Word: mahdi
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...first day (Tuesday, Nov. 20). "Who is this madman?" exclaimed Prince Sultan, the Saudi Minister of Defense. Shortly after 4 a.m., some 200 followers of Mohammed had seized the mosque, using weapons concealed inside 14 coffins. They demanded that the worshipers recognize Mohammed as the long awaited Mahdi (messiah).* At first, the worshipers could not believe any harm could come to them, since it is a precept of Islam that no blood be shed inside a mosque; by nightfall they knew that they were hostages. Blood had already been shed within the mosque; when several guards had tried to arrest...
...group was led by a man in his early twenties, whose name was said to be Mohammed Abdullah al-'Utaibah. At the beginning of the call to prayer, the young man asked the imam who was leading the service to declare him the new Mahdi-the Islamic messiah. According to the belief of some Muslims, the Mahdi is supposed to appear during the new century. The imam refused; in the ensuing scuffle his assistant was shot and killed...
...Modern Middle Eastern Civilization: Contemporary Problems in Perspective," Muhsin S. Mahdi...
...Civilization of Islam: An Introduction," William A. Graham Jr., Oleg Grabar, Muhsin S. Mahdi and Wheeler Thackston Jr. (omitted next year...
...cousin and son-in-law, 'Ah', and certain of his direct descendants who were known as Imams. Most Iranian Shi'ites believe that' Ali's twelfth successor, who disappeared mysteriously in 878, is still alive and will return some day as the Mahdi (the Divinely Appointed Guide), a Messiah-like leader who will establish God's kingdom on earth. Meanwhile, Shi'ite religious leaders, such as Iran's Ayatullah Khomeini, have wide powers to advise the faithful on the presumed will of the "Hidden Imam." Sunni religious scholars, the ulama, have less...