One of the flags of the Mahdi movement; most Mahdist flags varied in color but were similar to this one in their style.[1]
Mahdist Sudan's approximate territory in 1894 (light green) and approximate maximum limits (dark green).
Status
Unrecognized state
Capital
Omdurman
Common languages
Sudanese Arabic
Other languages of Sudan
Religion
Islam
Government
Islamic state
Mahdi
• 1881–1885
Muhammad Ahmad
Khalifa
• 1885–1899
Abdallahi ibn Muhammad
Legislature
Shura council[2]
Historical era
Scramble for Africa
• Mahdist revolt
1881–1885
• Fall of Khartoum
26 January 1885
• Sudan Convention
18 January 1899
• Battle of Umm Diwaykarat
24 November 1899
• Fall of Sanin Husain's holdout
1909
Population
• Pre-Mahdist[3]
7,000,000
• Post-Mahdist[3]
2,000,000–3,000,000
Currency
Legal tender: Riyal maqbul (silver)[4]
De facto currencies:[4] Ottoman riyal majidi, Spanish dollar, Maria Theresa thaler
ISO 3166 code
SD
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Turco-Egyptian Sudan
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Sultanate of Darfur
Today part of
Sudan South Sudan
The Mahdist State, also known as Mahdist Sudan or the Sudanese Mahdiyya, was a state based on a religious and political movement launched in 1881 by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah (later Muhammad al-Mahdi) against the Khedivate of Egypt, which had ruled Sudan since 1821. After four years of struggle, the Mahdist rebels overthrew the Ottoman-Egyptian administration and established their own "Islamic and national" government with its capital in Omdurman. Thus, from 1885 the Mahdist government maintained sovereignty and control over the Sudanese territories until its existence was terminated by the Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1898.
Mohammed Ahmed al-Mahdi enlisted the people of Sudan in what he declared a jihad against the administration that was based in Khartoum, which was dominated by Egyptians and Turks. The Khartoum government initially dismissed the Mahdi's revolution; he defeated two expeditions sent to capture him in the course of a year. The Mahdi's power increased, and his call spread throughout Sudan, with his movement becoming known as the Ansar. During the same period, the 'Urabi revolution broke out in Egypt, with the British occupying the country in 1882. Britain appointed Charles Gordon as General-Governor of Sudan. Months after his arrival in Khartoum and after several battles with the Mahdi rebels, Mahdist forces captured Khartoum, and Gordon was killed in his palace. The Mahdi did not live long after this victory, and his successor Abdallahi ibn Muhammad consolidated the new state, with administrative and judiciary systems based on their interpretation of Islamic law. The indigenous Nubian Coptic Christians who composed a substantial portion of the country's population, were forced to convert to Islam.[5]
Sudan's economy was destroyed during the Mahdist War and famine, war and disease reduced the population by half.[6][7][8][9] Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi declared all people who did not accept him as the awaited Mahdi to be infidels (kafir), ordered their killing and took their women and property.[10]
The British reconquered Sudan in 1898, ruling it after that in theory as a condominium with Egypt but in practice as a colony. However, remnants of the Mahdist State held out in Darfur until 1909.
^Knight 2005, p. 37.
^Sidahmed, Abdel Salam; Sidahmed, Alsir (2005). "Khalifa's administration". Sudan. Contemporary Middle East. Routledge. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-415-27417-3. The Mahdist administration centred around the person of the Khalifa Abdullah, both as the ultimate authority as well as the prime mover of the administrative system and initiator of policy. It has been noted that the Khalifa used to consult with his closest aides (such as his brother Ya'qub, and son 'Uthman Shaykh al-Din), and occasionally call for a meeting of the 'State Council'—apparently an advisory council—to which the Mahdi's surviving companions were invited.
^ abMetelits, Claire (2009). Inside Insurgency: Violence, Civilians, and Revolutionary Group Behavior. New York University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-8147-9578-1. Estimates cite that the population of Sudan fell from seven million before the Mahdist revolt to between two and three million after the end of the Mahdist era.
^ abAbu Shouk, Ahmad Ibrahim; Bjørkelo, Anders, eds. (1996). "A note on currencies". The Public Treasury of the Muslims: Monthly Budgets of the Mahdist State in the Sudan, 1897. The Ottoman Empire and its heritage, v. 5. E. J. Brill. pp. xvii–xviii. ISBN 978-90-04-10358-0.
^Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Sudan : Copts, 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749ca6c.html Archived 17 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine [accessed 21 December 2010]
^Francis Mading Deng, War of Visions: Conflict of Identities in the Sudan p.51
^Jok Madut Jok, War and Slavery in Sudan (2001) p.75
^Edward Spiers, Sudan: The Reconquest Reappraised (1998) p.12
^Henry Cecil Jackson, Osman Digna (1926) p.185
^Nicoll, Fergus (19 May 2005). The Mahdi of Sudan and the Death of General Gordon. The History Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0750932998.
The MahdistState, also known as Mahdist Sudan or the Sudanese Mahdiyya, was a state based on a religious and political movement launched in 1881 by Muhammad...
The Mahdist War (Arabic: الثورة المهدية, romanized: ath-Thawra al-Mahdiyya; 1881–1899) was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese, led by Muhammad Ahmad bin...
context of the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam MahdistState, or Mahdist Sudan, a state based on a religious and political movement launched in...
defeat of the MahdistState in Sudan, when Anglo-Egyptian forces under the command of Lord Kitchener defeated what was left of the Mahdist armies under...
Shirazi, the founder of Bábism; Muhammad Ahmad, who established the MahdistState in Sudan in the late 19th century. The Iranian dissident Massoud Rajavi...
major general Horatio Herbert Kitchener and a Sudanese army of the MahdistState, led by Abdallahi ibn Muhammad (the Khalifa), the successor to the self-proclaimed...
Abdallahi ibn Muhammad took over the administration of the nascent MahdistState. The MahdistState, weakened by his successor's autocratic rule and inability...
when almost all of them were forcibly converted to Islam under the MahdistState. Christianity was reintroduced to the country through European missionaries...
battle of the Mahdist War that was fought on December 30, 1885, between soldiers of the Anglo-Egyptian Army and warriors of the MahdistState. The battle...
usage of the term "Sudan" mainly applied to the Turkish Sudan and the MahdistState, and a wider and changing territory between Egypt in the North and regions...
as sole leader of the Mahdiyah or MahdistState. At first the Mahdiyah was run on military lines as a jihad state, with the courts enforcing Sharia law...
Flag Date Use Description 1881-1899 Flag used during the Mahdist Revolt and in Mahdist Sudan A golden field with blue and red borders and a blue Arabic...
1847–1909) was a religious and military leader who served the MahdistState. Even after the Mahdists had been completely defeated by Anglo-Egyptian forces in...
garment, cloak or coat, is a long coat worn by Muslim men. During the MahdistState in Sudan at the end of the 19th century, it was the garment worn by...
Flag Date Use Description 1881–1899 Flag used during the Mahdist Revolt and in Mahdist Sudan A golden field with blue and red borders and a blue arabic...
of Khartoum) took place from 13 March 1884 to 26 January 1885. Sudanese Mahdist forces captured the city of Khartoum from its Egyptian garrison, thereby...
trade. Local revolts and the threat of European encroachment on the MahdistState were constant from its founding. At a conference held in Berlin between...
Ali dynasty. Religious-nationalist fervour erupted in the Mahdist Uprising in which Mahdist forces were eventually defeated by a joint Egyptian-British...
of Metemma) was an armed conflict fought on 9–10 March 1889 between the Mahdist Sudanese and Ethiopian forces. It is a critical event in Ethiopian history...
and numbered about twenty-three hundred. The siege of Khartoum by the Mahdist forces, commanded by the Mahdi himself, started on 18 March 1884. Initially...
Battle of the Atbara River took place during the Mahdist War. Anglo-Egyptian forces defeated 15,000 Mahdists on the banks of the River Atbara. The battle...
that makes up modern South Sudan remaining a part of Sudan through the MahdistState, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the Rupublic of Sudan up until South Sudan's...
the term kafir developed into a term of abuse. During the Mahdist War, the MahdistState used the term kuffar against Ottoman Turks, and the Turks themselves...
was the first battle between Italy and the MahdistState. Fighting began when a force of one-thousand Mahdists attacked tribes that had signed protectorates...
Christian British rule in Sudan, and a desire to restore the MahdistState. It was led Mahdist War veteran, Abd al-Qadir Muhammad Imam Wad Habuba. It began...
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