From Abderrahhmân en Najoomi and Abdallah en Noor to Gordon Pasha.
In the name of God the merciful and compassionate. Praise be to God the bountiful Ruler, with blessing on our lord Mahomed and his successors, and on whom be peace.
From the servants of their Lord Abderrahhmân en Najoomi and Abdallah en Noor to Gordon Pasha, representative of England and of the Khedive. May God guide him into truth. Amen.
We have to state to you that as to thy presence in the Soudan this last time, and thy first letter to the Imâm the Mahdi, on whom be peace, and as to thine appointment by the Khedive; the Imâm the Mahdi, on whom be peace, has written to thee, and has shown thee the truth in leading thee to God; and also that which concerns thy salvation and that of those with thee, and how thou mayest attain salvation in this world and in the next.
Thou hast replied to his Highness (in a manner) contrary to that (which was) expected (of thee) rejecting the truth, whether for or against thee. After we arrived with our hosts to fight thee and drive thee into submission—willingly or unwillingly—the Imâm, out of compassion for thee and those with thee, a second time exhorted thee to surrender to the command of God and his prophet, and gave thee the covenant (in the name) of God and His promise that if thou didst surrender thou shouldst be (assured of) safety, with thy children, thy property, and all that thou hast, (thus) securing to thee the same (privileges) as to us, and the same (duties) as are required of us.
You have received that letter of his by his messengers the Moslems whom he appointed from thence to advise thee, after our arrival in this (desert) Deem. But neither you nor those with you have accepted the call (wherewith) God and His prophet have called you.
You answered as you did to our lord, and you demanded a thing of Abd el Kâder Ibrahim, when el Jâber the Moslem came (to thee), (who was) one of the messengers sent to thee for negotiation—(but) thou didst send him back. Yet we had sent him to thee in our intention for good and in our goodwill towards thee and towards those with thee. And we wrote to you the advice which reached you. Nevertheless, you did not listen to the truth nor accept it—because the will of God must be accomplished.
We had therefore resolved not to correspond any more with you, nor to communicate with you except by the sword and such like weapons, until we have destroyed your glory and your strength departs (from you) and we pluck you out by the roots when we seize you in our grasp. However, yesterday your messenger arrived with a letter from you to our brother Abd el Kâder Ibrahim, in which you deceitfully counsel him and try to seduce him from his religion, and in which you tell him to desire us and Aboo Kerja to go to the Dâr el Gharb (West) (as being) better for us—because when you are arranging matters you will make us Sultans. But every man of sense knows that all things are in the power of God and not in your hand, nor in that of those who appointed you, nor in that of the English, on whom you depend. And you lie unto the people with you about their arrival (the English) at Dongola, and about their killing Sheikh Ahhmed el Huda and the Shereef Mohammed; and that they were going straight to Berber; and that Mahomed el Khair[272] the Emir of Berber ran away from them, and made fools of the men with him when they asked him for their pay. As to your promise of making us Sultans when you settle the affairs of the country as stated in your letter, and your statement that the steamers sent last week by you had found Berber desolate and deserted, and that the two steamers found there had been captured, we have learned from this letter of yours that the steamers you sent did not seize anything at Berber except only the steamers, and it is known to all the world that the Moslems captured a quantity of Government stores which were in Berber. But you do not mention having seized any of them—only the steamers.
Lying does not become a Pasha such as you.
And we received the day before yesterday a letter from Mahomed el Khair telling us that he was on the shore—both east and west—ready to fight your steamers. And, please God, they (the steamers) with the guns, will not go back to you a second time. But the last will overtake (redeem) the first, and you will not hear of them again. We did not think that with your intelligence and your knowledge that God has strengthened us in His earth, you would have told us lies or tried to frighten and deceive us, and those who are with us, by talking of things (already better) known to us, and of which we have constant information, (receiving) news day and night from all parts of the world.
And you seem to have chosen for us, that we should go back to the West (Dâr el Gharb;) trying to deceive and mislead us through desire for the life of this world, and (as though) we covet (the dignity) of being Sultans and (to have) dominion. But we call upon thee to come to God and His prophet, and to follow the right faith, and to reject the religion in which thou art, and to adopt the religion of our prophet Mahomed, on whom be blessing and peace; and the fellowship of his Khâlif Mahomed, the Mahdi, on whom be peace. If thou wilt do this thou shalt have honour in this world and in the next.
Otherwise, if thou dost still look forward to the coming of the English, who, as thou pretendest, have reached Dongola, and are going to Berber, know for certain and be sure—and accept the advice we give thee on the subject—that all the Soudan country, except Kartoum and the towns of Sennaar and Dongola, is all of it in the hands of the Mahdi, and in the possession of his honourable friends. From the extreme border of the Soudan to Suakin, and to Reef, no one shares with them (in the possession thereof).
