MAHDIISM AND THE EGYPTIAN SOITDAN.* To do this fascinating work
fall justice, we should need to devote a separate review to each of its twelve" books,"—which being impossible, we must content ourselves with giving a general idea of its character and scope, and with referring the reader to the book itself, promising him that, whether he be a student, a soldier, or a politician, whether his pet subject be travel, adventure, ethnography, military history, or heroic deeds, he will be richly rewarded for his pains.
The author's aim, as he tells us in his Preface, has been to present a clear narrative of the events arising out of the revolt against the orthodox Moslem religion and Egyptian rule in the Soudan, "which may conveniently be described under the general name of Mahdiism." The theme is vast and complex, and comprehends,—the history of Mahdiism, the origin and incidents of the revolt, the siege and fall of Khartoum; events in the Soudan subsequent to the fall of Khartoum and the death of the Mahdi; events in Darfur, the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the Equatorial Provinces on the Abyssinian and Nile frontiers ; the evacuation of Harras, and an account of the Senussi and other religious sects. All this from original sources,—official records, private diaries, information collected by English and., Egyptian officers, and obtained from intercepted documents, especially a manuscript book, captured at Toski, containing decrees, ordinances, and letters, issued and written by Mahommed Ahmed, the late Mahdi, and his Khalifa, .A.bdullah Taashi.
The Mahdi, as everybody knows, is a person ; but it is less generally known that there are two sorts of Mahdi and two sorts of Mahdiism. "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, or Twelfth Imam, who disappeared, and may reappear at any moment to good Shias." Of this sort was Mahommed Ahmed, of Dongola, who raised the standard of revolt in the Soudan, and contrived the tragedy of Khartoum and the death of the gallant Gordon. As this man was not the first Mahdi, neither will he be last. Two previous soi-disant Mahdis founded dynasties in Africa, and although the Faithful have been so often de- ceived, they are always ready to accept another, provided that he possesses the necessary qualifications, which may be summed up as eloquence, audacity, astuteness, and sanctity. If he really believes himself to be the Mahdi, or the Twelfth Imam, his chances of success will be all the greater. All the gifts in question, and even more, had Mahommed Ahmed in a high degree. Tall and slightly built, with large, expressive eyes, his manners were dignified, and his features pleasing. At twenty-one he was a sheikh, renowned for holiness, and a great orator and preacher. As for his ability,. Major Wingate says that, until he ruined himself by unbridled sensuality, Mahommed Ahmed Iba Sayed Abdullah (to give him his full name and title) "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." Also, he was greatly favoured by fortune ; and, by a strange irony of fate, the way for the Moslem saint was pre- pared and made easy by an ideal Christian hero. When Gordon Pasha was Viceroy of the Soudan, he ruled the country righteously, stamped out the slave-trade, and pro- tected the dwellers in towns and villages from the exactions and cruelties of the Egyptian soldiers and civil functionaries, by whom they had been grievously oppressed. No sheikh was powerful or great enough to save a slave-dealer from condign punishment. "Thus does God make gaps in his enemies," said Gordon, after the shooting of Suliman Yaheir and eleven others for engaging in the unholy traffic. Wherefore were the
• Mahdiiem and the Egyptian Sudan ; being an Account of the Rise and Pro- gress of Mahdiism, and of Subsequent Events in the Sudan to the Present Time. By Major F. R. Wingate, D.S.O., R A., Assistant Adjutant-General for Intern. genet), Egyptian Army. London ; Macmillan and Co.
Baggara, the Red Indian of the Soudan, deeply incensed against English pashas and the Egyptians, and resolved on the first opportunity to throw off the yoke whereby they were deprived of a lucrative commerce. So it came to pass that, when Gordon quitted the country in 1879, he left behind him all the elements of a conflagration. The movement begun by Mahommed Ahmed was, in the first instance, a religious revival pure and simple, and, bad it not formed a weapon for the Baggara, would have died out. It was they who " gave the movement strength ; they who trod the way with enthusiasm ; they who, seizing the weak point in the holy man, pandered to and developed his inordinate uxoriousness ; they who offered in marriage their daughters in incredible numbers, and who shortly seized the reins of power, and made the movement their own."
