THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN. [To THE EDITOR OF TEE "SPECTATOR?']
Sin,—May I draw the attention of your readers to a some- what remarkable prophecy concerning the Soudan War and the battle of Kerrere or Omdurman? It is contained in the • " Memoirs of a Soudanese Soldier (Ali Effendi Gifoon)," a translation of which was published in the Cornhill Magazine for 1896 (pp. 337-38). Incidentally I should like to point out the close similarity between the prophetic description of Sayid Hassan regarding the end of the fight and the actual words of the newspaper correspondent who reported the scene :—" The field white with jibbah-clad corpses like a meadow dotted with snowdrifts." This is one of the clearest and most unmistakable accounts of second-sight or pre- vision with which I am acquainted.—I am, Sir, &c.,
EXTRACT FROM MEMOIRS :-
"I remember the great Sayid Hassan el Morghani of Kassala 'uttering prophecies which were generally ridiculed then, but which are rapidly being justified as events go on. Sayid Hassan was the father of Sayid Ali el Morghani, who was at Suakin, and who is now so greatly respected as the representative of this powerful section of Moslems. Sayid Hassan was undoubtedly possessed of second sight, and I implicitly believe him to have been a Ragil Kashif,—i.e., a man who could penetrate the mysteries of the future. Wild and improbable as his prophecies must have appeared to most of those who heard them at Kassala, yet his every utterance was received with profound respect, and gradually we saw one after another of his statements borne out by facts. The burden of Morghani's prophecies was that evil times were in store for the Soudan. He warned us all 'El marals illi towlid ma takhodbash ' (Take not unto thyself a wife who will bear thee children), for a crisis is looming over the near future of the Soudan, when those who wish to support the Dowlah or Government must fly, and they will be lucky if they escape with their lives. Kassala would be laid waste four times, and on the fourth or last occasion the city would begin to live once more. Mahomed Noor, who was Emir of Kassala at that time, openly ridiculed these prophecies, upon which the Morghani replied that all he had foretold would undoubtedly come to pass, but that as Mahomed Noor had but a very short time to live, and would die a violent death, he would not have an opportunity of seeing it himself. Being pressed to say upon what he based his prophecies regarding the Emir's death, he said that his end was near, and that Mahomed Noor and his son would shortly be killed by the Abyssinians on the same day. The flame of fitna, or Insurrection, would not first appear in the Soudan, but the fire would be kindled in Egypt itself. Then the whole Soudan would rise, and the people would not be appeased until the land had been deluged in blood and entire Wilma had disappeared off the face of the earth. The work of reconquest and re-establishment of order would fall upon the Ingleez, who after suppressing the revolt in Egypt and gradually having arranged the affairs of that e )untry, would finally occupy the Soudan, and would rule the Turk and the Soudanese together for a period of five years. The idea of the Turk being ruled by any one was received with special incredulity ; and on his being pressed to explain who and what these mighty Ingleez were, he said they were a people from the North, tall of stature, and of white complexion. The English regeneration would place the Soudan upon a better footing than it had ever been on before, and he used to say that the land at. Kassala between El-Khatmieh and Gebel-um-Karam would ultimately be sold for a guinea a pace. The struggle for the, final supremacy would take place on the great plain of Kerrere. to the north of Omdurman; and pointing to the desert outside Kassala, which is strewn with large white stones, he said : After this battle has been fought the plains of El-Kerrere will be strewn with human skulls as thickly as it is now covered with stones.' When the Soudan had been thoroughly subdued, the English occupation would be extended to Abyssinia. Then, there would no longer be dissension between the people of that country and the Egyptians, who would intermarry freely, and would not allow the difference in their religion to remain a, barrier between them."
[We will not pin our faith to Sayid Hassan's second-sight but as to the genuineness of All Gifoon's Memoirs there is no sort of doubt. The writer of this note has frequently seen. him and talked to him. He is an officer in a Soudanese regiment, of great bravery and high character.—En.Spectator.}!
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