WHAT IS A MAHDI ?

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1888, 12 August 1884, Page 4

WHAT IS A MAHDI ?

, The Constantinople correspondent of the Londou Times gives interesting notes on the above question, from which we cull the following' : — For Europeans who have n&spftcial -acquaintance with the political and dogmatic history of Islam, the word " Mahdi " has simply the meaning oL» Mahommedan false prophet, but for devout Mussulmans who knew something about the early history of their faith, the term has a much more precise meaning, and recalls many old associations. A complete historical treatise on the Mahdi idea would be the history of an important section of Mussulman theology, and would contain not a few interesting illustrations of the curious connection between politics and dogma in the Mussulman world. A few leading facts may be of interest to our readers. Mahomet was not a mere religious enthusiast ; he was also a statesman, who aimed at creating a Pan-Arabic Empire, and his political designs were ultimately realised far beyond his expections. His immediate successors did not confine themselves to uniting all the Arab tubes under a common faith and central government. They pushed their conquests far beyond the limits of Arabia, and creating a gigantic Theocratic State, including population of other races. The Theocratic State was for many ages one of the most imposing pdifioes that the world has ever seen, but in its political as well as its religious foundations, there were several flaws which endangered its existence. One of these wj»B the uncertainty whether the Government should be hereditary or an elective monarchy. Mahomet died without appointing his successor, and without giving any clear indications as to how the successor should be chosen. Three parties put forward their pretensions : nrßt, the Mohadjirs, or early converts of Mecca, and who fled to Medina with their master ; second, the Ansars, or " companions," men of Medina, who had hospitably received the fugitives ; thirdly, Mohammed's near relatives the aristocracy of Mecca. The question of succession gave rise to civil war ; and a distant relative of the prophet's was successful, and maintained through his descendants the supreme power for a century. Amid the struggles for mastery, the rule of the existiug dynasty was hated by their opponents, and stigmatised by them as the instrument of the powers of darkness. The descendants of Ali, the unsuccessful pretenders, were encircled with an ever increasing halo of religious mysticism till they came to be represented as emanations of the Diety. It was in this mixture of religious mysticism anil political disaffection that the Mahdi idea originated and flourished. The first said to have proclaimed the notion publicly wcs a renegade Jew called Abdallah-ibn-Saha, who began to preach and agitate in -favour of Ah a few years after Mahomet's death. "When Ali was assassinated, without having made good his claims to the succession, Abdallah attempted to save his prophetical reputation by assuring the people the Imam had only left the world for a time, and he would return as the Mahdi— that is to say, the leader, or the well-led — and establish a kingdom. This doctrine had not much success. Ah left several children. His oldest son, Hassan, was assassinated at Medina by order of the Caliph, and his second son fell in battle But Ali had a third son by another w ite, one of the Hanafite tribe. According to the doctrine of direct succession, this son could inherit ; but the fact was that, according to Persian ideas, Ali had so completely eclipsed the Prophet [that any descended faom him could put forth a claim as Imam, and was sure to obtain a following. The Ibn Hanafiye did put forward his claim, and was called Mahdi during his life time. In the second century a powerful politico- leligious corporation was formed by a Persian called Abdallah. By him it was said : The world has never been, and ne\ er will be, deprived of an Imam. Whoever he is, his father, grandfather, etc., in the direct line to Adam, were Imams likewise, and so it will be to the end of the world. The Imam cannot die unless he leaves a son to succeed him. It is not necessary that lie should be always, visible. When he manifests himself his doctiine is hidden, when he is hidden hit. doctrine is revealed by missionaries. Abdallah declared theie had been six Imams, and the seventh would shortiy appear. Each had brought a new doctrine. Adam and Seth liarl been the first ; Mahomed and Ali the sixth. The seventh was to be called Mahdi, and Abdallah took care to let it be know n he was his vekil. What he aimed at was not a new religion but a gigantic sectet society to overthrow the then existing dynasty and to liberate his countryman, the Persians, irom Aiab domination, and he systematically adapted his doctrines to the supposed tastes of the person whom he wished to gain. To the Shyitcs he praised Ali, to the Sunnites he praised Ali's enemies, to the Saboans he explained the mystical magic properties of the number seven, to the Pantheists he held out the probpecfc of absorption in the Divine Essence, to the Jews he leprcsented the expected Mahdi as the Messiah, ami to the Christians he identified the Mahdi with the Paraclete. Abdallah did not live to realise his gigantic scheme, but the seed sown by him bore abundant fruit. A descendant of Abdallah's called Obeidallah was presented as the long-expected deliverer, and took up his abode in ICairwan and extended his dominions in all directions. His descendants conquered Egypt,and are well known in history as the Fatimide Dynacty. Ha ring great temporal power the Messianic pietensions were not put forward until the days of Hakim, who reigned in Cairo from 385 to 411 ' of the Mussulman era. He professed to be not only an emanation from the Deity, but the Deity Himself, to whom Divine honours should be paid. This doctrine did not find favour in the sight of the Egyptians, but had great success in Syria. The name of Hakim has long been forgotten in Egypt, but still lives among the Diuzes of the Lebanon who believe he will one day appear on earth as the Mahdi. The Ismailian sect appeared about the same time under the direction of " The Old Man of the Mountain,'' who became so well known to the Crusaders. In the line of this sect, the twelfth Imam from Ali, was a certain Mohammed who disappeared mysteriously in A.D. 873, and it is this twelfth Imam who is now generally expected to reappear as Mahdi. There has thus been at different periods and in different sects considerable diversity of opinion as to who the hidden Imam or Mahdi really is, an d a still greater amount of uncertainty has always existed as to the date of his reappearance on earth. This is easily explained. In the early times the doctrines were invented by conspirators to gain the masses. The original idea was probably taken from the Jews, but the Hebrew conception was transformed under the influence of the Indian Theosophy. The Jewish Messiah was to be a descendant of David, whereas the Mahdi was to be a resuscitated personage who had been in a previous terrestrial existence an emanation of the Deity. In this way the old Mahdi doctrine has an analogy with the Christian belief in the second advent. Hakim did put forward this pretention in his day, at the commencement of the eleventh fcentu,ry of the Christian era. Though the Mahdi was originally a Persian or.Shyite doctrine, it soon spread to the Moslems of other nationalities. In Turkish, history there have been several. In all ages it has been assumed that ■ the Mahdi would have both a, political and religious mission. The circumstances now being changed, a modern- Mahdi need not ' necessarily- be a . descendant of Ali, and he need not att£mp to prove himself a resuscitiated Imam. All, be requires, tp do is to put ' himself forward as a prophet whose mission is ,to- free Islam from external . WißjjgT^fr Ke- r e«t jjjbljßh pjigejprimjtive I

faith. It is in this bense that the preient chief of the Soudan insurrection professes to be the Mahdi. There are still tyrants in Islam, and Islam as a whole is now threatened by agijressire Christen* dom. His being declared an impostor has little effect on his followers.