The Role of Political Objectives and Goals in the Falsification and Fabrication of Mahdism Narrations in the field of Praising and Blaming Territories

In the field of Mahdism, there are a lot of narrations about praising and blaming some territories and their prominent role in the apocalypse. It seems that praising and blaming the territories has been one of the most important tools for the politicians to instill their superiority as well as their rival's contempt. Presenting an active apocalyptic role of the regions under one's control has psychological effects. Also, it causes a sense of pride and superiority over other territories, especially rival regions. Using a descriptive-analytical method as well as narrative and historical sources, this writing tries to find the origin of many narrations about praising and blaming some regions in the field of Mahdism. According to the results, in the collections of Mahdism hadiths, many narrations appeared which are about praising or blaming regions such as Shām, Jerusalem, Antioch, Sinai (Ṭūr), Ṭāliqān, the East, and the West. Political motives and goals play the most important role in the emergence of these hadiths. They not only are invalid in terms of their isnad and text, but also, have obvious signs of falsification and fabrication.