Editing Muhammad Ahmad (section)

==Advance of the rebellion==
[[File:Mahdi 1885.png|thumb|right| Extent of the Mahdi rebellion in 1885 (green hatching)]]
When Governor General [[Muhammad Rauf Pasha]] in Khartoum learned of the 29 June 1881 declaration by Muhammad Ahmad as the Mahdi, he believed that the man would be satisfied with a government pension, and he sent Ahmad a friendly letter.  The Mahdi telegraphed an uncompromising reply, saying, "He who does not believe in me will be purified by the sword."{{sfn|Green|2007|p=87}}

Mohammed Rauf Pasha sent a small party to arrest the Mahdi on Aba Island, but on [[Battle of Aba|11 August 1881 it was overwhelmed]], and the insurrection in southern Sudan began to grow.{{sfn|Beckett|2006|p=67}} Rauf Pasha downplayed the "affray" in his report to [[Cairo]], and sent the governor of Kordofan to Aba Island with 1,000 soldiers to crush the Mahdi. When they arrived, they found the Mahdi had fled to the southwest. The soldiers marched after him, but gave up the pursuit when the September rains flooded the roads and riverbeds; they returned to [[El-Obeid]]. The Mahdi established a new base in the [[Nuba Mountains]].{{sfn|Green|2007|p=111}}

The Mahdi and a party of his followers, the ''[[Ansar (Sudan)|Ansār]]'' (helpers, known in the West as "the [[Dervish]]es"), made a long march to [[Kurdufan]]. There he gained numerous recruits, especially from the [[Baqqara]], and notable leaders such as Sheikh Madibbo ibn Ali of the [[Rizeigat]] and Abdallahi ibn Muhammad of the Ta'aisha tribes. They were also joined by the [[Hadendoa]] [[Beja people|Beja]], who were rallied to the Mahdi in 1883 by [[Osman Digna]], an Ansār captain in eastern Sudan.

[[File:Mahdist in the Khalifa's house, Omdurman, Sudan.png|left|thumb|250px|A Sudanese man wearing the typical Mahdist [[jibba]] in Omdurman, 1936]]
The Mahdist revolution was backed by the northern and western regions of Sudan. It also found great support from the [[Nuer people|Nuer]], [[Shilluk people|Shilluk]] and [[Anuak people|Anuak]] tribes of southern Sudan, in addition to the tribes of [[Bahr el Ghazal (region of South Sudan)|Bahr Alghazal]]. This widespread support affirmed that the [[Mahdist War|Mahdist Revolution]] was a national rather than regional revolution. In addition to unifying different tribes, the revolution cut across religious divides, despite its religious origins. The Mahdi was supported by non-Muslims and Muslims alike. This had important implications for the slave trade. Going against traditional Islamic injunctions, the Mahdi allowed the enslavement of free Muslims, if they did not support him, and forbade the enslavement of traditional victims, non-Muslims, if they supported him.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Searcy|first=Kim|title=The Sudanese Mahdī's Attitudes on Slavery and Emancipation|journal=Islamic Africa|volume=1|issue=1}}</ref>

Late in 1883, the Ansār, armed only with spears and swords, overwhelmed a 4,000-man Egyptian force not far from [[El-Obeid]], and seized their rifles and ammunition. The Mahdi followed up this victory by laying siege to El-Obeid and starving it into submission after four months. The town remained the headquarters of the Ansār for much of the decade.

The Ansār, now 40,000 strong, defeated an 8,000-man Egyptian relief force led by British officer [[William Hicks (British soldier)|William Hicks]] near Kashgil, in the [[Battle of Shaykan]]. The defeat of Hicks also resulted in the fall of [[Darfur]] to the Ansār, which until then had been effectively defended by [[Rudolf Carl von Slatin]]. Jabal Qadir in the south was also taken. The western half of Sudan was now firmly in Ansārī hands.

Their success emboldened the Hadendoa, who under the generalship of Osman Digna wiped out a smaller force of Egyptians under the command of Colonel [[Valentine Baker]] near the [[Red Sea]] port of [[Suakin]]. Major General [[Gerald Graham]] was sent with a force of 4,000 British soldiers and defeated Digna at [[First and Second Battles of El Teb|El Teb]] on 29 February. Two weeks later he suffered high casualties at [[Battle of Tamai|Tamai]], and Graham eventually withdrew his forces.