‖ Mahdi
(ˈmɑːdɪ)
Also 9 mohdi, mahadi, -dee, mehdi, mehdee.
[Arab. mahdīy, lit. ‘he who is guided aright’, passive pple. of hadā to lead in the right way.]
A spiritual and temporal leader expected by the Muslims to appear in the latter days. In recent use chiefly applied to certain insurrectionary leaders in the Sudan from about 1880, who are alleged to have claimed to be the predicted ‘Mahdi’.
| 1800 Asiat. Ann. Reg., Misc. Tr. 125/1 Mahommed, who was proclaimed Khalif at Medina in the year of the Hejira 145, and who assumed the title of Mohdi or Mahadi. 1803 T. Winterbottom Sierra Leone I. xiv. 246 Some years ago a celebrated impostor, who called himself Mahadee,..made his appearance among the Soosoos and Mandingos. 1868 J. P. Brown Dervishes ii. 74 It is from among the descendants of 'Alee that the more devout Moslems expect the Mehdee. 1885 Times 20 Mar. 5/5 The desert Arabs state that a new Mahdi has appeared in Kordofan. |
Hence ˈMahdiship, the dignity or position of a Mahdi; ˈMahdism, ˈMahdi-ism, the rebel movements in the Sudan about 1880–1885, and subsequently, under leaders claiming to be the Mahdi; ˈMahdian, ˈMahdist, ˈMahdi-ist, an adherent of a pretended Mahdi.
| 1884 19th Cent. May 816 The impostor who has..laid claim to the Mahdiship. 1884 Times (weekly ed.) 29 Aug. 1 Mâhdism is essentially a Shiya doctrine. 1885 Pall Mall G. 10 June 3/1 Mahdi-ism is in his eyes a real danger. 1885 Daily Tel. 19 Feb. 5/2 A demonstration..was..made against Metemneh, in order to draw the Mahdists off. 1885 Ibid. 21 Mar. 5/1 No hardy Mahdian got nearer than twenty yards. 1891 Daily News 18 Dec. 6/1 The invasion of Egypt by the Mahdiists in August, 1889. 1897 Ibid. 22 Sept. 6/4 Gordon, and Sir Samuel Baker..were even more responsible for the rise of Soudanese Mahdism than the Mahdi himself. |