The Sudanese Mahdia and the Outside World: 1881–91

P.M. Holt

doi:10.1017/S0041977X00072670

The Sudanese Mahdia and the Outside World: 1881–91

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009

P.M. Holt

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On 29 June 1881 letters were despatched by a Dunqulāwī ascetic and religious teacher to various notables in the Egyptian Sudan. The writer, who had previously been known as Muḥammad Aḥmad b. ‘Abdallāh, announced in these letters what had for some time been an open secret among his followers, namely that he was the Expected Mahdi. Muḥammad Ahmad was by no means an unknown figure. He was at this time approaching 40 years of age. From childhood he had been profoundly devoted to the study of Islam, Ṣufī doctrine, and the ascetic life, although, unlike a number of other Sudanese, he had never proceeded to higher studies at al-Azhar. His experience of the world was limited to the northern and central parts of the Egyptian Sudan.

Type: Articles
Information: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , June 1958 , pp. 276 - 290

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00072670 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1958

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^{page 276 note 2} Here as elsewhere the Mahdi seems consciously to have modelled his career on that of the Prophet, since Muhammad is traditionally said to have received the call to prophecy at the age of 40.

^{page 277 note 1} Text in MSS Yūsuf Mikhā'īl (2), 4; Nujūmī, 13; Indhārāt, 2–3 ; Yale, 415–6. MS Yale describes the message as ‘the copy of a telegram from the island of Abā to the governorategeneral’. Printed text in Shoucair, III, 127.

^{page 278 note 1} The use of the pre-Emigration name of Medina is perhaps another of the Mahdi's deliberate parallels between his career and that of the Prophet.

^{page 278 note 2} MS Nujūmī, first unnumbered folio.

^{page 278 note 3} Text in MSS Yūsuf Mikhā'īl (2), 47–9 ; Nujūmī, 127–9 ; Indhārāt, 36–40. The text in Nujūmī is corrupt where the appointment of the Khalifas is described, and reads: Shoucair attempted to amend this and his printed text (Shoucair, III, 171) reads: This corruption is the source of one of the errors in the translation given in Wingate, Mahdiism, 71, where this passage is rendered: ‘Subsequently a vision took place in which the Prophet and his special disciples, who are also my helpers, were present’. The correct reading as given by the other sources is: ‘Then there took place a great vision wherein the Prophet appointed successors of his successors [or caliphs] from my companions’. The covering letter to the sultan of Wadai (Burqū), Muhammad Yūsuf, is given in MSS Yūsuf Mikhā'īl (2), 49–56 ; Indhārāt, 57–66.

^{page 279 note 1} These letters are mentioned in Shoucair, III, 261, but the text is not given.

^{page 281 note 1} Mentioned in Shoucair, III, 347.

^{page 281 note 2} Text in MSS Yūsuf Mikhā'īl (1), 134–8 ; Yūsnf Mikhā'īl (2), 241–6. Printed in Shoucair, III, 347–51.

^{page 282 note 1} Printed in Shoucair, III, 351–2.

^{page 282 note 2} Printed in Shoucair, III, 352–3.

^{page 283 note 1} Extract printed in Shoucair, III, 421–2.

^{page 284 note 1} ‘Abdallāh was one of the less successful Su'ūdī rulers. The early years of his reign were marked by a prolonged struggle with his brother, while from 1882 his authority waned before the growing power of Muhammad b. Rashīd, the amīr of Ḥā’il, who was rapidly becoming the paramount ruler in Najd. Like Muhammad ‘Abduh and Ḥayātū b. Sa'īd, he may well have seen in the Mahdist forces potential allies against his opponents.

^{page 284 note 2} Extract printed in Shoucair, III, 435–6.

^{page 284 note 3} A relationship may exist between the Ḥijāzī Aḥāmida and the Sudanese Aḥāmda. See MacMichael, H.A., A history of the Arabs in the Sudan, I, 281.Google Scholar

^{page 284 note 4} Extract printed in Shoucair, III, 433–4.

^{page 284 note 5} Extract printed in Shoucair, III, 434.

^{page 284 note 6} Extract printed in Shoucair, III, 434–5.

^{page 285 note 1} Printed in Shoucair, III, 440–8.

^{page 285 note 2} ‘Turks’ here as elsewhere in Sudanese usage during the period means the ruling class of Egypt. Copies of the Gazette (Al-Waqā'i ‘al-Misrīya) and other Egyptian papers which reached the Khalifa in Omdurman are still extant in a fragmentary condition in the Sudan Government Archives.

^{page 285 note 3} Extract printed in Shoucair, III, 448.

^{page 286 note 1} MS Nujūmī, 58–9.

^{page 286 note 2} Extract printed in Shoucair, III, 439.

^{page 286 note 3} Extract printed in Shoucair, III, 439.

^{page 286 note 4} Sudan Government Archives, Khartoum: MAHDIA, 1/11, 3, 224; Khalifa to ‘Uthmān Ādam.

^{page 286 note 5} MAHDIA, 1/11, 3, 227 ; Khalifa to ‘Uthmān Ādam.

^{page 286 note 6} MAHDIA, 1/11, 3, 378; Khalifa to ‘Uthmān Ādam.

^{page 286 note 7} MAHDIA, 1/12, 3/1, 206/1; ‘Uthmān Ādam to Khalifa.

^{page 287 note 1} Extract printed in Shoucair, III, 466–7.

^{page 287 note 2} The Ras Adal of Wingate's Mahdiism and other contemporary works.

^{page 287 note 3} Printed in Shoucair, III, 467–9. The Gregorian equivalent of the date there given (Jumādā I 1304) should be January-February 1887.

^{page 288 note 1} New Dongola, an arabicized form of the name (Urdu) given to their settlement on that site by the refugee Mamluks who fled from Muhammad ‘Alā Pasha.

^{page 289 note 1} Printed in Shoucair, III, 423–6.

^{page 289 note 2} Printed in Shoucair, III, 429–32.

^{page 289 note 3} Printed in Shoucair, III, 426–9.

^{page 290 note 1} MAHDIA, 1/1, 4/1, 101/2; al-Nujūmī to Khalifa, 28 Qa'da 1306 = 26 July 1889.

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