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 egypt 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 iranian
revolUtion oF 1978–1979, which was led by the
Ayatollah rUhollah khomeini, whom some Irani-
ans believed to be the expected Mahdi.
See also ahmediyya; bahai Faith; eschatology;
ismaili shiism.
Reza Aslan
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
sUdan in 1881 by the religious reformer, Muham-
mad Ahmad, who claimed to be the mahdi (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 ansar, in imitation of the
Medinans who first aided the prophet mUham-
mad. The Mahdi’s jihad was tremendously suc-
cessful, partially due to unrest within egypt 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 Mahdiyya movement