42 [ No. 06 HISTORY (3) Internal History ; Religious Fanaticism ; Slavery Neither the death of the Mahdi nor the overthrow of the Khalifa completely destroyed the belief in the former's divine mission prevalent in the northern Sudan . From 1899 the recrudescence of fanaticism, has always been a possible peril . To it the Arabs of the Gezira and the Baggaraof Kordofan were always liable . To the former was due the one really danger ous outbreak of these years, the rising in 1908 at Katfia . The Baggarawere found still paying surrep titious visits tothe Khalifa’s grave in 1915 (a fact which completely justifies the destruction of the Mahdi's tomb at Omdurman in 1898 ) . In the years 1901-16 a dozen or more religious fanatics, secretly or openly hostile , have excited attention . The career of the original Mahdi emphasised the importance of the “ obsta principiis ” maxim , which has throughout determined the action taken in these cases by the Sudan Government . Thanks to this , only the 1908 outbreak caused disturbance of anylong duration or involved the loss of English life . The summary list of these fanatics is as follows: In February 1901 Ali Abdul Kerim in Khartum province claimed to be the Mahdi. He was arrested and imprisoned. In the autumn of 1902 Mohammed el-Amin , from Bornu, declared himself the Mahdi in Kordofan on his return journey from Mecca .He was captured at Dar Gimma and executed at El Obeid . In 1904 Mohammed Adam declared himself the prophet Isa (i.e. , Jesus') at Singa in Sennar province. He was killed in a skirmish . In April 1908 Abdul Kader, an old pardoned Mahdist , rebelled in the Mesellemia district of Blue Nile province, preached a holy war, murdered an English officer at Tugr 1 In the tenets of all Moslem sects there is a close connection between Jesus and the Mahdi in relation to the Second Advent . This belief in various shapes is based on “ the Traditions," not on the Koran .

2 Mr C. C. Scott -Moncrieff.