People claiming to be the Mahdi
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Many people through history have claimed to be the Mahdi, a messianic figure expected in Islam. These have had varying degrees of success in convincing fellow Muslims of their station, however the predominant set of Muslims regard them as false claimants, or pretenders. These claimants were often at the centre of political intrigue or radical social upheaval.
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[edit] 8th century
[edit] Salih ibn Tarif
Salih ibn Tarif, the second king of the Berghouata, proclaimed himself prophet of a new religion in the 8th century. He appeared during the caliphate of the Ummayad Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. According to Ibn Khaldun's sources, he claimed receiving a new revelation from God called a Qur'an, written in the Berber language with 80 chapters. He established laws for his people, which called him Salih al-Mu'minin ('Restorer of the Believers'), and the final Mahdi.
Islamic literature considers his belief heretical, as several tenets of his teaching contrast with orthodox Islam, such as capital punishment for theft, unlimited wives, unlimited divorces, fasting of the month of Rajab instead of Ramadan, and ten obligatory daily prayers instead of five. Politically, its motivation was presumably to establish their independence from the Umayyads, establishing an independent ideology lending legitimacy to the state. Some modern Berber activists regard him as a hero for his resistance to Arab conquest and his foundation of the Berghouata state.
[edit] 10th century
[edit] Said ibn Husayn
Said ibn Husayn, the first Caliph of the Fatimid state, established in 909, was one of only two claimants who succeeded in establishing a state. (See Muhammad Ahmad below).
His Da'i Abu 'Abdullah Al-Husayn Al-Shi'i helped secure for him parts of north Africa using the support of the Berber locals. The Fatimids later built Cairo as capital in Egypt and their descendants contitnued to rule as Caliphs until Saladin took over Egypt and canceled the Fatimid state. He imprisoned the last Fatimid Caliph and his family until death in the Fatimid Palace.
[edit] 12th century
[edit] Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart
The Moroccan Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart sought to reform Almoravid decadence in the early 12th century. Rejected in Marrakech and other cities, he turned to his Masmuda tribe in the Atlas Mountains for support. Because of their emphasis on the unity of God, his followers were known as Al Muwahhidun ('unitarians', in western language: Almohads).
Although declaring himself mahdi, imam, and masum (literally in Arabic: innocent or free of sin), Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart consulted with a council of ten of his oldest disciples, and conform traditional Berber representative government, later added an assembly of fifty tribal leaders. The Almohad rebellion began in 1125 with attacks on Moroccan cities, including Sus and Marrakech. But as Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart died in 1130, his successor Abd al Mumin took the title of Caliph -claiming universal leadership in Islam- and placed members of his own family in power, converting the system into a traditional sultanate.
[edit] 15th century
[edit] Sayyid Muhammad Jaunpuri
Sayyid Muhammad Jaunpuri (1443 - 1505)[1], another historical claimant was born in northeastern India, in Jaunpur, (presently in state of Uttar Pradesh). His father's name was Syed Abdullah & mother's Aamina. He was descendant of Imam Husayn & through Imam Musa Kadhim.
He claimed being the promised Mahdi on three occasions. He announced his claim; first in Mecca and then two places in India. He attracted a large following, and received opposition from the ulema.
He died at the age of 63 in the year 1505 AD while at Farah, Afghanistan. The burial location is a preserved sanctuary, looked after by the local inhabitants.
The widespread but lesser known community of the followers of Sayyid Muhammad Jaunpuri[1], who find him being the Promised Mahdi are called Mahdavis, who follow strict sunnah as stressed by him and their belief is called Mahdaviat. Now centralized in the Indian city of Hyderabad, yet larger settlements are found in Gujarat. Wide spread in Karnataka, Maharashtra. Some other states have minor populations scattered, while some in southern Pakistan. Many have recently migrated and settled in USA.
[edit] 19th century
The 19th Century provided a large number of Mahdi claimants, some of whose subsequent followings survive to the present day in significant numbers.
[edit] Syed Ahmed
Syed Ahmed was an early proponent of the Wahhabi ideology in what is now Pakistan, who fought against the British in the early 1800's
[edit] Siyyid 'Alí-Muhammad (The Báb)
In 1844 in Shiraz, Ali Muhammad declared to be the promised Mahdi, taking the title of "the Báb" (Gate).
He was preceded by Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsa'i, who started the Shaykhi movement in preparation for the awaited Mahdi. Almost all the Shaykhis accepted the Báb, who was executed 6 years later by the Persian government. An estimated 20,000 followers of the Báb were also killed in government sponsored massacres across the empire.
The Báb is unique among Mahdi claimants, in that his assertion resulted in the establishment of a religion independent from Islam. He established his religion, ostensibly, as a precursor to an even greater message yet to come. As most Bábís believed the claims of Bahá'u'lláh to be the author of this greater message, the Báb's religious tradition continues today by way of the Bahá'í Faith.
[edit] Muhammad Ahmad
Muhammad Ahmad, who founded a short-lived empire in Sudan in the late 19th century, made a claim to be the promised Mahdi. His troops laid siege to Khartoum starting on March 13, 1884 against the defenders led by British General Charles George Gordon. The heavily damaged city fell to the Mahdists on January 26, 1885. Muhammad Ahmad died later that same year, but the Mahdist state he created lasted until 1899, when the British once again took control of Sudan. Descendants of Muhammad Ahmad are sufi religious leaders of the Ansar sufi brotherhood and Umma Party in Sudan.
[edit] Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
The Punjabi Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founded the Ahmadiyya Movement within Islam in 1889. He claimed to be the “Second Coming of Christ”, the promised Messiah, and the Mahdi.
[edit] 20th century
[edit] Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan was called the "Mad Mullah" of Somaliland by the British, although he was neither mad nor a mullah. He was a problem for the British and Italian authorities in Africa from 1900 to 1920.
He was a charismatic figure credited by his followers with supernatural powers. At first peaceful, he began attacking neighbouring tribes friendly to the British and declared himself the Mahdi.
[edit] Juhayman ibn-Muhammad ibn-Sayf al-Utaibi
In November of 1979 the Grand Mosque in Mecca was seized by a well-organized group of 1,300 to 1,500 men under the leadership of Juhayman al-Otaibi. A former captain in the Saudi White Guards (National Guard), he declared himself to be the Mahdi, the redeemer of Islam. [1]
After the two week long siege of the Mosque by Saudi special forces, foreign paramilitary troops from France and Pakistan were brought in to end the fight.
