List of messiah claimants


This is a list of notable people who have been said to be a messiah, either by themselves or by their followers. The list is divided into categories, which are sorted according to date of birth, if it is known.

Jewish messiah claimants

In Judaism, "messiah" originally meant "a divinely appointed king" or "anointed one", such as Aaron the brother of Moses, David, Cyrus the Great or Alexander the Great. Later, especially after the failure of the Hasmonean Kingdom and the Jewish–Roman wars, the figure of the Jewish messiah was one who would deliver the Jews from oppression and usher in an Olam Haba or Messianic Age.
However the term "false messiah" was largely absent from rabbinic literature. The first mention is in the Sefer Zerubbabel, from the mid-seventh century, which uses the term, mashiah sheker,.

Christian messiah claimants

The Christian Bible states that Jesus will come again in some fashion; various people have claimed to, in fact, be the Second Coming of Jesus. Others have styled themselves new messiahs under the umbrella of Christianity.
The Synoptic gospels all use the term pseudochristos for messianic pretenders.

Muslim messiah claimants

Islamic tradition has a prophecy of the Mahdi, who will come alongside the return of Isa.
  • Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India, proclaimed himself to be both the expected Mahdi and Messiah. Crucially, however, he claimed that Jesus had died a natural death after surviving crucifixion, and that prophecies concerning his future advent referred to the Mahdi himself bearing the qualities and character of Jesus rather than to his physical return alongside the Mahdi. He founded the Ahmadiyya Movement in 1889 envisioning it to be the rejuvenation of Islam. Adherents of the Ahmadiyya movement claim to be strictly Muslim, but are widely viewed by other Muslim groups as disbelievers and heretics.
  • Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi is a spiritual leader and founder of the spiritual groups Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam and RAGS International, now known as Messiah Foundation International. MFI reports that Shahi claimed to be the Mahdi, Messiah, and Kalki Avatar. Shahi has been also accused of claiming the status of a prophet. Shahi's supporters claim that his face became prominent on the Moon, Sun, nebula star and the Black Stone in Mecca, and that these appearances are signs from God that Gohar Shahi is the awaited Mahdi, Messiah, and Kalki Avatar. According to MFI's website, Shahi claimed to be Awaited Messiah, but not the second coming of Jesus and claim that Jesus has also returned to support the Shahi. Gohar Shahi claimed to have met with Jesus in America. Mainstream Muslim scholars have rejected Shahi's claims, and condemned his teachings as blasphemous.

Baháʼí messiah claimants

This list features people who are said, either by themselves or their followers, to be the messianic fulfillment of two or more religious traditions.
  • Baháʼu'lláh, Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri,, born Shiite, adopting Bábism in 1844. In 1863, Baháʼu'lláh claimed to be the promised one of all religions, and founded the Baháʼí Faith. He claimed to be the fulfillment of the prophecies of the coming of a promised figure found in all 6 of the major prophetic religions as noted in the authoritative history of the Baha'i Faith. He also claimed to be the prophet predicted by the Báb as "He Whom God shall make manifest" His followers have also claimed that his coming fulfilled prophecies of various smaller religions.

Zoroastrian messiah claimants

Other messiah claimants

This list features people who have been said, either by themselves or their followers, to be some form of a messiah that do not easily fit into Jewish, Christian, Islamic or other eschatological traditions.