Mahdi

The Mahdi (Arabic: ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, romanized: al-Mahdī, lit. 'the Guided'; Persian: مهدی) is a figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the End of Times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad, who will appear shortly before Jesus.

The Mahdi is mentioned in several canonical compilations of hadith, but is absent from the Quran and the two most-revered Sunni hadith collections, Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. Thus, some Sunni theologians have questioned the orthodoxy of the Mahdi.^[1] The doctrine of the Mahdi seems to have gained traction during the confusion and unrest of the religious and political upheavals of the first and second centuries of Islam. Some of the first references to the Mahdi appear in the late 7th century, when the revolutionary Mukhtar al-Thaqafi declared Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, a son of Caliph Ali (r. 656–661), to be the Mahdi. Although the concept of a Mahdi is not an essential doctrine in Islam, it is popular among Muslims. Over centuries, there have been a vast number of Mahdi claimants.

The Mahdi features in both Shia and Sunni branches of Islam, though they differ extensively on his attributes and status. Among Twelver Shias, the Mahdi is believed to be Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, twelfth Imam, son of the eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari (d. 874), who is said to be in occultation (ghayba) by divine will. This is rejected by Sunnis, who assert that the Mahdi has not been born yet.

^ "Mahdi | Definition, Islam, & Eschatology". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 August 2023.

[1] "Mahdi | Definition, Islam, & Eschatology". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 August 2023.

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