Editing Abdallahi ibn Muhammad

{{Short description|Sudanese Ansar ruler (1846–1899)}}{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Abdallahi ibn Muhammad
| title        = 
| image        = Abdallahi_ibn_Muhammad,_1846-1899.jpg
| image_size   = 250
| caption      = Artistic representation of Abdallahi ibn Muhammad
| succession   = [[Caliph|Khalifa]] of [[Mahdist State|Sudan]]
| reign        = 1885–1899
| predecessor  = [[Muhammad Ahmad]] (as Mahdi)
| successor    = ''Disestablished''
| birth_date   = {{circa}} 1846
| birth_place  = [[Um Dafuq]], [[Darfur]], [[Turkish Sudan]], [[Egypt Eyalet]]
| death_date   = 25 November 1899 (age 53)
| death_place  = [[Battle of Umm Diwaykarat|Umm Diwaykarat]], [[Mahdist Sudan]]
| place of burial = 
| full name    = Abdullah Ibn Muhammad Al-Khalifa
| father       = 
| dynasty      = 
}}

'''Abdullah ibn-Mohammed al-Khalifa''' or '''Abdullah al-Taashi''' or '''Abdallah al-Khalifa''', also known as "The '''[[Caliph|Khalifa]]'''" ({{langx|ar|c. عبدالله بن سيد محمد الخليفة}}; 1846{{snd}}25 November 1899) was a Sudanese [[Ansar (Sudan)|Ansar]] ruler who was one of the principal followers of [[Muhammad Ahmad]]. Ahmad claimed to be the [[Mahdi]], building up a large following. After Ahmad's death, Abdullah ibn-Mohammed took over the movement, adopting the title of '''Khalifah al-Mahdi''' (usually rendered as "Khalifa"). He attempted to create a kingdom, which led to widespread discontent, and his eventual defeat and death at the hands of the British and Egyptians.

==Personal life==
Abdullah was born into the [[Baqqara|Ta'aisha Baqqara]] tribe {{circa}} 1846 in [[Um Dafuq]] and was trained and educated as a preacher and holy man.<ref name=EB>{{cite encyclopedia|last=|first=|editor-first=|editor-last=|editor-link=|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|title='Abd Allah|edition=15th|year=2010|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|volume=I: A-Ak - Bayes|location=Chicago, Illinois|isbn=978-1-59339-837-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/16 16]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=عبدالله |first1=إشراقة علي |title="بيت الخليفة" متحف يؤرخ للثورة المهدية في السودان فما قصته؟ |url=https://www.independentarabia.com/node/399751/%D9%85%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%81-%D9%8A%D8%A4%D8%B1%D8%AE-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AB%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%85%D8%A7-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%9F |website=independentarabia.com |publisher=Independent Arabia |access-date=2 June 2023}}</ref> His father, Mahommed et Taki, had determined to emigrate to [[Mecca]] with his family, but the unsettled state of the region prevented him, and he died in [[Africa]] after advising Abdullah, to take refuge on the [[Nile]], and to proceed to Mecca at a favourable opportunity.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Khalifa, The|volume=15|page=770}}</ref>

On his journey, Abdullah met and became a follower of [[Muhammad Ahmad]] "the [[Mahdi]]" around 1880<ref name=EB/> and was named [[Caliph|Khalifa]] by the Mahdi in 1881, becoming one of his chief lieutenants.{{sfn|Lipschutz|Rasmussen|1989|p=1}} He married Hafsa Abdelsalam; she eventually bore him a son. 

The other Khalifas were [[Ali wad Hilu]] and [[Muhammad Sharif, Kalifa|Muhammad Sharif]].{{sfn|Spiers|1998|p=207}} Abdullah was given command of a large part of the Mahdist army, and during the next four years led them in a series of victories over the Anglo-Egyptians.{{sfn|Lipschutz|Rasmussen|1989|p=1}}

He fought at the [[Battle of El Obeid]], where [[William Hicks (British soldier)|William Hicks]]'s Anglo-Egyptian army was destroyed (5 November 1883), and was one of the principal commanders at the [[siege of Khartoum]], (February 1884{{snd}}26 January 1885).{{sfn|Lewis|1987}}

==Ruler of Sudan==
[[File:The Mahdist State, 1881-98, modern Sudan.png|thumb|Abdallahi's 1891 empire]]
After the unexpected death of the Mahdi in June 1885, Abdullah succeeded as leader of the Mahdists, declaring himself "Khalifat al-Mahdi", or successor of the Mahdi.<ref name=EB/>{{sfn|Lipschutz|Rasmussen|1989|p=1}} He faced internal disputes over his leadership with the [[Ashraf]] and he had to suppress several revolts during 1885–1886, 1888–1889, and 1891 before emerging as sole leader of the Mahdiyah or [[Mahdist State]].{{sfn|Lewis|1987}} 

At first the Mahdiyah was run on military lines as a jihad state, with the courts enforcing [[Sharia]] law and the precepts of the Mahdi, which had equal force. Later the Khalifa established a more traditional administration.{{sfn|Fadlalla|2004|p=29}} [[Khartoum]] was deserted on his orders, and [[Omdurman]], at first intended as a temporary camp, was made his capital.<ref name="EB1911"/>

