Episode 14: A Mahdist Proposal (Mahdism)
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To learn more about the prophecy of the Mahdi, you can browse several hadiths that describe him here, here, and here in three of the Kutub al-Sittah recognized as authentic by Sunni Muslims. Several European sources also exist related to Muhammad Ahmad including the captivity narrative of Father Joseph Ohrwalder. In characterizing William Hicks's army as "perhaps the worst army that has ever marched to war," we quoted from Winston Churchill's The River War. To see a popular depiction of the Mahdist Revolution in the Sudan, check out the film Khartoum (1966) starring Charlton Heston. We provided a brief clip of the movie in the blog post accompanying this episode.
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In writing this episode, we consulted the following monographs and article:​
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Monographs
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Furnish, Timothy R. Holiest Wars: Islamic Mahdis, Their Jihads, and Osama bin Laden. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005.
Holt, P.M., and M.W. Daly. A History of the Sudan: From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day. 6th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson, 2011.
Sachedina, Abdulaziz Abdulhussein. Islamic Messianism: The Idea of the Mahdi in Twelver Shi'ism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981.
Searcy, Kim. The Formation of the Sudanese Mahdist State: Ceremony and Symbols of Authority, 1882-1898. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
Articles
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Beattie, Hugh. "The Mahdi and the End-Times in Islam." In Prophecy in the New Millennium: When Prophecies Persist. Edited by Sarah Harvey and Suzanne Newcombe. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2013.
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Deal, R. Don. "Mahdi." In War and Religion: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict. Vol. 1. Edited by Jeffrey M. Shaw and Timothy J. Demy. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2017. Available online here.
Deal, R. Don. "Mahdist Revolution in Sudan." In War and Religion: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict. Vol. 1. Edited by Jeffrey M. Shaw and Timothy J. Demy. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2017. Available online here.
Saritoprak, Zeki. "The Mahdi Tradition in Islam: A Social-Cognitive Approach." Islamic Studies 41, no. 4 (2002).
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To learn more about these sources, check out this episode's accompanying blog post.