al-Shakaba is a community in Al Jazirah state,

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 ...

. It lies on the west shore of the

Blue Nile The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major Tributary, tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the wa ...

near Barakat, to the south of

Wad Madani Wad Madani (; also spelled Wad Medani and known simply as Madani) is a city in eastern Sudan and the capital of the Al Jazirah (state), Al Jazirah state. "Wad Madani" (population), Microsoft Encarta, Online Encyclopedia 2001. Wad Madani lies on th ...

. The village is within the Gezira scheme, which provides irrigation water for cotton cultivation. After the Battle of Karari (2 September 1898) in which the Mahdist forces of the Khalifa were defeated by an Anglo-Egyptian army under General

Herbert Kitchener Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (; 24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. Kitchener came to prominence for his imperial campaigns, his involvement in the Second Boer War, a ...

, the Mahdi's family were forced to return to their original homes 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 ...

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 ...

in September 1898. They were arrested there and sent east to Shakaba. After hearing a rumor that the group was conducting Mahdist propaganda, a force of government troops fired on the group at random, killing Khalifa

Muhammad Sharif Mian Muhammad Sharif (Punjabi language, Punjabi, , 18 November 1919 – 19 October 2004) was a Pakistani businessman who is known as the co-founder of Ittefaq Group and founder of Sharif Group. from one of the biggest political parties of the ...

and two of the Mahdi's sons, al-Fadil and al-Bushra. A third son,

Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi Sir Sayyid Abdul Rahman al-Mahdi, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, KBE (; June 1885 – 24 March 1959) was a Sudanese politician and prominent religious leader. He was one of the leading religious and political figures duri ...

, was badly wounded. After he had recovered he was allowed to settle in Shakaba. A 1907 account gave a different version of the events. It said "Khalifa Sherif preached Mahdism openly at Wad Madani; but he was captured by Captain N.M. Smyth, V.C., and tried by court-martial and shot". A footnote says he lived at Shakaba, forty miles from

Sennar Sennar ( ') is a city on the Blue Nile in Sudan and possibly the capital of the state of Sennar. For several centuries it was the capital of the Funj Kingdom of Sennar and until at least 2011, Sennar was the capital of Sennar State. Histo ...

, and that the Mahdi's sons Fadil and Bishra were with him, but does not mention their death.

References

Gezira State {{Sudan-geo-stub