Author's note: This article is part of a more comprehensive study of the Mahdist economy. The study in its original form was submitted to the University of Haifa in September 1984 as an M.A. thesis entitled “Changes in the Economy of the Sudan During the Mahdiyya, 1881–1898.” My gratitude goes to my supervisors Professors Gabriel Warburg and Gad Gilbar for their encouragement. The responsibility for the contents of this article falls, needless to say, on the author only.Google Scholar

¹ Tachau, F., ed., Political Elites and Political Development in the Middle East (New York, 1976), p. 16.Google Scholar

² Ibn Khaldūn's following observation on bedouins who are attracted to city life is most relevant to the Mahdist case since it helps to explain 'Abdallah's desire to augment his wealth. There are only few bedouins, according to Ibn Khaldun, who can compete with the urban population and acquire the necessary wealth that is the basis for city life. Since most of them are unable to obtain this wealth, they cannot compete and are disgraced. See: Khaldūn, Ibn, Muqaddimat Ibn Khaldūn, Vol. 3 (Cairo, 1967), pp. 1000–1001.Google Scholar

³ Putnam, R. D., The Comparative Study of Political Elites (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1976), p. 73;Google ScholarHigley, J. et al. , Elite Structure and Ideology: A Theory with Applications to Norway (New York, 1976), pp. 63–73;Google ScholarHigley, J. et al. , Elites in Australia (Great Britain, 1979), pp. 3–5.Google Scholar

⁴ Putnam, Political Elites, p. 86;Google ScholarHigley, Elite Structure, pp. 17–18;Google ScholarHigley, Elites, pp. 3–6;Google ScholarField, G. L., Comparative Political Development: The Precedent of the West (Great Britain, 1967), p. 176.Google Scholar

⁵ Field, Political Development, p. 18;Google ScholarHigley, Elites, p. 9.Google Scholar

⁶ Zartman, I. W. et al. , eds., Political Elites in Arab North Africa (New York, 1982), p. 1.Google Scholar

⁷ Specialized elites or general elites are terms used to describe those groups in society who mediate between the core elite and the masses. These groups assume different institutional forms (e.g., religious functionaries, government officials or top bureaucrats) and translate the policies of the core elite into action. In the process they can make decisions that reflect their own wishes, but only to the extent that those are not in direct contradiction to the interests of the core elite. See: Zartman, Political Elites, p. 1;Google ScholarZonis, M., The Political Elite of Iran (Princeton, N.J., 1971), p. 196;Google ScholarWaterbury, J., The Commander of the Faithful: The Morocan Political Elite—A Study in Segmented Politics (London, 1970), pp. 152, 275 and 318;Google ScholarFleron, F. J. Jr, “Toward a Reconceptualization of Political Change in the Soviet Union: The Political Leadership System,” in Fleron, F. J. Jr, Communist Studies and Social Sciences: Essays on Methodology and Empirical Theory (Chicago, 1969), p. 232.Google Scholar

⁸ Putnam, Political Elites, p. 86;Google ScholarParry, G., Political Elites (New York, 1970), p. 33;Google ScholarFleron, “Political Change,” p. 232.Google Scholar

⁹ Hill, R., Egypt in the Sudan 1820–1881 (London, 1959), pp. 38–39.Google Scholar

¹⁰ For details on the Egyptian tax system and methods of taxation see: Stewart, D. H., Report on the Sudan, C. 3670, 1883, pp. 4, 13–14, 26;Google ScholarSlatin, R. C., Fire and Sword in the Sudan (London,1922), p. 4;Google ScholarShuqayr, N., Jughräfiyyat wa-ta'rikh al-Sūdān (Beirut, 1967), pp. 632–33;Google ScholarNeufeld, C., A Prisoner of the Khalifa (London, 1899), p. 350.Google Scholar

