A Unique Account of the Battle of Omdurman
Photo: Andrew Hilliard Atteridge, Battles of the Nineteenth Century. Vol. v, Campaigns of the Nineties (London: Cassell and Company, 1901), 83. Recalling al-Sayyid ʿAbd al-Raḥman wad al-Mahdī's 1959 funeral, Amīn al-Tūm tells in his memoirs how one attendee related the late-Sayyid's own account of the battle of Kararī. Having since checked this retelling against ʿAbd al-Raḥman's memoirs ( Mudhakirrāt al-imām ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Mahdī, published in 1995), I feel quite confident that the attendee spoke truthfully in relating this event. Perhaps at a later date I will make a translation of the relevant section of ʿAbd al-Raḥman's memoir for comparison. Regardless, one should find this account intriguing considering that it is the only one that I am aware of that portrays the shelling of Omdurman from a civillian point of view. One of us said - and the conversation was continuous in the shadow of the ihlīlaj [ balanites aegyptiaca ] tree: The boy ʿAbd al-Raḥman wad al-Mahd...