The Battle of Aba, which took place on 12 August 1881, was the opening

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

of the

Mahdist War The Mahdist War (; 1881–1899) was fought between the Mahdist Sudanese, led by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam (the "Guided One"), and the forces of the Khedivate of Egypt, initially, and later th ...

. The incident saw Mahdist rebels, led by

Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Fahal (; 12 August 1843 – 21 June 1885) was a Sudanese religious and political leader. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi and led a war against Egyptian rule in Sudan, which culminated in a remarkable vi ...

, who had proclaimed himself the Mahdi, rout

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

troops who had landed on

Aba Island Aba Island is an island on the White Nile to the south of Khartoum, Sudan. It is the original home of the Mahdi in Sudan and the spiritual base of the Umma Party. History Aba Island was the birthplace of the Mahdiyya, first declared on Ju ...

Background

In March 1881, Muhammad Ahmad, living on

on the

White Nile The White Nile ( ') is a river in Africa, the minor of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the larger being the Blue Nile. The name "White" comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. In the stri ...

, before his "inner circle" (which included

Abdallahi ibn Muhammad Abdullah ibn-Mohammed al-Khalifa or Abdullah al-Taashi or Abdallah al-Khalifa, also known as "The Caliph, Khalifa" (; 184625 November 1899) was a Sudanese Ansar (Sudan), Ansar ruler who was one of the principal followers of Muhammad Ahmad. Ahmad c ...

, who would become known as "the Khalifa"), announced that he was the Mahdi. He based this off of a dream he had where he was visited by

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

and

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. The Governor-General of the Sudan,

Ra'uf Pasha Muhammad Rauf Pasha (c. 1832 – 1888) was an Egyptian soldier and colonial administrator who served in turn as governor of Equatoria and Harar, and governor general of Sudan. Early career Muhammad Rauf Pasha was born in 1832, to an Ethiopian m ...

, soon sent Mohammad Bey Abu Sa'ud to investigate the situation. Arriving on Aba Island on 7 August 1881, Abu Sa'ud requested that Muhammad Ahmad come to

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

(the capital of

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

) to meet with the Governor-General. The Mahdi refused and Abu Sa'ud warned him that he "must give up his claim to be the Mahdi" and then left the island.

Battle

After that meeting, an "arrest-party" of 200 Egyptian soldiers (and one mountain-gun) were sent to Aba Island on the ship ''Isma'iliyya''. It was unclear who was the head of the expedition, Abu Sa'ud or his senior military officer, 'Ali Effendi, and the two quarreled. The ship arrived at Aba on 12 August 1881 and moored about a quarter of a mile from the Mahdi's village. Once there, Abu Sa'ud and 'Ali Effendi found themselves in disagreement over when to attack. The former wanted to wait until the following day to attack, while the latter (who won the argument) wanted to move out right away. Using some

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

s as guides, the Egyptian forces reached Muhammad Ahmad's hut and 'Ali Effendi burst into the shelter, shooting the man inside, who turned out to be a guest of the Mahdi. Muhammad Ahmad and his followers were waiting "in the dense bush outside the village." The zealous Mahdists, "armed with sticks, stones, hoes, and palm-knives, and a very few with

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

s and

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

s" attacked the Egyptians and completely overwhelmed them. The ground was muddy (it had rained during the Egyptians' march to the village) and this favored the bare-foot Mahdist rebels over the boot-clad government soldiers. The routed Egyptians made a dash for the ''Isma'iliyya.'' The Egyptians had suffered 120 casualties with nine of them taken prisoner. Of the Mahdi's forces, only twelve had been killed and Muhammad Ahmad, himself, was wounded after being shot in the right shoulder. After learning of the disaster, Abu Sa'ud ordered the ''Isma'iliyya'' to shell the village. The Mahdists arrived on the banks of the river to taunt the Egyptians. The first shell missed the rebels by twenty yards, and, after that, the Mahdists walked out of range of the ''Isma'iliyya'', ending the confrontation. The Mahdi compared his victory to the

Battle of Badr The Battle of Badr or sometimes called The Raid of Badr ( ; ''Ghazwahu Badr''), also referred to as The Day of the Criterion (, ; ''Yawm al-Furqan'') in the Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan, 2 AH), near the pre ...

, Mohammad's first victory in battle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aba, Battle of 1881 in Sudan

Aba ABA may refer to: Aviation * AB Aerotransport, former Scandinavian airline * IATA airport code for Abakan International Airport in Republic of Khakassia, Russia Businesses and organizations Broadcasting * Alabama Broadcasters Association, Uni ...

August 1881 1881 in Egypt