The description given by Mr. Duncan in his book "The Sudan Road to Independence" turned out to be a boomerang after twenty years, when circumstances changed in his favor and sparked in him ambitions to be recognized as a leader of Sudan. Before that, Sayyid Ali al-Mirghani had occupied the position of the sole prestigious religious leader in whom the government placed its trust. This high status was shaken after the First World War, and the conflict between the two Sayyids shifted from the political arena to the religious sphere. This is evidenced by what Sheikh Muhammad al-Amin al-Qurashi narrated, who spent part of his life preaching Islam in the Nuba Mountains and achieved great success in that. Large groups of Nuba people, estimated in the thousands, converted to Islam at his hands. When Sayyid Abd al-Rahman heard of this success, he asked him to preach in his name and offered him the necessary funds for this endeavor. However, Sheikh al-Qurashi refused this offer. Sayyid Abd al-Rahman then sent a group of Ansar youth to his region for the purpose of preaching. When the Khatmiyya heard of this matter, they rushed there. Sheikh al-Qurashi wrote to the two Sayyids to retract what they had done and met with Sayyid Ali. It appears that Sayyid Ali was very kind in his dealings with Sheikh Muhammad al-Amin, unlike Sayyid Abd al-Rahman, who tried to stall him, which led to Sheikh al-Qurashi and the people of his region turning to the Khatmiyya tariqa after they had been Ansar. The Khatmiyya sought to gather the largest number of supporters around its political movement and to support its political current. A meeting took place in Atbara between some labor movement leaders and some Khatmiyya leaders, who had many loyalists among the railway workers. The Khatmiyya found followers for its political movement among most intellectuals and many who held high degrees in their fields of specialization. They tended to lean towards the Khatmiyya and believed in Sayyid Ali's political leadership.