Muhammad Ahmad

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Muhammad Ahmad was born on 12 August 1844 at Labab Island, Dongola in northern Sudan to a humble Nubian family of boat-builders who trace their descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through the line of his grandson Hassan.[3] When Muhammad Ahmad was still a child, the family moved to the town of Karari, north of Omdurman, where Muhammad Ahmad's father, Abdullah, could find an adequate supply of timber for his successful boat-building business.

While his siblings joined his father's trade, Muhammad Ahmad showed a proclivity for religious study. He studied first under Sheikh al-Amin al-Suwaylih in the Gezira region around Khartoum, and subsequently under Sheikh Muhammad al-Dikayr 'Abdallah Khujali near the town of Berber in North Sudan.[3] Determined to live a life of asceticism, mysticism and worship, in 1861 he sought out Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Nur al-Dai'm, the grandson of the founder of the Samaniyya Sufi sect in Sudan. Muhammad Ahmad stayed with Sheikh Muhammad Sharif for seven years, during which time he was recognized for his piety and asceticism. Near the end of this period, he was awarded the title of Sheikh himself, and began to travel around the country on religious missions. He was permitted to give tariqa and Uhūd to new followers.

In 1870, his family moved again in search for timber, this time to Aba Island on the White Nile south of Khartoum. On Aba Island, Muhammad Ahmad built a mosque and started to teach the Qur'an. He soon gained a notable reputation among the local population as an excellent speaker and mystic. The broad thrust of his teaching followed that of other reformers, his Islam was one devoted to the words of Muhammad and based on a return to the virtues of strict devotion, prayer, and simplicity as laid down in the Qur'an.

In 1872, Muhammad Ahmad invited Sheikh Sharif to move to al-Aradayb, an area on the White Nile neighboring Aba Island. Despite initially amicable relations, in 1878 the two religious leaders had a dispute motivated by Sheikh Sharif's resentment of his former student's growing popularity. As a result, Sheikh Sharif expelled his former student from the Samaniyya order, and despite numerous attempts at reconciliation by Muhammad Ahmad, his mentor refused to make peace.[1]

After recognizing that the split with Sheikh Sharif was irreconcilable, Muhammad Ahmad approached another respected leader of the Samaniyya order named Sheikh al-Qurashi wad al-Zayn. Muhammad Ahmad resumed his life of piety and religious devotion at Aba Island. During this period, he also traveled to the province of Kordofan, west of Khartoum, where he visited with the notables of the capital, El-Obeid, who were enmeshed in a power struggle between two rival claimants to the governorship of the province.

On 25 July 1878, Sheikh al-Qurashi died and his followers recognized Muhammad Ahmad as their new leader. Around this time, Muhammad Ahmad first met Abdallahi bin Muhammad al-Ta'aishi, who was to become his chief deputy and successor in the years to come.

On 29 June 1881, Muhammad Ahmad publicly announced his Mahdiyya so as to prepare the way for the second coming of the Prophet Isa (Jesus).[4] In part, his claim was based on his status as a prominent Sufi sheikh with a large following in the Samaniyya order and among the tribes in the area around Aba Island.[5] Yet the idea of the Mahdiyya had been central to the belief of the Samaniyya prior to Muhammad Ahmad's manifestation. The previous Samaniyya leader, Sheikh al-Qurashi Wad al-Zayn, had asserted that the long-awaited-for redeemer would come from the Samaniyya line. According to Sheikh al-Qurashi, the Mahdi would make himself known through a number of signs, some established in the early period of Islam and recorded in the Hadith literature, and others having a more distinctly local origin, such as the prediction that the Mahdi would ride the sheikh's pony and erect a dome over his grave after his death.[6]

Drawing from aspects of the Sufi tradition that were intimately familiar to both his followers and his opponents, Muhammad Ahmad claimed that he had been appointed as the Mahdi by a prophetic assembly or hadra (Arabic: Al-Hadra Al-Nabawiyya, الحضرة النبوية). A hadra, in the Sufi tradition, is a gathering of all the prophets from the time of Adam to Muhammad, as well as many Sufi holy men who are believed to have reached the highest level of affinity with the divine during their lifetime. The hadra is chaired by the Prophet Muhammad, known as Sayyid al-Wujud, and at his side are the seven Qutb, the most senior of whom is known as Ghawth az-Zaman. The hadra was also the source of a number of central beliefs about the Mahdi, including that he was created from the sacred light at the centre of the Prophet's heart, and that all living creatures had acknowledged the Mahdi's claim since his birth.

