The Battle of Aba, which took place on August 12, 1881, was the opening

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

of the

Mahdist War The Mahdist War ( ar, الثورة المهدية, ath-Thawra al-Mahdiyya; 1881–1899) was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese of the religious leader Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam (the "Guided On ...

. The incident saw Mahdist rebels, led by

Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad ( ar, محمد أحمد ابن عبد الله; 12 August 1844 – 22 June 1885) was a Nubian Sufi religious leader of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who, as a youth, studied Sunni Islam. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi, an ...

, who had proclaimed himself

the Mahdi ''The Mahdi'' is a 1981 thriller novel by Philip Nicholson, writing as A. J. Quinnell. The book was published in 1981 by Macmillan Publishers, Macmillan in the UK then in January 1982 by William Morrow & Co in the US and deals with political po ...

, rout

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

troops who had landed on

Aba Island Aba Island is an island on the White Nile to the south of Khartoum, Sudan. It is the original home of the Mahdi in Sudan and the spiritual base of the Umma Party. History Aba Island was the birthplace of the Mahdiyya, first declared on J ...

Background

In March 1881, Muhammad Ahmad, living on

on the

White Nile The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...

, before his "inner circle" (which included

Abdallahi ibn Muhammad Abdullah Ibn-Mohammed Al-Khalifa or Abdullah al-Khalifa or Abdallahi al-Khalifa, also known as "The Khalifa" ( ar, c. عبدالله بن سيد محمد الخليفة; 184625 November 1899) was a Sudanese Ansar ruler who was one of the principa ...

, who would become known as "the Khalifa"), announced that he was the Mahdi. He based this off of a dream he had where he was visited by the

Prophet Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...

and

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. The Governor-General of the Sudan,

Ra'uf Pasha Muhammad Rauf Pasha (c.1832 – 1888) was an Egyptian soldier and colonial administrator who served in turn as governor of Equatoria and Harar, and governor general of Sudan. He was ineffective and did little to prevent the Mahdist movement devel ...

, soon sent Mohammad Bey Abu Sa'ud to investigate the situation. Arriving on Aba Island on August 7, 1881, Abu Sa'ud requested that Muhammad Ahmad come to

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

(the capital of Sudan) to meet with the Governor-General. The Mahdi refused and Abu Sa'ud warned him that he "must give up his claim to be the Mahdi" and then left the island.

Battle

After that meeting, an "arrest-party" of 200 Egyptian soldiers (and one mountain-gun) were sent to Aba Island on the ship ''Isma'iliyya''. It was unclear who was the head of the expedition, Abu Sa'ud or his senior military officer, 'Ali Effendi, and the two quarreled. The ship arrived at Aba on August 12, 1881 and moored about a quarter of a mile from the Mahdi's village. Once there, Abu Sa'ud and 'Ali Effendi found themselves in disagreement over when to attack. The former wanted to wait until the following day to attack, while the latter (who won the argument) wanted to move out right away. Using some

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

s as guides, the Egyptian forces reached Muhammad Ahmad's hut and 'Ali Effendi burst into the shelter, shooting the man inside, who turned out to be a guest of the Mahdi. Little did he know that Muhammad Ahmad and his followers were waiting "in the dense bush outside the village." The zealous Mahdists, "armed with sticks, stones,

hoes Hoe or HOE may refer to: * Hoe (food), a Korean dish of raw fish * Hoe (letter), a Georgian letter * Hoe (tool), a hand tool used in gardening and farming ** Hoe-farming, a term for primitive forms of agriculture * Backhoe, a piece of excavatin ...

, and palm-knives, and a very few with

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

s and

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

s" attacked the Egyptians and completely overwhelmed them. The ground was muddy (it had rained during the Egyptians' march to the village) and this favored the bare-foot Mahdist rebels over the boot-clad government soldiers. The routed Egyptians made a dash for the ''Isma'iliyya'', leaving behind 120 killed and wounded and nine taken prisoner. The Mahdi's forces, meanwhile, had lost twelve dead and Muhammad Ahmad, himself, was wounded after being shot in the right shoulder. After learning of the disaster, Abu Sa'ud ordered the ''Isma'iliyya'' to shell the village. The Mahdists arrived on the banks of the river to taunt the Egyptians. The first shell missed the rebels by twenty yards, and, after that, the Mahdists walked out of range of the ''Isma'iliyya'', ending the confrontation. The Mahdi compared his victory to the

Battle of Badr The Battle of Badr ( ar, غَزْوَةُ بَدِرْ ), also referred to as The Day of the Criterion (, ) in the Quran, Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan (calendar month), Ramadan, 2 Anno Hegirae, AH), near the ...

, "the Prophet Mohammad's first military victory."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aba 1881 in Sudan Aba Aba Aba August 1881 events