Mahdi

From Arabic مَهْدِيّ‎ (mahdiyy, “guided one”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːdi/

Mahdi

1. (Sunni Islam) A leader who, according to Sunni eschatology, will appear and restore peace and justice before the end of the world. [from 17th c.]

   Ahmadis consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmed to be the Mahdi.

   • 2012, Piers Brendon, ‘Beginning the Dissent’, Literary Review, vol. 401:

     Al-Afghani was a polyglot Persian who became an international agitator, aspiring [...] to unify the Muslim masses behind the Caliph (or even the Mahdi) and to become himself the Luther of an Islamic reformation.

2. (Twelver Shiite Islam) Muhammad b. Hasan al-Mahdi, the last of the Twelve Imams, born in 868 AD but believed alive and present in this world in a state of occultation; officially the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Iran; similarly to Sunni belief he will reappear before the end of time.

• Mahdism
• Mahdist
• Messiah

• Dhami, Hamid