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1983
A Genealogical and Historical Study of the Mahas
of the "Three Towns," Sudan
Richard A. Lobban Jr.
Rhode Island College, [email protected]
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Citation
Lobban, R. A. (1983). A genealogical and historical study of the Mahas of the "Three Towns," Sudan. International Journal of African
Historical Studies, 16(2), 231-262. doi:10.2307/217787
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A Genealogical and Historical Study of the Mahas of the "Three Towns," Sudan
Author(s): Richard A. Lobban, Jr.
Source: The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2 (1983), pp. 231262
Published by: Boston University African Studies Center
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/217787 .
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A GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE MAHAS
OF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
Richard A. Lobban, Jr.
The Mahas (a Nubian ethnic
in the central
Sudan have made a
group)
to the
Islamization
and urbanization
fundamental
contribution
of
this
Afro-Arab
nation.
Their building
of the first
strucpermanent
in the "Three Towns" (Khartoum area)
as the
tures
may be claimed
start
urbanization.
The Mahas
of Sudanese
of the modern process
leaders
who became teachers
and advisors
to the Funj state
were also
for the spread
of Islam along
the Blue and
responsible
centrally
at their
at the "Three Towns" in communities
White Niles
confluence
which have been occupied
for about five centuries.
continuously
to unify
this
historical
This paper attempts
study with reference to published
and unpublished
( nisba,
nasib
sing.;
genealogies
in my 1979-1980
fieldwork
in the Sudan. The main foci
collected
pl.)
of the Mahas and Islam
of this
in the
paper are the examination
This work also
in the Nile valley.
context
of Sudanese urban history
case material
with which judgments
presents
may be made on the hisas history.
The genealogiof using genealogy
toriographic
questions
time in print,
are given
cal data presented
here,
many for the first
of relying
on the patriArabic fashion
in the standard
exclusively
and practices
lineal
the patterns
descendants.
Other work analyzing
selection
has been published
and preferential
of spouse
marriage
but additional
is now underway with reference
elsewhere,1
analysis
to the nasibprovided
here.
First
is a
four main sections.
This present
article
contains
which
This section
material
follows.
to the genealogical
is
guide
to the
thirteen
to give
an easier
access
genealogical
prepared
>It is impossible
to adequately
to all who assisted
in
express my appreciation
this research,
but several people must be acknowledged.
First of all is my friend of
more than a decade, Muhammad 'Osman Agabash and his family to whom I am perpetually
Omer Yousif Al-Tayib,
a Tuti Island post-graduate
grateful.
student in anthropology
was also particularly
as was his faithful
blue car. Others who helped in
helpful
various ways were: Abu Zed Musa, Hassan Babiker Bodani, 'Ali Mustafa 'Ali, Amin Arbab
Amin, Khalifa Ahmed, Mustafa Araki, Sayed Wad Shaheen, MuhammadMisherif,
Taj el Anbia
el Dawi, El Haj Ahmed El Hadi, Gebre Egziabher Habtu, my research assistant,
and Asma
'Abdel Rahman 'Abdel Fatah, my fellow researcher
who tragically
died of malaria during
the course of our respective
studies
on Tuti Island.
Sabbatical
research leave from
Rhode Island College provided the free time and financial
this
support which sustained
effort.
I am also grateful
for the secretarial
support of Hekmat Tadros, Yvonne Shunbo,
and Mona Tewfik Ibrahim.
Richard A. Lobban, Jr., 'Class,
in the Three Towns
Endogamy, and Urbanization
of the Sudan," African Studies Review, XXII, 3 (1979),
99-114; Richard A. Lobban, Jr.,
"Class and Kinship in Sudanese Urban Communities," Africa (IAI), 52, 2 (1982).
International
Journal
of African
Historical
Studies,
16, 2 (1983)
231
232
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
which are an appendix
to this
article.
The guide and charts
charts
founders
and other important
will
serve to locate
personages
lineage
The second
in space,
and in kin relation
to the wider study.
time,
on the study
focuses
of the Mahas in Medieval
section
Christian
times in Nubia and during the time of the 'Abdallab
and Funj rule in
the central
section
Sudan. The third
informapresents
biographical
tion of four of the best known Mahas religious
of the centeachers
and taught during the time of the 'Abdallab
and
tral Sudan who lived
of the first
and discussion
is an appraisal
section
Funj. The final
three parts.
the whole article
and, more
Here, I seek to summarize
I attempt
to draw some broader conclusions
about the use
importantly
of genealogical
in historiography.
material
A note
is perhaps
on the orthography
The
in order
used here.
Arabic
is always
a difficult
of standard
transliteration
problem
one. In the case of this article
it is more complicated.
Much of the
its
was conducted
in Sudanese
Arabic
with
research
own
colloquial
Arabic.
I
and differences
with modern standard
Shall
peculiarities
be faithful
to the actual
or to written
forms which
pronunciation
are not used? Another dimension
in transliteration
is the difference
of Arabic by speakers
of Egyptian
Arabic which has been used in some
accounts
which today may not be the "proper" transliteratpublished
ed form. With all of this
in mind I have transliterated
as much as
into the "correct"
form but in a few cases
(such as those
possible
which
and more authentic
include
the softer
Sudanese
"j" sounds
than the harder
rather
for the Sudanese
style.
"g") I have opted
This compromise will
offend
a kind of literary
those seeking
precision .for the historian
be more satisfactory
or Orientalist
but will
to anthropologists
who tend to favor "emic" rather
than "etic"
solutions
to such problems.
Guiding
Thoughts
on Mahas Genealogy
data always
reflect
some perceived
that
Genealogical
is,
reality,
their
is
collecton
slanted
the goal
of establishing
toward
very
relations
between known and distantly
The recordrelated
ancestors.
with precision
to historical
events
ing of nasib may thus correspond
and personages
or it may only seek to suggest
fictive
ties
to ancestral
to legitimate
social
one's
or political
status.
figures
Every
tree will
reach the point where it is diffigenealogical
inevitably
cult
or impossible
to determine
which is the case.
Even when there
is correspondence
with historical
fact one may, within
somereason,
times
that
the genealogy
was simply
fabricated
with more
suspect
thought and care.
The claims
or judgments
I make must be viewed with the above in
mind.
Readers
are especially
to formulate
alternative
encouraged
views
and hypotheses.
does not expect
initial
Scientific
inquiry
thrives
on error and contradiction;
as such,
and, in fact,
perfection
I have
some explanations
the
in
for
these
developed
patterns
collected
which are certainly
to scrutiny.
nasib
subject
My object
was to search
for deviations
between
the nasib
as collected
and
recorded
and from the contemporary
or subsequent
in which
history
The more unexplained
or contradictory
the pieces,
they were located.
the less
credible
the whole and vice-versa
the more consistent
the
data the more likely,
unless
of course,
the role of a sophisticated
is considered
to be the most reasonable
fabricator
alternative.
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
233
these
Whether
sections
correlate
with
historical
by
reality
or by their
accurate
accident,
reconstruction,
post facto
recording
of family history
is difficult
to determine.
Whatever the case,
some
do suggest
close
coordination
with
rough calculations
surprisingly
fact.
members
historical
of
the
Counting back from known,
living
nisba
to Ubaia ibn Ka'ab there are 47 generations
the 1360
spanning
1980 and 620 AD the time of the Hegira.
This gives
a
years between
mean generational
of 28.9 years, which is not an unrealistic
length
sources
of error it is
Given this
period and various
figure.
lengthy
not meaningful
to make further
but in any
probably
calculations,
this
does help to support
the tentative
for the
case,
periodization
entire
In addition
this
genealogical
gives
encouragement
sequence.
to judge these data with less
than would normally
be the
scepticism
case in evaluating
African
genealogies.
to the most distant
With respect
genealogical
segment of Figure
that its long,
nature may reflect
un-bifuracted
I, one may speculate
either
the artificial
back to the Khazrag2 roots
or that
reaching
its
lack of branching
to the limited
expansion
permitted
may relate
in Sudanese
Nubia provided
by the block
kingdoms.
by the Christian
but pera lack of accuracy,
The lack of branching
suggest
may also
collected
even now in the northern
Sudan would trace
haps nasib
of this
to the higher
section
before
the "Melik
connections
parts
Series."
The nasib
which
are
and organized
here
fall
into
presented
and categories.
several
sections
I from Kenana to Fikr may be considered
as the PreFigure
Islamic
ancestors
of Ka'ab el Khazrag
sequence
showing the putative
as their
from whom all
ancestor.
identified
respondents
principle
in the same Figure
Still
is
I from Ka'ab el Khazrag to 'Abdullah,
the lineal
the time of 'Arab expanwhich would approximate
sequence
sion and consolidation
AD
in Egypt roughly
from the seventh
century
until
about
the mid-eleventh
AD. Until
the end of this
century
'Arab settlement
was generally
to areas north of
restricted
period,
Nubia.
and covers
a
II may be termed the "Melik (King)
Series"
Figure
AD with El Melik
'Abdel Karim
span from about the eleventh
century
and continues
AD with el Melik
until
the early
fourteenth
century
the nasib
in this
since
I offer
Zibeir.
the name "Melik Series"
the
It may be that
are all
identified
sequence
by "El Melik-."
'Arab coloni"Melik Series"
three-centuries
span in this
represents
dominance
over
autocthonous
zation
of Nubia which
their
brought
Nubian Mahas.