The Government who sent thee as Governor-General does not possess a single hand-breadth of ground.
The English came several times to Suakin. They were killed (fought) by one of the lieutenants there—Oshman ibn Aboo Bekr Digna—who has captured all their armies and the booty thereof.
Therefore, look to thy own safety elsewhere without (relying on) them, and prepare thyself for what may happen to thee before their arrival. For the whole English Government (nation) could not pass by way of Suakin or Dongola. But even if the English were to come God would kill them by the hand of His faithful before they (could) reach you. Know that the Imâm the Mahdi, on whom be peace, has sent us for the sole express purpose of fighting thee and as advance-corps to prepare the way of his army and of his Highness.
But whereas thou hast been appointed Governor on behalf of two eminent Governments—and as thou sayest that thou hast come to arrange the affairs of the Soudan—thou wilt not find a better opportunity for carrying out thy intention and desire successfully than (now) in these two days before the arrival of the whole army.
But if thou and those with thee in the town delay—awaiting the English—till after the arrival here of the whole army and the noble presence (of the Mahdi) you will be disappointed in your hope and desire. Therefore it (will be) much better for thee to collect all thy forces and come out to meet us beyond the fortifications, from which we are but an hour distant.
Then thou and thy men may attain your wish, and go back to your fortress, happy in having fought us. But if thou dost delay until the arrival of the whole army and of the noble presence, we are certain that you will not then think of fighting or of hoping to possess (conquer) any more.
It can therefore only be your excessive fear of us which prevents your coming out and fighting us. Soon, please God, thou and those with thee will be in our grasp, and will taste the sore evil (result) of your unwillingness to follow the way of God.
Know oh! Excellency Gordon, that whereas thou hast said in thy letter to Abd el Kâder Ibrahim that thou wast diligently working in preparing an earthquake, and didst fear for him when it should reach him, that thy saying is nonsense, unworthy for an intelligent being to utter.
Has the Earth, indeed, brought out to thee her demons? (for thy service).
Thou hast tried to frighten him by saying that thou wast coming out thyself to fight and kill us, and didst order him to leave us. But this (coming out to fight) would have pleased us better.
The earth is (become) too straight for thee, wide though it be, and thy ways (of escape) are cut off. Look out for thyself (to find) way of escape from the judgments (vengeance) of God and of His prophet. For we have thee by the hair of the head, through the power of God and his will.
As to the answer sent by the Ulema to the Imâm the Mahdi, on whom be peace, we have sent it by a special messenger to be placed in his hands. But do not thou rely on the lies they tell in it, because since the reply which they sent by Jāber the Moslem, in which they denied in the strongest terms (the validity of the claim of) the Mahdi, they sent messengers and letters to the Mahdi, on whom be peace, apologizing for what they wrote to him, and for what they may (in future) write, making oath to him that they are compelled by you to utter these things for fear of their life, and (only do so) pending the arrival of his noble presence, and they pray him not to have any ill-will against them for what they may say.
If thou hast sense, do not regard what they write, but have it sent through you.
And whatever you may find to your interest and for the prolongation of thy dominion, about which thou art deluded, and from which thou shalt soon depart, please God, do it without their advice or counsel, for all they show thee is only deceit, till they (can become) master of their opportunity to join the Imâm the Mahdi, on whom be peace.
As to the favour which God has granted to Sheikh Ahhmed el Huda and Shereef Mahmood and the faithful ones with them to die as martyrs, that is the ultimate object (of desire) for all followers of the Imâm the Mahdi, on whom be peace, and what they have promised him (to do), and what they pray God may honour them (in granting to them).
We pray God to grant us the favour He has accorded to them, and to bestow on us the honours of martyrdom, pleasant in His sight. And we continue in prayer to God to make us among His beloved ones honoured by Him with martyrdom. For He has the power to do this, and to Him it appertains to hear (prayer).
What we have said is enough. God has the guidance in His hand.
(Date and Seals cut off.)
[The length of these letters, and the persuasions used, even the great sheet of paper and the writing of the letters, testify to the great respect in which General Gordon was held.
The subterranean earthquake or mine—to be produced by chemicals or electricity—is mentioned in this letter in reply to the mention made in General Gordon’s former letter. These chiefs do not believe he could do such a work except by aid of demons or Jins.
Where, in exhorting General Gordon to surrender, they point out his critical condition, and use the phrase, “We have thee by the hair of the head,” this is in allusion to the conqueror’s hold upon a prostrate foe (by the one lock of hair which Moslems have on their heads), just at the last moment, when the sword is uplifted to slay.]