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Three Mahdist Letter-Books
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Extract
In 1955 the Sudan Government presented to the School of Oriental and African Studies photographs of several important documents connected with the Sudanese Mahdia (1881–98). Amongst these are three letter-books containing the text of communications from the Mahdi, Muhammad (Ahmad) b. ‘Abdallāhi, who led the movement until his death in 1885, and his successor, the Khalifah ‘Abdallāhi b. Muhammad al-Ta‘āīishl, who was defeated by Kitchener at the battle of Kararī (Omdurman) in September 1898. None of these MSS has yet been published, although extracts have been printed from one. The purpose of this article is to give a brief indication of their history and contents. They may be designated the letter-books of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Nujūmī, ‘Uthmān Diqnah, and Yūsuf Mikhā'īl, and the letters N, D, and M will be used for the respective short references.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 1956 , pp. 227 - 238
- Copyright
- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1956
References
page 227 note 1 He dropped the name Aḥmad on assuming the Mahdiship so that his name might correspond precisely with traditional prophecies of the Mahdi' name.
page 227 note 2 There are a few anomalous openings dating from the early Mahdia.
page 227 note 1 The Mahdi died on 9 Ramaḍān by the Egyptian reckoning. It is not clear when the divergence between the two calendars arose.
page 227 note 2 This is stated in a letter from the Khalifah to Muḥammad Khālid, ‘āmil of Darfur, dated 29 Rajab 1301 (25 May 1884) in the Sudan Government Archives, Khartoum; MAHDIA 1/10, 8, 28. An anomalous use of amīr jaish al-mahdīyah in N, f. 56, is probably a copyist' error.
page 227 note 3 See Hill, Richard, A biographical dictionary of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Oxford, 1951, 17.Google Scholar
page 228 note 1 Wingate: Mahdiism, 535–49.
page 228 note 2 Wingate analyses the contents as containing 99 letters from the Mahdi, 19 from the Khalifah, and 15 from various persons—a total of 133.
page 229 note 1 See Hill, Dictionary, 29 (Aḥmad wad ‘Alī).
page 229 note 2 See Hill, Dictionary, 275. The date in the MS is 1289—an obvious error.
page 229 note 3 i.e. to the Governor-General (Al-Ḥukumdār), MuḤammad Ra’ūf Pasha. See Hill, Dictionary, 270.
page 229 note 4 See Hill, Dictionary, 53 (Al-Amīn Muḥammad al-Ḍarīr).
page 229 note 5 The head of the Sanīsīyah ţarīqah in Cyrenaica.
page 229 note 6 See Hill, Dictionary, 386. The expedition under Al-Shallālī was defeated by the Mahdi at Qadīr on 12 Rajab 1299/30 May 1882. Dated from the copy in M, f. 7.
page 229 note 7 Condolence on the death of a son, probably the Mahdist Qāḍī al-Islām, Aḥmad Jubārah, who was killed in the attack on El Obeid (24 Shawwāl 1299). See Hill, Dictionary, 34.
page 229 note 8 Shaikh of the Jawāma‘ah tribe of Kordofan. At first an important ally of the Mahdi, he was subsequently degraded and put to death.
page 229 note 9 The full date is given in the copy in D, f. 1, which is addressed by name to the tribes of the eastern Sudan.
page 230 note 1 i.e. the expedition commanded by Hicks Pasha, which was annihilated by the Mahdi at the battle of Shaikān on 5 Nov. 1883. See Hill, Dictionary, 164–5. Dated from the copy in M, f. 58.
page 230 note 2 See Hill, Dictionary, 138–40.
page 230 note 3 Described in the margin of the MS as Manshūr Jabal al-Dā’ir. J. al-Dā’ir is an isolated hill-group in Kordofan near the Mahdi's line of march from El Obeid to Khartoum. The term Ahl al-Bawāriq (the People of the Flags) signifies the Mahdist officers.
page 230 note 4 Dated in the MS Rajab 1300, but the siege of Khartoum had not then begun.
page 230 note 5 Dated from internal evidence.
page 230 note 6 The ‘imālah of Muḥammad al-Khair was the former province (mudīrīyah) of Berber. See Hill, Dictionary, 260–1.
page 230 note 7 Nos. 3, 4, and 7 relate to hostilities in the north against the Anglo-Egyptian forces. The Ja’liyīn are the principal tribe in the former province of Berber.
