Sunni Muslims would often state that the Mahdi’s name should be Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as in the hadiths it is said that the Mahdi’s name is like the name of Messenger of Allah (s) and name of his father is like the name of Prophet Muhammad’s (s) father name i.e. Abdullah.
However, an important thing to note is that hadeeth can have more than one interpretation, for example, the name of Mahdi can be Ahmed as that’s the name of Messenger of Allah SWT mentioned in the Quran.
Quran 61:6: “And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, “O children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmed.” But when he came to them with clear evidence, they said, “This is obvious magic.”
Following hadith from the Ahlulsunna also gives the name of the Mahdi as Ahmed:
And then he mentioned the emergence of the Mahdi and he said: “His name is Ahmed son of Abdulllah and then he mentioned the emergence of the creature” p.1198 Book AlTathkira Bi Ahwal AlMawta Wa Umoor AlAkhira
As for the name of Mahdi’s father as the name of Prophet Muhammad’s (s) father, it can refer to his father being a servant of Allah (Abdullah) or his name can even be Ishmael based on the following hadith:
Tafseer AlThabaali the Prophet (s) said: “I am the son of the two slaughters “And they are his father Abdullah and the second slaughter is Ismael” v.4 p.24 AlTasheel Li’uloom AlTanzeel AlGarnaati AlKalbi v.3 p.174 and Tafseer AlRaazi v.26 p.153
Hence, Muhammad can be also called Ahmed and the father of Muhammad, Abdullah can also be called Ishmael.
This is exactly the case with Sayed Ahmed Al-Hasan: His name is Ahmed ibn Ishmael