¹¹ Hill, Egypt, pp. 40–41.Google Scholar

¹² It is beyond the scope of this article to compare the Mahdist fiscal system with the system that had developed during the first Muslim state of the Prophet Muhammad. For details on bayt al-māl, ghanīma, fay', sadaqa and zakāh, zakāt al-für, and ‘cushr see: El¹⁺². On khums see: Sachedina, Abdulaziz, “Al-Khums: The Fifth in the lmāmī Shī'ī System,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 39 (1980), 275–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³ Holt, P. M., The Mahdist State in the Sudan 1881–1898 (London, 1970), p. 125.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Wingate, F. R., Ten Years Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp 1882–1892 (London, 1893), p. 62;Google ScholarShibeika, M., Mukhtasar ta'rīkh al-Sūdān al-hadīth (Cairo, 1963), p. 93;Google ScholarHolt, Mahdist State, p. 125.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Slatin, Fire, p. 124.Google Scholar

¹⁶ From the Mahdi to Muhammad al-Khayr 'Abdallāb Khūjalī, 21 Oct. 1884, Manshūrāt al-Imām al-Mahdī al-ahkām, pp. 219–20.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Slatin, Fire, p. 236.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Muwallad was the description of sons born in the Sudan to immigrant Copts from Egypt.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Nur, S. M., “A Critical Edition of the Memoirs of Yūsuf Mikhā'īl,” unpublished Ph.D. thesis, SOAS, London, 1963, pp. 75–76.Google Scholar

²⁰ Wingate, Ten Years, p. 312.Google Scholar

²¹ al-Hādī, 'A. 'A. 'Abd, Ta'rīkh Kurdūfān al-siyāsī fī'l-Mahdiyya 1881–1898 (Khartoum, 1973), pp. 67–70; Shuqayr (1260) indicates that the revenues of the local treasuries were designated for the wages of the local elite and officials, and that the amount left was sent to the central treasury along with balances showing the monthly revenues and expenditures.Google Scholar

²² There were twelve Northerners and ten Egyptians, ther Copts or muwallads. Only four others were of different origin. Members of the Ja'aliyīn tribe also played a decisive role in the treasuries. Holt, Mahdist State, pp. 252–54;Google ScholarShibeika, M., al-Sūdān fī qarn 1819–1919 (Cairo, 1947), p. 258.Google Scholar

²³ Until the Anglo-Egyptian occupation in 1898 seven men occupied this office: (1) Ahmad Sulaymān 1300–1303 H/ 1883–1885. (2) lbrāhīm 'Adlān 1303–1307 H/1885–1889. (3) Muhammad al-Zākī 'Uthmān and 'Awad al-Mardi (jointly) 1307 H/ 1889–1890 for few weeks only. (4) Al-Nūr Ibrāhīm al-Jirayfāwī 1307–1310 H/ 1890–1892. (5) Al-'Awah al-Marhi (second term) 1310–1314 H/ 1892– 1896. (6) lbrāhīm Ramahān al-Aswānī 1314–1315 H/ 1896–1897. (7) Al-'Awah al-Marhī (third term) 1315 H/ 1897 for three months only. (8) Al-Hājj Ahmad Yasīn al-Nīla 1315 H/ 1897 until the occupation.Google Scholar

²⁴ Nur, “Memoirs,” p. 93;Google ScholarNeufeld, Prisoner, pp. 145–46.Google Scholar

²⁵ Wingate, Ten Years, pp. 323, 379.Google Scholar

²⁶ Neufeld, Prisoner, p. 147.Google Scholar

²⁷ Nur, “Memoirs,” pp. 93–94.Google Scholar

²⁸ For details regarding this dispute see Shuqayr, Ta'rīkh, pp. 1141–42;Google ScholarSlatin, Fire, p. 276;Google ScholarNeufeld, Prisoner, pp. 147–51;Google ScholarWingate, Ten Years, pp. 324–27.Google Scholar

