The theoretical portion of this study was made possible through a grant from the State University of New York Research Foundation. A similar framework was employed for a comparative study of leaders in an unpublished paper by R. H. Dekmejian, ‘Charismatic Authority in the Middle East: Muhammad, Ataturk, Nasir’, delivered at the 1st Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, University of Chicago, November 8–9,1967.

¹ Particularly the work of Gustave von Grunebaum, which reflects a singular awareness of social science methodology.

² Ratnam, K. J., ‘Charisma and Political Leadership’, Political Studies, 12:3 (1964), pp. 341–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarBlau, Peter M., ‘Critical Remarks on Weber's Theory of Authority’, The American Political Science Review, 57:2 (06 1963), pp. 305–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarFriedrich, Carl J., ‘Political Leadership and the Problem of Charismatic Power’, Journal of Politics, Vol. 23 (1961), pp. 3–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarAke, Claude, ‘Charismatic Legitimation and Political Integration’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 9:1 (1966), pp. 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For other works on Weber see Mommsen, Wolfgang, ‘Max Weber's Political Sociology and His Philosophy of World History’, International Social Science Journal, 17:1 (1965).Google ScholarGerth, Hans, ‘The Nazi Party: Its Leadership and Composition’, The American Journal of Sociology, 45:4(1940), p. 519.Google ScholarWillner, Ann Ruth and Willner, Dorothy, ‘The Rise and Role of Charismatic Leaders’, The Annals, vol. 358 (03 1965), p. 77.Google ScholarBendix, Reinhard, Max Weber, An Intellectual Portrait (New York, 1960).Google ScholarWrong, Denis H., ‘Max Weber: The Scholar as Hero’, Columbia University Forum, 5:3 (Summer 1962), pp. 31–7.Google ScholarAke, Claude, A Theory of Political Integration (Homewood, I11., 1967), pp. 51–67.Google Scholar

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⁵ Davies, James C., ‘Charisma in the 1952 Campaign’, American Political Science Review, vol. 48 (12 1954), p. 1083.CrossRefGoogle ScholarEtzioni, Amitai, A Comparative Analysis of Complex Organizations, (New York, 1961), p. 204.Google ScholarFriedland, , op. cit., p. 212.Google ScholarRustow, D., A World of Nations: Problems of Political Modernization (Washington, 1967), p. 160.Google ScholarWillner, and Willner, , op. cit., pp. 82–3.Google ScholarDekmejian, R. Hrair, Egypt Under Nasir (Albany, N.Y., 1971).Google Scholar

⁶ Devereux, George, ‘Charismatic Leadership and Crises’, Psychoanalysis and the Social Sciences, vol. 4, (New York, 1955), pp. 146–51.Google Scholar

⁷ Devereux goes further to state that a crisis infantilizes people, who demand a leader who conforms to their childish expectations; ibid., pp. 149–51.

⁸ On psychological vulnerability in mass society, see Kornhauser, William, The Politics of Mass Society (Glencoe, 1959), pp. 114–15.Google ScholarToch, Hans H., ‘Crisis Situations and Ideological Revaluation’, The Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 19 (1955), pp. 53–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁹ See Davies, James C., Human Nature in Politics (New York, 1963), p. 305.Google Scholar As Prof. S. N. Eisenstadt points out, Weber did not explicitly deal with the problem of the appeal of charismatic leaders. See Eisenstadt, S. N., ed., Max Weber: On Charisma and Institution Building (Chicago, 1968), p. xxii.Google Scholar On the interplay between the leader's ideology and the people's interests see Mannheim, Karl, Ideology and Utopia (New York, 1946), p. 142.Google Scholar

¹⁰ There have been recent attempts to psychoanalyze leaders. See, especially, Devereux, George, op. cit., p. 145–57.Google ScholarErikson, Erik H., Young Man Luther (New York, 1958)Google Scholar and Gandhi's Truth (New York, 1969).Google ScholarThe Journal of Social Issues, vol. 24:3 (07 1968).Google ScholarDaedalus, 97:3 (Summer 1968).Google ScholarWolfenstein, E. V., The Revolutionary Personality (Princeton, 1967). However, the psychoanalytical approach is of limited utility to the study of the Mahdi because of lack of information.Google Scholar

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¹² Ibid.

