بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله
In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful
Blessing and Peace upon you, Apostle of Allah
The tribulation of false Mahdis has a long history in this Ummah. It is partially responsible for the extreme reaction in some quarters of denying the expectation of the Mahdi altogether.
But we Sunnis Muslims firmly believe in the prophecy about the coming of the Mahdi, a descendant of the Prophet, peace be upon him, who shall be the Imam of the Muslims and restore the glory of this Faith after a period of darkness and injustice.
Undoubtedly, we are in that dark, unjust era today, and so there is much fervor and eagerness among the Muslims that the Mahdi should appear soon to redeem us.
The expectation of the Mahdi in this Ummah is not unlike the expectation of the Davidic Messiah among the Jews. After the devastation of the Kingdom of Judah by Babylon in the 6th century BCE, and subsequent subjugation to foreign empires (Persian, Greek and Roman) the Jews, encouraged by the prophecies of their Prophets, strongly desired the coming of the Messiah who would be a descendant of King David and, like his noble ancestor, establish a glorious kingdom for them.
For the Muslims, anticipation of the Mahdi, a figure who would resurrect the glory of the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his rightly-guided Caliphs, reached its zenith in a time spanning the end of the Umayyads and the beginning of the Abbasids.
Subsequently, another wave of religious fervor in expectation of the Mahdi happened during the 19th century, at the height of European imperialist domination of the Muslim world, particularly in North Africa. During both periods, the Mahdist fervor among the Muslims was exploited by several pretenders often leading to disaster. This too mirrored the phenomenon of false Messiahs that arose among the Jews attempting deliverance from foreign domination, such as Simon bar Koseba called “Bar Kokhba” who led a failed uprising against the might of Rome.
In this blog I have discussed the reality of several false Mahdis, such as the notorious fanatic Ibn Tumart who revolted against the Almoravids in the 12th century CE in Morocco. Then there was Ahmad bin Abi Mahalli from 17th century Morocco who led a failed uprising against the Saadi dynasty motivated by the increasing power and encroachment of the Spaniards, and Muhammad Ahmad of Sudan, who in the 19th century battled the Anglo-Egyptian rule of Sudan and had ambitions of conquering the entire Muslim world.
Likewise, there was Juhayman al-Utaybi, who proclaimed his brother-in-law Muhammad bin Abdullah al-Qahtani to be the Mahdi, and launched a failed uprising in 1979 against the Saudis by seizing control of Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. This particular Mahdist revolt was motivated not so much by foreign domination but by the failure of the Saudi monarchy in curbing the onset of modernity in Arabia. Unlike most other Mahdist uprisings and movements, this one was entirely rooted in Wahhabism and Salafism, and even had the sympathy of several senior Salafi clerics.
French colonization and rule of Algeria in the 19th century was extremely brutal and traumatizing. It is perhaps the worst instance of colonization and subjugation of a Muslim nation in history, up there with the historic ravaging of Muslim civilization by the Mongols in the 13th century CE and the current ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by the barbaric Zionists.
The Rahmaniyyah order played a major role in galvanizing resistance to French colonialism in Algeria. The Rahmaniyyah is a branch of the Khalwatiyyah Sufi order and was founded by Sidi Muhammad bin Abd ur-Rahman al-Jurjuri, may Allah have mercy on him, who lived in 18th century Algeria.
This is a repudiation of the somewhat common misconception that Sufis are entirely passive or free themselves from armed Jihad.
Among the figures, either influenced by or aligned with the Rahmaniyyah, who claimed to be the Mahdi in 19th century Algeria were Jamina, Bu Maza and Bu Ziyan.
Julia A. Clancy-Smith is the principal modern researcher on these figures and their movements:
About Jamina she says: “In 1845 a self-proclaimed prophet named Jamina organized and led a small anticolonial insurrection in the region of el-Arrouch. Jamina was well known to the Ziban’s inhabitants since he had resided in the oases for at least a year before publicly advancing claims to mahdihood. There he had initially acquired a reputation as a local holy man through demonstrations of miraculous powers to the villagers who constituted his first popular following. Leaving the Ziban in 1844, Jamina and his partisans launched a rural protest movement the next year among the tribes just north of the city of Constantine, where progressive settler land expropriations were making inroads into the local agrarian economy. Jamina exchanged letters with Bu Ziyan, some of which were intercepted by French officials, until the eve of the 1849 Za’atsha insurrection.” (Rebel and Saint, p.94)
I believe it was misleading for Clancy-Smith to use the term “self-proclaimed prophet” about Jamina, whom, as she confirms, was actually claiming to be the Mahdi. The Mahdi is not understood to be a Prophet according to Islam, since the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the final Prophet. Either she is ignorant of this fundamental doctrine of Islam, or she used the term prophet in a non-Islamic sense to describe a charismatic, spiritual figure such as one claiming to be the Mahdi. Either way, I seriously doubt that Jamina would have actually claimed to be a Nabi (Prophet), and on the basis of such a claim established a following among some Algerian Muslims interested in resisting the French infidel. But him claiming to be the Mahdi does seem to be a historical fact and part of the pattern of the time and place.
