Three Mahdist Letter-Books

In 1955 the Sudan Government presented to the School of Oriental and African Studies photographs of several important documents connected with the Sudanese Mahdia (1881–98). Amongst these are three letter-books containing the text of communications from the Mahdi, Muhammad (Ahmad) b. ‘Abdallāhi, who led the movement until his death in 1885, and his successor, the Khalifah ‘Abdallāhi b. Muhammad al-Ta‘āīishl, who was defeated by Kitchener at the battle of Kararī (Omdurman) in September 1898. None of these MSS has yet been published, although extracts have been printed from one. The purpose of this article is to give a brief indication of their history and contents. They may be designated the letter-books of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Nujūmī, ‘Uthmān Diqnah, and Yūsuf Mikhā'īl, and the letters N, D, and M will be used for the respective short references.