Muhammad Ahmad framed the Mahdiyya as a return to the early days of Islam, when the Muslim community, or Ummah, was unified under the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad and his immediate successors. Later, in order to distinguish his followers from adherents of other Sufi sects, he forbade the use of the word darwish (commonly known as "dervish" in English) to describe his followers, replacing it with the title Ansar, the term the Prophet Muhammad used for the people of Medina who welcomed him and his followers after their flight from Mecca.

Despite his popularity among the clerics of the Samaniyya and other sects, and among the tribes of western Sudan, some of the Ulema, or orthodox religious authorities, rejected Muhammad Ahmad's claim to be the Mahdi. Among his most prominent critics were the Sudanese Ulema loyal to the Ottoman Sultan and employed by the Turco-Egyptian government, such as the Mufti Shakir al-Ghazi, who sat on the Council of Appeal in Khartoum, and the Qadi Ahmad al-Azhari in Kordofan.

These critics were careful not to deny the concept of the Mahdi as such, but rather to discredit Muhammad Ahmad's claim to it.[7] They pointed out that Muhammad Ahmad's manifestation did not conform to the prophecies laid out in the Hadith literature. In particular, they argued for the political interests of the Turco-Egyptian government and its British rulers, that his manifestation did not conform with the "time of troubles" "when the land is filled with oppression, tyranny, and enmity".[8]

Extent of the Mahdi rebellion in 1885 (green hatching)

The first reaction by Governor General Muhammad Rauf Pasha in Khartoum to the 29 June 1881 declaration by Muhammad Ahmad was that he would be satisfied with a government pension, and he sent the Mahdi a friendly letter. The Mahdi telegraphed an uncompromising reply saying "He who does not believe in me will be purified by the sword."[9] Mohammed Rauf Pasha sent a small party to arrest the Mahdi on Aba Island, but on 11 August 1881 it was overwhelmed, and the insurrection on the southern Sudan began to grow.[10] Rauf Pasha downplayed the "affray" in his report to Cairo, and sent the governor of Kordofan to Aba Island with 1,000 soldiers to crush the Mahdi. When they arrived they found the Mahdi had fled to the southwest. The soldiers marched after him, but gave up the pursuit when the September rains flooded the roads and riverbeds and returned to El-Obeid. The Mahdi established a new base in the Nuba Mountains.[11]

The Mahdi and a party of his followers, the Ansār (helpers, known in the West as "the Dervishes"), made a long march to Kurdufan. There he gained a large number of recruits, especially from the Baqqara, and notable leaders such as Sheikh Madibbo ibn Ali of Rizeigat and Abdallahi ibn Muhammad of Ta'aisha tribes. They were also joined by the Hadendoa Beja, who were rallied to the Mahdi by an Ansār captain in east of Sudan in 1883, Osman Digna.

A Sudanese man wearing the typical Mahdist clothing in Omdurman, 1936

The Mahdist revolution was backed by the Northern and western regions of Sudan, and it also found a great support from the Nuer, Shilluk and Anuak tribes from southern Sudan in addition to the tribes of Bahr Alghazal, a thing which affirmed that the Mahdist revolution was a national revolution and not a regional one. In addition to unifying different tribes, the revolution also cut across religious divides, despite its religious origins. The Mahdi was supported by non-Muslims and Muslims alike. This had important implications for the slave trade, because the Mahdi, going against traditional Islamic injunctions, allowed the enslavement of free Muslims who did not support him and forbade the enslavement of the traditionally hunted non-Muslims who did support him.[12]

Late in 1883, the Ansār, armed only with spears and swords, overwhelmed a 4,000-man Egyptian force not far from El-Obeid, and seized their rifles and ammunition. The Mahdi followed up this victory by laying siege to El-Obeid and starving it into submission after four months. The town remained the headquarters of the Ansar for much of the decade.

The Ansār, now 40,000 strong, then defeated an 8,000-man Egyptian relief force led by British officer William Hicks at Sheikan, in the battle of El Obeid. The defeat of Hicks sealed the fate of Darfur, which until then had been effectively defended by Rudolf Carl von Slatin. Jabal Qadir in the south was also taken. The western half of Sudan was now firmly in Ansārī hands.

Their success emboldened the Hadendoa, who under the generalship of Osman Digna wiped out a smaller force of Egyptians under the command of Colonel Valentine Baker near the Red Sea port of Suakin. Major-General Gerald Graham was sent with a force of 4,000 British soldiers and defeated Digna at El Teb on 29 February, but were themselves hard-hit two weeks later at Tamai. Graham eventually withdrew his forces.

After much debate the British decided to abandon the Sudan in December 1883, holding only several northern towns and Red Sea ports, such as Khartoum, Kassala, Sannar, and Sawakin. The evacuation of Egyptian troops and officials and other foreigners from Sudan was assigned to General Gordon, who had been reappointed governor general with orders to return to Khartoum and organize a withdrawal of the Egyptian garrisons there.

