The Mission of the Mahdi.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 121, 30 May 1885, Page 5

The Mission of the Mahdi.

Caiko, March s.—The term "Mahdi" is approximately translated " Messiah." Tho Mahdi's heaven-imposed mission iB neither national nor political, but religiouß. The territory which he claims, and the poople whoso allegiance he demands, are limited solely by his .geographical ignorance. Either he is the looked-for spiritual bead of , the whole world, who is to unite all nations under an Islam purified of its existing abuses, or he is nothing. He is either the Messiah which was to come or an impostor. Avoiding a more exact parallel, which might seem irreverent, an attempt to negotiate with such a loader might be compared to an offer made by the Mohammedan leader to 1 _ter the Hermit of the crown of the -"ranks if he would refrain from prosecuting the Crusades, The Mahdi's aims, repeated in innumerable proclamations, are to drive those who refuse to rocogniso his divine mission into the sea, to be proclaimed in the holy city of Mecca, and to destroy the false Caliphate ot Stamboul, He is equally hostile to tho Scnoussi, tho Sultan, Arabi, and Mr Blunt. His only adherents aro those who will take tho sword and kill all who rofuso his faith throughout tho world. Ho is the successor of numerous impostors who, not having tho fortune to be opposed by British statesmen, have failed to achieve equal prestige. Defeat alone can destroy that prestigo.—From tho " London Times."