page 230 note 8 Anṡar: partisans of the Mahdia.
page 230 note 9 The Friday sermon preached by the Khalifah during the Mahdi' last illness.
page 230 note 10 This proclamation contains a vision confirming the Khalifah's mystical right to succeed the Mahdi.
page 230 note 11 ‘Abd al-Mājid was a cousin of Muḥammad al-Khair ‘Abdallah Khūjalī.
page 230 note 12 Relating to the suppression of the Prophet ‘Isa conspiracy at Gallabat. See Hill, Dictionary, 181.
page 230 note 13 Assuring the Mahdists of success in the invasion of Egypt and dealing with other political developments.
page 231 note 1 From the Khalifah.
page 231 note 2 i.e. the Mahdi's bodyguard.
page 231 note 3 Dated from the copy in M, f. 79.
page 231 note 4 See Hill, Dictionary, 7.
page 231 note 5 See Hill, Dictionary, 353 (Al-Tāhīr al-Ṭaiyib Qamar al-Dīn al-Majdhūb).
page 231 note 6 See Hill, Dictionary, 243. The MS also gives the text of the letter to which this is a reply.
page 232 note 1 Date give by lithographed copies of the text in the Sudan Government Archives, Khartoum: MAHDIA 1/56, 14 and 15.
page 232 note 2 See Hill, Dictionary, 39 The Amīn Bait alM-l was the head of the Mahdist treasury.
page 232 note 3 Bare, the second town of Kordofan, fell to the Mahdists on 25 Ṣafar 1300 (5 Jan. 1883). EI Obied, the provincial capital of Kordofan, fell on 19 Jan. 1883.
page 232 note 4 This proclamation wa occasioned by the great amount of booty acquired at the battle of Shakiān.
page 232 note 5 Date given by the lithgraphed copy of the text in S.G.A., Khartoum: MAHDIA 1/56, 15, and the copy in M. f. 131.
page 232 note 6 Date from the copy in M, f. 149.
page 233 note 1 This date is given in the text as that of the battle of Māsah, i.e. the defeat of Al-Shallālī.
page 233 note 2 Dated from internal evidence.
page 233 note 3 The Gezira (Al-Jazīrah) is the peninsula between the Blue and the White Nile.
page 233 note 4 The jubbah was the patched garment which formed the uniform of the Anṡār.
page 234 note 1 Dated from internal evidence.
page 234 note 2 Date from copy in S.G.A., Khartoum MAHDIA 2/31.
page 234 note 3 Date from copy in S.G.A., Khartoum MAHDIA 2/31, 2, 25.
page 234 note 4 Date from copy in S.G.A., Khartoum MAHDIA 2/31, 3, 41.
page 234 note 5 Date from copy in S.G.A., Khartoum MAHDIA 2/31, 3, 41.
page 234 note 6 Date from copy in S.G.A., Khartoum MAHDIA 2/31, 3, 42.
page 234 note 7 Date from copy in S.G.A., Khartoum MAHDIA 2/31, 3, 45.
page 235 note 1 Great-grandson of the Fulani Muslim reformer, Shehu Usumanu dan Fodio.
page 235 note 2 See Hill, Dictionary, 47, where he is wrongly described as Khalīfat al-Mahdī, a title used only by the Khalifah ‘Abdallāhi.
page 235 note 3 See Hill, Dictionary, 273. The form ‘Muḥammad al-Sharīf’, used by Hill and others, is not found in the documents and he is wrongly described as Khalīfat al-Mahdī.
page 235 note 4 See Hill, Dictionary, 367–8. For a full biography based on English sources, see Jackson, H.C., Osman Digna, London, 1926.Google Scholar
page 236 note 1 See Hill, Dictionary, 279.
page 236 note 2 In old age Yūsuf Mikhā’īl wrote an account of his life and experiences in the Mahdia. This MS was presented by Mr. Aglen to the Sudan Government Archives in 1954. A photographic copy is in the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies.
page 236 note 3 Exceptions are (a) f. 37: proclamation dated 1299 among material of 130; (b) f. 129: letter dated 25 Ṣafar 1302 among material of.1301.
page 237 note 1 Undated in the text. The letter to the Ḥulcumdārīyah.