that this land is an inheritance from the Mahdi, but the law allows you to own the land you cultivate, and no one can claim it from you. When the Ansar learned of my presence in Aba, a large number of them came, led by the Mahdia tribe, who live in Fung. After 1916, the Ansar began to come to Aba from western Sudan and other regions. The settlement came in 1920, and by then I had cultivated most of Aba. According to the law, I registered the land I cultivated, and then I gave the cultivated land to the Ansar to farm without charge.

In reality, the torrent of Ansar towards Aba, and those thousands who left their homes, families, and property, did not head towards Aba to work in agriculture or anything else, but rather to hear a word from me declaring revolution against foreign rule. As I mentioned, the revolution was not my idea at that time. My idea was for the Ansar to gather in one place to discuss their religious affairs, so that their souls would be nourished by religion and their words united in faith, so that this brilliant light would not be extinguished, and so that the great legacy of the Mahdi would not disappear. This duty, the gathering of the Ansar, required another duty, and I had to find a way for these thousands who had migrated to Aba to live.

God facilitated a way out when the government requested wood for fuel for their duties instead of coal, as coal imports had stopped due to the war in Europe. I contracted with the Railways Department to supply them with wood from Aba, and this work brought in a lot of money, enabling me to meet my needs and the needs of the Ansar. Among the buyers of the wood was Mr. Kafouri, who bought a quantity of wood and sold me the house I now live in in Khartoum.

In 1925, I tried with Mr. Mohammed Khalifa Sharif and Mr. Abdullah Al-Fadl Al-Mahdi to obtain a license for an agricultural project in Qandil, and we succeeded in obtaining the license and cultivated 200 feddans of cotton. Then I requested a license for an agricultural project in Aba, but the government objected, stating that the waters of the White Nile contained chemicals unsuitable for irrigating cotton. However, based on my experience in the Sakia of Aba in 1916, I was confident in the success of cotton cultivation in the White Nile. I requested a year for a trial, and finally, the government accepted the principle of the trial, and I cultivated 180 feddans of cotton in Aba. It was a great success, yielding 12 kantars per feddan, which was a record. The success of the Aba project led to the establishment of the Duweim government project, as the government benefited from the Aba cultivation. When the government saw the success of my work and did not allow me to expand my agriculture, it instructed my sons, Mr. Yaqoub Al-Halou, Mr. Mohammed Al-Khalifa Sharif, Mr. Abdullah Al-Fadl Al-Mahdi, and Dr. Al-Halou, to apply for licenses. Then they merged their projects into my business circle. This did not result in an agricultural project in which I was a partner. When Mr. Kutbaya requested 57