MAHDI, mal'd%: The title given by Moham medans to the person who according to their ex pectation is to exercise functions not unlike those attributed to the Jewish Messiah. He is to com plete the work of Mohammed, convert or destroy the infidels, inaugurate the reign of justice and truth upon earth, and lead the faithful to Paradise. The word means " directed," hence, " orle fit to guide others." The Mohammedan world is divided between those who believe that Mahdi has already come but is concealed until the time of his final manifestation (Shiahsr see Mohammed, Mohammedanism), and those who still await his appearance (Sunnis). As in the case of the cognate Jewish belief, from which in part it sprang, the possession of the idea has led to many attempts to realize it. These attempts have been made both by impostors and by those who were self-deluded. One of these was the famous veiled prophet al-Mokanna, Hakim ibn Allah, who conducted a revolt against Mohammed ben Mansur (c. 780 A.D.), while this Mohammed himself assumed the tale of Mahdi; another was Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi in North Africa, 909-934, founder of the Fatimid dynasty; almost as celebrated was Ibn Tumart, the founder of the Muwahhid Berber dynasty, also in North Africa. A recent example is Mohammed Ahmed (1843-85), "the mad mullah," whose revolt in the region south of Egypt caused so great fear of a holy war, and to whose capture of Khartum the death of General Cordon was due. The head of the brotherhood of al-Sanusi also claims to be the Mahdi.

Geo. W. Gilmore.

Bibliography: E. Müller, Beiträge zur MahdilvJi.re des lalama, Heidelberg, 1901; J. Darmeateter, The Mahdi, Past and Present, New York, 1885; D. B. Macdonald, Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence, and Constitutional Theory, pp. 244-249 et passim, New York, 1903.

MAI, md'3 or mai, ANGELO: Roman Catholic scholar; b. near Bergamo, Italy, Mar. 7; 1782; d. near Albano Sept. 9, 1854. He entered the Jesuit order in 1799, and taught in their college at Naples from 1804. At Orvieto, in the intervals of priestly duties, he applied himself to paleography, and especially to the deciphering of palimpsests. His activity as an editor of ancient works dates from 1813, when he went to Milan as keeper of the Ambroaian Library; his field comprised both classical and ecclesiastical authors. In 1819 Pius VII. appointed him prefect of the Vatican library; and he was made a cardinal in 1838. The writings he edited are mainly embraced in four general colleotions: Veterum seriptorum nova collectio (10 vols., Rome, 1825-38); Classici, auctores (10 vols., 1828-1838); Spicilegium Romanum (10 vols., 1839-44); Sanctorum strum nova btTiliotheca (6 vols., 1844-1871); and the posthumous Appendix ad opera edits ab Angelo Mai (1879).

Bibliography: AL, viii. 483-488 (appreciative).