The figure of Imam al-Mahdi appears to be connected with those events which according to the Islamic tradition are divinely established and foretold as preceding the Day of Judgement. As a person, however, his identity is not known to all but a series of chosen servants of Allah who have devoted their lives to the sublimation of Islam. Another is the apparent merging with the ritual drama of restitution which had already been connected with the second coming of Jesus Christ the Son of Mary. Indeed, there is no doubt ampng scholars that the concept of the eschatological Mahdi developed considerably later than that of Jesus, and had only little by little managed to obtain a place in the already fixed scenery of the Last Things. The reason for this late appearance lies undoubtedly in the fact that whatever position the figure of al-Mahdi may have enjoyed among the Muslim faithful, it remains that the word is not mentioned in the Koran though in some authorized sources it is noted that the verse "Baqiat Allah Khayrun Lakum", according to the words of Imams, refers to His Highness. Thus the whole Mahdist theme was, by a majority of the orthodox theologians, regarded with such caution and suspicion that many times it led to complete omission of his name. This is not indeed a matter of ambiguity of the theme itself rather there is a trend that seeks to cast doubts that may lead to the blurring of the key Shia theme that is at the same time the core of Islamic apocalypticism.
Al-Mahdi and Last Things: Shia Conception of Doomsday
