THE MAHDI.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1142, 6 May 1885, Page 3

THE MAHDI.

The following account of the Mahdi was drawn up by the late Lieutenantcolonel Stewart, who was killed at Merawi on his way down the Nile from General Gordon at Khartoum :—: —

Mahomet Achmet, the Mahdi, is a Dongolawdi, or native of the Province of Dongola. His grandfather was called FahU, and lived in the island of Naft Arti (Arti is Dongolawi for "Island"). This island lies east and opposite Oidi, the native name for the capital of Dongola. His father was Abdullahi, by trade a carpenter. In 1852 this man left and went to Shindi, a town on the Nile, south of Berber. At that time his family consisted of three sons and one daughter, called respectively, Mohamed, Hamid, Mahomet Achmet (the Mahdi), and Nur-el-Sham, Light of Syria. At Syria another son was born called Abdullah. As a boy Mahomet was apprenticed to Sherif-ed-deen, his uncle, a boatbuilder, residing at Shakabeh, an island opposite Sennaar. Having one day received a beating from his uncle, he ran away to Khartoum, and joined the free school of " Medrussu " of a faki (learned man. head of a sect of Dervishers), who resided at Hoghali, a village east of and close to Khartoum. This school is attached to the tomb of Sheik Hoghali, the patron saint of Khartoum, and who is greatly revered by the inhabitants of that town and district. (The Shiek of this tomb or shrine, although he keeps a free school and feeds the poor, derives a very handsome revenue from the gifts of the pious. He claims to be a descendant of the original Hoghali, and through him of Mahomet.) Here he remained for some time studying religion, the tenets of his shiek, &c, but did not make much progress in the more worldly accomplishments of reading and writing. After a time ha left and went to .Berber, where he joined another free school kept by a Shiek Gh'ubush at a village of that name situated nearly opposite to Mekherref (Berber.) This school is also attached to a shrine greatly venerated by the natives. Here Mahomet Achmet remained six months, completing his religious education. Thence he went to Aradup (Tamarind Tree) village, south of Kana. Here in 1870 he became the disciple of another faki — Shiek Nur-el-Daim (Continuous light). Nur-el-Diam subsequently ordained him a shiek or faki-, and he then left to take up his home in the island of Abba, near Kana, on the White Nile. Here he began by making a subterranean excavation (khaliva — retreat) into which he made a practice of retiring to repeat for hours one of the names of the diety, and this accompanied by fasting, incenseburning, and' prayers. His fame and sanctity by degress spread far and wide, and Mahomet Achmet became wealthy, collected disciples and married several wives, all of whom he was most careful to select from among the daughters of the most influential Bagara shieks (Bagara — tribes owning horses or cattle), and other notables. To keep within the legalised number (four) he was in the habit of divorcing the surplus and taking ' them on again according to fancy. About the end of May, 1881, he began to write to his brother fakis (religious chiefs) and to teach that he was the Mahdi foretold by Mahomet, and that he had a divine mission to reform Islam, to establish a univeraal equality, a universal law, a universal religion, and community of goods (" beyt-ul-raal ") ; also that all who did not believe in him should be destroyed, be they Christian, Mohammedan, or Pagan. Among others he wrote to Mahomet Salen, a very learned and influential faki of Dongola, directing him to collect his dervishers (followers) and friends and join him at Abba. This shiek, instead of complying with his request; informed the Government, declaring the man must be mad. This information, along with that collected from other quarters, alarmed his Excellency Reouf: Pasha, and the result was the expedition of August 3rd, 1881. In person the Mahdi is tall, slim, with a black beard and light-brown complexion. Like most Dongolawis, he reads and writes with difficulty. He is local head of the Gheelan or Kadridge order of dervishes, a school originated by Abdul Kader-el-Ghulami, whose tomb is, I believe, at Bagdad, judging from his conduct of affairs and policy, I should say he had considerable natural ability. The manner in which he has managed to merge the usually discordant, tribes together denotes great tact.