Types of Umayyad Falsification and Distortion in Mahdavi Narratives

Hadiths of Mahdism have been misused due to their high capacity of giving credibility to political movements. Therefore, separating the falsehoods and explaining the reasons for the political approaches to these narratives are of great help in purifying the teachings of Mahdism from the falsehoods. It seems that political rivalries have played the most prominent role in bringing fake hadiths into the field of Mahdism. Meanwhile, the role of the Umayyads as the first ones in the history of Islam to convert the caliphate into a monarchy is highlighted. This study aims to investigate the role of the Umayyads in forging and distorting the hadiths of Mahdism and the typology of these hadiths. Our question is, what was the approach of the Umayyads to the hadiths of Mahdism and what role did they play in falsifying the traditions of Mahdism in order to consolidate and develop their power? The results of this article, achieved by the method of content analysis and based on library sources, show that the most important types of forgery and distortion of the Umayyads in the Mahdavi traditions are: "Forgery and distortion in the case of the Promised Mahdi", "Giving virtue to the dominated places", "Anti-Orientalism" and "Forgery and distortion in the signs of the reappearance".