his death in 941. Thereafter, the imam went into the Major Occultation (ghayba al-kubra) and the connection between him and the faithful was terminated.[24] The religious guidance of the faithful he left to the scholars of the community. Although no one knows his whereabouts and the exact date of his return, he is nevertheless believed to contact some of his Shi'a if he wishes. Numerous such encounters have been claimed. He roams the earth and is sustained by God. He is the lord of the time (sahib al-zaman) and does not age.[25] He remains the sole legitimate ruler of the Muslim world and the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes him as the head of the state.[26]

Jamkaran Mosque in Qom, Iran, where Hassan ibn Muthlih Jamkarani is reported to have met the Twelver Mahdi

Before his reappearance (zuhur), the world will plunge in chaos; immorality and ignorance will be commonplace. The Qur'an will be forgotten, religion will be abandoned, and godlessness will rule.[25] There will be plagues, earthquakes, floods, wars and death.[27] The Sufyani will rise and lead people astray. The Mahdi will then reappear in Mecca, with the sword of Ali (dhu'l-fiqar) in his hand,[25] between the corner of the Ka'ba and the station of Abraham. The day of his reappearnce will be the day of ashura (10th of Muharram; the day the 3rd Shi'a imam Husayn ibn Ali was slain). He will be "a young man of medium stature with a handsome face", black hair and beard.[28] A voice from the heavens will call the people of the world to his aid; the angels, jinns, and humans will flock around him. He will then go to Kufa, which will become his capital, and send troops to kill the Sufyani in Damascus. Husayn and his slain partisans will then resurrect, as will other imams and Muhammad.[29] The episode of Jesus' return in the Twelver doctrine is similar to the Sunni belief, although in some Twelver traditions it is the Mahdi who would kill the Dajjal.[30] The Mahdi will convert other Muslims to Shi'ism, kill those who refuse to convert or banish them to villages after imposing the jizya (poll tax) on them,[31] restore Islam to its earliest uncorrupted form, Islamize the whole world and establish global kingdom.[32] His rule will be paradise on earth[33] which will last for 70 years (some other traditions state 7, 19, or 309 years[34]) before he dies.[25]

The Egyptian capital city of Cairo in 2014, where At-Tayyib Abu'l-Qasim, son of Fatimid Caliph Al-Amir bi-Ahkami'l-Lah, was born.

In Isma'ilism a distinct concept of the Mahdi developed, with select Isma'ili imams representing the Mahdi or al-Qa'im at various times. When the sixth Shi'a imam Ja'far al-Sadiq died, some of his followers held his already dead son Isma'il ibn Ja'far to be the imam asserting that he was alive and will return as the Mahdi.[35] Another group accepted his death and acknowledged his son Muhammad ibn Ismail as the imam instead. When he died, his followers too denied his death and believed that he was the last imam and the Mahdi. By the mid-9th century, Isma'ili groups of different persuasions had coalesced into a unified movement centered in Salamiyya in central Syria,[36] and a network of activists was working to collect funds and amass weapons for the return of the Mahdi Muhammad ibn Isma'il, who would overthrow the Abbasids and establish his righteous caliphate.[lower-alpha 1][38][39] The propaganda of the Mahdi's return had a special appeal to peasants, Bedouins, and many of the later-to-be Twelver Shi'is, who were in a state of confusion (hayra) in the aftermath of the death of their 11th imam Hasan al-Askari, and resulted in many conversions.[40]

In 899, the leader of the movement, Abd Allah ibn al-Husayn, declared himself the Mahdi.[41] This brought about schism in the unified Isma'ili community as not all adherents of the movement accepted his Mahdist claims. Those in Iraq and Arabia, known as Qarmatians after their leader Hamdan Qarmat, still held that Muhammad ibn Isma'il was the awaited Mahdi and denounced the Salamiyya-based Mahdism.[42][43] In the Qarmati doctrine, the Mahdi was to abrogate the Islamic law (the Sharia) and bring forth a new message.[31] In 931, the then Qarmati leader Abu Tahir al-Jannabi declared a Persian prisoner named Abu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani as the awaited Mahdi. The Mahdi went on to denounce Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad as liars, abolished Islam, and instituted the cult of fire. Abu Tahir had to depose him as imposter and had him executed.[42][43] Meanwhile in Syria, Abd Allah al-Mahdi's partisans took control of the central Syria in 903 before they were routed by the Abbasids. He now went to North Africa and founded the Fatimid Caliphate in Qayrawan in 909. Messianic expectations associated with the Mahdi nevertheless did not materialize, contrary to the expectations of his propagandists and followers who expected him to do wonders.[41] He attempted to downplay messianism and asserted that the propaganda of Muhammad ibn Isma'il's return as the Mahdi had only been a ruse to avoid Abbasid persecution and protect the real imam predecessors of his. The Mahdi was actually a collective title of the true imams from the progeny of Ja'far al-Sadiq.[44] He later branded as the Mahdi his son, who had the name as was expected of the Mahdi—Muhammad ibn Abd Allah.[45] The Fatimids eventually dropped the millenarian rhetoric.[41]

Tayyibis (which include the Dawoodi Bohra) believe the second and current period of occultation (satr) began after Imam Tayyeb went into seclusion and Imam from his progeny is very much present as Mahdi on earth every time. The Ṭayyibi Ismāʿīlis, including the Dawoodi Bohra, believe that an Imam from the progeny of At-Tayyib Abu'l-Qasim is the current hidden Imam and Mahdi.

