Ansar (Sudan)

When Muhammed Ahmad died a few months later, his successor, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, maintained the independence of the Mahdist State until 1898, when an Anglo-Egyptian force re-conquered the area.

[2] To distinguish his followers from adherents of other Sufi orders, Muhammed Ahmad forbade the use of the word dervish (Arabic darwīsh, pl.

"Dervish" was widely used in the Sudanese context to describe an affiliate of a Sufi denomination or, more specifically, a religious mendicant who chose to reject material wealth.

Despite the Mahdī's prohibition, British soldiers and government officials continued to use the term to describe the Anṣār throughout the late 1880s and 1890s.

[3] On the other hand, British soldiers, in their accounts of the conflicts, often described the Mahdist "dervishes'" as brave and fearless and the word came to suggest a sense of respect and wonder in this context.

After careful preparations and a slow advance, on 2 September 1898 the main Anglo-Egyptian forces engaged with a Mahdist army of 52,000 at the Battle of Omdurman.

Caliph Abdillahi fled, and a year later was killed with other Mahdist leaders at the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat (25 November 1899).

[6] In 1899, after the fall of the Mahdist State the British government placed restrictions on the movements and activity of the Mahdi's son, Sayyid 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi.

Many of them identified Abd al-Rahman with the prophet Isa, the Islamic interpretation of Jesus and assumed that he would drive the white Christian colonists out of Sudan.

The British government 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, the Sayyid was told to put a stop to the pilgrimages.

[10] In contrast, Ali al-Mirghani and the Khatmiyya became identified with the pro-Egyptian school of thought that favored unity of the Nile Valley.

[11] In August 1944 '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.

Ansar-led conservative forces were opposed to the government, and Imam al-Hadi al-Mahdi withdrew to his base in Aba Island.