²⁹ Holt, Mahdist State, pp. 194–95.Google Scholar

³⁰ Shuqayr, Ta'rīkh, p. 1259;Google ScholarGeneral Report on the Egyptian Sudan 1895, p. 8. Abū Salīm asserts that there were seven treasuries. He distinguishes between bayt māl warshat al-harbiyya and bayt māl al-tirsāna, and between bayt māl al-khums and bayt māl al-fay', Salīm, M. I. Abū, al-Ard fī 'l-Mahdiyya (Khartoum, 1970), p. 40.Google Scholar

³¹ Farewell, B., Prisoners of the Mahdi (London, 1967), p. 25;Google ScholarHolt, Mahdisr Stare, p. 125;Google ScholarSalīm, Abū, al-Arh, p. 40.Google Scholar

³² Wingate, Ten Years, p. 62.Google Scholar

³³ Shuqayr, Ta'rīkh, p. 931;Google ScholarWingate, Ten Years, p. 145;Google Scholar from the Mahdi to all the Khulafā and Umarā, 1 April 1885, al-Ahkām, p. 190.Google Scholar

³⁴ From the Mahdi to Mahmūd 'Isā Zā'id, 20 March 1885, al-Ahkām, p. 190;Google ScholarShuqayr, Ta'rīkh, pp. 931–32.Google Scholar

³⁵ Slatin, Fire, p. 124;Google ScholarShuqayr, Ta'rīkh, p. 669.Google Scholar

³⁶ Holt, Mahdist State, pp. 125–26.Google Scholar

³⁷ Shuqayr, Ta'rīkh, p. 931.Google Scholar

³⁸ See, for example, a dispatch from the Mahdi to Ahmad Sulaymān, 10 February 1885, in which he indicates that the army is growing while the revenues in the treasury arc falling: Salīm, M. I. Abū, al-Murshid ilā wathā'iq al-Mahdī (Khartoum, 1969), p. 279.Google Scholar

³⁹ Salīm, Abū, al-Ard, pp. 19, 37, 40.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Wingate, F. R., Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan (London, 1967), p. 477.Google Scholar

⁴¹ From the Mahdi to all his followers, the ansār and the assistants, 27 March 1885, al-Ahkām, p. 215.Google Scholar

⁴² Slatin, Fire, p. 124.Google Scholar

⁴³ Wingate, Ten Years, p. 313;Google ScholarBedri, Y. and Scott, G., The Memoirs of Babikr Bedri (London, 1969), p. 146.Google Scholar On the collection of taxes during the Mahdiyya see: Nakash, Y., “Changes in the Economy of the Sudan During the Mahdiyya, 1881–1898,” unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Haifa, 1984, pp. 66–68.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ General Military Report on the Egyptian Sudan 1891, p. 14.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Wingate, Ten Years, p. 379.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ In the absence of data on the total income of the Mahdist state from taxes, one may get an idea of the significance of these figures by comparing them with the data available on the state's foreign trade. Shuqayr (1261) indicates that the value of goods imported to the Sudan between 1892–1898 via Aswan and Suakin reached 477, 869 Egyptian pounds, while exports reached 397, 451 Egyptian pounds. Collins cites only the export figures for those years, which, based on his data, reached a total of £317,080 (one Egyptian or English pound was equal to between five and six rials). Cf. Collins, R. O., The Southern Sudan: A Struggle for Control (New Haven and London, 1964), p. 57.Google Scholar See also: Nakash, Y., “Reflections on a Subsistence Economy: Production and Trade of the Mahdist Sudan, 1881–1898,” in Kedourie, Elie and Haim, Sylvia, eds., Essays on the Economic History of the Middle East (London, 1988), pp. 51–69.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ One ardabb is approximately equal to 5.46 cubic meters.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Wingate, Ten Years, p. 215.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Lapidus, I. M., Muslim Cities in the Latter Middle Ages (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), pp. 121–22.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ The sultan of Sinnār, for example, was the greatest merchant in his kingdom. His monopolies were sufficient to place at his disposal a predominant share of those trade goods that the foreign traders desired. In the Dār Fūr sultanate, the commercial interests of the ruler were also served by the maintenance of a monopoly, which insured that the king's wares could not be undersold. Spaulding, J., The Heroic Age in Sinnār (East Lansing, Mich., 1985), p. 114;Google ScholarKapteijns, L. and Spaulding, Jay, “Precolonial Trade Between States in the Eastern Sudan, Ca. 1700–ca. 1900,” African Economic History, 11 (1982), 41, 45.Google Scholar

