political and social on the basis of the saying of the Mahdi. Those who led them employed the aforementioned hadiths to make them applicable to themselves. They claimed to be the Mahdis who would resist corruption and injustice and establish justice. Perhaps the most influential and far-reaching of these movements was the movement of Ibn Tumart in Morocco and the Mahdist movement in Sudan.

The Appearance of the Mahdi and His Mission According to Ibn Tumart: We have already indicated that Ibn Tumart always links the idea of the Mahdiya with the appearance of the Mahdi, and with the circumstances people were living in during his time and his own person. In this context, he began to explain the corruption that had become rampant in his time, enumerate its manifestations, and delve into describing it. He stated that corruption had become widespread, darkness had descended, and affairs had become entangled. The lights had been extinguished, opinions had become dim and confused, and the world had been adorned with falsehood, ignorance had become knowledge, wrong had become right, and evil had become good. Injustice had become justice. He laid down firm and established principles for this reversal, so the roots of falsehood became firm and their branches rose high. To all people, only their branches appeared, not their roots. Ibn Tumart does not fail to depict this element that prepares for the appearance of the Mahdi, which is the prevalence of injustice and corruption. He derives its consequence, which is the appearance of the Mahdi, the savior from this corruption. He first mentions his descriptions and actions, saying: "He is an individual in his time, truthful in his word, and he will fill it with justice as it was filled with injustice. His command will prevail until the Hour comes." Then he informs of the appearance of the Mahdi, to whom these descriptions apply and these tasks are entrusted, saying: The Mahdi came in a time of estrangement. God promised to overturn affairs from their usual course and demolish their foundations, and transfer them to the truth by God's permission, so that affairs may be organized according to the path of guidance and straightened according to the methodology of piety. And so on. The Theory of the Imamate: - See: Ahmed Mahmoud Sobhi (64) Ibn Tumart, Kitab al-Imama: (65) Ibn Tumart, Kitab al-Qawa'id: (66) 243