2Yusuf Fadl Hassan, The Arabs and the Sudan (Khartoum, 1973), 143. In this work it
One speaks of
is noted that there are two prevalent
claims to the Mahas origins.
In this research I was
and the other identifies
a Khazrag origin.
Juhayna descent,
roots with the Juhayna, but all
not able to locate any family trees which indicated
The Khazrag were a nomadic, warrior clan that lived
uniformly cited the Khazrag roots.
in the western regions of the Arab peninsula
at the time of the Prophet Muhammad.
Most Mahas of the Three Towns claim that they are descended of either
'Abada, or
'Ubaia ibn Ka'ab El Khazrag. During the Egyptian campaigns of the Khazrag leader,
'Abdallah ibn Sa'ad, many of his followers
migrated and settled
along the Egyptian
Nile. Little
southward up the Nile into northern Nubia where
by little
they percolated
casts some doubt on the accuracy
they took Nubian wives. The loss of Nubian pedigrees
if the
of the claim of Khazrag origins,
but would be in general line with history,
in the context of cultural
dominance
Arab colonizers
arrived and settled
and/or political
of
the
former
matrilineal
the
Arabs
to
tended
whereby patrilineal
kinship
extinguish
descent of the Mahas.
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JRe
234
between
the
III
an overview
of the
linkage
Figure
provides
descent
and the principle
"Melik Series"
groups of the Three Towns.
This diagram should
for the subsebe used as a unifying
reference
IV to XIII. Key individuals
may be found in Figure III
quent Figures
and then they are also
to achieve
the
found on the other
diagrams
Some of the geneacollection
of all
of the total
figures.
coupling
data
collected
is
so
for
the
extensive
(for
logical
example
a given
were
of
sub-divisions
that
further
Shakartab)
Figure
required.
Some of
the Mahas Descent
Groups
Sudan are
The principal
lineage
groups of the Mahas in the central
as founded by either
Ajim or by El Melik Mekin (ancestor
projected
had a number of sons
of the Meknab). Ajim, as shown in Figure
III,
For the communities
in Tuti
to this
who relate
genealogical
study.
in the Three
Mahas communities
.Burri
and Mahas and other
Island,
the
He founded
ibn
Sa'adallah
important.
Towns,
Ajim was very
Sa'adallab
descent
pl.)
(fariiq,
sing.;
group or lineage
faruq,
to the large
and successful
and gave rise
found in these communities
and has descendents
Shakartab
which arose from the Sa'adallab
fariiq
Shambat and in
in Tuti Island,
the Three Towns, especially
through
The Kabanab
of Khartoum North.
other
communities
or neighborhoods
to Sheikh Khojali,
from Ajim and they gave rise
are also descended
and important
Mahas religious
one of the most illustrious
perhaps
to have been
teachers
or consultants
( fakih,
fukahaa,
pi.)
sing.;
born in Tuti Island;
to-his
we will
return later
biography.
ed Din)
Misherif
or (Sherif
is also
there
groups
Beyond these
to the
and perhaps
who may have been born in the north
migrated
son
or to have had this
son Fellah
Sudan either
with his
central
about these
is not clear
born once he arrived.
record
The historical
came
time that the Funj Sultanates
but it was at about this
points
of the Islamized
into
existance
and the major southward
migrations
ibn
sons
Fellah
four
of
VI shows the
Mahas took
Figure
place..
term
Misherif
under
the
collective
who are
sometimes
grouped
These sons,
Misherifia.
Subuh, Marzuq, Qandal, and Gardaga, in addiabove account
tion
to the Sa'adallab,
Kabanab, and Meknab mentioned
of most Mahas in the Three Towns and in many Blue
for the origin
arrivNile communities,
the Mahas who are still
of course,
except,
time as modern urban migrants.
ing at the present
information
which has
IV to XIII offer
much genealogical
Figures
in oral
from my research
before
and is derived
never been published
of
and in endless
who hold fragments
with those
interviews
history
in
cited
the existing
. These data embrace the principle
nasib
faruq
to
assistance
the preceding
considerable
and should offer
paragraph
and
students
of
Islam,
historians,
anthropologists,
genealogists,
those
and social
interested
in aspects
of marriage
affiliation
detail
since
in considerable
These data are presented
organization.
in the scholarfunctions
they may serve so many different
potential
ly study of the Sudan.
The descendants
of Gardaga (also
to the Muhammadab and
parent
but are
are especially
concentrated
in Tuti Island
Barakatab faruq)
found
as
well
and Elti.3
in
Eilafun,
East,
Shigla,
Beshagra
II,
3H.A. MacMichael,
83.
A History
of the Arabs in the Sudan (London,
1967),
I,
342;
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
235
to
Radallah
of El Haj Ahmed El Bak, are considered
and Ta'allah,sons
to most of the Gardagab in Tuti Island
be directly
ancestral
(see
VIII B). The links
between
the Gardagab and other
Figure
faruq such
as the Bodanab are particularly
and enduring.
For
close,
complex,
a fariiq
founder
Ibrahim Bodani,
(see
VI, VII) marexample,
Figs.
of El Fakih Musa El Dayig,
ried a Gardagabia
a
woman; and children
His
son Suleiman
(see Fig. VIII [b]) spread this fariiq.
Gardagab,
a large
left
the Khartoum area to establish
family
group in Sennar.
where
Another son, Radallah,
formed a large
family group in Bishagra
be found.
his descendants
may still
The children
of Marzuq are found at Rakayba, Hillet
Tuti
Bilula,
at Burri
and especially
Island,
Shambat, Omdurman, Khartoum North,
al
Mahas where
the
Bodanab fariiq
have
through
they
generated
in Burri al Mahas is sometimes
Ibrahim Bodani.
Another large
fariiq
known as the Farahab,
but Farah was just
one of the four sons of
that Marzuq also
Ibrahim Bodanio One source
(Amin Arbab Amin) claims
had some Moroccan ancestry
in addition
to that of the Khazrag, but I
can offer
no specifics
in this
of Marzuq
Other descendants
respect.
are found through the offspring
of Sheikh Muhammad 'Osman of Gerri,
town of the Abdallab
Sultanate.
the former capital
ibn Misherif
to the family
which
Qandal ibn Fellah
gave rise
included
Sheikh Idris
el Arbaby founder of the Eilafun
community and
ties
with other Mahas faruq.
having
important
on-going
Subuh, ancestor of the Subuhab, left
his offspring
in many of the same communities
but especially
on Tuti
and Beshagra
West where the
Island,
Other
Subuhab descent
groups may be known as the 'Aonab and Bilulab.
of Fellah
are settled
at Halfaya,
de,scendants
Shambat, and in Hillet
at Sababi,
Fellah
himself
on the east
is said to be buried
Khojali.
bank of the Nile opposite
Tuti Island.
The Mahas in History
Clear references
to Nubians begin in Dynastic
times some 5,000 years
Nubian out-migration
as servants,
workers
Likewise,
ago.
soldiers,
and administrators
can be dated to the earliest
This present
times.
on the period
work focuses
in Nubian history
when Islam
however,
first
into the Christian
Sudan.
percolated
kingdoms of the northern
the interest
is shifted
to the period
when a signifiSubsequently,
cant number of Nubians migrated
in the central
to and settled
Sudan
This second
is critical
from the sixteenth
forward.
topic
century
for the understanding
of the roots
of both Islamization
and urbanithe
zation
in the Sudan. This historical
section
examines
finally
role
between
the Mahas and 'Abdallab
to
with whom they had access
of the Funj Confederacy
the power and influence
based in Sennar.
Medieval
Christian
Times
The "Melik Series"
descends
from the reputed
(See Figure
II),which
a substantial
historical
marker
in the
Khazrag
origins,
provides
Mahas nasib.
There is probably
little
that this
question
genealogical
to the time when Islam was penetrating
more
related
segment
into the northern
of the Christian
Sudan at the expense
effectively
kingdoms of Makurra and Dongolao
Vantini
notes
and conflicts
various
attacks
between
Christian
Nubia and Omayyad Egypt (661-750
AD) even though the well-known
baqt
236
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
or treaty
the two spheres
between
of influence
permitted
generally
with
relations
the Nubian peoples.4
In the same work it
peaceful
is stated
some 50,000
Nubians enrolled
in the Fatimid
that perhaps
were many thousands
AD) and there
of others
who
army (969-1171
in Egypt.5
At the
same time,
these
sought
employment
many of
to their
homes in Nubia and brought back the ideas
returned
migrants
in the
Nubian
the close
notes
Vantini
they
acquired
diaspora.
of migration
association
between
these
and the slow but
patterns
Islamization
of Nubia, especially
in the eleventh
and twelfth
steady
centuries.
The rise
of the reference
and fall
term "Melik"
hints
(ling)
had taken place and the. uninterthat some political
differentiation
of this
title
that there may
rupted run of nine generations
suggests
nature
of the perpetuation
have been some hereditary
of this
socioIf the rough attempt
differentiation.
to periodize
these
political
the "Melik Series"
data is approximately
covers
a time from
correct,
about the mid-eleventh
with El Melik 'Abdel Karim until
the
century
fourteenth
the series
ends with El 'Melik Zubeir.
early
century,when
This time-frame
would make the "Melik Series"
with
contemporary
of the Christian
the closing
centuries
kingdoms of Nubia at Makurra
and Dongola
and one may project
that
the "Melik Series"
may have
some relationship
to the period
of Egyptian
Mamluke rule
(1250-1517)
or to the period
after
their
overthrow
in 1517 when number of them
took refuge in Nubia from the Ottoman rulers.
