The people then followed him and pledged allegiance to the Mahdi, to fight the government, and wore the clothes of the desert dwellers. They gathered their followers, and people came to him from all parts of the country, and a considerable number of Arabs joined him. They advanced towards the garrison of Shendi.

The Battle of Shendi Shendi is a village on the bank of the Nile, about one mile from Atbara. It is the place where we mentioned earlier the news of the killing of Prince Ismail bin Abdel Ya Pasha, at the opening of Sudan. Its inhabitants were Egyptians and it was the base of one of the centers. When the Mahdi arrived and the people pledged allegiance to him, there was in Shendi a garrison of about three hundred soldiers, composed of Bashi-bazouks. The Mahdi engaged them in many skirmishes. When supplies reached them, and the garrison heard of the arrival of the preacher Muhammad al-Mahdi, they decided to leave their stronghold and continue their march northwards to join the garrison of Berber. His soldiers surprised them and took them as prey. As for the children and women, they were mutilated in a way that sent shivers down the spine due to its horror. What we remember is that Muhammad al-Mahdi prevented his followers from laying their hands on the Egyptian women, and from committing the acts of enslavement and plunder that the Mahdi had committed with the Egyptian women. He sent a long letter to the Mahdi in which he said: "I see no legitimate reason for us to treat the Egyptian women in the same way that was done before." The Mahdi replied to him that he had given him full authority in this matter, and that he should do what he saw fit. So Muhammad al-Mahdi punished his followers who had violated the honor of the Egyptian women and prevented them from doing so.