APPENDIX Q.
From Fakirs El Sayet Eltahen and Hamed Idreer to Commandant Omdurman Fort.
In the name of God, the Merciful and Almighty, praise be to Him and our prophet.
From El Sayet Eltahen and Hamed Idreer to Issat Osman Bey, the Colonel and Commander of Omdurman Station, and to all officers with him, our brethren in God. After many salaams and anxiety to see you, we write as friends and companions of the same religion, and as there has been no animosity or hatred existing between us up to the present day, we inform you that the Government of Egypt is no more under the Turkish Empire, but the English have taken possession of it, and you, being Arabs and Moslems, how would you then remain with the infidels and join Gordon, who has no one except slaves and other very low class of people, and Kartoum being surrounded on all sides with great numbers of troops, notwithstanding the approach of the Descendent of the Prophet, our Iman, and the Iman of all Moslems, Mohamed Achmet, the Mahdi, son of Abdullah, who has come to a very short distance from Omdurman with an unlimited number of troops, how Kartoum can oppose them. When we saw these signs, we have hastened to write to you these lines, and ask you to come with all your belongings and join our Emir, and that you should be admitted into the fellowship and take security. You had better not delay until Wednesday, because the Immaum is expected either to-morrow, Tuesday, or Wednesday. So do not procrastinate one single day. Come before the Immaum comes, and you will be well received and well treated; the same as happened to those who have come before you. You are, no doubt, aware of the mercy of our Emir Ahmad el Mostapha; and the Mahdi has sent orders to the said Emir, and instructed him that all who come out from Kartoum or from the fort should be given security and receive no harm. Therefore, you should send two messengers to meet us, and inform us of your designs; and we hope to be the cause of your safety. Let it be known to you that our Emir is like the ark of Noah—whoever comes to it will be saved, and who refuses will perish in deluge; so do not procrastinate not one day. The Emir was in communication with you at first, to send messengers from your part, in order to come to an understanding; but now there is no time for that. One single day will be enough to cause your perish. On account of friendship we send you this advice; and God is a witness of the truth of our statement. You are strangers in this country, but not strangers to our religion; but Gordon is a stranger to both. Now then, would you leave us and join him? We are told that Gordon Pasha is telling you that the English are coming. What if they come? What can they do to our troops? We are very certain that the English who are at Suakin have all perished by Osman, and those who are at Assouan are besieged there, and have fortified themselves there, and given up the Soudan; so all the projects of that infidel are failing, and also the steamer of Stewart Pasha and the Consul was caught at the cataract, and those who were on board were all killed. We send you also a letter addressed to Farratch Pasha el Zeeb. Should you think right, send it to him; and, if you fear the result, tear it up and destroy it. Leave the others and come and be saved. We are here near you; come to us secretly, and leave those infidels to their fate. Send Ibrahim your servant, with those you chose to send as messengers, as he is trustworthy, and we can deliver any secret to him. We await your early arrival, so as to go together with Emir Mustapha, on Tuesday the 23rd El Hajah, to the Mahdi. Peace be upon him!
| (Signed) | Hamed Idrees. El Sayet Eltaher. |
From Faki Mustapha to Commandant Omdurman Fort.
In the name of God, &c., &c.
From the servants of God, Ahmed el Mustāpha, the Governor of the Mahdi, on whom be peace, son of El Iffah el-Ameen to Issat Osman Bey Caimmakam of the Omdurman Station, and to all the officers and soldiers, may God direct the right.
Good friends, we have so often called you to God and to His Apostle, and to his Mahdi (Reformer), on whom be peace, in our letters, but you have neither come nor sent us messengers. But inasmuch as the Fakirs performing patrol duty, and the sentinels tell us that you do not fire upon them if they fire at you, and if they pass close by you you do them harm, hence we hope good of you, and hope of God that you will be directed to the Mahdiship. And now the man of the times has come, the Iman of all Moslems, the successor of God’s Apostle our Lord Mahomed the Mahdi [Reformer], son of Abdullah, to a place near to us one day’s journey from our camp. Out of solicitude for God’s creatures we have taken the trouble to write this to you after having done so already repeatedly; and we have sent you your Brethren, Saddeek, son of Taher, and Hamid el-Shâyib, in order that you should meet them outside beyond the Fakeers, and agree with them on the plan which shall spare your property and children, and write you to us before the arrival of the Mahdi, lest you be lost with those who are lost, which God forbid. You know our solicitude for the people, and that we do not interfere with the property or lives without legal authority. Therefore do not fear us, neither the Imâm, on whom be peace, and who is better than we and better than all God’s creatures, excepting God’s Prophet. Therefore you shall have security from God, His Prophet, His Reformer [Mahdi], and security from me also, who am God’s humble servant. Keep this as a document to witness against us, sealed with my seal, both in this world and the next, that if the least harm befall you, your children, or your property, if you write yourself to me this night, which is the night before Tuesday the 24th el-Hijjah, for fear lest you delay further you will find no other opportunity of reaching us, and will perish. We have already informed you that this Mahdi is the true and expected Reformer who shall possess the eastern parts and the western parts of the earth. Will he therefore be too weak to conquer Kartoum, in which there are only base people and people having no following? And we know perfectly the number; and they are in want of their relief from the North, which has been cut off; and the steamer called Kartoumiah has been taken, and the Fakeers have killed those who were in it, and it was sunk over against Gordon like the people of Seba. Do not therefore destroy yourselves with him. Those admonished you out of pity for you that you may be among those who are saved, not among those that perish. If you listen to my words, come out to your Brethren, and afterwards come to us, and we will speak about that which will be for your interest, that is to say, we will agree with you on the delivery of the sentinels by night, so that the morning will find the Fakeers there, and will find you with your property with your Brethren here in the camp, and to-morrow we will meet the Imâm near here, and you will have saved yourselves. But if you reject our words you will rue it, and I have thus admonished you.
(Signed) Ahmad Mustapha el-Ameen.
October 13, 1884.
23 Hijjah, 1301.
P.S.—Herewith is a letter to Ferratch Pasha el-Zeeb, if you send it by some one who will keep the secret all right. But if any harm come to you therefrom, then let it alone and save yourselves, and if you come to us now, and one piastre of your property be lost, or one drop of your blood, I am responsible, for this is a document against me. Besides, Our Sovereign Lord the Imâm has given security to all who come over to us from the people of Kartoum, and from your fort, and there is no fear.
[L. S.]