The Shi‘i Mahdi and the Sunni Mahdi: Towards a Comparative Study

Scholarship in the field of Islamic messianism has tended to focus exclusively on either its Sunni or Shi‘i representations. This paper will attempt to fill a noticeable lacuna by conducting a comparative study of the Islamic messianic figure known as the Mahdi in classical Sunni and Shi‘i works of hadith. We will give particular attention to the duration and features of the Mahdi’s rule, the condition of the world at the time of his appearance, and his position vis-à-vis previous prophets and messengers, as imagined and reimagined by Sunni andShi‘i scholars of hadith. Particular focus will be given to how scholars from Persianate societies (both Sunni and Shi‘i) have responded to the question of what precisely the Mahdi will inaugurate and how the various answers proffered to this question reflect changing social and historical circumstances and exigencies.