The Process of Evolution of Orientalists’ Views on Mahdism: Second Period (from 1946-1978 AD)

Western scholars and orientalist views in the field of Mahdism and related issues have undergone many changes in the last 150 years. According to some indicators, these views can be divided into four periods that the study of the evolution of their views in the second period (from 1946 to 1978) is the subject of the current paper. This paper is an exploratory research and is prepared by descriptive-analytical method and after categorizing and mentioning the most important views of the scholars on the Mahdism in this period, various analyzes and statistics on the type and volume of the topics of interest, sources used, and some other statistics including nationality of the Orientalists, are presented. According to the results of the current study, this period has distinctions from the earlier and subsequent periods, including more detailed views in the field of Mahdism and specialized research of some Orientalists on the subject of Shiite Mahdism.