Amal Mental Health Complex in Dammam has said that “90 percent” of persons claiming to be the awaited Mahdi have histories of mental illness. Muhammad Al-Zahrani, speaking after three cases of persons in the Kingdom claiming to be the Mahdi occurred in under a month, said that there had been six cases in the Eastern Province alone in the last year. “All of them had medical records at mental health hospitals or clinics,” Al-Zahrani said. “Persons claiming to be the Mahdi or other things are examined to establish their mental stability. They are handled as patients who require treatment, which is in reality what they do need, and they are given good care until the best way to treat them is determined.” He responded to those who say they should not be sent to mental health facilities for treatment by saying it was “wrong”. “We ensure that they are properly examined so they can receive treatment immediately,” he said. “The mental disturbances they suffer from are the main cause of persons claiming to be someone else.” The most recently reported case of a person claiming to be the Mahdi concerned a 29-year-old Saudi who earlier this month was arrested and taken to a mental health hospital in Qatif after voicing his claims during prayers at a mosque on Tarout Island. Worshippers at the scene restrained the man until police arrived. Two other cases occurred late last month, when a foreign man snatched the microphone from Sheikh Abdullah Al-Juhani, Imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, during Asr prayer to announce his claims, and an Egyptian was arrested at a hotel in Madina which he purportedly used as a base to acquire followers. All three men were arrested and described by officials as “mentally disturbed”.
