 | Muhammad Ahmad: Also known as the Mahdi (1848-1885), 19th-century religious and political leader in Sudan. Born near Dunqulah, Muhammad Ahmad was a boatbuilder's apprentice who turned to religious studies as a youth. Advocating asceticism, a fundamentalist form of Islam, and Sudanese nationalism, he moved to Aba Island on the White Nile, where he began to develop a following. |