More data and specific
dates
are required
before
these. issues
be resolved,
but I am convinced
will
that
the "Melik Series"
does
an increasingly
reliable
with the known hisrepresent
convergence
At the least,
we can say with confidence
that
tory of the region.
the "Melik Series"
does refer
to the time when the internal
strength
underwent
and Arab
of
the
continual
Christian
erosion
kingdoms
The historical
record also tells
us that
authority
grew in strength.
the Egyptian
Mamlukes gave the final
Nubian
blow to the Christian
in the early
fourteenth
the same time when the
kingdoms
century,
of the Mahas comes to an end.
two
"Melik Series"
In fact
the last
names in the Melik group,
El Melik
'Ali Birsi
and El Melik Zubeir
in
flavor
to their
have an Egyptian
names.
It is also worth noting
II that the sons of El Melik Jama'a represent
the first
Figure
major
a time when the Mahas began to be on
genealogical
diversification,
the move further
southward
to spread Islam on the one hand, but also
of political
maintain
some degree
influence
the chalby escaping
to their
Mamlukes. El Melik Jama'a
lenge
authority
by the expanding
is considered
to have been the "Father of the Mahas of the North" at
least
in the central
Sudan. By my rough
by those Mahas now residing
and historical
El Melik Jama'a may have
reconstruction,
generational
twelfth
lived sometime in the late
century
AD, a time in the northern
Sudan when Arabs had reached
but before
numbers,
the
significant
Christian
II shows the six sons
fallen.
kingdoms had finally
Figure
of El Melik Jama'a;of
the descendants
these
of Nasr, Galal,
Hussein,
and Hassan stayed
in the northern
of
Sudan. The descendants
mainly
El Melik Mikin (the Meknab) moved to the central
Sudan in large
numbers
but they
still
have many relatives
in the
of
vicinity
for the Mahas in the Central
Perhaps most important
Dongola today.
4Giovanni
5Ibid.,
Vantini,
131.
Christianity
in the Sudan (Rome, 1981),
75,
116.
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
237
Sudan was El Melik Sa'ad,whose
descendants
are among the most numerous Mahas on Tuti Island
and in the many communities
along the Blue
Nile which have large
or significant
Mahas populations.
It is from
Muhammad El Mahas, sone of El Melik Sa'ad that the majority
of the
find their
common ancestor.
major Mahas branches
At this
the Khazrag
version
with
the
point
may be confused
version
of Mahas origins.
alternative
MacMichael speaks of an 'Abdel
Aziz Al-Mahasi,
one of ten sons of Dhubyan who had descended
from
the
As MacMichael
than the Khazrag.
rather
the
Juhayna,6
notes,
Mahas are mostly
of the Khazrag origin
"southern"
even though some
admixture
with Juhayna or Kababish may also have taken place.7
Just as El Melik Jama'a was probably
central
in the spread of
Islam in Nubia, Ajim, his descendant
six generations
cenlater,was
in the
tral
formation
of most of the major
on the
Mahasfaruq
Sudanese Nile,
for the Meknab branch as we have already
seen.
except
MacMichael
cites
sons
of
(See
eight
'Ajim8
III,
V, VI,
Figures
who were Sa'adallah
of the Sa'adallab),
Ziad (if he
VIII)
(founder
has not been confused
with the descendants
of Sa'adallah),
'Aboudi
the 'Aboudab descent
in the Dongola and else(who founded
groups
Sherif
el Din (or Misherif)
who heads the Misherifia
where),
group
about a half dozen modern faruq,
Muhammad Kabani (who was
including
the ancestor
of the very illustrious
Sheikh Khogali,
Sidran,
fakih
Mazad abu Shama, and Saridi
of the Sowarda descent
(founder
groups
in Halfayat
al-Muluk
and elsewhere
in Khartoum Province).
Muhammad
Al-Nur also
mentions
a Hamid El-Sowarda,
a Mahas from the north,9
but related
to 'Abdel Aziz Al'Mahasi
who, as we have just
seen,
may
have been of Juhayna origin.10
at historical
reconstruction
it would
Again,
making an effort
for southward
were strengthappear that the motivations
migration
ened in 1504 when the Christian
of
southeast
kingdom of Soba
(just
and was sacked
Khartoum)
finally
collapsed
growing
Funj
by the
state.
the Mahas
could be legitimized
Now, supported
by the Funj,
in their
of spreading
Islam through
their fukahaa , a subject
object
to which we shall
return.
in 1517,
shortly
Only slightly
later,
Selim I of Turkey toppled
Sultan
the Mamluke rulers
and immediately
set about constructing
the administration
of Ottoman rule in Egypt.
over the millenia
of Sudanese
and Egyptian
the
Repeatedly,
history,
for territory
and influpowers in the Sudan and in Egypt competed
In the sixteenth
ence.
the Funj state
northward
century,
sought
of its
trade routes
and authority
the expeditionary
while
expansion
of Sultan Selin
I began to push past Aswan. By 1520 the Turks
forces
had reached
Hannek at the Third Cataract,
of Dongola.
north
just
still
from this contested
more Mahas fled to the south
zone,
Fleeing
where they could be secure
under the umbrella
of the Islamic
Funj
state.
6MacMichael,
History
1974),
9MuhammadAl-Nur
186.
of the Arabs,
of the Arabs,
7MacMichael,History
II, 100.
8Ibid.,
ibn Dayfallah,
0Yusuf Fadl Hassan,
II,
I,
23.
341.
Kitab At-Tabaqat,Yusuf
The Arabs and the Sudan,
143-144,
Fadl Hassan,
154,
157.
ed.,
(Khartoum,
238
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
Mahas in
the
Central
Sudan
from the land-starved
Nubian miand insecure
Arriving
north, these
soils
of the
looked
at the rich alluvial
certainly
favorably
grants
and
central
be irrigated
by both shaduf
Sudan, which could easily
of
at the confluence
Tuti
devices).
Island,
(water-lifting
sagia
the Blue and White Niles,was
times and was to
these
settled
during
and
Islamic
of many important
teachers
become the birthplace
by
virtue
of its
of the Three Towns
was to be at the center
location
which was to grow into the capital
conurbation
city area of today.
When the Mahas arrived,
inhabited
area was already
the immediate
and Jummu'iya peoples
of the Rufa'a,
Ja'aliyin,
Shayqia,
by sections
who were using
the region
for grazing,
and,
semi-sedentary
herding
that
the Mahas
Arkell
for
to some degree,
suggests
agriculture.
Island
from the Jummu'iya who
the land at Tuti
actually
acquired
and
the so-called
had, themselves,
Anaj group of hunters
displaced
fishermen.l1
had
sixteenth
AD, the Mahas communities
century
By the early
in number.
and were growing
established
become well
Many of the
communities
were founded
fukahaa of the day. Each
by the leading
to the site
of his home and khaZwa (religious
would bring his family
would be added as possible.
where other religious
school)
buildings
the khalwa , a mesjid
or
A typical
homes,
community would include
died a gubba (tomb) would often be
mosque, and as the founding fakih
for his
in his honor around which would be the cemetary
erected
there
For the larger
followers
and their
deceased
families.
villages
market
and a periodic
for craft
would also be buildings
specialities
area for the sale or exchange
of livestock,
meat, and vegecrafts,
tables.
Aside
from the founding
of the community at Tuti Island
and on
at
Mahas village
was built
another
the adjacent
mainland,
early
Eilafun
and
of Funj").
As a reward for religious
services
("family
to
issued
land grants
of the early
Funj Sultans
advice,one
political
various
Mahas fekis
with
such as Fakih Muhammad 'Ali, who is credited
between Tuti Island
in about 1500 AD. Relations
Eilafun
establishing
and Eilafun
are still
five
hundred years
later.
Just to
very close
Mahas named Shukayry orof present-day
the east
Khartoum, another
the community of Burri al Lamaab.12
ganized
the Mogren and Burri
between
al Mahas was then located
Burri
of Khartoum and
Lamaab roughly
on the site
of the present
University
Heteik
Gasuma in 1575 AD.
Sheikh
was founded
by the Mahas leader
for Burri al
VI and VII show many of the Mahas ancestors
Figures
whether
Sheikh Heteik Gasmua is the individuMahas. It is not clear
al identified
or as simply
(in Figure
VI)as Hamad Heiteik,
Gusuma,
these
three
were
Gusuma. In any case
or as El-fakih
possibilities
Ibrahim
Bodani
of
each
other
and of
(see
rough
contemporaries
of the Bodanab fariq
of
III,
VI, VII) who was the founder
figures
Burri al Mahas at about the same time.
Like
so many of the
Mahas
as a member of the
be considered
Bodani
(who may also
fukahaa,
of
was born on Tuti Island.
After
the British
Misherifia)
conquest
al Mahas was moved
town of Burri
the Sudan in 1898, the original
A.J. Arkell,
Early Khartoum (London, 1949), 107-110.
in the Sudan (Ithaca,
Burri al Lamaab: a suburban village
12Harold Barclay,
10.
