Al Mahdiyya Movement in Sudan - Research Paper Example

Al Mahdiyya Movement in Sudan. Introduction The history of the world itself can be traced back to wars and rebellions. These rebellions and wars took place for different reasons but the mere aim of these rebellions was to get justice and overpower the forces which caused the rebellion. Such a rebellion also took place in Sudan in the year 1881 when a charismatic Muslim leader declared himself as the ‘Mahdi’. The upsurge took place to retain the powers of the independent state of Sudan and was launched by Muslims in order to hold their prestige which they supposedly held in the Arab world. Initially the rebellion only consisted of Muslims but later on other forces also joined the Muslims to fight against the British-Egyptian government. These people were distressed because of the taxes and slavery laws imposed on them. This essay would further provide details about the Al Mahdiyya Movement in Sudan and would discuss as to how much successful the movement was (Ruay 1994; Clammer 2005). Al Mahdiyya Movement in Sudan. The Mahdiyya Movement was led by a Muslim scholar known as Muhammad Ahmad. Muhammad Ahmad was in the state of Dongola in the year 1844. He belonged to the family of Sayyid i.e. individuals who claim heritage from Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad Ahmad at a very young age started to gain knowledge about Islam and later on came to be known as a Sufi. Muhammad Ahmad gained a reputation of scholar later in his days and that is when he realized the unjust being done by the Egyptian government. Egyptians took over Sudan and changed the position of the whole country. The new government levied new taxes on the people, disturbed trade of the country and imposed slavery on people at their own will. It also started recruiting military officials from Sudan and in this process many of the Sudanese died while marching to Egypt (Black Past Encyclopedia). It was in 1881 that Muhammad Ahmad realized that people needed a savior who would save them from the tyranny of the government and that is when he pronounced himself as the ‘Mahdi’. He started organizing an army to launch a rebellion against the Egyptian lead government in 1881 (New World Encyclopedia; Ronen 2007). After proclaiming himself as the Mahdi from Allah Muhammad Ahmad urged all the Muslims to wage a holy war against the British-Egyptian government. The rebellion was launched only by the Muslims at first to ensure that their religion Islam was not being disgraced in the region. The Muslims wanted the same control as the previous Arabs had in their times. The Mahdis wanted a Muslim government in the region which could ensure the proper practice of their religion. The Mahdi was following in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad and was trying to expand the religion of Islam to the world. He wanted to expand himself to the whole world so that Islam was known to everyone. In other words he wanted to expand so that the religion of Islam was practiced freely all over the world. The movement was not only supported by Muslims but was also supported by non-Muslim groups. Their aim was to get independence from the foreign forces which were controlling their country. They needed a Sudan government to be established so that they could get their freedom. The movement later on because of these forces became a national movement against the government. After the rebellion started many victories were reported by the Mahdiyya movement (Ruay 1994; Clammer 2005). Many towns fell to the force gathered by Mahdi. In late 1882 the state of Kordofan had fallen to these forces along with the towns of El Obeid which is one of the largest towns in Sudan. As these towns fell to the forces of Muslims it was seen that the government started to take strict action against this rebellion. The British government decided to send out its forces to counter attack these Muslims and regain their territory. William Hicks was sent by the British government with his forces to attack these Muslims and this led to the Battle of Sheikhan. This battle was lost by the Britishers with great losses to their army. Soon after, the towns of Darfur and Bahr-al-Ghazal fell to these forces and many other tribes of Sudan declared their alliance with the Mahdis. Khartoum was made the capital of Sudan by the Egyptian government and to break the roots of the government it became necessary for the Mahdis to capture it. But after such a loss to the British Army a heavily armed offense was expected by the government and it was carried out by Gordon. It is believed that Gordon misinterpreted the orders of the British government and carried out a force attack on the Mahdis. This led to the death of Gordon and the capture of Khartoum by the Mahdis (Clammer 2005). After the capture of Khartoum the Mahdis established a government in the state of Sudan but some differences developed between the Southerners and the Muslims (Ruay 1994). But after the victory the Mahdi was not able to survive long to control the state of Sudan. Muhammad Ahmed died after six months of the victory and his death still remains a mystery as people provide with different accounts. Mahdi was succeeded by Khalifa Abdullah who belonged to Darfur (Ruay 1994). He followed the same ideologies as his master and tried to retain the standards of Islam in the state of Sudan. Omdurman was made the new capital under his ‘Khilafat’ and the previous grievances of people were solved upon. The slave markets were reopened again and the Muslims dominated Sudan as was idealized by Mahdi. But the new Khalifa was not strong enough to manage the burden of the new state. The taxes levied on the general public were lowered to levels at which they became critical for the state. Many tribes of Sudan were exempted from these very low taxes too and this again was a blow to the government of the Khalifa. These critical levels of low taxes also affected the treasury of the Khalifa himself. The new Khalifa tried to follow the expansionist ideologies of Mahdi but failed in every attempt. He dispatched his best armies to capture Egypt but never became successful and suffered huge losses. These huge losses were not the last blow to the Khalifa but more was yet to come to the state of Sudan. Last blow to the state of Sudan was the drought that hit it for three years. In 1898 the now controlled State Sudan was conquered again by Britain to avenge their previous defeat at the hands of the Mahdis. The British army under the control of Kitchener crushed the Ansars to control Omdurman. After the war the Egyptian government was once against established in the state of Sudan (Clammer 2005). Conclusion Mahdiyya Movement in Sudan was a movement which was successful until their leader Mahdi was alive but after his death his successors were not able to control the new power and failed to protect the state of Sudan. The rebellion proved to be one of the greatest victories by Muslims in the history of Islam and is still mentioned in the books of Muslims. References Top of Form Clammer, P. (2005). Sudan. Chalfont St. Peter, Bucks, England: Bradt Travel Guides. Bottom of Form Top of Form Ruay, D. D. A. (1994). The politics of two Sudans: The south and the north, 1821-1969. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. Bottom of Form New World Encyclopedia. Muhammad Ahmad. Retrieved on 19 April 2010. Black Past Encyclopedia. Mahdist Revolution (1881-1898). Retrieved on 19 April 2010.Top of Form Ronen, Y. (2007). Between the Mahdiyya and the Muslim Brotherhood: Continuity and Change in Islamic Radicalism in Sudan. JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES. 12 (1), 1-18. Bottom of Form Read More