\Mah"dism\, n.
Belief in the coming of the Mahdi; fanatical devotion to the
cause of the Mahdi or a pretender to that title. --
{Mah"dist}, n.
      Mahdism has proved the most shameful and terrible
      instrument of bloodshed and oppression which the modern
      world has ever witnessed.                --E. N.
                                               Bennett.