Sketcher. The Mahdi.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2009, 23 May 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Sketcher. The Mahdi.

By John Wii,hon Kohh

Ahono the numerous fabulous stories, impostures, forgories, lollies and abHurdities, whioh Mahomet, in order to deceive the people, dispersed in the Koran, wan a prophecy that one day there would appoar a Mahdi, — " he that guides aright," — sad that when he appears he will fill the oppressed world with righteousness. In oonsequenoe of this prediction there has appeared a n amber of impostors, who have given themselves out as this foretold Messiah. A belief prevails amon^ many Mussulmans that Mahomot never died, but lives concealed in a mountain near Mecca, guarded by a lion and a panther, and that when the Mahdi does appear it will bo the Prophet himself. It is even unlawful for a true Mussulman to expect the advent of any other, from the saying traditionally attributed to Mahomet, " there is no Prophet after me." To reconcile the belief and the saying, every Impostor who has appeared as the Mahdi hat borne the name of Mahomet, and it is all the better if his father bore the name of Mahomet's father. The first Mahdi was Mahomet Abnl Kasim, who appeared and disappeared mysteriously in th» year 879 o! the Christian era. In 009

ft wcond one appeared in the person of Abu Ob«idallah Mahomet, a Syrian, who, being denounced by the religions bodies as an impostor, fled from hie native country to Egypt, and was imprisoned for a time in North Affioa, but being reoognised by many as a messenger from Heaven, he made himself Caliph of the whole country from the Straits of Gibraltar to the borders of Egypt. He was the founder of the Fatimite dynasty, an his successor in imposture, Abu Abdillah Mahomet ben Gumert, wan founder of the dynasty of the Almohades of North Africa and Spain. Filled with the belief that he was to inaugurate a purified Muslim creed, Abu Abdillah commenoed his religious oareer by preaching to the people in a burial ground at Moroooo the coming oi the great Mahdi, .who was to establish the reign of universal peace and justice on earth. Being told that he himself was the great Mahdi, he retreated to the mountains with a few followers. There, preaohing the unity of God, he increased the number of his adherents to twenty thousand ; and having established the influence of the Almohades, about 1,180, he summoned his followers, announced his near departure, laid down his power, and was said to have disappeared from the world after the style of Romuluß among the ancient Romans, by being taken up to Heaven. At the present moment there are three Mussulman enthusiasts, who are claimants to the dignity of the Mahdi. All three are Sheikhs, and all three bear the name ol Mahomet. One hails from the Egyptian Soudan, the second from Tripoli, and the third from Asiatic Turkey, in the Pashalic oi Anatolia, not very far from Epheous and Smyrna, in the Sanjak of Aidin. The only one of these Mahdia who has tilled the eye and become the talk of the world, and to whom we shall now draw the attention of the reader, is Mahomet Achmet of Dongola, who might perhaps have remained as unknown as his two brother-pretenders, had it not been for the notice taken of him by the Egyptian Government. Mahomet Aohmet of Dongola first gave himself out as the Mahdi in May, 1881, in the orisis through which Lower Egypt passed before the revolt of Arab! Panha. From the success that attended his efforts in collecting a formidable force in -the Soudan, the Egyptian Government thought proper to send in that yoar Reouf Pasha to report on his plant and intentions. The Egyptian statesman on his arrival at Dongola, a town five hundred miles to the north of Khartoum, found the False Prophet residing in a small island of the White Nile, with a guard of chosen followers, who stood before him with drawn swords. In appearance ho was tall and thin, and wore a black beard. He was illiterate, reading and writing with difficulty. He had studied religion, had been ordained a sheikh, and wa« head of a looal board of dervishes. His reputation for sanctity he had gained by leading the life of a hermit, like the third Mahdi, Abu Abdillah Mahomet. The influence he had thus acquired, he had improved, like the great prophet Mahomet himself, by marrying a number of wives among wealthy families, keeping within the presoribed number of fouz by a retort, when necessary, to a divorce, Like most prophets, — for we are told on the highest authority, that "no prophet is accepted in his own country," —h« was denounced by bis own townsmen ; and as he did mighty things to ourc them of their unbelief, the multitude regarded him as a madman. He had shown, nevertheless, muoh tact in uniting the discordant tribes, and as on the highest authority already cited, " a prophet is not without honor, save in hie own country, and in his own house," he colj leoted together among strange tribes a num. bar of followers, who have been estimated at as high a figure as 338,000 tribesmen. He exhibited muoh cunning in dealing with Reoul Pasha. When asked by the Egytian official to accompany him to Khartoum, he refused, his native intelligence informing