Sir Sayyid Abdul Rahman al-Mahdi, KBE (Arabic: عبد الرحمن المهدي; June 1885 – 24 March 1959[1]) was a Sudanese politician and prominent religious leader.

[2] He was the posthumous son of Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who had proclaimed himself the Mahdi or redeemer of the Islamic faith in 1881, and died in 1885 a few months after his forces had captured Khartoum.

[15] The religious and political revolt gathered momentum, with the Egyptians steadily losing ground and the British showing little enthusiasm for a costly engagement in this remote region.

By 1891, after a prolonged struggle, the Kalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad emerged as sole leader due to support from the nomadic Baggara Arabs of the west.

[citation needed] The Kalifa consolidated his rule in Sudan, then invaded Ethiopia, killing Emperor Yohannes IV in March 1889 and penetrating as far as Gondar.

[3] In 1915 Abd al-Rahman made a series of tours and visits to parts of the country where Mahdism was still strong, particularly among the Baggara of the White Nile region, speaking in opposition to the Ottoman sultan's calls for Jihad.

They took advantage of their visits to collect payments of zakat to Abd al-Rahman and to encourage the Ansar, who now freely used the illegal Mahdist prayer book, ratib al-mahdi.

[34] The British encouraged the development of a version of the Ansar movement that was not fanatical, and did much to accommodate Abd al-Rahman's ambitions, although they could not go as far as supporting his goal of becoming King of Sudan.

[37] In 1919 Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi was among a delegation of Sudanese notables who went to London to congratulate King George V of the United Kingdom on the British victory in the war.

[41] In the post-war period, the Mahdi's family became wealthy from cotton production based on irrigation and migrant labourers, mainly their Baggara followers from Darfur and Kordofan.

[43] Abd al-Rahman's economic activity, and the resulting wide range of contacts with merchants and owners of pump-schemes for irrigating cotton fields, gave him influence among Sudanese engaged in commerce.

The British found that Abd al-Rahman was in correspondence with agents and leaders in Nigeria and Cameroon, predicting the eventual victory of the Mahdists over the Christians.

After pilgrims from West Africa held mass demonstrations on Aba Island in 1924, Abd al-Rahman was told to put a stop to the pilgrimages.

[40] At that time the British favoured Sayyid Ali, who they saw as a purely religious leader, while they regarded Abd al-Rahman as having potentially dangerous political ambitions.

Abd al-Rahman was placed under restriction on his ability to travel outside Omdurman and Khartoum and was told to instruct his supporters to halt their political and religious activities.

The newspaper helped him gain influence with the educated elite in Sudan, including politically oriented government officials, many of whom joined the Ansar and became lifetime adherents of Abd al-Rahman.

[56] By the mid-1930s, the British realised that Abd al-Rahman expected to be recognized as royalty, had firm control over a thriving Mahdist movement, and was actively seeking new adherents.

[47] A British view of Abd al-Rahman at this time was given by Sir Stewart Symes, writing in April 1935, "He has the defects of a Sudanese of his type, the liking of intrigue, vanity, irrelevance and opportunism.

[57] Symes refused to take action to suppress neo-Mahdism, preferring to follow a policy of ensuring that Abd al-Rahman conformed to agreed guidelines of behaviour, with the implied threat of punishment if he broke those rules.

[5] In the period before World War II (1939–1945) the British wanted to reduce growth of Egyptian influence in Sudan, which had become more likely as a result of the 1936 treaty, while also suppressing the ultra-nationalist neo-Mahdist movement.

[60] In a shift of policy, the Graduates' General Congress was launched in 1938 as a forum for the intelligentsia of Sudan to express their opinions and as an alternative voice to that of the tribal leaders, who had become discredited.

Many of Abd al-Rahman's supporters saw him as a source of financial backing and admired his advocacy of an independent Sudan, but did not follow him as a religious leader and were not members of the Ansar movement.

[6] In August 1944, Sayyid Abd al-Rahman met with senior Congress members and tribal leaders to discuss formation of a pro-independence political party that was not associated with Mahdism.

[63] When, in 1946, Ismail al-Azhari of the Sudanese al-Ashiqqa party began seeking support for unification of the Nile Valley, Abd al-Rahman was strongly opposed to any hint that the King of Egypt might have authority of any kind in Sudan.

When Attlee asked why the Sudanese had not spoken up while Egypt pressed its claims over Sudan for the last seventy years, Abd al-Rahman said that was because the British had excluded them from any talks.

[66] Egypt gained full independence with the Egyptian Revolution of 23 July 1952 in which King Farouk was overthrown by a group of officers that included Gamal Abdel Nasser, who later to emerge as the sole ruler in 1954.

In his speeches, Buth Diu quoted NUP campaign promises supporting a Federal system in which the southern provinces would have considerable autonomy.

To strengthen his position in parliament, Ismail al-Azhari started making overtures to associates of Sayyid Abd al-Rahman to explore the idea of an NUP-Umma coalition.

Two days later Abd al-Rahman proclaimed his strong support for the army's action, saying "It grieves me greatly to say that the politicians who have led the political parties have all failed...

[78] The British would have preferred the Ansar movement to be purely religious in nature, but Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi was also a competent political leader of Sudan.