Regarding Bu Maza, Clancy-Smith says, “In 1845 another rebellion broke out under the guidance of a young man of no more than twenty years. Popularly known as Bu Ma’za (Abu Ma’za, or the ‘man with the goat’), he assumed the provocative nom de guerre of Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah, the name inevitably associated with the mahdi. Revered among the sedentary tribal populations of the Chelif Valley and Ouarsenis Mountains as an ascetic and holy man, Bu Ma’za promised to drive the Europeans into the sea.” (ibid, p.95)
Apparently, some elements among the Rahmaniyyah Sufis backed the Mahdist uprising of Bu Maza, “In 1847, Bu Ma‘za and a band of supporters drawn from the Awlad Na‘il confederacy were chased into the oasis of the Awlad Jallal where Shaykh al-Mukhtar al-Jallali headed the Rahmaniyya zawiya. So great was Bu Ma‘za’s reputation as the redeemer and an intrepid warrior that the indigenous troops under General Herbillon’s command fled in terror at the sight of the rebels’ flags and messianic banners. Apparently even those Algerians who had enrolled in the French army preferred the dangers of desertion to fighting the mahdi. The news of Bu Ma’za’s approach encouraged the oases of Sidi Khalid and Awlad Jallal to engage in their own rebellious behavior; the populace besieged the French-appointed qa’id in his residence. Significantly, the mahdi sought the assistance of the Rahmaniyya shaykh of Awlad Jallal, neither the first nor last example of political collaboration between a powerful sufi leader and a messianic figure. With the full backing of Shaykh al-Mukhtar, the insurgents used the fortified oasis as a base of resistance.” (ibid)
Concerning Bu Ziyan, Clancy-Smith says, “In the early months of 1849, Bu Ziyan was beset by divinely inspired visions and disturbing dreams, universally regarded in that society as constituting a means of ‘access to the invisible world.’ He dispatched emissaries to the Awras and Biskra to inform the populace of these portents from on high. Before long Bu Ziyan’s otherworldly experiences entered into the rumor mill: ‘People were constantly speaking about [him] and much preoccupied with this man from Za‘atsha who had seen the Prophet and grouped around him numerous partisans.’ In addition to publicizing these supernatural visitations, which brought the pious and the curious to his side, Bu Ziyan also proceeded quite methodically to fashion a base of support by sacrificing sheep every day and distributing food to the poor; he held lavish banquets and entertained visitors. Since these rituals of sacrifice and the cultural behavior normally associated with them were outside of the normal liturgical cycle, they may have signaled a break in the ordinary flow of time, thus hinting at the mahdi’s arrival. However, up to this point, there was not much to distinguish Bu Ziyan’s gradually emerging call to prophecy from the initial stages of the saint in gestation. Then came more visions and supernatural signs; the Prophet Muhammad announced in a dream that Bu Ziyan was the mahdi. The suspension of historical time was near; conquering piety was at hand. Nevertheless, some refused to believe that the Prophet had so honored the man from Za‘atsha. To win over skeptics, Bu Ziyan predicted that other signs would soon follow. Once again the Prophet appeared in a nightly vision and seized Bu Ziyan by the hand, which turned green in color, a manifestation of mu‘jizat, or those miracles attributed to prophets. The crowds gathered to behold the mystery, and his residence became a pilgrimage site as villagers arrived from far and wide. Divine election was finally confirmed—and any remaining skeptics won over—when the Prophet reappeared a third time, informing Bu Ziyan that ‘the reign of the impious had come to an end and the rule of the true believers is about to commence.’ Having convinced an audience of his prophecy, Bu Ziyan then expanded the public nature of his preaching; his message combined exhortations to piety and right conduct with moral censure of local religious notables, who were upbraided for the ‘disorders of their private lives.’ At the same time, the new mahdi capitalized upon widespread dissatisfaction with the recently imposed colonial fiscal regime.” (ibid, pp.105-106)
Bu Ziyan’s Jihad against the French was “solemnly proclaimed from the minaret of the mosque attached to the Rahmaniyya zawiya” (ibid, p.107)
Some reflections are in order; while much of the Rahmaniyyah and their following went along with Bu Ziyan and his Mahdist revolt, others were more cautious and skeptical of his claim to being the Mahdi, and his claim of having had visions of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, confirming him as such. But the popularity of the uprising against the evil French ended up suppressing their instinct for caution and skepticism.
