THE MAD MULLAH.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1618, 4 March 1903, Page 20

THE MAD MULLAH.

Very interesting and topical at the present moment is the article concerning the personality of the Mad Mullah, contributed to M. Hugues Le Roux to the “Revue de Paris.’ - ' The writer, who entitles his article “The New Mahdi/’ spent last year in the tract of country which is still giving us such trouble, and he gathered, many interesting particulars concerning Abdulla Achur, whose religious crusade in Somaliland has met with such unexpected success, and who will, M. Le Roux declares, end by becoming as formidable an adversary as lie who was vanquished at Omdurman. THE NEW MAHDI. Some years ago Abdulla Achur was already much discussed among the Mussulman population of Aden and of the surrounding country ; the Europeans made light of the “New Mahdi,’’ as he was already styled, and at Aden was first invented for him the foolish and misleading nickname of the Mad Mullah. Abdulla seems to have first appeared, on the horizon five years ago; lie had. then performed four times the lengthy and difficult pilgrimage to Macca, and. he edified all the Mussulmans with wuem. he came in contact by his piety and learning. The new Mahdi is some tlurtytwd - years of age; lie- is a true Somali, tall, vigorous and with regular features. His past career like that of all Manoinedan “saints,” lias been very adventurous ; his father was a shepherd in tne Somali country, and he was brought up among the herds. There' he was mec by a, Mahomedan missionary, who offered to buy him from his parents and to bring him up to a religious- life. His first pilgrimage to Mecca took place when lie was twenty, and he produced so great an impression upon the Sheik Mahomed Salan, the supreme head of the mysterious confraternity known as Tariqa Mahadia, that the latter kept him with him, and new Abdulla is the favourite disciple of this most important religious leaner.

HOW THE MULLAH GAINS HIS POWER.

Abdulla, in spite of the fact that he is regarded more or less* as as savage by ins adVersaries, is a man of considerble learning, familiar with every kind of theological subtlety, and quite able to wonc on the religious fanaticism of his followers. Already the Mad Mullah has obtained extraordinary influence over' the inhaoitants of Somaliland. __ He has passed various decrees, of which one makes it illegal to be married by an ordinary Cadi who is subject to the King' of England; such marriages, he declares, are null and void. He also freely excommunicates all those who do not follow his peculiar tenets, and in >ll sorts of ways lie recalls, as no other Mahdi has ever hone, liis great predecessor Mahomet, Up to the present time Abdulla has only met with one important reverse. This was inflicted on him in the sp' ing - of 1900 by the soldiers of Menelik; since then the Mullah avoids his north- &' u neighbours. M. he Roux, pays a high tribute to Colonel Swayne, who, he says, knows Somaliland better than any Englishman alive, and who, he declares, must liavß known well the determined foe against whom he was pitted with such insufficient forces. The French writer tells the story of the repulse. He evidently considers that the Mad Mullah may develop into a very serious adversary, and he advised the British Government to prepare for- a serious campaign in February, which is, he says, the best season of the year for the enterprise. The question is much complicated, because certain loyal tribes, while perfectly willing to live content and happy lives under British rule, are determined to resist- every effort made to compel them to figlit their co-religionists.

ANOTHER DE- WET.

At Aden the new Malidi is no longer called the Mad Mullah; indeed, the local paper spoke of him as ‘'“'another De Wet/* for, like the Boer general, Abdulla, seems to have a remarkable power of darting from one point to> another. Meanwhile the Emperor Menelik is watching what is to him a most interesting game with intense attention; he also is anti-Mullah, but according to M.-Ee Roux he is waiting to be asked to lend his powerful aid to Great Britain, for then her will be able to ask-t in exchange that his new ally should, formally recognise the - existence of Abyssinia., which his- French friend considers should be regarded as an Eastern Switzerland, or No-Man s Band.