ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some considerations germane to a reassessment of the place of the Mahdia in history. It explains the pattern of events and suggests some comparisons with other Islamic movements. The chapter suggests that the nature of the Mahdia was essentially revolutionary, and analyses the chief groups of its supporters. It also outlines the main periods of Mahdist history. The Sudanese Mahdia, insofar as it was a religious movement, was directly linked with much more recent developments in the Muslim world. In its later stages, this development has appeared as a Muslim reaction against the growing pressure of Christendom on the Islamic world, a pressure which has been a solvent of the traditional political, social and cultural framework in the Middle East as elsewhere. Beginning with the Wahhabis in eighteenth century Najd, a series of reforming, revivalist movements occurred in the Muslim world.