¹³ Fagen, Richard R., ‘Charismatic Authority and the Leadership of Fidel Castro’, Western Political Quarterly, 18:2, Part I (06 1965), p. 275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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¹⁶ However, as Wallerstein suggests, the erosion of charisma can be checked by the staging of ceremonies to glorify the leader. See Wallerstein, I., Africa, the Politics of Independence (New York, 1961), pp. 100–1. Also, propaganda is givenamajorrole in this effort. Nevertheless, the effects of these measures would be temporary and eventually erosion will set in, in the absence of victories and social payoffs.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Often some charismatics are skillful at organizational work from the very outset, especially those aiming at revolutionary capture of power. Examples are Lenin, Nasir, Ataturk.

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²⁰ Karl Loewenstein questions the utility of the concept of charisma in the study of contemporary politics, especially with respect to democratic systems because of their increasingly secular context. He considers democratic leaders as becoming ‘popular’ rather than charis- matic. See Loewenstein, Karl, Max Weber, Staatspolitische Auffassungen in der Sicht Unserer Zeit (Frankfurt, 1965), pp. 74–85.Google Scholar For charisma in democratic societies, see Schlesinger, Arthur Jr., ‘On Heroic Leadership’, Encounter (12 1960), pp. 3–11.Google Scholar Also Dogan, Mattei, ‘Le Personnel politique et la personnalite charismatique,’ Revue francaise de sociologie, 6:3 (07–09 1965), pp. 305–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²¹ On the role of charismatic authority in Ghana, see Apter, David, The Gold Coast in Transition (Princeton, 1955), p. 303Google Scholar; also Apter, David, Ghana in Transition (rev. ed., New York, 1963), p. 305.Google Scholar Others also have written on the routinization of charisma in Ghana, an observation that can now be considered premature, see Tiger, Lionel, ‘Bureacracy and Charisma in Ghana’, Journal of Asian and African Studies, vol. 1 (01 1966), pp. 13–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Runciman, W. G., ‘Charismatic Legitimacy and One-Party Rule in Ghana’, Archives europeenes de sociologie, 4:1 (1963), pp. 148–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²² A particular instance of this collaboration was Khedive Ismail's attempt to suppress the slave trade with the help of European officers, i.e., General Gordon. The use of Christians to suppress this long-standing, profitable and religiously permissible (Islam) practice aroused the ire of both the slave-traders and the Arab-Muslim Sudanese.

²³ Al-Sarraj, Muhammad Bin Abd Al-Majid Bin Muhammad, Shaqa'iq al-Nu'manfi Hayat al-Mahdi wa WaqcCa al-Sudan (Highlights in the Life of the Mahdi and Events of the Sudan) (Cairo, 1947), pp. 16–17.Google Scholar

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²⁵ Ibid., p. 9.

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³⁰ Bermann, Richard A., The Mahdi of Allah (New York, 1932), p. 53.Google Scholar

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³² al-Bakri, Tawfiq Ahmad, A'lam al-Islam, Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi (Scholars of Islam: Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi) (Cairo, 1944), p. 42.Google Scholar Also tradition held that the Mahdi would have a birth mark on his right cheek and a V-gap between his front teeth; these Muhammad Ahmad possessed. See Wingate, Francis R., Mahdism and the Egyptian Sudan (London, 1891), p. 67.Google Scholar

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⁴² The Khalifal post representing Khalifa Uthman was assigned by the Mahdi to the Sanusis of Libya who declined it

⁴³ Gordon was killed in the heat of battle against the Mahdi's orders. See al-Rifa'i, Abd al-Rahman ‘Za’im al-Thawra al-Mahdiya Yatakallam’ (The Leader of the Mahdist Revolution Speaks); Al-Hilal (September, 1948), pp. 19–20.Google Scholar

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⁴⁵ One third of Kitchener's 25,800 troops were British. See Holt, , op. cit., p. 221.Google Scholar

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⁴⁷ This represents the top command of the Mahdist elite, or something approximating the Gemeinde. They included the Khalifa Abdallahi, Khalifa Ali wad Hilu, Khalifa Muhammad al-Sharif, Abd al-Rahman wad al-Nujumi, Uthman Diqna, Ahmad Jubara, Hamdan Abu Anja, Ahmad Sulayman, Abdallah al-Nur, Madibbu Ali, Muhammad al-Makki Ismail, Karamallah Kurqusawi, Arabi Dafa'allah, Mahmud Ahmad, Muhammad Abdallah, Ahmad Sharfi, Ahmad wad Ali, and Uthman Adam.

⁴⁸ Some of the tribal leaders were almost certainly slave traders