⁵¹ General Report. 1895, p. 8;Google ScholarHolt, Mahdis Stare, pp. 125–26;Google ScholarSalīm, Abū, al-Ard, p. 64.Google Scholar

⁵² Wingate, Ten Years, pp. 393–94.Google Scholar

⁵³ Holt, Mahdist State, p. 207.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Shuqayr, Ta'rīkh, p. 1259;Google ScholarSalīm, Abū, al-Ard, p. 64;Google ScholarGeneral Report, 1895, p. 8.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Ibid.

⁵⁶ Salīm, Abū, al-Ard, p. 40;Google ScholarGeneral Report, 1895, p. 8;Google ScholarHolt, Mahdis State, p. 207.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Salīm, Abū, al-Arh, p. 40;Google ScholarShuqayr, Ta'rīkh, p. 1259.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ General Military Report, 1881, p. 14;Google ScholarGeneral Report, 1895, p. 9. The economic and political advantages of hoarding will be discussed in the section dealing with the monetary system.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ See note 46.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Spaulding, The Age, pp. 104–11.Google ScholarFor details on means of exchange in the precolonial period see: Kapteijns and Spaulding, “Precolonial Trade,” p. 29;Google ScholarSpaulding, J., “The Management of Exchange in Sinnār,” in Manger, Leif O., ed., Trade and Markets in the Eastern Sudan (Bergen, 1984), pp. 25–48.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Spaulding, The Age, p. 110;Google ScholarWingate, Mahdiism, p. 593;Google ScholarHill, Egypt, p. 37.Google Scholar

⁶² Wingate, Mahdiism, p. 593. One may assume that people still attached greater importance to other means of payment made of gold, and that this lowered the real value of coins.Google Scholar

⁶³ Hill, Egypt, p. 38.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Ibid., pp. 37–38.

⁶⁵ Wingate, Ten Years, p. 145.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ From the Mahdi to all his loyal followers and supporters and especially to the merchants and businessmen (ahl al-mudāwala) in the markets, 1 December 1884, al-Ahkām, p. 240. I was unable to determine the origin of al-sa'diyya.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Wingate, Ten Years, p. 231;Google ScholarJob, H. S., “The Coinage of the Mahdi and the Khalifa,” Sudan Notes and Records, 3 (1920), 164.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Wingate, Mahdiism, pp. 592–93.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Ibid., p. 594.

⁷⁰ Ibid.

⁷¹ Job, “Coinage,” p. 165.Google Scholar

⁷² Ibid., p. 166.

⁷³ Wingate, Mahdiism, p. 597;Google ScholarJob, “Coinage,” p. 166.Google Scholar Gaps between the official and market exchange were a common phenomenon in Islamic history. Since governments did not always withdraw old currencies from circulation, coins became thinner and less valuable through wear. Thus, even the same currency had different exchange values at a time and its quality could be indicated by terms as “excellent,” “fine,” “genuine,” or “mediocre.” See: Goitein, S. D., A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, Economic Foundations (Berkeley, 1967), pp. 236–37.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Extracts from Father Leon Hanriot's letter to Father Bonomi regarding units of currency in the Mahdist state, in Wingate, Mahdiism, p. 598. The dollar referred to by Hanriot is the rial issued by the Mahdi.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Ibid.

