> [Dodge, Erick](dodge.md). "Eschatological Appropriation: Mahdi’s Shifting Allegiances". Paper for MA class.
> [pdf](a/dodge2021-mahdi.pdf)
## Table of Contents
```
0.0 Introduction
1.0 Jesus & Mahdi in early Islam
2.0 Saviors among Iranian Rebels
2.1 The Rebels
2.2 Their Saviors
2.3 Crone’s Theory
3.0 Mahdi in Sikh Tradition
3.1 Mehdī Mīr in the Sikh Caubīsa Avatāra
3.1.1 Summary
3.1.2 Textual History
3.1.3 Interpretation
3.2 Other
4.0 Comparison
4.1 Similarities
4.2 Differences
4.3 Theory
5.0 Conclusion
```
## 0.0 Introduction
> Why did Arab Muslims incorporate a future savior (Jesus-Mahdi) into their eschatology during their conquest of the byzantine empire? Why did Nativist Zoroastrians incorporate the Islamic figure of Mahdi into their millennialism while revolting against the Umayyad Caliphate? Why did Sikhs incorporate the figure of Mahdi into their cyclical eschatology amid persecution by and war with the Mughal Empire? In short, why did these religious groups, amid conflict with a clearly defined religious opponent, incorporate the foretold future saviors of their enemies? Was it simply because of a common cultural background or intent? That is, simply because vague “influence”, or was it intentional?
> <br>
> In this essay I will argue that these are all instances of eschatological appropriation in which religious leaders and warriors utilized their enemies beliefs against them by redefining and inverting their meaning. Our focus will be limited by two factors: religious war and Islamic history.
> <br>
> First, I will be exclusively looking at instances of syncretic eschatology amid religious wars. Instances of syncretism amid conflict, eschatology amid conflict, and/or syncretic eschatology will not be considered. This is partly because we have limited room, but more importantly because those forms lack the unique irony of wartime eschatological appropriation: using the future savior of your enemy for your own ideological narrative. War also provides a new reason for syncretism: tactic, that is, the intentional and strategic deployment of a narrative (in this case, an inverted narrative).
> <br>
> Second, I will be exclusively looking at instances of this phenomenon from “Islamic” history. All our examples developed during wars that took place in the Middle East and North India from the seventh to the seventeenth century. More importantly than this, they all include a savior figure know as the Mahdi. As such this paper is a kind of selective biography of this figure starting with his “birth” amid the North-Arabian Muslim-Byzantine wars (1.0); his employment further east in Iran as the savior of Iranian rebels (2.0); and ending with his “death” in a little Sikh poem written in Northern India (3.0). I say “selective” because his story is much larger than what we can include here, but I hope that I can shed some new light on his interesting “life”.
> <br>
> After looking at our three examples—of eschatological appropriation of the savior figure Mahdi amid religious wars from Islamic history—we will compare them (4.0) and end with some concluding thoughts (5.0).