And their land is fertile and has gold mines. The Mahdi tried to subdue them, but he encountered much resistance, most of it from the Nubians. The Arabs were divided between the Nubians and the Hadendoa. The Mahdi succeeded against all those who opposed him. When he reached Jabal Qadir, the inhabitants showed their fear of his arrival. He appointed guards from his followers on the eastern frontier and began to call the inhabitants to Islam, saying that they were not the only religion and that the Arabs were Muslims, though most of them did not know the two testimonies.

To the northwest of Jabal Qadir are mountains reaching a hundred meters, close to each other. Some of them are called the Nuba Mountains, and the people of this region are known by this name. They are a mixture of Arab and Nubian tribes. Their language is mostly Arabic. They have a king whom they call the King of Tofli. In recent times, their king, Naser, traveled to Egypt to pledge allegiance to Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt. His people gathered and appointed his nephew as king over them and prevented him from returning to his country. The government granted him land in the region of Matuq, east of Khartoum, where he remained until his death. This kingdom remained open to the government's attempts to bring it under its control through trickery. He invited the Mahdi, but the latter refused and declared him a liar and an apostate, claiming to be the messenger of God.

An agreement was reached between the Mahdi and the king. The Mahdi asked him to join his call, but he apologized. The king's advisors told him that the Mahdi had killed this judge and that the infidels had won.