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Mahdist State

The Mahdist State was an Islamic state which ruled the Sudan from 1885 to 1899, with Omdurman serving as its capital. In 1881, the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad and his Ansar movement initiated a rebellion against the Khedivate of Egypt and its pro-Western ruler Isma'il Pasha. In 1885, in spite of the intervention of the British general Charles Gordon, the Mahdists captured Khartoum following a year-long siege, overthrew the Ottoman-Egyptian administration, and established their own "Islamic and national" government with Omdurman as its capital. The Mahdi died shortly after his victory, and his son Abdallahi ibn Muhammad succeeded him and consolidated the Mahdist State, implementing administrative and judiciary systems based on the Mahdist interpretation of sharia. The Mahdists killed all men who refused to accept Muhammad Ahmed as the Mahdi, taking their women and their property for themselves. In 1898, the British reconquered the Sudan at the Battle of Omdurman, and it became part of the condominium of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Remnants of the Mahdist State continued the fight in Darfur until 1909, when Sanin Husain's hideout fell.

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