1964),
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
239
further
to its present
eastward
location
to make way for the British
barracks.
military
The community of Burri
ad Dareisa,
between
Burri al Mahas and
al
Burri
Lamaab emerged
at
this
founded
Shama
by Sheikh
time,
Hereiz.
Burri ad Dareisa
was also
the home of various
Jummu'iya and
Arab peoples
Burri al Lamaab, was not homogenously
Mahas.
and, like
such as Mangara,
Burri
abu Hashish,
Many other
villages
Wawissi,
al Muluk, Goz, Islanj,
Gereif
Gereif
Halfayat
Gayli,
West,
East,
et
Kutranj,
Shambat, Kamlin,
Kakol,
Rukayba,
Shigla,
Omorat, Jebel
and various
Gezira communities
also
trace
an important
role
Teina,
for the Mahas in general
or to specific
as their
fukahaa
founding
in the sixteenth
and seventeenth
centuries.
inspiration
The community
at Tuti
is particularly
Island
in
interesting
Mahas history
in a number of respects.
of
It is among the oldest
these
Mahas communities
and has continuously
the same site
occupied
for about five
in its
It is also
stable
hundred years.
remarkably
and its main residential
areas are still
homocomposition
virtually
Mahas. Tuti Island
to the Islamization
genously
fukahaa were central
of the Sudan in the
fifteenth
and thereafter
and as the
century
first
built
structures
at Khartoum, they may be credited
permanent
with
the process
of urbanization
at that
location.
The
starting
location
of Tuti Island
the attention
strategic
regularly
captures
of today's
tourists
a chance to witness
and gave Tuti Islanders
the
Turkish
of Khartoum,
at
the building
of the Mahdist
expansion
city
of Khartoum under the British,
and now,
Omdurman, the redevelopment
the burgeoning
growth of the Three Towns under post-colonial
governments
For only a small place,
Tuti Island
has not only generated
more
than its
share of religious
the "Keeper
for example,
teachers,
but,
of the Khalifa's
Purse'"
was Tuti-born
'Omda (mayor)
Ahmed
'Privy
ibn 'Ali
Bur. Tuti was also
the base for the Mahdist
as
treasury
well as an earthworks
which fort still
colonstands.
During British
'nOmdaAhmed Ibrahim was the Tuti leader who was also a prosialism,
merchant.
Even in the
of Ja'far
perous
post-colonial
government
a Tuti Islander
was a member of his Revolutionary
Command
Nimieri,
Council.
The Mahas and the
'Abdallab
The 'Abdallab
a fariiq
of the Rufa'a
and other
ethnic
represented
At
groups based at Gerri to the north of Khartoum North (Halfaya).
various
times during
the Funj Confederacy
the 'Abdallab
(1504-1821)
were in alliance
with
in Sennar,
the Funj sultans
their
capital
The nature
of the
confederation
was such
city.
that
local
each
had considerable
authority
autonomy and was empowered with various
the granting
of title
rights
to farm and residential
land.
including
Since the 'Abdallab
held authority
over the lands at the confluence
of the Niles,
it was to them that the Mahas settlers
for
appealed
title
to land.
Arbab
For example,
that
it was from the
'Abdallab
received
el-Agayed
to establish
to move from Tuti Island
authority
his khaZwa in the Mogren area of the Khartoum.
In 1604,
the
'Abdallab
at the battle
of
was defeated
fariiq
of the Sultan of Sennar
south of Gereif
East) by forces
Karkoj (just
who was seeking
to consolidate
and expand his authority.
This defeat
240
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
When the
of the 'Abdallab.
influence
curtailed
the local
effectively
that
he reported
traveler
Bruce visited
Gerri in the 1770s,
Scottish
it consisted
a few hundred people.
of only some 140 houses
or just
as large
with about 300
to the south was twice
Halfaya
Neighboring
concentration
at the
the beginnings
of population
houses,
showing
did not
of the 'Abdallab
the loss
of the Niles.
confluence
However,
end the Mahas fukahaa
to the south who
links
to the Funj rulers
for
Badi
I (1611-1616)
advice.
Sultan
to
seek
their
continued
ibn
followers
of Sheikh
was among the most devoted
Idris
example,
as learned
The Mahas were widely
Arbab of Eilafun.
people
respected
and
and were the accepted
teachers
of the ways of proper
prayer
and religious
of devotional
other aspects
training.
the eightLittle
is known of Gerri and the 'Abdallab
throughout
to the historical
return
but the people
and area
eenth
century,
of the
clashed
with the forces
record
in 1821 when the
'Abdallab
El
Nasir
Sheikh
leader,
The 'Abdallab
Pasha.
Turks under
Isma'il
of 400 wellto a battalion
Amin was finally
forced
to surrender
the Turkish
into
who had been mustered
recruits
armed Shayqia
army
the
between
rivalries
with
Turks playing
the
upon long-standing
and Shayqia.
'Abdallab
a sucMek Nimr, king of the trading
town at Shendi,
organized
Pasha and his men.
Isma'il
cessful
against
trap and counter-attack
the
The victory
short-lived.
seeking
revenge,
was, however,
Later,
Muhammad
Turkish
and fellow
brother-in-law
administrator,
pasha's
went up and down the Nile valley
(El Daftardar),
Bey El Stambouli
The
in his
at will
and murdering
expeditions.
punitive
sacking
who
to the Shayqia
of the 'Abdallab
lands
were granted
remaining
Mahas
and other
Tuti
Island
endeavor.
the Turks in this
supported
the murderous
also
communities
came under assault
campaigns
during
are still
of the Daftardar.
(1821-1823)
many associaToday there
who
tions
and ties
and Jummu'iya,
of the Mahas and the Rufa'a
the
made up much of the population
constituting
formerly
together
'Abdallab.
Sketches
of Some Leading
Biographical
and Funj Times
During 'Abdallab
Mahas Fukahaa
As we have now seen with the above historical
and genealogical
data,
a few
Sudan. Already
in the central
the Mahas were well established
as the
of the leading
have been noted in passing
teachers
religious
historical
their
toward reconstructing
was directed
central
effort
and cultural
to present
it is appropriate
At this
context.
point
to say, the
Needless
some of what is known about the men themselves.
and the
of their
influence
information
is fragmentary
but a flavor
become apparent.
shown them will
respect
Sheikh Hamad
Fakih Arbab el-Agayed,
The four following
fukahaa,
and el Fakih elwad Muhammad el Arbab,
wad Marium, Sheikh
Idris
ibn 'Abdel Rahman ibn Ibrahim were among the very
Sheikh
Khojali
Islamic
teachof the model of inspired
best known but were typical
on
Hamad may be located
Sheikh
All of these fukahaa,
ing.
except
who founded
the
Mariumab
Sheikh Hamad was the fakih
Figure III.
These four are singled
which is not included
in this
study.
fariiq
and dynamism of Islam of
the spirit
out because
they not only typify
the time but it was they who founded the villages
and towns which
became the Three Towns (Khartoum) capital
city area.
ultimately
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
241
Fakih Arbab El Agayed
III, 'IX
(See Figures
and eightAs with many of the leading fukahaa
of the seventeenth
in someIsland
Arbab El Agayed was born in Tuti
eenth centuries,
of the seventeenth
like
Fakih Arbab
the third quarter
century.
thing
who had been responsible
to Mohammed Busati,
related
was himself,
of a dispute
in
As the result
for spreading
Sunni Islam in Kordofan.
Fakih Arbab moved to the Mogren area of
the Tuti Island
community,
center
his own community and regional
Khartoum in 1691 to establish
to have
is said
His khalwa (religious
of Islamic
school)
learning.
His
attracted
some 500 students
some 300 were Nubians.
and of these
and
found
followers
were
Jummu'iya
among the
Ja'aliyin,
Mahas,
and
of Islam
His knowledge
among the Funj Sultans.13
especially
area.
His
abilities
were well known over a considerable
his teaching
His
and masjid
khalwa,
grew with his reputation.
village,
(mosque)
Hamad wad
and Sheikh
were
Sheikh
students
most
famous
Khojali
hear more.
Marium, about whom we shall
also
scholars
of this
The organization
community of religious
on the land at the consettlement
the first
represented
permanent
of modern
site
at the present
of the White and Blue Niles
fluence
Khartoum. As with other fukahaa of the period and region
FakihArbab
a
at Sennar and was likely
to the Funj Sultans
became a consultant
of Sultan
it was
Badi el Ahmar (1692-1716) . In fact,
contemporary
a consultation
at Sennar that Fakih Arbab died and he was
during
buried
in that town. His son,
'Ali
(see Figure
IX), became his sucat the
of religious
and continued
the
cessor
tradition
teaching
Mogren masjid and khaZwa.
The masjid
and continued
established
by his
by Fakih Arbab,
Sudan by the
of
the
until
the
flourished
conquest
descendants,
of the
As noted
Turks.
the brutal
it was
earlier,
expedition
to many of the signifithat brought destruction
Turkish "Dafterdar"
cant buildings
in the Khartoum area, including
the gubba of Sheikh
the "Dafterdar"
of Fakih Arbab. Worse still,
and the masjid
Khojali
tied
the great
of Fakih Arbab to the mouth of a cannon and
grandson
had him executed
in this
in the record
way. 14 It is not certain
ibn
'Ali.
was Muhammad ibn el-Kamel
victim
this
but presumably
to the best of
the masjid was not restored
the Turkiyia
Throughout
is still
remembered on the west side of
but the site
my knowledge,
The memory
Khartoum city
a couple
of blocks
south of the Blue Nile.
and the current
Uztaz
of Fakih Arbab is very much alive
Khalifa,
Muhammad el-Khalifa
of his ancestry
the nisba
Malik Yassin maintains
in Bashagra.
where he now resides
Sheikh
Hamad wad Marium
Sheikh Hamad, like Fakih Arbab, was
but it may have been later.
