“The Ottoman State’s Perception about the Sudanese Mahdi Uprising”, International Journal of Turcologia, 9/18, Paris 2014. (original) (raw)
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Ordinary Sudan, 1504–2019 From Social History to Politics from Below , 2023
When Muḥammad Aḥmad b. ʿAbdallāh, a leading member of the Sammāniyya ṭarīqa1, openly proclaimed on 29 June 1881 that he was the Expected Mahdī (al-Mahdī al-muntaẓar), he initiated a collective religious and political movement that was to profoundly transform Sudanese society. Over the four years that followed, he successfully wrested control over most of Nilotic Sudan from Egyptian colonial domination (1820-1885) and founded a centralised state structure, which was headed by the Khalīfa ʿAbdullāhi after Muḥammad Aḥmad's death on 22 June 1885. Until its demise in September 1898 in the wake of the Anglo-Egyptian conquest (1896-1899), the Mahdist regime exerted tremendous influence on the social fabric of the diverse local communities, which it attempted to radically alter to conform to the Islamic ideals it promoted, notably through its mobilisation of the population for jihad.2 However, the historiography of the Mahdiyya (1881-1898) has remained focused on the political and military dimensions of the period, at the expense of an analysis of its socioeconomic dynamics. The main reason for this gap is the lasting influence of British colonial literature, which was initially developed by Francis R. Wingate, the senior British intelligence officer in Egypt between 1889 and 1899. Indeed, Wingate's first publication, Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan (Wingate 1891), and his famous editorial work on the personal accounts published by Joseph Ohrwalder (1892) and Rudolf C. von Slatin (1896), have played a crucial role in shaping contemporary understandings of the Mahdist movement. His efforts were famously described by Peter M. Holt as "war propaganda" or "the public relations literature of the Egyptian Military Intelligence" (Holt 1958: 112), and aimed, through the construction of the "legend of the Mahdiyya" (Daniel 1966: 424-428), to convince British public opinion and political leaders of the necessity and legitimacy of a military intervention in
Ideology Versus Pragmatism — the Case of the Mahdist Public Treasury In the Sudan (1881-1898
Welt Des Islams, 2006
Several works have been devoted to the description of the various Mahdist movements in different parts of the Muslim world, but little attention has been paid to the discussion of the MahdÊ ideology in a wider context of Muslim history. The present article attempts to address this ideology from a theological perspective and examine its implementation with particular reference to the set of social and political factors that led to the outbreak of the Mahdist revolution in the Sudan towards the end of the 13 th century Hijra (19 th century A.D.). The article is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the ideology
Fatwa and Propaganda: Contemporary Muslim Responses to the Sudanese Mahdiyya
Islamic Africa, 2014
The powerful call (daʿwa) of Muḥammad Aḥmad, the self-styled Mahdī, and his ensuing jihad against Ottoman-Egyptian rule in Sudan provoked a variety of responses within the larger Muslim community. The ʿulamāʾ, al-Azhar-trained orthodox legal and religious scholars in Khartoum and Cairo, responded with outrage and detailed legal arguments, challenging the credentials of an individual they insisted was an impostor, and rehearsing instead the legitimacy of the Ottoman Sultan as the bona fide leader of the faithful. Beyond the establishment hierarchy, politically-and religiouslymotivated activists and propagandists, in Sudan, Egypt and beyond, joined the debate over Muḥammad Aḥmad's credibility: at stake was a substantial body of susceptible Muslim opinion, in the Ottoman provinces of the Hejaz and Syria and as far away as British-ruled India. This article describes in detail the spiritual and legal arguments over a personality whose claimed mandate had implications for two of the world's largest empires.
Isāḣ and Tajdd - the Case of the Sudanese Mahdiyya 1881-1898
The Muslim World, 1997
The 18th century is often viewed as a "dark age" of Islamic history. It was characterized by a general sense of decline, and the disintegration under a variety of pressures of the great and powerful Muslim political entities, particularly the Ottoman state. Some 19th century rulers, of whom the best known are Muhammad 'Ali of Egypt (1805-1848) and Sultan Mahmiid I1 (1807-1839), and intellectuals like Rifda al-Taht8wi and Khayr al-Din Pasha, "were not primarily concerned with doctrinal issues or with creating religiously oriented roles for themselves. " l Instead they were chiefly preoccupied with the problem of inner decay, and felt that this could best be arrested by adopting European ideas and techniques. But this "imitative foreign solution," as appropriately called by a prominent Muslim thinker and intellectual,"2 was vigorously criticized by the more conservative and "fundamentalist" Muslims who viewed the reform program of those adaptionist Westernizers as contrary to religion and tradition. They wanted to maintain and develop the 18th century dogmatic spirit that aimed at the socio-moral reconstruction of the Muslim society along strictly Islamic lines. They, in particular, advocated a literal return to the idealistic and romantic society at the time of the Prophet and al-Rashidiin. Hence their only and exclusive model was the First Islamic State in history of the 7th century C. E., and as such provided an inspiration for the subsequent 20th century Salafiyyah. This militant "fundamentalism" reached a peak in the Muwahiddun-commonly known as the Wahhabi-movement founded in Arabia by Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792), and had significant impact elsewhere in the Muslim world. The role of Muhammad Ahmed b. 'Abdullah (1844-18851, the self-proclaimed Sudanese Mahd; was presumably an extension-if not a replica-of this uncompromising, and often fanatic, mood. His movement-the Sudanese Mahdiyya-should therefore be critically studied within this context and framework that AbuSulayman calls "the imitative historical solution." Compared to other revivalist movements such as the Wahabbiya and the Sanusiya, the source materials of the Sudanese Mahdiyya are rich, ' * issue.
Jihads and Crusades in Sudan from 1881 to the Present
Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Encounters and Exchanges, 2012
This chapter grapples with several difficult questions that arise from the history of conquest, revolution, and colonial rule in Sudan. To what extent was the Mahdist jihad anti-Christian at its inception; to what extent did the jihad reflect, instead, a battle among Muslims over the nature of Islamic government and society? How did Muslim religious sensibilities influence popular responses to British colonialism after 1898? To what extent did jihadist discourses persist among Sudanese Muslims, both in the Anglo-Egyptian period and in the decades following decolonization? Reciprocally, to what extent were British policies anti-Muslim? How did British fears of Muslim "fanaticism" influence colonial policies on education, administration, and public health, and did these policies amount to a series of "colonial crusades"?
The Bibliography of the Mahdist State in the Sudan, 1898-1898
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The Idology of the Expected in Muslim History: The Case of the Sudandse Mahdiyya, 1881-1898
Several works have been devoted to the description of the various Mahdist movements in different parts of the Muslim world, but little attention has been paid to the discussion of the MahdÊ ideology in a wider context of Muslim history. The present article attempts to address this ideology from a theological perspective and examine its implementation with particular reference to the set of social and political factors that led to the outbreak of the Mahdist revolution in the Sudan towards the end of the 13 th century Hijra (19 th century A.D.). The article is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the ideology