Wikipedia's first sentence called it “belief in shia eschatology”. Today it says “twelver eschatological belief in the return of their hidden imam in the end of time to establish peace and just”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
Twelver Shia belief of Mahdi The reappearance of Muhammad al-Mahdi is the Twelver eschatological belief in the return of their Hidden Imam in the end of time to establish peace and justice on earth. While the miraculously prolonged life of the eschatological Mahdi is specific to Shia , the signs of his (re)appearance and his career are largely common in Shia and Sunni , and the belief in a messianic Mahdi remains popular among all Muslims , possibly owing to numerous traditions to this effect in canonical Sunni and Shia sources.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1136750858.
The opening as it stood in 2020
The reappearance of Muhammad al-Mahdi is a belief in Shia eschatology , especially of the Twelvers , that the twelfth Imam will return at an unspecified time and establish an Islamic state of peace and justice. This will be the end of the Major Occultation , the period since he became "hidden" in 941 CE. This reappearance will be foreshadowed by a number of signs , such as the sun rising from the West.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 948167368.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “belief in shia eschatology”. Today it says “twelver eschatological belief in the return of their hidden imam in the end of time to establish peace and just”. Read the current article and compare.
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2020, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
belief in shia eschatology
Now
twelver eschatological belief in the return of their hidden imam in the end of time to establish peace and just
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
