The abundance of followers in Al-Hamdab. However, this affiliation began to weaken recently due to numerous political and intellectual changes that the society in Al-Hamdab underwent. Among the most prominent families that pledged their loyalty in Al-Hamdab were the Al-Zahirab family, including Khalifa Al-Tahir Ibrahim Muhammad Abdullah, some of whose sons reside in the Al-Marhafi constituency in Bahri, and the Wad Al-Misiah family in Abu Salim, Khalifa Kurumani Al-Tihami and Khalifa Abd Al-Ghani Al-Abbas in the Um Tuwayra area, and Khalifa Ahmed Muhammad Hamid in Um Duwayma. Some of them were interested in collecting religious books. Khalifa Muhammad Al-Muhammad Al-Tahir, who passed away in 1989 AD, had a considerable religious library. Among the books in this library were "Al-Insan Al-Kamil" by Abd Al-Karim Al-Jili, "Tanbih Al-Ghafilin," and "Al-Tabaqat," in addition to references in exegesis and Hadith sciences. The Haj Al-Tahir family in the Al-Qurton area was an important center for Khatmiyya activities, and they previously had a zawiya and a diwan that received the dignitaries of the Khalifas. It is not recorded that Sayyid Ali visited Al-Hamdab; rather, he stayed in other areas of Al-Shayiqiyya, such as Duri, Masawi, Al-Arak, and Markal, and followers of the Khatmiyya from Al-Hamdab traveled to those areas to visit him. Also, followers of the Khatmiyya in Al-Hamdab continued to visit the sheikhs and Khalifas of the Khatmiyya in other areas of Al-Shayiqiyya. They would visit the family of Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim in Al-Arak and visit his khalwa and shrine there. Also, the family of Sharif Kandruwa had deep connections with the Al-Mirghani in Bahri and Kassala, and they had correspondence with Sayyid Al-Hasan in Kassala dating back to the late sixties of the century.

* Previously, they used to say that if a person was not a staunch Khatmiyya follower of the order, people would not sit with him to eat and would shun him, and this boycott could continue until he died in his state. In the fifties of the last century, a group of young men formed, representing an opposing thought to the sect, and they were a cornerstone of the National Unionist Party. At the head of this group were Sayyid Ahmed Abu Al-Qasim and Muhammad Ahmed Al-Bahi. Their meetings took place at the home of Sayyid Ahmed Abu Al-Qasim, but their approach was not pleasing to everyone.

- 55 -with a perhaps anticipated visit from Sayyid Al-Hasan to their areas at their request, sent by the manuscript, awaiting and anticipating. 49 There are also many writings that took place between Sayyid Ali Al-Mirghani 50 and some of the sons of the region, touching upon relief, and Muhammad Al-Sheikh, my grandson, and Mahmoud Al-Sheikh Mahmoud, and Ali Taha Makari, and Al-Hussein Al-Sheikh Abu Zeid 51, at different times and on multiple occasions.

B. History of the Khatmiyya Order in the Al-Hamdab Region: Many of the people of Al-Hamdab are from Al-Shayiqiyya, the Mirghani family. They reached their region, passed through areas in the north and Chad, and traveled to Khartoum to join the house of Al-Mirghani and remain under its protection. The Khatmiyya order was of great importance.

44 Manuscript dated 16 Muharram 1249 AH. It is known that the first to bring the family of Sheikh Al-Sharif Al-Nadif and a copy of it is in his possession. 50 He is Ali bin Muhammad Othman, closest to Muhammad Al-Hasan bin Muhammad Othman Al-Mirghani Al-Khatm. Sayyid Amin, a follower of the Khatmiyya, spread from the stranger. He came around 1878 AD to a place north of the city of Meroe in the Al-Shayiqiyya region. His birth was at the same time and era as his father in the region for worship and religious jihad. He moved with his father to the Kassala province, then traveled to Suakin, where he stayed with his uncle Sayyid Muhammad Othman Taj Al-Sir Al-Khatm, who undertook his care and traveled with his uncle Sayyid Muhammad Sir Al-Khatm to Egypt via Al-Duwayb, where he was under the care of the Egyptian branch of the Al-Mirghani. He accompanied him in the English elections, and from Egypt, he disappeared from the Red Mosque and returned to Sudan via the Red Sea. He was a renewer in Suakin in 1895 AD, and finally, Sayyid Ali Al-Mirghani, through the Sudanese rulers, was the general supervisor of the orders in Sudan. In 1919 AD, he headed the Sudan Council, and the King nicknamed him the Special Promoter of the First World War's success. The shift in Sayyid Ali's policy towards the British began after 1930. He supported the union movement with Egypt, which contributed to independence. He passed away in 1968. Taliq Ahmed Othman, Sayyid Ali, African Studies Journal, No. (1988 AD), pages 141 and onwards. 45 Manuscript dated 11 Muharram 1249 AH from Sayyid Ali to some of the original inhabitants of Abbanat, in the possession of Sharaf Al-Din Al-Nadif, and in his possession.

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