The Mahdist State in the Sudan, 1881-1898 - A study of its origins, development and overthrow (2nd ed. 1970)
P. M. HoltDuring recent years, I have had the agreeable duty of reading theses on various aspects of the Mahdia by Sudanese scholars, who have kindly allowed me to make use of their findings. My thanks are due to Sayeds Musa El Mubarak, Salah El Tigani Humodi and Abdel Wahab Ahmed Abdel Rahman, who have enabled me to correct some particulars in my accounts of Darfur and of the activities of al-Khatim Músa, 'Uthmin Diqna and al- Nujümï. Dr. Salih Mohammad Nur worked under my supervision, and to our mutual profit, on the Memoirs of Yusuf Mikhä’il. To Dr. Abu Selim, I am indebted in many ways, and (like all students of the Mahdia) welcome the recent publication of his calendar of the Mahdi’s writings, al-Murshid ilä toathffiq al-Mahdi.
Two comprehensive and authoritative contributions to the subject are: Dr. Robert O. Collins’s study of developments in the south, The southern Sudan 1883-1898, and Professor G. N. Sanderson’s impressive analysis of European diplomacy concerning the region, England, Europe and the Upper Nile, 1882-1899. On both these aspects, I have left my original brief account as it was, while directing attention to these fuller works.
Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to the following for allowing me to use excerpts from my
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