The Mahdi's tomb or ''qubba'' ( ar, قُبَّة) is located in
Omdurman, Sudan
Omdurman (standard ar, أم درمان ''Umm Durmān'') is a city in Sudan. It is the most populated city in the country, and thus also in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the ...
. It was the burial place of
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 ...
, the leader of an Islamic revolt against the Ottoman-Egyptian occupation of Sudan in the late 19th century.
The
Mahdist State
The Mahdist State, also known as Mahdist Sudan or the Sudanese Mahdiyya, was a state based on a religious and political movement launched in 1881 by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah (later Muhammad al-Mahdi) against the Khedivate of Egypt, which had ...
was established in 1885 after the
Siege of Khartoum
The Siege of Khartoum (also known as the Battle of Khartoum or Fall of Khartoum) occurred from 13 March 1884 to 26 January 1885. Sudanese Mahdist forces captured the city of Khartoum from its Egyptian garrison, thereby gaining control over the ...
. Muhammad Ahmad died shortly after this Mahdist victory and was buried at Omdurman. The Mahdist state was led by the Mahdī's successor, the
Khalifa Abdullahi, until 1898 when an Anglo-Egyptian force, led by
Lord Kitchener, defeated the Mahdists at the
Battle of Omdurman
The Battle of Omdurman was fought during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan between a British–Egyptian expeditionary force commanded by British Commander-in-Chief (sirdar) major general Horatio Herbert Kitchener and a Sudanese army of the M ...
. This victory marked the success of Kitchener's reconquest of Sudan. After the Battle, the Mahdī's tomb was seriously damaged by naval gunfire on Lord Kitchener's orders.
The tomb was reconstructed in 1947 under the direction of the Mahdī's son, al-sayyid
ʿAbd-al-Raḥman al-Mahdī. It is located next to the
Khalifa House Museum
The Khalifa House Museum is an ethnographic museum, located opposite the tomb of Muhammad Ahmad in the city of Omdurman in Sudan. Towards the end of the 19th century, it was the residence of the successor of the Mahdi, Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muha ...
. The tomb has been listed as a site of 'outstanding cultural value' by UNESCO.
Background
The Mahdiyya
In 1881, Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself
al-Mahdī al-Muntaẓar (the Expected Rightly-guided One), successor of the
Islamic prophet
Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God in Islam, God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. So ...
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
. He called his followers to join a
jihad
Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
against the Ottoman-Egyptian occupation of Sudan. Extortionate fiscal burdens administered by this government since its establishment in the 1820s had created widespread discontent among the Sudanese. Increasing European dominance over the Egyptian administration in the 1870s led to the appointment of European and American representatives into positions of power. The fact that many of these were Christian, like
General Gordon, threw the religious status of the occupation into question for Sudanese Muslims. Furthermore, European pressure on the Egyptian government to suppress the slave trade in Sudan created powerful resentment in Sudan especially among trading classes like the ''jallaba''.
Galvanised by widespread resentment for the Ottoman-Egyptian rule, discontented members of Sudanese tribes and Sufi orders joined the Mahdist army. The Mahdī united his Sufi and non-Sufi followers by naming them ''
anṣār'', after the earliest followers of the Prophet Muhammad. The Mahdist state was established after four years of fighting, ending in the 1885 Siege of Khartoum where the British governor-general of Sudan,
General Gordon, was killed and decapitated. Muhammad Ahmad al Mahdī died soon after this victory and was buried at Omdurman. During the period of Mahdist rule, his tomb became the most sacred site in Sudan.
Desecration of the tomb
![Omdurman,_Ruins_of_Mahdi's_Tomb_(1906)_-_TIMEA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Omdurman%2C_Ruins_of_Mahdi%27s_Tomb_%281906%29_-_TIMEA.jpg)
In 1896 a British force was sent to reconquer Sudan. Many saw this as retribution for the death of General Gordon, which had caused a wave of patriotic outrage amongst the British.
After the Battle of Omdurman, the dome of the ''
qubba
A ''qubba'' ( ar, قُبَّة, translit=qubba(t), pl. ''qubāb''), also transliterated as ḳubba, kubbet and koubba, is a cupola or domed structure, typically a tomb or shrine in Islamic architecture. In many regions, such as North Africa, the ...
'' was destroyed by gunboat fire from Kitchener's small Nile fleet. The body of the Mahdi was disinterred and beheaded. This symbolic decapitation echoed General Gordon's death at the hands of the Mahdist forces in 1885. The headless body of the Mahdi was thrown into the Nile. Lord Kitchener kept the Mahdī's skull and it was rumoured that he intended to use it as a drinking cup or ink well. and, in the words of
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, "carried off the Mahdi's head in a kerosene can as a trophy". Allegedly the skull was later buried at
Wadi Halfa
Wādī Ḥalfā ( ar, وادي حلفا) is a city in the Northern state of Sudan on the shores of Lake Nubia near the border with Egypt. It is the terminus of a rail line from Khartoum and the point where goods are transferred from rail to ferr ...
.
Controversy
News of the desecration of the Mahdi's tomb reached a shocked British audience. There was some argument that this treatment was justified due to the perceived ‘savage’ nature of the Mahdist forces. However, there was also widespread respect for the Mahdist forces as fighting men, particularly among British soldiers. The success by the ''
anṣār'' in breaking the British military square was famously remembered in Rudyard Kipling's poem ‘
Fuzzy-Wuzzy’ (a derogatory term for the people of the Beja tribe, many of whom fought in the Mahdist army). Eventually Lord Kitchener was required to write a letter of apology to Queen Victoria for the actions of his troops after the Battle of Omdurman, particularly in relation to the desecration of the Mahdi's tomb and the treatment of his body.
Fragments of the Mahdī’s tomb in the UK
Fragments of the tomb were taken back to Britain as trophies and many of these fragments are now held in cultural institutions in the UK. At least three of the large brass finials from the domes of the tomb survive. One is held at the
Royal Engineers Museum
The Royal Engineers Museum, Library and Archive is a military engineering museum and library in Gillingham, Kent. It tells the story of the Corps of Royal Engineers and British military engineering in general.
History
The 'Ravelin Building', ...
in Kent, another is held at
Blair Castle
Blair Castle (in Scottish Gaelic: Caisteil Bhlàir) stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl, ...
in Scotland and one is at the
Khalifa House Museum
The Khalifa House Museum is an ethnographic museum, located opposite the tomb of Muhammad Ahmad in the city of Omdurman in Sudan. Towards the end of the 19th century, it was the residence of the successor of the Mahdi, Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muha ...
in Omdurman, located next to the reconstructed tomb of the Mahdī.
A relic of Charles Gordon
''National Museums Scotland''. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
"Imperial trophies collecting on campaign during the reconquest of Sudan"
''The National Army Museum'', 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
* Nicoll, Fergus
Fergus Nicoll is a British author and former BBC World Service radio presenter.
Early life
Brought up as a Roman Catholic, Nicoll was educated at Ampleforth College, Christ Church, Oxford (BA Oriental Studies) and Reading University, where he g ...
Material related to the Mahdīa
Retrieved December 21, 2020.
* Parsons, Michael (2015
"Brick from the Mahdi’s tomb used as a Big House doorstop"
''Irish Times''. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
References
{{reflist
Historic sites in Sudan
Omdurman
Mahdist War
Islamic buildings
Buildings and structures completed in 1885
Buildings and structures completed in 1947
Rebuilt buildings and structures