him well enough, that if he got to the oapital of the Soudan in Sennaar, he would be detained there in one of the sun-dried, briok buildings, or lath and day huts, and never see again the small island of the White Nile. The Egyptian Government, having failrd to lay hold of him by stealth, resolved to do so by force, and sent a small number of troops two companies, by water, to effect his capturp. The Egyptian soldiers were badly clothed, badly shod, worse fed, and oarrying an enormous weight on their baoks under a burning tropical sun ; eaoh man carried, besides his rifle and sword-bayonet, a hundred and sixty rounds of ammunition, four days' bisouit, a water bottle and great ooat. This little army failed to acoomplieh its objeot. To fight aucccsafully againtt the Mahdi, requires a grent amount of caution, for he is very cunning, and fond of surprises, sleeps during the day, marches during the night, and attacks at da*n. On this occasion he placed himself at the bead of two hundred of his fanatics, and in the engagement with the two oompanien of the Egyptian troops, killed a hundred and twenty of the enemy. After this he crossed the Nile, and settled down at a place, called Gebel-Gedir, which became his stronghold. A strong foroe of troops was now despatched from Cairo in pursuit of him. This foroe, under Rasbid Bey, in Cetewayo's language, the Mahdi " ate up " in December, 1881, having plaoed himself at the head of 8000 wellarmed men. Gaining additional adherentn, he assassinated a good man but a bad soldier, along with nearly all his people— the Mudir of Faohoda — who had gone out against him without taking the slightest precaution. Availing himself of this great saocesa, the Mabdi sent companies in all directions to excite the Arab tribes to make common cause with him, as the time had arrived to drive the " Turks "—as the Egyptian rulers were styled — out of the Soudan. He attained his end. At several places simultaneous risings occurred against the Government. Had there been at the time troops at the dinposal of the Government, the movement could easily have been stifled at the oommencpment; but, unfortunately, the means were wanting at Khartoum, the Council of Ministers at Cairo, to effect a saving in the army estimates, having disbanded, in February, 1882, 2800 black troops that had been ordered to the Soudan. Meanwhile, a distinct rebellion, fostered by the Mahdi, had broken out in Sennaar. The Arab tribes of that province first attacked Khartoum, where they burned all the houses except those belonging to the* Government, from these being defended by a few soldiers, massacred natives and strangers, and sent apart of their force against Kawa on the White Nile. The innrrection next broke out in Kordofan ; after that in Datfour, where robbery andiaoß. aisination became rife. Against this movement going on in that region of Central Afrioa, extending from As■ouan to the Equator, and from Massowah on the Red Sea to the Western limit of Darfour, a territory 1,650 miles long by 1,200 miles broad, the Austrian soldier, Gieglor Pasha, was fighting in vain at the time of the arrival at Khartoum of Abdel Kader Pasha, tho Now Governor-General of the Soudan. At a period full of perturbation and disturbance, from the events and changes that were taking place in Egypt as well as in the Soudan, Abdel Kader Pasha fitted out a strong expedition against the Mahdi, and plaoed in command of it Yussuf Pasha. But in th« summer following, Yussuf was utterly defeated by the Mahdi, few of the 6,000 Egyptian soldiers escaping, and none of the oommanders. This suooessgave the Mahdi a certain number of firearms, though still the majority of his troops had only swords and spears. The oourse of adventurers is pretty muoh like tho course of true lovers ; it never does run smooth. Accordingly, the Mahdi, meeting shortly after with his first defeat, was repulsed from the assault of El Obeid, with a loss of 6,000 men, aa he met with similar ill-sucoe«s in his attack on other towns. But during the Egyptian campaign, while there were contradictory rumors of the dispersion of his followers, bo again laid siege, with a larger force, to El Obeid, and captured it on the lfith of January, 1883, the greater part of tho garrison, headed by their commander, Iscander Bey, taking service under his leadership. The rebellion was gaining such proportions that it almost dwarfed into insigmfioance the stirring ev«nti that wtfa taking place in

