Dating and the Origins of the Fabricated Hadiths of “False Mahdis” in Sunni Sources

In this paper, fifteen hadiths with the approach of embodying and indicating the Promised Mahdi (AS) were extracted from the old Sunni hadith books. Then through examining the opinions of biographical (rijāl) documents of this denomination, it was found that they are all invalid. Using the method of dating based on valid propositions, the origins of fabrication as well as the compatibility of the hadiths with the personality attributes of false Mahdis (who were introduced as Mahdi) were completely matched. As a result, their similarity, the exact time, and in some others, the relative time of forgery as well as the direct role of politicians in the fabrication, and then their entry into Sunni hadith books were proven.