Syed Muhammad claimed to be Mahdi at the holy city of Mecca, in front of the Kaaba in 1496, and is revered as such by the Mahdavia community.
These obligations are: rejection of material lust (Tark-e-Dunya),[2] quest for divine vision (Talab-e-Deedar-e-Ilahi), company of truthfuls and renunciants (Sohbat-e-Sadiqeen), migration (Hijrah) from place to place to avoid materialist lust,[1] retreat and solitude (Uzlat-az-Khalq), resignation to the will of God (Tawakkul),[1] Remembrance of God (Zikr-e-Ilahi)[1] and distributing tithe (Ushr).
The second Mahdavi caliph, Bandagi Miyan Syed Khundmir and his Fukhra disciples (the persons who renounce the world and keep remembering Allah with Zikr), faced organised persecution by the regime of Muzaffar at the behest of his court-appointed Mullas and was killed in 1523 along with hundreds of unarmed and peaceful disciples.
Syed Khundmir's tomb is located in the town of Champaner in the Panchmahal district of the western Indian state Gujarat, where thousands of seekers and followers, from different parts of India and other countries, arrive to pay tribute.
Mahdavis of Gujarat state mostly lives in Tai Wada area in Vadodara district along with majority Sunni Muslims.
[4][5][6] A Mahdavi center in north Chicago at (N Western Ave) was established by a group of South Asian immigrants in January 2016.