1646,
and was a student
order)
(religious
whose
to Sheikh Khojali
very close
Sheikh
Hamad. Furthermore,
Sheikh
13E.G. Sarsfield-Hall,
14C.E.J.
277-278.
Walkley,
Khartoum Province
"The Story
in perhaps
born on Tuti Island
the Qadriyia
He followed
tariqa
of Fakih Arbab. Sheikh Hamad was
was the mother of
sister-in-law
the
married
daughter
Khojali's
Handbook (Khartoum , 1936).
of Khartoum," Sudan Notes
and Records,
XVIII,
(1935),
242
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
leader
Sheikh
Mahmoud el-Nofalabi
who often
'Abdel
conJummu'iya
sulted
with Sheikh Hamad while
he resided
in the area which was to
become Omdurman. Thus the historical
record
is not rich but we do
know that very close
relations
of these
existed
between
all
three
leaders
with their
common origin
on Tuti Island.
important
religious
For reasons
of Tuti to settle
Hamad moved off
Sheikh
unknown,
Hillet
Hammad wad Marium on the western
shore
of the white
Nile.
Just as Fakcih Arbab may be said
to have founded
Sheikh
Khartoum,
Hamad was one of the founders
of Omdurman. Funj Chronicles
of the
cite
his village
as the only settled
area at that point.
His
period
contribution
to urban evolution
came to an end when he fell
into an
Sheikh
'Abdel Mahmoud abu Shaba
intense
with his neighbor,
dispute
Araki which ended with Sheikh Hamad's house and khaZwa being left
in
and invited
him
Sheikh Khojali
came to the aid of his friend
ashes.
to settle
in the area of Khartoum North known as Hillet
Hamad which
In this
still'exists
in Khartoum North.
today as a Mahas stronghold
Hamad continued
to contribute
to the urban development
way, Sheikh
of the Three Towns at the start
of the eighteenth
century.
Sheikh Hamad received
from Sheikh Yacoub ibn
religious
training
a Mahas, who had founded the community of Gereif
el-Sheikh
Mengelli,
West (across
from the Karkoj battlefield)
and the settlement
of Abu
Said which is populated
today largely
by the Zanarkab and Fiteihab
south of Omdurman on the west bank of the White Nile.
Sheikh
just
Yacoub was also
consultant
to the
'Abdallab
at Gerri
a religious
or from
Yacoub
before
their
downfall.
Whether it was from Sheikh
Fakih Arbab, the religious
in
of Sheikh
Hamad specialized
teaching
the education
of women and in combating
the "bad habits"
which then
in some of the local
in the practice
of
prevailed
interpretations
Is lam.
Sheikh Hamad was buried
in a gubba of somewhat lesser
size
than
of Hillet
but in the adjacent
that
of Sheikh
Khojali,
community
Hamad which he had founded.
dates
are offered
for his
Conflicting
1730. Today, many descenddeath but it was probably
sometime after
ants of Sheikh Hamad wad Marium have settled
on the east bank of the
White Nile south of Khartoum.
Sheikh Idris
(See Figures
wad Muhammad el
XII.)
III,
Arbab
This important
of Eilafun,
was a founder
where he was born in
fakih
1507 AD. His fariiq
is of the Misherifia
as were many of the Mahas
in this
His ancestry
is traced
from Qandal and is shown in
study.
XII.
His father,
El Arbab Muhammad, is not to be confused
Figure
with El-Fakih
Arbab El Agayed and his mother,
a Mahasiyia,
also
was
Fatma bint
Sherif
Hammad abu Denana.15
She may, in fact,
be the
of
of El Haj Hamad Dudana who was likely
a contemporary
daughter
Sheikh
Idris.
The difference
between Denana and Dudana could result
"nun" or "n"
in Arabic by failing
to put a dot on the letter
easily
to allow
The wife of
to be interpreted
as a "dal" or "d" instead.
of Mahas origin.
Sheikh
Fahra bint Walad abu Agrib was also
Idris,
The Kitab Al-Tabaqat
provides
details
wad DafaZlah
biographical
descendants.
about Sheikh Idris
of his important
Sheikh
and several
Idris had three sons, Hamad, Kham, and Abdel Qadir (the youngest).
15MacMichael,
History
of the Arabs,
II,
192.
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
243
Since Sheikh Idris
of Funj
was born shortly
after
the formation
to serve
of the Mahas fukahaa
he became one of the first
Sultanates
in the fashion
of religious
as did many of those who foladvisors,
and under
Islam under Wali Sheikh el Bandari
lowed him. He studied
Hamad wad Zaruq. He is considered
by some to have been the founder
of the Qadriya tariqa
Idris
in the Sudan. 16 Later
in life
Sheikh
Amara Abu Sakakin
was called
upon to cure the mother of Funj Sultan
and
his
who was ailing.
Jackson
notes
that
(1558-1569)
prayers
treatment
were
successful.17
Badi
was
I (1611-1616)
Funj Sultan
In the Funj
Idris.
follower
of Sheikh
noted
an especially
also
Chronicles
of consultations
with Sheikh
there are some seventy
cases
conconsidered
to possess
He was also
Idris
by the Funj Sultans.
siderable
cure
restore
powers and could
sterility,
magical
youth,
these
For
for
his
and had a widespread
generosity.
reputation
and services
he was officially
awarded the several
accomplishments
His death
became known as Eilafun.
of land which subsequently
tracts
in 1651 indicates
an exceedingly
so much so that it may
long life,
him the unlikely
this
would give
since
accurate
not be completely
In any case he was buried in his own gubba
age of 144 at his death'
before
can be seen for miles
This impressive
structure
at Eilafun.
the village.
It was restored
in 1928 and has become the
reaching
the site
also
has the
since
for local
center
religious
pilgrimages
loose brick
and the smaller,
holy burial
ground of his relatives
gubba of his son Hamad.
Sheikh Idris
out
was famed for his generosity
in giving
Although
his son
of food each day to his needy followers,
some sixty
plates
Hamad was even more notable
Muhammad Al-Nur states
in this
respect.
of food each day and that
the
that Hamad gave out some 120 plates
food was of very
of extraas well.18
The pattern
high
quality
of his descendants(See
was characteristic
Figure
ordinary
generosity
or redistribXII),as
both Barakat and Modawi ibn Barakat gave gifts
all
uted
that
in
tribute.19
received
Indeed,
virtually
they
refused
of his uncle Najmi, worked his own fields,
Modawi, a student
from his own disciples
the spirit
them to follow
and exhorted
gifts
of Islam by giving
food or money to any of those who were needy.20
I found that this
Ahmed in 1971,
I had with Khalifa
In an audience
same spirit
was still
and although
there was very
very much intact
the simplicity
and abundance
to the occasion,
formality
respectable
of the offerings
to recreate
the atmosphere
made it possible
easily
the
Khalifa
Ahmed died in 1979 and as I left
for decades
passed.
field
his succesor
had not been named.
El-Sheikh
El-Fakih
(See Figures
III,
Khojali
XIII)
ibn
'Abdel
Rahman ibn
Ibrahim
are
A number of the relatives
and descendants
of Sheikh
Khojali
that
It is worth noting,
V and XIII.
in Figures
however,
provided
Sheikh Khojali
of the Misherifia
descended
from the Kabanab fariiq
in this
Mahas studied
the other
relations
with
and thus had close
6J.
Spencer
Trimingham, Islam in the Sudan (London, 1965), 131,
"The Mahas of Eilafun,"
Sudan Notes and Records ,
17H.C. Jackson,
18MuhammadAl-Nur,
19Ibid.,
124.
20Ibid.,
343.
Kitab Al-Tabaqat,
157.
196,
220.
,
(1919),
288.
244
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
was also a Misherifia
article.
Mahas.
His mother,
Dowa bint Khojali
wife
Bint
al
Mina bin
MacMichael
notes
that
his
ibn
Ta'allah
Suleiman
Wanasuna bint Omer
was a Gardagabia,
while
his other wife,
ibn Hamad ibn Muhammad, was a Meknabia.21
linked
ties
Other kin
Sheikh Khojali
to Idris wad Muhammad el Arbab, who was the uncle
of
his mother.
of Sheikh Khojali,was
Dowa, one of the sisters-in-law
the wife
of Sheikh
Hamad wad Marium, whose biography
has already
been presented
above.
Sheikh
in 1065 AH and it was
was born in Tuti Island
Khojali
there that he began his study of Islam under the Tuti woman, fakira
'Aisha
He conbint Walad Qadal ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim el Fardi.
education
under Fakih
tinued
his
Sufi
Arbab and from
religious
Sheikh
El Zein Walad Sagrirun.22
Sufi backLater he combined his
He sought a very strict
Sunni interground with the study of Fikh.
unlike
of the Quran and he followed
pretation
the Shazliyia
tariqa
The more extensive
Sudan.