He felt the best course of action to keep internal problems to a minimum was to expand into [[Ethiopia]] and [[Egypt]]. The Khalifa invaded [[Ethiopia]] with 60,000 Ansar troops and sacked [[Gondar]] in 1887, destroying nearly every church in the city. He later refused to make peace.{{sfn|Fadlalla|2004|p=29}} He successfully repulsed the Ethiopians at the [[Battle of Metemma]] on 9 March 1889, where the Ethiopian emperor [[Yohannes IV of Ethiopia|Yohannes IV]] was killed.{{sfn|Lipschutz|Rasmussen|1989|p=1}} He created workshops to maintain steam boats on the Nile and to manufacture ammunition.{{sfn|Fadlalla|2004|p=29}} But the Khailfa underestimated the strength of the Anglo-Egyptian forces and suffered a crushing defeat in Egypt.<ref name=EB/>
[[File:SLATIN(1896) p561 THE KHALIFA INCITING HIS TROOPS TO ATTACK KASSALA.jpg|thumb|left|A depiction of the Khalifa inciting his troops to attack [[Kassala]], from [[Rudolf Carl von Slatin]]'s ''Fire and Sword in the Sudan'' (1896)]]
The Egyptians failed to counter up the [[Nile]]; however in the 1890s the state became strained economically, and suffered from crop failures instead. The [[Ashraf]], in November 1891, decided to press again, but were put down one final time; they were prevented from causing any further issues.<ref name=EB/> During the next four years, the Khalifa strengthened the military and financial situation of Sudan; however this was not enough, as Sudan became threatened by the [[Kingdom of Italy|Italian]], [[French Third Republic|French]] and [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] imperial forces that surrounded it. In 1896, an Anglo-Egyptian army under General [[Herbert Kitchener]] began the reconquest of Sudan.{{sfn|Lipschutz|Rasmussen|1989|p=1}}<ref name=EB/>

==Defeat and death==
[[File:ALKHALIFA ABD ALLAH DEATH.jpg|thumb|right|The body of the Khalifa (third from the right) on the battlefield of Umm Diwaykarat]]
Following the loss of [[Dongola]] in September 1896, then Berber and [[Abu Hamed]] to Kitchener's army in 1897, the Khalifa Abdullah sent an army that was defeated at the [[Battle of Atbara]] River on 8 April 1898, afterwards falling back to his new capital of [[Omdurman]].

At the [[Battle of Omdurman]] on 2 September 1898, his army of 52,000 men was destroyed. The Khalifa then fled south and went into hiding with a few followers and was eventually caught and killed by [[Reginald Wingate]]'s Egyptian column at [[Battle of Umm Diwaykarat|Umm Diwaikarat]] in [[Kordofan]] on 25 November 1899.{{sfn|Fadlalla|2004|pp=30-31}}<ref name=EB/>

Devout, intelligent, and an able general and administrator, the Khalifa was unable to overcome tribal dissension to unify [[Sudan]], and was forced to employ Egyptians to provide the trained administrators and technicians he needed to maintain the Mahdist State.{{sfn|Lewis|1987}}

==See also==
{{wikisource|Author:Abdallahi ibn Muhammad}}
* [[Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan]]
* [[Khalifa House Museum]]

== References ==
{{reflist |colwidth=35em}}
'''Sources'''
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dymO_3uCQagC&pg=PA29
 |title=Short History of Sudan
 |first=Mohamed H. |last=Fadlalla
 |publisher=iUniverse |year=2004
 |isbn=0-595-31425-2}}
*{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=David Levering |author-link=David Levering Lewis
 |chapter=Khalifa, Khedive, and Kitchener
 |title=The Race for Fashoda |location=New York
 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson
 |year=1987 |isbn=1-55584-058-2}}
*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYoPkk04Yp4C&pg=PA1
 |title=Dictionary of African historical biography
 |last1=Lipschutz  |last2=Rasmussen |first1=Mark R. |first2=R. Kent
 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1989
 |isbn=0-520-06611-1}}
*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfe-8_bFX3IC&pg=PA207
 |title=Sudan: the reconquest reappraised
 |last=Spiers |first=Edward M.
 |publisher=Routledge |year=1998
 |isbn=0-7146-4749-7}}
*{{cite journal |jstor=41716288
 |title=Some Notes on The Khalifa Abdullahi from Contemporary Sudanese Sources 
 |last=Reid |first=J. A.
 |journal=Sudan Notes and Records
 |publisher=University of Khartoum |year=1938
 |volume=21
 |issue=1
 |pages=207–211
 }}

{{refend}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad, Abdallahi ibn}}
[[Category:1846 births]]
[[Category:1899 deaths]]
[[Category:Mahdist military personnel of the Mahdist War]]
[[Category:Sudanese politicians]]
[[Category:19th-century monarchs in Africa]]
[[Category:People from Darfur]]