The Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad, was born in 1844 in the Dongola province of Sudan. He was a member of the Samaniyya Sufi order and claimed to be the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam, in 1881. His movement gained widespread support among the Sudanese people, who were disillusioned with the oppressive rule of the Turco-Egyptian condominium. The Mahdi's forces captured Khartoum in 1885, leading to the death of General Gordon and the establishment of the Mahdist state.