Qadriya
tariqa
many Mahas in the central
austere
habits
such as wearing old or very simple clothes
encouraged
and a rather
to religion.
ascetic
The Shazliyia,
on the
approach
other hand, were followers
who taught
of Sheikh abu Hassan el Shazli
that
dress
of God and one should
should
be
reflect
the blessing
clothed
was reputed
as well as possible.
Sheikh Khojali
Accordingly,
for wearing beautiful
and
such as those worn at a wedding,
garments
he often
had on a red tarbush
white
scarf,
very well-made
(cap),
and wore incense
in his beard and on his clothes.23
sandals,
to
Sheikh
was an impressive
figure
By all
Khojali
reports,
behold
and he always
beard
and
His heavy
commanded attention.
him a repucharismatic
which gained
were characteristics
qualities
tation
of brilliance
consulto a "true" waZi (religious
appropriate
This "Black Man of Tuti" made a number of pilgrimages
to
tant).
Mecca where he was initiated
order of Sheikh Ahmed
into
the Sufi
an important
el
el-Tinbuktawi
who was himself
Islamic
Fellata,
teacher
from Africa
then residing
in the holy city.
The stature
of the man may also be seen in his
for
reputation
not rising
to greet
Idris
and
Sheikh
for El-Khalifa
guests
except
to write to
el-Khalifa
but not for others.
He also refused
Sagrirun,
the
affairs
Funj Sultans
himself
such earthly
considering
beyond
in disputes
there are cases
mediation
of Sheikh Khojali's
although
which
fell
under
the
later
In this
respect,
Funj jurisdiction.
Islamic
law
Sheikh Khojali
of Shari'a
to the formation
contributed
in the Sudan,which
the
well after
was only beginning
to be codified
rise
of the Funj Sultanates.
in interpreSheikh Khojali
specialized
tation
and mediation
in certain
of Islamic
basic
justice.
principles
in one case24
were reporthe followers
of Sheikh Khojali
However,
ted as litigants
in a land dispute
over land which had originally
been given to Sheikh Khojali
by Sultan Badi IV (1724-1762).
Even though he was reluctant
to all but a select
to show respect
himself
commanded considerable
few, Sheikh Khojali
throughrespect
out his community and region.
were taken
to wrong-doers
His warnings
as were his barakat
In the
followers.
to his
seriously
(blessings)
21MacMichael, History of the Arabs, II, 83.
22Trimingham, Islam in the Sudan, 130.
23MuhammadAl-Nur, Kitab Al-Tabaqat,
191-202.
"The Evolution
24Jay Spaulding,
of the Islamic
Journal of African Historical
Studies,
X, 3 (1977),
Judiciary
419.
in Sinnar,"
International
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
245
of his Shazliyia
he was also
known for his patience
spirit
tariqa,
and neighbors
from friends
offenses
to endure petty
and his ability
He was also a man who
since
such things
Sheikh Khojali.
were beneath
such as
illnesses
to cure
He was reputed
did not like
revenge.
for many "miracles"
and was responsible
and skin diseases
insanity
for wells,
water rise,
like making the river
good locations
finding
and finding
lost objects,25
various
and a
This devout
religious
man, who had many famous students
of the Sudan, is
and Islamization
in the urbanization
effect
lasting
to have died at noon on a Sunday in 1155 AH (1743 AD).26
reported
is
and his gubba
in his community at Hillet
He was buried
Khojali
contains
of the Mahas fukahaa . The grave site
among the very largest
Ahmed Bushara
his remains next to which are those of his son Khalifa
for some
center
who succeeded
the religious
him and who maintained
cloth
with a colored
are covered
Their graves
draped over a
years.
sons are found in long,
of his other
wooden'framework.
The graves
Buried
inches
wide.
about fifteen
narrow brick-walled
grave "slots"
after
in order
father
to their
of their
and proximity
seniority
Abdel Rahman, El Amin, Muhammad,
El Nur, Ibrahim,
Ahmed are Siraj
His son Muhammad Nur died in the Suez area where he
Taha, and Yasin.
In
the gubba
inside
is buried
None of his four daughters
is buried.
of the Daftardar
1823 the gubba was destroyed
during the predations
and presurmtbly wrought
in neighboring
who killed
Halfaya
villagers
terror
In the 1940s the gubba was
of Hillet
on the people
Khojali.
A contracas was the masjid and residential
complex.
fully
rebuilt,
the conin
of
was
tor from Tuti Island,
charge
Haj Yousif
Al-Tayib,
s truction.
the structure
who enter
local
Today the gubba attracts
pilgrims
stations
from the only door on the south side and then make certain
inside
circumnambulate
the grave complex while
the buildingand
saySheikh Khojali,
after
Khalifa
Ahmed, five
generations
ing prayers.
from
relics
maintains
the cemetery,
, and preserves
andmasjid
gubba,
a religious
his original
ancestor
his illustrious
sandals,
including
and an example of a nisba
a long iron walking
stick,
banner,
caps,
himself.
of Sheikh Khojali
in the hand-writing
for his descendants
Discussion
Several
final
observations
may be made to summarize this work. First
the
here
has demonstrated
examined
record
of all, the historical
the
of
Tuti
Mahas in
contribution
Island-born
incipient
early
of the White and Blue
life
at the confluence
of settled
process
to establish
Sheikh Arbab al Agayed was the first
Niles.
permanent
of
side
the
western
became
which
at
the
Mogren area
quarters
in
Khartoum. Sheikh Khojali
and Sheikh Hamad wad Marium were central
and Hillet
Hillet
the formation
Hamad,
Khojali
of,
respectively,
nucleii
Sheikh
around which we now find
Khartoum North,
village
Sheikh Abdel Mahmoud were the
Hamad wad Marium and his contemporary
first
to reside
at the site
of what became Omdurman.
permanently
of Burri al Mahas. Other
Heteik and Bodani were originators
Sheikhs
Mahas played
similar
roles
in the area along the Nile from south of
25Trimingham,
Islam
26MuhammadAl-Nur,
in the Sudan,
136-137,
Kitab AZ-Tabaqat,
191.
143,
145.
246
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
the Sixth
and to
Cataract
at Sabaluka
to Sennar on the Blue Nile
initial
as their
As inauspicious
Jebel
Aulia
on the White Nile.
contributions
must come their way
credit
may have been, considerable
the
have continuously
in this
descendants
occupied
regard as their
for centuries.
same locations
the role of these Mahas, especially
those born on Tuti
Second,
Sudan. It
of the central
been basic
in the Islamization
Island,has
is known that
on Islamic
their
state
the Funj Sultans
built
prinIslamic
not famed in their
but that
ciples,
they were themselves
It was in this
Mahas fukahaa became
that
function
scholarship.27
as political
as well
in religious
the advisors
to the Funj Sultans
and civil
were
matters
from the earliest
that
the Sultans
times
of
this
introduction
to the more formalized
religious
receptive
state
This article
does not maintain
and society.
component of their
but
that the Mahas were the only religious
leaders;
they were not,
that
the
their
influence
far exceeded
their
numbers is certainly
of the Islamic
in the development
case.
were pioneers
They also
to a certain
extent
of the architectural
judicial
styles
system,
of the
and gubbas,
and in the introduction
found in their masjids
Sufi
the
in
role
such
an important
brotherhoods
which
played
Africa.
in Islamic
of the Sudan and in many other places
Islamization
about the
Third
these
data relate
to a number of questions
There
of genealogies
research.
role and accuracy
in anthropological
are several
ways in which this
appraisal
may be made. The extreme
found in the Mahas
material
depth of the genealogical
generational
does have some correspondence
communities
with historical
that
fact,
of the time of Muhammad and with the
is, with the people and events
"Melik Series"
with
I have described
above, which correlates
roughly
the period of the Islamization
of Nubia. There are also correlations
with
the diversification
and with
the
record
in the genealogical
of the Mahas to, and in,
Sudan. Furthermore,
the central
dispersal
the personages
cited
four or five centuries
in the nisba in the last
there are
historical
are known from a number of independent
records;
no glaring
This
is not to say that
some of the
discrepancies.
be
cannot
or were not constructed
were
details
post facto ; this
there
here is that
is
ascertained.
What can be claimed
certainly
in the record
more accuracy
than what is found in the
considerably
a good
While I have inherited
general
study of African
genealogies.
the data I
from my intellectual
measure of skepticism
foreparents,
have collected
and tend
tend to reduce the dubious opinion
certainly
to strengthen
the view held by Irving
in her study of Wolof geneawhich showed that while some African
like the Nuer,
societies
logies
distorted
and Tallensi
Tiv,
and socially
questionable
may have
this was not the case for the Wolof.28
genealogies,
that
and Lewis
Cunnison
have
demonstrated
conquest
already
states
have more hissocieties
more hierarchical
and, in general,
of
Because
this
accurate
torically
information.29
genealogical
available
we are not surprised
to find
of record
the sort
pattern
with the Mahas, who have been exposed
to literate
traditions
since
"Evolution of the Islamic Judiciary,"
408-426.
T. Irving,
in Comparative
"When is Genealogy History? Wolof Genealogies
5, 4 (1978),
American Ethnologist,
651-674.
29Ian Cunnison, "History and Genealogies
in a Conquest State," American Anthropoloin Northern
59, 1 (1957) 26-27; I.M. Lewis, "Historical
gist,
Aspects of Genealogies
Somali Social Structure,"
Journal of African History,
III, 1 (1962) 35-36.
