The Process of Evolution of Orientalists’ Views on Mahdism (from 1979- 2000 AD)

It has been over 150 years that Western Orientalists and scholars have become interested in the issue of Mahdism and its place in the Islamic beliefs and have been extensively involved in this field. A look at the works of these Orientalists shows a type of change and evolution in their reports and views over time. Considering some of indications, we can divide the views of Western scholars and writers on Mahdism into four periods. The subject of this research is investigating the process of change in their views in the third period (from 1979-2000 AD). The present paper is an exploratory research and is carried out based on the descriptive-analytic method. After categorizing and mentioning the most important views of the Orientalists in the field of Mahdism in the above-mentioned period, various analyzes and statistics on the type and volume of topics of interest, used sources and some other statistics, such as the nationality of the Orientalists in this period have been provided.