=Source.=--Sir Reginald Wingate's _Mahdiism and the Egyptian
Soudan_, pp. 2, 5, 12-14. (Macmillans.)
Mahdiism, with which we have to deal, has two sides to it. There
is the Mahdi, whose coming is looked forward to by good Sunnis
as the advent of the Messiah is expected by the Jews. And there
is the Mahdi who disappeared, and may appear miraculously at
any moment to good Shias.... Mohammed Ahmed of Dongola took up
Mahdiism from the Shia's point of view.... His movement was, in
the first place, a religious movement--the superior enthusiasm,
eloquence, and dramatic knowledge of one priest over his fellows.
It was recruited by a desire, widespread among the villagers,
and especially among the superstitious masses of Kordofan, for
revenge for the cruelties and injustice of the Egyptians and
Bashi-Bazuks. It swept into force on the withdrawal of all
semblance of government, the sole element opposed to it, and it
became a tool for the imperious and warlike Baggara, and enabled
them to usurp the vacant throne. Religion has thus knit together
the different races, each with their own grievance, and summoned
them to the banner of emirs in search of power and the right to
trade in slaves.... There is no doubt that, until he was ruined by
unbridled sensuality, this man [Mohammed Ahmed] had the strongest
head and the clearest mental vision of any man in the two million
square miles of which he more or less made himself master before
he died; and it is a matter of regret that more cannot be learnt
of his early youth than what follows. Born at Dongola in 1848, of
a family of excellent boat-builders, whose boats are to this day
renowned for sound construction, he was early recognized by his
family as the clever one, and, so to speak, went into the Church.
At twenty-two he was already a sheikh with a great reputation
for sanctity, and his preaching was renowned far and wide. Men
wept and beat their breasts at his moving words; even his brother
fikis could not conceal their admiration. The first steps of the
Mahdi in his career are of genuine interest. Tall, rather slight,
of youthful build, and, like many Danagla, with large eyes and
pleasing features, Mohammed Ahmed bore externally all the marks
of a well-bred gentleman. He moved about with quiet dignity of
manner, but there was nothing unusual about him until he commenced
to preach. Then, indeed, one understood the power within him which
men obeyed. With rapid earnest words he stirred their hearts, and
bowed their heads like corn beneath the storm. And what a theme was
his! No orator in France in 1792 could speak of oppression that
here in the Soudan was not doubled. What need of description when
he could use denunciation; when he could stretch forth his long
arm and point to the tax-gatherer who twice, three times, and yet
again, carried off the last goat, the last bundle of dhurra straw,
from yon miserable man listening with intent eyes! And then he
urges in warning tones what Whitfield, Wesley, have urged before
him, that all this misery, all this oppression, is God's anger at
the people's wickedness. That since the Prophet left the earth
the world has all fallen into sin and neglect. But now a time was
at hand when all this should have an end. The Lord would send a
deliverer who should sweep away the veil before their eyes, clear
the madness from the brain, the hideous dream would be broken
for ever, and, strong in the faith of their divine leader, these
new-made men, with clear-seeing vision and well-laid plans before
them, should go forth and possess the land. The cursed tax-gatherer
should be driven into holes and caves, the bribe-taking official
hunted from off the field he had usurped, and the Turk should be
thrown to jabber his delirium on his own dunghill. With the coming
of the Mahdi the right should triumph, and all oppression should
have an end. When would this Mahdi come? What wonder that every
hut and every thicket echoed the longing for the promised Saviour!
The hot wind roamed from desert to plain of withered grass, from
mountain range to sandy valley, and whispered "Mahdi" as it blew;
all nature joined; how childish, yet how effective. The women found
the eggs inscribed with "Jesus," "Mohammed," and the "Mahdi." The
very leaves rustled down to the ground, and in their fall received
the imprint of the sacred names. The land was sown with fikis, many
of them past masters in the art of swaying a crowd. They came and
listened, and soon they recognized that they had found their master
here. The leaven worked rapidly among them, until one evening at
Abba Island, a hundred and fifty miles south of Khartoum, there
came a band of self-reliant men who heard the stirring words, and
saw the tall, slight, earnest figure. They said, "You are our
promised leader," and in solemn secrecy he said, "I am the Mahdi."
[Note.--Mahdi signifies "the guided" in the hadaya or true way of
salvation, hence "the guide." In the tenets of all sects of the
Moslems there is an intimate connection between the Mahdi and Jesus
Christ.]