27Spaulding,
Judith
Perspective,"
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
247
the start
of Old Kingdom Egypt five
thousand
years ago, not to menforfrom the Seventh
Arabic
traditions
tion
the literate
Century
wardo Lewis also found correlation
in genealogical
relating
accuracy
of political
or to the acquisition
to primacy of settlement
power,
role of
and these
are certainly
found in the influential
conditions
of the White and Blue Niles.
the Mahas at the meeting
In the Somali case,
that the organizing
Lewis observed
principle
in the
was found
and political
for
social
cohesion
maneuvering
descent
has been an element
patrilineal
and likewise
this
group30
since
the time of their
at least
of the Mahas social
organization
20 or 30
Islamization.
For the Somalis,
can recite
many children
are
elders
and certain
relatives
on the male line
lineal
by heart
to
able accurately
knowretain
even more specialized
genealogical
to be found with
the Mahas, who may
are also
Such examples
ledge.
even display
undecorated
their
wall.
nisba on an otherwise
is considerable
notes
there
Peters
For Libyan Bedouin,
accuracy
is an "area of ambiguity"
for five
back but that there
generations
of the "cultural
and the period
times
between
those
recent
past"
over the generations.31
which shows a rather
constant
replication
head may prompt
that the existence
of a named lineage
Cunnison writes
an accurate
back to seven generations32
and
rendition
genealogical
which bear the names
is certainly
the case for the Mahasfaruq
this
a
of the lineage
he notes,
founders.
may represent
Royal lineages,
in the
Once again,
for some nine generations.
true chronicle
record
of
is supportive
Mahas case,
to Funj royalty
the fukahaa
proximity
accuracy.
genealogical
or promote geneawhich correlate
conditions
with,
Beyond these
of ranked
the existence
has found that
Irving
precision,
logical
the
relates
to
ranks
and intra-caste
castes
family
endogamous
of
the politics
as do patron-client
precision
relations,
increasing
succession
and inheriand patterns
of
reputation,
patrilineal
tance.33
are
Such aspects
of social
by
legitimized
organization
does not
that
she cautions
genealogy
by saying
pedigree
although
determine
In the case of Sheikh Khojali
such ranks and relations.
influence
there is abundant proof of his great
for example,
and, in
who have conof the persistent
of his descendants
influence
fact,
of power in the Sudan.
to be at or near the centers
tinued
of an
also
determined
that
for the Wolof the existence
Irving
and longfrom the political
historian
arena,
segregated
(griot)
and maintethe the development
will
lasting
encourage
factonalism,
with historical
which interpenetrate
nance of accurate
genealogies
events
and personages.34
here
the
data
Likewise
give
presented
to these correlative
Thus, these Mahas
relationships.
support
strong
Islam and the seeds
have not only brought
leaders
and their
people
with them
carried
of urbanism to the central
Sudan, they have also
and accuracy.
an historical
record of unusual
length
"Historical
30Lewis,
31E.L.
Cyrenaica,"
Peters,
Journal
32Cunnison,
33Irving,
34Ibid.,
Aspects,"
35-48.
"The Proliferation
of Lineage Segments
Institute,
of the Royal Anthropological
"History
and Genealogies,"
"When Is Genealogy
669-670.
History?,"
29.
653-654.
among the Bedouin
90 (1960), 40.
of
248
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
some comment may be made about some patterning
in Mahas
Finally,
Elsewhere35
I have
written
about
the
marriages.
unusually
high
of lineage
) and ethnic
endogamy of the
degree
(fariiq
(gabila)
Mahas. Given the very longstanding
of influence
to positions
access
alliances
to
use marriage
in the central
Sudan, many Mahas faruq
or cement
to
alliances.
For those
develop
socio-political
seeking
of
or class
the pattern
consolidate
their social
position
fariiq
to
of mahar (bridewealth)
for maintenance
endogamy allows
payments
to
This type of endogamy is well-suited
be kept within
the lineage.
the preservation
or
of the status
quo. On the other hand, fariiq
or to
social
to achieve
gabiZa
mobility,
exogamy is well-suited
new alliances
of class
such as would occur during
develop
periods
The biographies
in
this
or
territorial
formation
acquisition.
article
data on this matter.
give some additional
wad Muhammad el Arbab we have seen
In the case of Sheikh Idris
that he and his descendants
were famed for their
and, in
generosity
with
the
of
the
in keeping
their
simplicity
general,
austerity,
order.
The limited
data we have show a consistent
pattern
Qadriyia
an outlook
of
of gabita
postulate
endogamy and I would tentatively
be seen today in the
of the status
preservation
quo which may still
in Eilafun.
life
small-scale
simple,
In the case
His
of Sheikh
there
is a sharp contrast.
Khojali
of fariiq
and
show notable
and family history
patterns
biography
was encourFor example,
one of his four daughters
exogamy.
gabila
an important
contemporary
aged to marry 'Abdel Mahmoud El-Nofalabi,
leader
of the Gummyi'iya rather
than Mahas ethnic
group. More speciof fariiq
the pattern
fically,
endogomy may be fine for the consolidation
of
or
established
but
his
wealth
influence,
position,
times.
An example of
at other
would be counterproductive
preference
alliance
XIII.
Here I have
strategic
building
may be seen in Figure
who has married
into the
of Muhammad el-Fakih,
shown Fatma, daughter
influential
Mirghani
family which is at the heart of the Khatmiya
sect has long opposed the Mahdiya
This politically
important
tariqa.
as have many Mahas whose positions
were eroded during Mahdist
tariqa
rule (1885-1898).
Children
successor
to Sheikh
of Khalifa
Ahmed, the
present
in higher
themselves
have already
education,
distinguished
Khojali
and other
medical
school
Thus,
training.
including
professional
formaof class
a new wave in the process
there is clearly
although
tion
to these
new
in the Sudan today,
one may also see recruitment
of
centuries
from kin ties
strata
socio-economic
following
having
Links
in
in short,
both continuity
and change.
There is,
depth.
to achieve
these ends.
and marriage may be mobilized
kinship
35Lobban,
"Class,
Endogamy and Urbanization,"
99-114.
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
Shakartab
Version
Consolidated
Version37
MacMichael Version38
Kenana
Ghalib
Luai
I
Ka'ab El-Khazraj
a
/
Fikr
Ka'ab ElKhazrag
Ka'ab El-Khazragi
El-Ansari
Ubaia
I
'Abada
'Abada
'Abada
Nada
Haritha
Haritha
Ubaia
Ubi
'Amara
Zed
'Omara
Zed
Muhammad
Zayd
Muhammad
Muhammad
Suleiman
Sulayman
'Ali
'Ali
'Ali
'Abdel Rahman
Salim
'Abdel Rahman
Salim
t
I
Ma'
Jama'a Sukr
Musa
Gamai Sukr
'Aowis
'Aways
Musa
Musa
Sa'ad
Sa'ad
I.
Jabir
Jabir
Yacoub
'Abdel Karim
Gabir
Yacoub
Ya'akub
'Abdullah
'Abdullah
El-Melik 'Abdel
Karim
I
Figure I
Mahas line
Tayib,
hold.
of descent
Kari
Karim
'Abdel Abdel
I
based on Khazrag Origins
36The Shakartab version was formulated
Qadi MuhammadMisherif and others,and
in conversations
by the various
with 'Omer Yousif Alwritten records which they
and is
genealogies
seeks to unify all of the existing
version
37The consolidated
The nisba-of
built upon them as well as my own research and thinking on the subject.
the
and
in
this
version,
useful
was
Island
of
Tuti
El-Hadi
especially
El-Fakih Ahmed
and compared in detail.
of Amin Arbab Amin was also consulted
nisba
Bashagra
38The MacMichael Version is from MacMichael, History of the Arabs, II, 100.
249
250
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
'Abdullah
El-Melik
'Abdel Karim
El-Melik
El-Melik
Ahmed
El-Melik
El-Melik
Na?Er
Galal
H ssein
Hassan
'Amir
Hassan
Jama'a
b
El-Melik
Sa'ad
MuhammadMahsin
El-Melik
Mikind
El-Melik
Hamad
El-Melik
'Ali
El-Melik
Zubeir
Farah
Figure II
Mahas Descent,
39This
section
is from ibid.
39
the "Melik Series"
Birsi
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
Ib Jama' a
El-Melik
I
0
Mikin(
El-Melik
c
M
0
MuhammadMahsin
1
0
0
I (
0
'A ima
Sa'adhll
'Aboudi
I
O
0
0
0
0
I
I
0O
0
I
/0\
0
0
O0
0
O
0
0
0\
0\
I
I
Arbab El 0
'Agayed
Shakartu
O
O
I
O
I
O
fQ
I
See Fig.
V
|
I
.n-A r,,ida
UI I U
section
is
Rt,
n
I
I
V
|
compiled
----
|I
It
0
I
I
0
I
0
0
1
0
I
?I
I
0
0
0
Sheikh
\ Khojalir
Sees
r Fig.VI,
\
VII See Fig.
See Fig.
XII
VVII
0
See Fig.
V, XIII
of the Mahas of the Three Towns
hsnnlpnt
-1?
U
0
0
See Fig.
IX
See Fig.