In Zaydism, the concept of imamate is different from the Isma'ili and Twelver branches; a Zaydi Imam is any respectable person from the descendants of Ali and Fatima who lays claim to political leadership and struggles for its acquisition. As such, the Zaydi imamate doctrine lacks eschatological characteristics and there is no end-times redeemer in Zaydism. The title of mahdi has been applied to several Zaydi imams as an honorific over the centuries.[lower-alpha 2][47][48]

In the Ahmadiyya belief, the prophesied eschatological figures of Christianity and Islam, the Messiah and Mahdi, actually refer to the same person. These prophecies were fulfilled in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), the founder of the movement;[49] he is held to be the Mahdi and the manifestation of Jesus.[50][51] However, the historical Jesus in their view, although escaped crucifixion, nevertheless died and will not be coming back. Instead, God made Mirza Ghulam Ahmad the exact alike of Jesus in character and qualities.[52][53] Similarly, the Mahdi is not an apocalyptic figure to launch global jihad and conquer the world, but a peaceful mujaddid (renewer of religion), who spreads Islam with "heavenly signs and arguments".[49]

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.[4] It has also been suggested that the concept of the Mahdi may have been derived from earlier messianic Judeo-Christian beliefs.[54][55] Accordingly, traditions were introduced to support certain political interests, especially anti-Abbasid sentiments.[55] These traditions about the Mahdi appeared only at later times in ḥadīth collections such as Jami' at-Tirmidhi and Sunan Abu Dawud, but are absent from the early works of Bukhari and Muslim.[56]

The term al-Mahdi was employed from the beginning of Islam, but only as an honorific epithet 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 (hudat mahdiyyun). During the Second Muslim Civil War (680–692), after the death of Mu'awiya I, 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.[3] A hadith was promulgated in which Muhammad prophecies the coming of a just ruler.[57][lower-alpha 3]

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.[16]

Refusing to recognize the new caliph, Yazid I, 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 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 afterwards. Ibn al-Zubayr was recognized caliph in Arabia, Iraq and parts of Syria, where Yazid's son Mu'awiya II 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, were successful in removing Ibn al-Zubayr. The hadith lost relevance soon afterwards, 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.[57][4]

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.[3] 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.[60] Among the Umayyads, the caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik encouraged the belief that he was the Mahdi, and other Umayyad rulers, like Umar II, have been addressed as such in the panegyrics of Jarir and al-Farazdaq.[3]

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 II being the Mahdi was widespread. Said ibn al-Musayyib is said to identify Umar II as the Mahdi long before his reign. The Basran, Abu Qilabah, supported the view that Umar II was the Mahdi. Hasan al-Basri opposed the concept of a Muslim Messiah but believed that if there was the Mahdi, it was Umar II.[61]

By the time of the Abbasid Revolution in 750, Mahdi was already a known concept. Evidence shows that the first Abbasid caliph Saffah (r. 750–754) assumed the title of "the Mahdi" for himself.[62]

In Shia Islam, it seems likely that the attribution of messianic qualities to the Mahdi originated from two of the groups supporting al-Hanafiyya: southern Arabian settlers and local recent converts in Iraq. They became known as Kaysanites, and introduced what later became two key aspects of the Shīʿīte conception of the Mahdi. The first was the notion of return of the dead, particularly of the Shīʿa Imams. The second was that after al-Hanafiyya's death they believed he was, in fact, in hiding in the Razwa mountains near Medina. This later developed into the doctrine known as the "occultation".[4] The Mahdi appeared in early Shīʿīte narratives, spread widely among Shīʿa sects and became dissociated from its historical figure, Muhammad al-Hanafiyya. During the 10th century, based on these earlier beliefs, the doctrine of Mahdism was extensively expanded by Ya'qub al-Kulayni, Ibrahim al-Qummi, and Ibn Babawayh.[54] In particular, in the early 10th century, the doctrine of the occultation, which declares that the 12th Imam didn't die but was concealed by God from the eyes of men, was expounded. The Mahdi became synonymous with the "hidden Imam" who was thought to be in occultation awaiting the time that God has ordered for his return. This return is envisaged as occurring shortly before the final Day of Judgment.[63] In fact, the concept of the "hidden Imam" was attributed to several Imams in turn.[64]