Meanwhile, the Egyptian soldiery profited by Gordon's departure to pay off old scores, and ruthlessly oppress all who were under their power. And then came Mahommed Ahmed, preaching with fiery eloquence, and exhorting the victims to avenge themselves on their tyrants :—
"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 Sudan 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 you miserable man listening with intent eyes But now the time was at hand when all this should have an end The Lord would send a deliverer who should sweep away the veil from before their eyes and clear the mad- ness from the brain ; the hideous dream would be broken for ever and 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 thrown to jabber his delirium on his own dunghill. With the coming of the Mahdi the right should triumph, and all oppression have an end. When would this Mahdi come ? What wonder that every hut and every thicket echoed the longing for the promised Saviour' The land was sown with fikis (priests), many of them passed masters in the art of swaying a crowd. They came and listened, and soon recognised that here they had found a master. The leaven worked rapidly among them, until one evening at A bba Island, a hundred and fifty miles south of Khartum, 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.'" It now needed only a spark to fire the train, and the signal was given by an attempt to arrest the Mahdi at Abba (August, 1881). The attempt failed ; but Mahomnied Ahmed, not feeling himself safe, fled to Masat, in the Nuba mountains, whither he was pursued by Mahommed Pasha Said, at the head of 1,400 troops. Yet again the Mahdi escaped, and with a number of followers entrenched himself on the mountains of Gedir, where, in December, 1881, he defeated Rashid Bey, the Governor of Tashada. He had already sent forth emissaries to rouse the tribes, and soon afterwards secured the support of the Baggara, who were eager to avenge the defeats which had been inflicted on them by Gordon, and re-establish the trade in slaves. It was an alliance between the spiritual and tem- poral powers, with the Matadi for supreme leader ; and then began the war, so full of dramatic episode and "moving accidents," which ended in the expulsion of Egypt from the Soudan, and the apotheosis of Mahommed Ahmed. One of his first proceedings, when success seemed to be assured, was to establish a Khalifat, or system of civil government, with Abdullah Taashi, a renowned Baggara chieftain, and "a very fox for cunning," for Khalif.
The Khalif was inevitable. A Mali di must be more or less shrouded in mystery. If he takes an active part in civil government, and shows himself too often to his devotees and subjects, his authority wanes, and he becomes even as other men. Indeed, once his divine mission is generally acknowledged, and his rule accepted, the best thing he can do is to die. So soon as be is canonised and buried in a tomb to which pilgrimage is enjoined, "the superstition is on safe ground, and an energetic Khalif has his hands free." Mahommed Ahmed has been dead seven years, yet Abdullah Taashi still wields supreme power. The system of government set up by these two, says Major Wingate, may be summed up in the phrase : "Your money, or your life !" It was, and continues to be, a system of organised brigandage. They did what they liked, and took what they wanted. They established a reign of terror so cruel and relentless, that the second condition of the tribes of the Soudan is worse than the first. The Egyptians scourged them with whips ; the Khalifat scourges them with scorpions. Even the Baggara are weary of incessant warfare, and thousands of them have returned to their far-away homes. If the slave-trade is to be put down, and the people rescued from their oppressors, the Soudan must be reconquered, and the country ruled by men of the race and the class who are regene- rating Egypt. But this would not, as some think, facilitate our departure from the land of the Pharaohs. The fact is that, quite apart from our own political interests, we are between the horns of a dilemma. If we abandon Egypt, it will almost certainly be invaded by the Khalif ; and if we conquer the Soudan, we shall have to stay there, if only to protect the tribes from the Egyptians, who would sooner or later provoke a storm they could not quell. Providence has given us a task which is not half completed,—which, in fact, is only just begun. The time may come when we shall be able to retire with honour and safety, but the time is not yet. This, though not urged by Major Wingate, may be read between the lines of his book, and is certainly the lesson which it teaches.
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