⁷⁶ Job, “Coinage,” p. 168.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Wingate, Ten Years, p. 210.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ The man in charge of the workshops where the coins were minted was 'Abdallāh Sulaymān, an armorer by profession. In 1889 Hājj 'Abdajlāh Gharandāl replaced Ilyās 'Abdallāh as chief die cutter. The latter's son was also employed in the central treasury in the striking of coins. At about the same period 'Abdallah Sulayman was removed to the military workshop, and was replaced by his son Ahmad. Ahmad's two senior assistants were 'Abd al-Majīd and Waqīallāh. In about 1893 the minting workshops were divided into three sections, to which Ahmad, 'Abd al-Majīd, and Waqīallāh were nominated heads. They held their jobs until the Anglo-Egyptian occupation.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Gold coins were not issued in the Khalifa's period.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Wingate, Ten Years, p. 211;Google ScholarJob, “Coinage,” pp. 168–69;Google ScholarShuqayr, Ta'rīkh, pp. 1142, 1261.Google Scholar

⁸¹ On a similar behavior of the Mamluk rulers of Egypt see: Shoshan, B., “From Silver to Copper: Monetary Changes in Fifteenth Century Egypt,” Studia Islamica, 55 (1982), 97–116;CrossRefGoogle ScholarShoshan, B., “Exchange-Rate Policies in Fifteenth Century Egypt,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 29 (1986), 30–51;Google ScholarBacharach, J. L., “The Ducat versus the Dinar,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 4 (1973), 77–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁸² Job, “Coinage,” p. 170.Google Scholar

⁸³ General Report 1895, p. 15.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ Wingate, Ten Years, p. 210.Google Scholar

⁸⁵ Job, “Coinage,” pp. 170–74.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ Ibid., p. 172; Shuqayr, Ta'rîkh, p. 1261.Google Scholar

⁸⁷ Job, “Coinage,” pp. 173–74.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Ibid., p. 175.

⁸⁹ Bacharach, “The Ducat,” p. 82.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ Salīm, M. I. Abū, Manshūrāt al-mahdiyya (Beirut, 1969), p. 277. I was unable to determine the origin of the Kabbāshī and Jirayqundī.Google Scholar

⁹¹ General Report 1895, p. 15.Google Scholar

⁹² Wingate, Ten Years, P. 211.Google Scholar

⁹³ Shuqayr, Ta'rīkh, P. 1261.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ Neufeld, Prisoner, p. 212.Google Scholar

⁹⁵ Ibid., p. 210; Wingate, Mahdiism, p. 478.Google Scholar

⁹⁶ On the economic advantages of hoarding see: Weber, M., General Economic History (New York, 1966), p. 180;Google ScholarWeber, M., The History of Social and Economic Organization (New York, 1968), p.179.Google Scholar

⁹⁷ He issued further proclamations that those who had sufficient means should finance the costs of the jihad themselves as the treasury would finance only the poor. One may take this regulation as another step of absorption aimed at reducing the means of payment in the economy. See for example: From the Mahdi to all the umarā, nu'āb, 'umāl and to all the anhār, fuqarā, 'ulamā and the merchants, 27 February 1884, al-Ahkām, pp. 94–102;Google Scholar from the Mahdi to his followers preparing themselves for the hijra and the jihad, 16 October 1883, al-Ahkām, p. 190;Google Scholar from the Mahdi to Ahmad Sulaymān, 1302 H/2 November 1883 to 20 October 1884;Google ScholarSalīm, Abū, al-Murshid, p. 209.Google Scholar

⁹⁸ When the real value of a given coin is higher than its nominal value.Google Scholar

⁹⁹ General Military Report 1891, p. 15;Google ScholarWingate, Ten Years, p. 21.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ Ibid.

¹⁰¹ Neufeld, Prisoner, p. 211.Google Scholar

¹⁰² At relatively low cost forgers could produce coins identical in form but slightly superior to those issued by the treasury. From the forgers' point of view, the high profit involved in this business was worth the risk of punishment. This practice continued until Ilyas 'Abdallah, the head of the mint in the treasury, was himself accused of counterfeiting, and punished by having his right hand and left foot cut off. Neufeld, Prisoner, p. 211;Google ScholarJob, “Coinage,” p. 169.Google Scholar