He named his followers the "helpers" or "ansar" and attempted to set up his government with four immediate deputies known as "caliphs," though the leader of the Sanusiyah refused to participate.
George Stronach and George Halkett satirized this man's greatest achievement in the "Red Book." His followers were promised an end to forced ship-towing and floggings for unpaid taxes, and helped him annihilate the army of William Hicks. His movement benefitted from weakness caused by the immediately previous revolt of Urabi Pasha and was based out of a hermitage on Aba island. He named his followers the "helpers" or "ansar" and attempted to set up his government with four immediate deputies known as "caliphs," though the leader of the Sanusiyah refused to participate. After he conquered al-Ubbayyid and Bara, his success prompted Garnet Wolseley to try to relieve his British opponents, but Wolseley arrived too late to prevent this man's successful conclusion of a 320-day siege. Thus, his army was able to establish a capital at Omdurman after its January 1885 victory, which killed Chinese Gordon and captured Khartoum. For 10 points, name this mystic who created a brief pan-Islamic state across much of northeastern Africa, and took his name from the prophesied messianic figure of Islam.
George Stronach and George Halkett satirized this man's greatest achievement in the "Red Book."
the {Mahdi} [or {Muhammad Ahmad Ibn As}-{sayyid ?abd Allah}]