The Mahdiya and the Sufi Orders: The Mahdi ordered the abolition of the schools of thought and the orders, and urged people to abandon their old affiliations, pushing them to renounce their previous loyalties. He used to order his followers to leave the orders and called them to adhere to the path he had laid out for them without attachment to anything else. This orientation is evident to us through a circular sent by Khalifa Abdullah to some followers of the Tijaniyya, informing them that the Mahdi had abolished the Sufi orders and banned their activities. The Mahdi, as he claims, was promised the removal of the schools of thought and the purification of the land from heresy. The Mahdi used to claim to those around him that he received guidance from the Prophet (peace be upon him), so he did not need to follow the imams of the schools of thought and the sheikhs of the orders. Dr. Abd al-Qadir Mahmud believes that the Mahdi, as a result of his personal ijtihad, made many mistakes, including his ruling of apostasy against those who disagreed with him, and other such personal ijtihads. It appears to us that the motives that led the Mahdi to abolish the orders were two: First: The Mahdi's connection to the Sammaniyya order and his conflict with its sheikh. Second: The Mahdi did not receive support from the sheikhs of the Sufi orders during his call. The Mahdi's doctrine of abolishing the orders is evident to us through numerous letters he sent to many individuals, including Sheikh Muhammad al-Amin al-Hindi, to whom the Mahdi stipulated not to be attached to imams and to rely on the Quran and Sunnah. Also, Sheikh Ahmad Hamdan al-Arki, to whom he gave the same instruction. The Mahdi strove to distance people from everything connected to the Sufi orders and their sheikhs. We find him ordering in one of his circulars to abandon the use of the words "Sayyid" and "Sheikh," which were the titles used to address the sheikhs. As for the men of the orders, they were divided into two groups: one group supported the Mahdiya with absolute support, and another group was hypocritical, remaining silent or praising the support excessively. Among the blessed supporters of the Mahdi's call were Sheikh Muhammad al-Tayyib al-Basir in al-Jazira, and Umm Dhaban. Mahdi: Mahdi's Circulars, edited by Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Salim, p. 246. Mahdi: Mahdi's Circulars, Vol. 1, 2nd ed., Khartoum, Central Archives Administration, p. 91. Abd al-Qadir Mahmud, Sufi Thought: Its Sources, Currents, and Colors, 1st ed., Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi, p. 91. Muhammad Mahjoub Malik, Internal Resistance to the Mahdi Movement, 1st ed., Dar al-Jeel, Beirut, 1988, p. 251. Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Salim, Intellectual Movement in the Mahdiya, p. 14. Ahmad Othman Ibrahim, Al-Jazira during the Mahdiya, 1881-1898, Khartoum University, Faculty of Arts, September 1989, typed, p. 99. Ahmad Othman Ibrahim, ibid., p. 102. Ibid., p. 102. Ibid., same page.