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The idea of a mahdi ("expected one"), or savior figure, has been most influential in the Shi'a sect of Islam. In this tradition, the Mahdi is someone sent by Allah to wage jihad against the enemies of Islam. Thus, any movement surrounding a Mahdi figure was designed for the specific purpose of revolution and reformation.
The focus here, however, is on the reformist movement which began in 1881 around the figure of Muhammad Ahmad, who proclaimed himself Al Mahdi al Muntazar ("the awaited guide in the right path," usually seen as the Mahdi) and led a revolt against the Ottoman rulers in the Sudan. He was sent, he said, to prepare the way for the second coming of the Prophet Isa (Jesus) and the impending end of the world. In anticipation of Judgment Day, it was essential that the people return to a simple, rigorous, and even puritanical Islam.
Most Westerners learn about this revolt as being staged against western Christian rulers, probably because of how British general Charles George Gordon died in Khartoum in 1885 after a year-long siege by the Mahdi's forces. And it is true that the Mahdi moved against western influences; but what most people miss is that his movement was originally aimed against the ostensibly Muslim rulers of Sudan.
Like so many extremist movements in modern Islam, the Mahdi objected that the country's leaders were no longer "real" Muslims, and hence no longer had any right to rule. Thus he proclaimed a jihad against the Ottoman rulers of the time.
The Westerners were drawn into the conflict partly because they were accused of supporting the apostate leaders as part of a deliberate effort to undermine and eventually destroy "real" Islam. This can be seen in how the Mahdi advocated eliminating various "un-Islamic" reforms which had taken hold in Sudan, for example the relative freedom accorded to women.
By 1885, his followers had defeated the ruling powers, captured Khartoum, and established a Muslim state controlling most of present-day Sudan. However, the Mahdi died a short time later, and his successors failed to eliminate the corruption that had plagued the previous regime. British forces were later able to recapture Sudan in 1898.
But that was not the end of the Mahdi's influence. In the 1940s, the Mahdist movement became the basis for a new political party run by the Sadiq al-Mahdi, the grandson of the Mahdi. Sadiq served as prime minister of Sudan in the 1960s and again later in the 1980s.
Contemporary Islamists certainly don't try to claim for themselves that they are the Mahdi, sent by Allah to rid the world of evil and re-establish true Islam. Nevertheless, they do fulfill a similar function because they claim that they will lead the effort to eliminate the enemies of Islam. The solution to contemporary problems lies with getting rid of Western influences and establishing a genuine Islamic government.
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