609 The Pledge of Abd Allah al-Ta'ayshi to the Mahdi We will not include anything from his biography in these lines, so that we may present it when the Caliphate passes to him. Rather, we mention here a part of his pledge to him, from the teacher Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Nur al-Dawam. He said: In the year 1291 AH, a man from the Baggara came to me seeking the Sammaniyya Tariqa. I taught him its litanies, and he remained attached to me. He informed me that he had come with his father from the lands of Kalka, south of the Dar Fur provinces, intending to go to the Hijaz to perform the pilgrimage. They were traveling leisurely, not in a hurry, on a camel, as was customary for the people of that land. When they reached the lands of Umm Kordofan, east of Khartoum, his father died. He was afflicted with grief and remained in mourning for about two years. Most of his conversation with me was him saying, "You are the guided one." I tried to dissuade him from this, but he would not desist. One day, I said to him, "I am not the Mahdi." He then got up and left. I thought he was like my student whom I had expelled, Ahmad. I said to him, mockingly and disdainfully, "If you are among those who expect the appearance of the Mahdi, then go to him." The next day, I asked about him but could not find him. Finally, I learned that he had met Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi, in Al-Malaween. He was praising the dome of Sheikh al-Qurashi, and when he looked at him, he fell to the ground, claiming that he had been shown him. After a while, he raised his head, and the onlookers asked him the reason for his prostration. He said, "I saw the signs of the Mahdi on his face." I was struck by the intensity of its effect on my senses. Then his companion returned with him to the island of Abba. The Mahdi's followers were persecuting and despising him, but he remained patient with them until the Caliphate passed to him, and he took his revenge on them.