Following this line of reasoning...

Following this line of reasoning, an Ibn Tumart, `Ubayd Allah or Muhammad Ahmad-and to a lesser degree, other less successful "mahdis" over the millennia-are each types of the coming Mahdi, able despite faults to perform some of the functions of the Awaited One on a much less effective and much more limited scale, while never reaching the actual status of Mahdiyah.

Indeed, if God is in charge of human history-and both Muslims and Christians agree that He is-then He must have allowed the development of the movements of Ibn Tumart, `Ubayd Allah, Muhammad Ahmad and even the despised, deluded al-`Utaybi. Perhaps He allows such false mahdis both to test people's faith, but also perhaps to provide a dark glass, or a dim mirror, through which believers can view a foreshadowing of what true Mahdism will consist when it arrives. Previous…