Has there been any false claims to Al-Mahdi?

Prophet Muhammed  (ﷺ) told us that towards the end of time, there would appear among, the Muslims, an individual whom he referred to as Al Mahdi, the rightly guided one, and towards the end of his stay, Isa (alaihis salaam) would return. This is a part of the future that the Prophet (ﷺ) prophesized to us in quite clear and non-ambiguous terms.

Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said, “There will arise a man of Quraish whose maternal uncles belong to Kalb and send against them an expeditionary force which will be overcome by them, and that is the expedition of Kalb. Disappointed will be the one who does not receive the booty of Kalb. He will divide the property, and will govern the people by the Sunnah of their Prophet (ﷺ) and establish Islam on Earth. He will remain seven years, then die, and the Muslims will pray over him.” [1]

This concept of the Mahdi has led historically to people at different points in time claiming that they were the Mahdi.

We had from the time the early centuries after the death of Hussain, that his half-brother Muhammed ibn Al-Hanafia was declared to be the Mahdi, though he didn’t accept it himself.

After him, you had other individuals who have claimed it. I even came across a claim; a person on the internet had asked me a question. This individual wanted to marry a sister, Muslim sister, but she belonged to a group which was called Mahdia group, from India or Pakistan and I had never heard of it also. But according to what he related, he related that there is an individual by the name of Syed Muhammed Jaunpuri who was born in Jaunpur in the late 15^th century, he declared himself as the Mahdi in Mecca. He is based in Ahmedabad in India and he died in Farah in Afghanistan. But anyways, you know these people believed that he was the Mahdi.

We also had Muhammed Ahmad in Sudan in the late 19^th century, he was involved in a movement that fought against British colonialism, but he of course was not the Mahdi, he claimed to be the Mahdi and he had different claims along with it but he was not the Mahdi, he was a false Mahdi. And we also had Wallace D. Muhammad, in 1975, when he took over after his father died, he also claimed that he was Mahdi too.

And perhaps the most recent claim is that of Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Qahtani in Mecca. In 1979, around the turn of this decade during Hajj, this individual Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Qahtani took the pledge of allegiance from the people at the Yemeni corner, and himself and a band of Muslims occupied the Ka’ba. And from their position of the occupation of the Ka’ba, they began to execute by firing from the minarets at anyone wearing any kind of uniforms outside of the masjid and the Saudi state was obliged to bring troops in there and fight it out with them and eventually killed this individual who claimed to be the Mahdi.

Another individual was Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, in India/Pakistan. He claimed he was Isa (alaihis salaam). We also had Wallace D Muhammad, again he claimed he was Mahdi and also that he was Isa (alaihis salaam) , said he was the body of Christ. And we had Dwight York, the founder of Nuwaubians in New York, he also claimed he was Isa (alaihis salaam), till he admitted in the end that he was not a Muslim, he was a Jew.

So there were many false Mahdis and prophets, as Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said, “...And the Hour will not be established until about thirty liars appear, and each one of them will claim that he is Allah's Apostle.” [2]

References:

[1]  Sunan Abu Dawood, 36:4273

[2] Saheeh Bukhari, 3609