Muslims should know that the theater of activity and conflict when the true Mahdi appears, at least initially, shall not be North Africa, or Egypt, or Sudan, or India. It shall be Arabia, and the Mahdi will first be proclaimed from Mecca, where he shall be given the bayah by the eminent saints and sages of this Ummah and the rest of the Muslims present there.
This fact alone should have been sufficient to dismiss the claims of the likes of Bu Ziyan in Algeria and Muhammad Ahmad in Sudan. Yet the oppression and danger posed to Islam in those times and places caused the Muslims there, including some of the Ulama and Sufis, to go against their better judgment.
I am not saying that the Muslims were wrong to challenge the imperialist project of the European infidel and to proclaim a holy war against them for the defense of Islam and the Muslims. But to consider certain leaders of these anti-colonial revolts to be the Mahdi when in fact they were not was a serious error.
Nor am I saying that Muslims should not take seriously someone or some people who say they have had a vision of the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him. Such visions and visitations are an important part of our Faith and a demonstration of it being a living Faith. We should have a probative attitude toward claims of such blessed visions and visitations, rather than a dismissive one like that of the wretched materialists and modernists.
In fact, it is mentioned that Shaykh al-Mukhtar al-Jallali, a fervent supporter of the Mahdist revolts of both Bu Maza and then Bu Ziyan, had a vision warning him that the latter’s revolt was bound to end in disaster, “The Angel Gabriel (Jibril) had appeared to him in a dream warning that the Muslims would suffer ruin at Za’atsha and their leaders would perish.” (ibid, p.115)
This prophecy was indeed fulfilled, as Bu Ziyan was eventually captured by the French, “Bu Ziyan’s head was offered as a prize of war to General Herbillon, who had it displayed on the gatepost for all to see.” (ibid, p.116)
The fourth Mahdi claimant to be discussed from this setting is the Sharif of Warqala (also spelled Ouargla), who called himself Muhammad bin Abdullah, though it is not certain if that was his actual name. It has been said his original name was Ibrahim bin Abi Faris. His true origin cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty, but it is said he was a man of piety and respected by the people of Warqala among whom he settled: “Unfortunately for the historian, scarcely more is known of Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah than of his apocalyptic predecessor, Bu Ziyan; the sharif’s family background, and real name remain a matter of dispute. What is certain is that he had been a faqir (wandering ascetic) from the maraboutic tribe of the Awlad Sidi b. Yusuf, who occupied the territory north of Tilimsan.” (Ibid, pp.177-178)
“Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah met an enthusiastic reception from Warqala’s leading female saint, Lalla Zuhra, venerated for her piety and gift of divination. Lalla Zuhra later pronounced him to be ‘the one sent from God,’ and prophesied a brilliant future for the mysterious guest as ‘sultan and terror of the Christians.’” (ibid, p.179)
The Sharif or Warqala was set apart from his failed predecessors, Bu Maza and Bu Ziyan, in that he was associated with the Sanusiyyah and its founder Muhammad bin Ali as-Sanusi (d.1859).
Clancy-Smith mentions yet another Mahdi claimant of this setting who aspired to overthrow the French: “During the 1871 Muqrani revolt in the northern Constantine, another mahdist rebel arose in the Algerian Sahara and was accorded an enthusiastic reception in Warqala and Tuqqurt. Muhammad b. Tuni b. Ibrahim, or Bu Shusha (Bou Choucha) as he was called by his cohorts, purported to be the son of Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah. Such a claim indicates that in the popular mind at least, the social production of revolutionary mahdis, like saints and descendants of the prophets, was believed governed by the genealogical principle. For a brief period, Warqala’s inhabitants proclaimed Bu Shusha their sultan in place of the French appointed shaykh, which was tantamount to a declaration of revolt in the eyes of the colonial regime. General de Lacroix-Vaubois chased the would-be redeemer from the oasis in January 1872.” (ibid, p.211)
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