Kgypt. It wts seen necessary at Cairo to suppress it ; and, accordingly, elaborate preparations for its suppression were made during the spring of last year. Colonel Hioka, a retired Indian officer, who had entered the Egyptian service, was commissioned to form a camp at Um-Durma, on the west Hide of the Nile, opposite Khartoum, and there, by the end of August, he Buoceedod in getting together a Urge army, with about thirty Runs, rooketfl, and howit/.ers of all sixes. Having procured the necessary camels, he started on his ill fated march up the Nile on the 9th of Siptember, the officers highly satisfied and the men all in excellent spirits. As Khartoum was a place of the highest importance to Egypt, and oould not be held without Sennaar, beaause it drew all its supplies from that province, the first objeot of the expedition was to drive the Mahdi out of Sennaar. This was done by Hicks Pasha, completely vanquishing tho forces under the Mahdi, and re-establishing the authority of the Egyptian Government on both Banks of the White and Blue Nile. Had the matter been allowed to rest here all would have been well ; but the Egyptian Government, instead of oonfining its efforts to the re-establishment of its authority in Sennaar, sought to extend its dominion beyond that provinoe and the bordering river banks, and sent Hicks Pasha aoross the waterloss desert, where all communications had to be abandoned, and all retreat was impossible, in order to attack the force of the Mahdi in Kordofan. For weeks nothing was known of the gallant General's movements, but, at length, the most painful newa reached Khartoum, that the whole of the Egyptian army had been surrounded and destroyed by the rebels. Thi« was rendered the more painful from having been preceded by an entirely different acoount brought by an Arab and oonfirmed by two soldiers, that from twenty- five to thirty thousand Arabs had attacked the Egyptian army, and after a desperate fight, fled, leaving 8000 of their number killed, with all the women, food and baggage animals; that Hioks Pasha pursued, and, coming up to the fugitivos, again attacked and defeated them, the Mahdi, in the engagement, having his horse killed under him, and being cut down by the light oavalry sent in pursuit. The lamentable truth turned out to be that the Egyptian foroe under Hicks Pasha, while suffering all kinds of privations, from excessive heat and want of water, tho wells being four days apart, and, when found, sometimes filled with atones, earth and the rotting bodies of men and animals, was led by a treaoherous guide to a wooded, rocky defile, without water, where an ambusoade had been prepared by tho enemy ; that for three days the army, worn out by thirst, gallantly defended itself, but on the fourth, when the last cartridge was expended, charged with fixed bayonets, and was speedily annihilated to « man. All the guns, flags, munitions of war, mnd camels fell into the hands of the Mahdi. No further confirmation of his divine mission was needed, and thousands flooked to his standard. This victory set the whole Soudan in a blaze, and ' caused in Constantinople and Cairo profound consternation. The dismay was rendered the more intense by the danger of the Mahdi obtaining a strong footing in the Soudan, and diminishing the influence of the Caliph in that country. In the anxiety felt, the Sultan tried to induoe the Sherif of Mecca to issue a religious interdiot against the Mahdi, similar to that which bad been issued in Cairo by the Ulema of the El Ahzar university, and distributed in the Soudan provinces, declaring the Mahdi to be an impostor and an adventurer. * Notwithstanding that, the insurrection has rapidly spread among the tribes of the extreme east, and extended itself to tho western Houdan. The British Government, taking alarm, sent General Gordon to Khartoum to arrange matters peacefully ; hut how his pacific mission failed, and how ha has been himself shut up in the capital of the Soudan, and an expedition is now being despatched for his resoue, are events too familiar to be dwelt upon in detail. The British Government also Bent forces to put down the Mahdi's lieutenant in the Eastern Soudan; butOsman Digna still seems to hold his own, and the appearanoe of the Mahdi at this moment causes considerable alarm to those who are responsible for the maintenance or peace and order throughout the East, there being the danger of a religious rising from the disquiet reigning in many Mussulman countries that the propheoy is being fulfilled of the coming of the New Deliverer and Director of the Faithful. And there is too muoh reason to entertain this fear when it is remembered how false prophets have, from time to time, arisen among the Mahometans, in the persons of Arabs, Persians, and Turks, who, as long as their fanaticism lasted, always found a number of lawloss and discontented persons to be their followers. It is true that the belief among the orthodox followers of Islam, the Sonnites, is that the Mahdi they expect must not be a half-caste African, or Arab of the Soudan, but of Mahomet's .family, and a genuine Arab of the Koraish tribe. But the rulers in Egypt and Turkey are well aware that multitudes will overlook this faot, as wall as that the Mabdi's advent must be preoeded by suoh signs and wanders as the suu rising in the west, the Saviour descending from Heaven, the coming of Antichrist, the appearance of Gog and Magog, the demolition of the temple at Mecoa by the Ethiopians or Abyssinians, and the return of Arabs to the worship of idols. From all this it is very certain that every true Moslem of any scot or party, whether in Asia or Arabia, rejects, and is bound to reject the present leader of the insurreotion in the Soudan as a deoeiver and imposter, this is the case also with every Arab in (be three Arabias, though all Mahometans are compelled to aocept as their religious leader the real Mahdi, whenever the real Mahdi does make bis appearance.