False Mahdi: Ahmad bin Abi Mahalli

 

بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ

‌السَّلَامُ ‌عَلَيْكَ ‌أَيُّهَا ‌النَّبِيُّ ‌وَرَحْمَةُ ‌اللهِ ‌وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds

Peace be upon you, you who are the Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessing

The false mahdi Ahmad bin Abi Mahalli arose in the early 17^th century CE in modern day Morocco. Proclaiming himself the Mahdi, he led a short lived uprising against the Saadi dynasty. Although coming from an apparently orthodox Sunni background, associated with Sufism and the Maliki school, Ibn Abi Mahalli turned against his Sufi elders and went astray. It appears he engaged in some kind of soothsaying, claiming that he would become a Sultan. Having made this prediction while moving or shaking in a gathering of fuqara (devout ascetics), a faqir in a corner of the gathering was apparently inspired through the Holy Spirit, moving and shaking proclaimed that such a “sultanate” would endure for three years less than four:

وفي يوم آخر وقع للفقراء سماع فتحرك وجعل يقول أنا سلطان فتحرك فقير أخر في ناحية وجعل يقول ثلاث سنين غير ربع وهذه هي مدة ملكه

(al-Muhadarat fil-Adab wal-Lughah lil-Hasan al-Yusi, Dar al-Gharb al-Islami, p.262)

This inspired prophecy of a Muslim ascetic was indeed fulfilled. After the Muslims surrendered Larache to the Spaniards in 1610, Ibn Abi Mahalli initiated his uprising and proclaimed himself the Mahdi, but was defeated and killed by the Saadids in 1613: “In the person of Ibn Abi Mahalli (1559-1613), the millenarian dynamic in Morocco achieved its full tragic purity, for in this case the cause of revolution, instead of triumphing as it had among the Almohads and the Sa'dids, was bloodily suppressed. Born in Sidjilmassa into a family of scholars and trained in Fez by Sufi masters, Ibn Abi Mahalli became one of the closest disciples of 'Abd al-Qadir Abi Samha, a holy man revered in the desert of western Algeria under the name of Sidi Shaykh. In 1602, however, the two men had an irreparable falling out, with Ibn Abi Mahalli angrily denouncing Sidi Shaykh as an imposter (dajjâl), a term by now famously associated with the Antichrist. In addition to attacking his former teacher, whom he accused of reprehensible innovations in doctrine, Ibn Abi Mahalli castigated the Sa'did dynasty for what he saw as its lax attitude toward the Spanish. He drew an apocalyptic picture of Christianity as a monstrous and insatiable beast having two heads—Malta and Oran, the staging points for raids against Islamic lands—and, by railing against the Antichrist of Shallala and encouraging millenarian apprehensions of conquest by the infidel, hinted that he himself might be the Mahdi. He also cast opprobrium on the mahdis who had previously appeared in the Maghrib, charging the Fatimids with Zoroastrianism and dismissing the Almohads as mere illusionists. The surrender of Larash to the Spanish in 1610 presented Ibn Abi Mahalli with the opportunity he had been seeking. Proclaiming himself the Mahdi at Sidjilmassa, he marched on Marrakesh, which soon opened its gates to his forces. But the Sa'did counterattack in 1613 was unrelenting and merciless. Ibn Abi Mahalli was killed by enemy fire, and his followers, having seen their faith in his invincibility disproved, fled in panic. The head of Ibn Abi Mahalli was hung from the ramparts of Marrakesh, until it finally disintegrated. A part of the population in the south of Morocco nevertheless refused to accept his death, believing instead that the Mahdi had hidden himself from public view.” (Apocalypse in Islam, University of California Press, 2011, pp.61-62)

It is noteworthy that Ahmad bin Abi Mahalli did not fulfill any of the principal prophecies concerning the expected Mahdi, such as being a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم or obtaining the pledge of allegiance between the Rukn and the Maqam in Masjid al-Haram after which an army intending to attack him is miraculously destroyed by the earth sinking beneath their feet while marching toward Mecca. Sunni Muslims should beware of figures who are ideologically inclined toward violent insurrection against the State and proclaim themselves the Mahdi in order to obtain a religious coloring and cause excitement among the people. The true Mahdi will have no intention of revolt or overthrowing the State before he is recognized as the Mahdi and forcibly given the pledge of allegiance in Masjid al-Haram. His declaration of being the Mahdi will not be unilateral; he will first be recognized as the Mahdi by the saints and scholars who will come to him and inform him of this. It is also noteworthy that Ibn Abi Mahalli disregarded and in fact bitterly opposed his own Sufi elders and teachers. That was undoubtedly the beginning of his misguidance and his journey to the dark side. It may be said that the failed Mahdist adventure of Ibn Abi Mahalli was an echo of the earlier heretic and pretender Ibn Tumart in the same region of North Africa.