Siege

Main article: Siege of Khartoum

A depiction of the British square at the Battle of Abu Klea, during the Mahdist War, 1885

That month the Ansār reached Khartoum and Gordon was completely cut off. Nevertheless, his defensive works, consisting mainly of mines, proved so frightening to the Ansār that they were unable to penetrate into the city. Stewart maintained a number of small skirmishes using gunboats on the Nile once the waters rose, and in August managed to recapture Berber for a short time. However, Stewart was killed soon after in another foray from Berber to Dongola, a fact Gordon only learned about in a letter from the Mahdi himself.

Under increasing pressure from the public to support him, the British Government under Prime Minister Gladstone eventually ordered Lord Garnet Joseph Wolseley to relieve Gordon. He was already deployed in Egypt due to the attempted coup there earlier, and was able to form up a large force of infantry, moving forward at an extremely slow rate. Realizing they would take some time to arrive, Gordon pressed for him to send forward a "flying column" of camel-borne troops across the Bayyudah Desert from Wadi Halfa under the command of Brigadier-General Sir Herbert Stuart. This force was attacked by the Hadendoa Beja, or "Fuzzy Wuzzies", twice, first at the Battle of Abu Klea and two days later nearer Metemma. Twice the British square held and the Mahdists were repelled with heavy losses.

At Metemma, 100 miles (160 km) north of Khartoum, Wolseley's advance guard met four of Gordon's steamers, sent down to provide speedy transport for the first relieving troops. They gave Wolseley a dispatch from Gordon claiming that the city was about to fall. However, only moments later a runner brought in a message claiming the city could hold out for a year. Deciding to believe the latter, the force stopped while they refit the steamers to hold more troops.

Death and succession

The rebuilt tomb of Muhammad Ahmad in Omdurman

Six months after the capture of Khartoum, Muhammad Ahmad died of typhus. He was buried in Omdurman near the ruins of Khartoum. The Mahdi had planned for this eventuality and chose three deputies to replace him.

After the final defeat of the Khalifa by the British under General Kitchener in 1898, Muhammad Ahmad's tomb was destroyed to prevent it from becoming a rallying point for his supporters, and his bones were thrown into the Nile. General Kitchener was said to have retained his skull.[14] Allegedly the skull was later buried at Wadi Halfa. The tomb was eventually rebuilt.

• In Ibn el 'amm (1887) by Karl May the Mahdi explains the death of a prayer killed by a lion.[20]
• Im Lande des Mahdi (The Mahdi Trilogy, 1896) by Karl May, where Kara Ben Nemsi meets Muhammad Ahmad.[21]
• In Desert and Wilderness, a young adult novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz (1912)
• In the 1966 movie Khartoum, the Mahdi was played by Laurence Olivier.
• In the British sitcom Dad's Army, Lance-Corporal Jones often talks about his encounters with the Mahdi.
• In the 1999 film Topsy-Turvy, characters discuss the news of the Mahdi's destruction of the British garrison at Khartoum.
• The Four Feathers, a much-filmed adventure novel from 1902 is set during the British military expedition against the Mahdi.
• A 2007 episode of the crime drama Waking the Dead featured an attempt to locate the Mahdi's missing skull, in order to defuse tensions due to the hunger strike of a Sudanese Mahdist politician. The episode also made reference to the 1966 film in particular reference to Olivier's portrayal of the Mahdi.
• The 2008 novel After Omdurman by John Ferry deals with the reconquest of the Sudan and the destruction of the army of the Mahdi's successor, the Khalifa.
• "Winston's Lost Night", a 2013 episode of Murdoch Mysteries, involves the murder of a man for desecrating the Mahdi's tomb. The young Winston Churchill is initially suspected of the murder. He gives a speech denouncing the desecration.
• Wilbur Smith's novel The Triumph of the Sun is set around the siege of Khartoum led by the Mahdi.
• The Mahdi is an ancestor of Sudanese-English actor Alexander Siddig.

• History of Mahdist Sudan
• In Desert and Wilderness
• Millennarianism in colonial societies
• List of Mahdi claimants
• Rabih az-Zubayr
• Reginald Wingate

• Mohamed Hassan Fadlalla, Short History of Sudan, iUniverse, (30 April 2004), ISBN 0-595-31425-2.
• Mohamed Hassan Fadlalla, The Problem of Dar Fur, iUniverse, Inc. (21 July 2005), ISBN 978-0-595-36502-9.
• Mohamed Hassan Fadlalla, UN Intervention in Dar Fur, iUniverse, Inc. (9 February 2007), ISBN 0-595-42979-3.
• Dominic Green, 2011. Three Empires on the Nile: The Victorian Jihad, 1869–1899. ISBN 978-1451631609.