Ahmad returned to the practice of intense scholarly work. He would work on the codification and systemic education and propagation of his ideas for the remainder of his life. During this period he undertook an intense study of Mahdist prophesy and the popular Islamic millenarianism that was going on. While having spent his life trying to emulate the prophet Muhammad, his comparisons turned toward lining himself up with the criteria of the prophesized Mahdi. This would lead him to the belief that he was the Mahdi. This element seemed to help tie together his ideals and ideas into an ideological system. With it he could balance vision of religious purification and desire for social reform, he could integrate his ideas into something he could regard as a justified pure understanding of Islam, and he could have a claim of authority for building a reform movement; since the Mahdi was the one prophesized to restore true Islam and establish justice on earth. In 1881, he would make a public declaring of himself as the Mahdi and started the operations of his Mahdist
Ahmad returned to the practice of intense scholarly work. He would work on the codification and systemic education and propagation of his ideas for the remainder of his life. During this period he undertook an intense study of Mahdist prophesy and the popular Islamic millenarianism that was going on. While having spent his life trying to emulate the prophet Muhammad, his comparisons turned toward lining himself up with the criteria of the prophesized Mahdi. This would lead him to the belief that he was the Mahdi. This element seemed to help tie together his ideals and ideas into an ideological system. With it he could balance vision of religious purification and desire for social reform, he could integrate his ideas into something he could regard as a justified pure understanding of Islam, and he could have a claim of authority for building a reform movement; since the Mahdi was the one prophesized to restore true Islam and establish justice on earth. In 1881, he would make a public declaring of himself as the Mahdi and started the operations of his Mahdist