in Islam, the name given to a holy leader who, according to Muslims, will be sent by God and will make all people in the world follow Islam. Many Muslim leaders have claimed to be the Mahdi. (Arabic; "divinely guided one") In Islamic eschatology, a messianic deliverer who will bring justice to the earth, restore true religion, and usher in a short golden age before the end of the world. Though the mahdi is not mentioned in the Qurn and is questioned by Sunnite theologians, he is important in Shite doctrine. The doctrine of the mahdi gained currency during the religious and political upheavals of early Islam (7th-8th century) and received new emphasis in periods of crisis (e.g., after most of Spain was reconquered by Christians in 1212, and during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt). The title has been claimed by Islamic revolutionaries, notably in North Africa (see al-Mahd; Mahdist movement)
orig. Muammad Amad ibn al-Sayyid Abd Allh born Aug. 12, 1844 died June 22, 1885, Omdurman, Sudan Sudanese religious and political leader. The son of a shipbuilder in Nubia, he was brought up near Khartoum. After orthodox religious study, he turned to a mystical interpretation of Islam in the Sufi tradition, joined a religious brotherhood, and in 1870 moved to a hermitage with his disciples. In 1881 he proclaimed a divine mission to purify Islam and the governments that defiled it, targeting the Turkish ruler of Egypt and its dependency, Sudan. In 1885, after he defeated Charles George Gordon to capture Khartoum, he established a theocratic state, but he died the same year, probably of typhus. See also mahdi; Mahdist movement; Sufism