X, XI
Figure III
Schematic Genealogy
I
dan
f
/
'O
O
O
Bilul
?I
0
0
I
O
0
Figures40
V -
and unified
for
1
I
0
\
O Sheikh0
I ri
J
r0 0
don0
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t
0
V)
Gardagai4p
0
|
|
40This
0
SulIuhl
/0
O
KaLani
MuzadnAbu
I
(See Fig.
q|Shamha
0
Misherif
I
Fellah
i
lL
|I
the first
time by the author.
See Fig.
IV
251
RICHARDA. LOBBAN, JR.
252
E-Melik
Mikind
El-Melik
Hamad
hl-Melik
'All
El-Melik
Zubeir
Birsi
Firah
Modawi
E1 Amin
I
Omer
Suleiman
Idris
Jamsad
Mualad
?Oler
Daleel
I
Modavi
El-Fakih
Muhamad Nur
Mishtrif
Modavi
Ahmed
Ahmed
Muhammad
I
Ehojali
'Abdel Qadir
uhamnad
Ahmed
hojall
41
Figure IV
Elements of the Meknab Fariiq
41These
data are mainly
from El-Hadi
Ahmed El-Hadi
Tutui
Island.
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
253
lIme
'Ajim,
I
I
I
Sadir
Soarid
Zai'ed
Sa'adallah
m
Misherif
Muhamad
f
Kabani
gg
Shab'aan 'Abudi
Suleiman
Ali
Mu;ad
Abu
Shamha
Hamad
I
Asfur
Daleel
Muhammad
Sama,
Dow El-
'Ali
Hamdulla
I
uhanmnad
Ayad
I
BaetI
Shukra
Jamilallah
I
I
Karamallah
Padlallah
'Ali
I
Dow Elae
Hasib ElNubi Nutbi
Daleel
Mohammad
Maleh
-
Hamad
El-Fakih
Adam
Dar Maleh
Nu
Thrahim
'Abdel
Rahman
r
I r
Sheikh
Kho ali
Taha
El-Amin
Mlamad
El-Khalifa
El-Amin
El-Khalifa
Ahmed
Figure V
Some Descendants of 'Aboudi, Muzad Abu
42
Shamha, and Muhammad Kabani (Sons of Ajim)
2These data are mainly
from Khalifa
History of the Arabs, II, 100.
Ahmed of Hillet
Khojali,
and from MacMichael,
Sa'ad
Salad
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
254
VI
Figure
Descendants
(some early
of Marzuq43son of Fellah,
son of Misherif
of Burri al Mahas)
inhabitants
Aeim
Misherif
Fellahh
Subuh iNarzuq
Qandal-mn%
1 Warin
[
r
'Abdel' Kabir
'Abed
El-Haj
Hamad Dudana
r
Muhammad
IJ
'Ali
El-Fakih
Muhamiad
Abdel
Rahman
Imam
'Abdel
Karim
rAbdel
Bagi
'Abdel
Bagi
El-Fakih
Suleiman
ImIam
Muhammad
Abdel
Rahim
Sahil
Abdullah
Muhammad
Gusuma
I
'Ali
I
I
I
Suleiman
"Abdel
Rahim
Sabah
Oman
Had
Hiteik
Muhammad
Muhammad
Ahmed
El- Fakih
Hamad
Misherif
Abdel
Qadir
El- Fakih
Khojali
Muhammad
Ahmed
E-HaFj
El-Amin
Muhammad
El-Qdi
I
iI
I
Ibrahim 1
Bodani
El-Fakih
Gusuma
Abdel
Rahim
Ahmed
Ga4dagak
IP
I
I
"Abdel
Rahman
I
43These data are from Abu Zed Musa and Hassan Babiker
and Mustafa Araki of Qoz.
Mhotali
El-Beshir
-adi
E1-Fadil
Bodani of Burri al-Mahas
THE MAHAS OF THE "THREE TOWNS,"
Genealogy
255
SUDAN
Figure VIT
of the Bodanab fariiq
Figure
(see
VI)
I 1
Ibrahim
Bodani
I
Muhammad
I
Yasin
[_
Farah
Suleiman
I
Abu Reesh
Muhammad
Ibrahim
I
Idris
'Abdel
Mansur
Mua
I
Ibn Daleel
Idris
Ahmed
El-Awad
Qadir
El-Hadi
Taha
Muhammad
El-' Adael
TaJ ElLDin
Farah
Suleiman
Muhammad
El-Amin
Ahmed
Khojali
MuhammadAhmed
'Ali
Ahmed
Abu Zeid
I
Muhammad
I
I
El-Dow
I
Muhammad
'Abdullah
I
Ahmed
Beshi
Muhammad Muhmad-
Mkuhammad
iFblSl
Muhamad
I
hojali
Ahmpd
El-Fadil
Idtis I Khojali
El Amin Ibrim
Hasan
d
SdigFdil
?_
Musa
Hamad
Hamad
Dow
'Abdel
Rahman
Modawi
Muhammad
El- 'Adael
Idris
ElMansur
Muh_aad
Ibrahim
I
Ihhaiaad
I
Ibrhim
Ah4ed
gMsa
Hiaid
El-Fokih
Hl-Haj
Babiker
El-Dow
t
Sultiman
I
Modawi
(see
Ahied
Yousif
Figure VII continued)
Muha1mmad
Yahia
Hahan
Abdel
Qadir
i
El-FakiEl
Yahia
Yahia
Hasan
Figure
VII (continued)
'Al
Genealogy of the Bodanab fariiq
I
Yahia
Os-an
'Abdel
Azim
1
Ibrahim
Bodani
Ahaed
Ahed
|
Hasan Mamum
'Abdel
Moneim
Muhammad
El-'Adael
Ibrahim
Suleiman
El-Haj
Babiker
I
Muhamad
Modawi
I
Dr. Suleiman
Dr..lOman
Ta.ir
SJlah
Mh
I
d
Ibrim
Ahmed
Manm CO4er Rabhid
'i
L_r
Sayed TaAir
Fateh
uLimmd
Yusef
Alhed
Ahmed Ain
jib
MAhr Maejd
uhafmad
Ibrahim
Dr
Khalid
Mamoud
Hassan
Babiker
Mueafa
'Abdel
'Alim
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
256
VIII
Figure
(A)
Genealogy of the Gardagab fariiq
of Radallah)
(Descendants
44
AJime
MishTerif
I
Fealah
Sub6ih
Qandalp
Marzuq
1
Mariud
I
El-Haj Ahmed
El Bak
I
Radallah
Ta' allah
?) I
El
Hammnad
Ml-Haj
'Abdullah
Ahned
Sule'ime mn
I
I
i
N;im
---I
I
Muhammad
?
Suleiman
~I
Ahbed
?
I
'Abdullah
I
'Ali
Tayib
Al-Asma
Ibrahim
>1/^
Hassan
I
Muhammad
Farah
'Abd'llah
rein
Ibrhim
I
I
Sadig Dafallah
Ahmed rAldel
Oadir
I
I
I
Tahir Hamad Na'allahN
?Abdel
Rahman
Fakih
Ibrahim
Muhammad
Ahmed
**
I
-----JIAhmed
El!lGadi
El-Tayib
Ali
Mustafa
i
I
'All
-Mek
MJdawi El-aj
e
Haasan
j
Omda
t
I
El-Sheikh
El-Fakih Muhammad
Mamum
Muhammad Nur
I
Suleiman
~
Ta'allah
I,
Modawi
Nim
|
Muhammad
I
[
(B)
Suleiman
Luara
Suleiman
VIII
Abul Rsa
I
Lu
yra
El- Fkih
'Ali
(See Figure
I
Muhamnad
f
Osman
?Abdel
'Ali
Modawi
Aah
Modawl
Omer Sayed
?
Babiker
Modawi
Hamdun
44These
data are from 'Ali
Mustafa
'Ali,
of Tuti
Island,
and Abu Zed Musa.
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
VIII
Figure
Genealogy
257
(B)
of the Gardagab fariiq45
of T'allah)
(Descendants
le
fAJim
Misherif
Fellah
Muhammad
Mariud
El-HaJ Ahmed
El-Bak
-
t
Radallah
(See Figure VIII
Ta'allah
|
(A)
)
'Ali
I
Musa
Fakih Wad
Howa
uammad
Suleiman
I
uhammadElA'ha
Ajn
Figure
Amir
Abdel
Wahed
IX
Hamad
Subahi
Ta'alah
of the
Genealogy
I
Muhammad
Hamad
Musa
El-Fakih
El-Dayig
IdriAs rONan Iman
d Idria
iML
Ahled
Jad El- Radallah
Karim
'Aonab fariiq
46
seime
Misherif
Fellah j1
I
Subuh
'Amir
'Aln
*AUI
f
I
A!bab
Abdel Daiem
'Ali
Haj Idris
f
Arbab el-Agayed.
'Ali
I
Haj
Sheilkh
Muhammad
El-iaklh
El-Kamel
Ismael
|
Muhanunad Ism'?e l
El-Sheikh
Muhanmmad
Radallah
CAbel
Qadi
El E Idi
Rahman El-
Khalifa
Isr
El- halifa
El-Melik
Ali
Makhwal
Haj Suleiman
I
I
Hamad
brahim
Qurash
Modawi
|)
fuhammad
El'-Fakih
Ahmed
Ebrahim
I
El'TT
El-aj
E
ElAhmed E1WAhmed
ta
Iisherif
Babiker
Muhammad
'Osman
El-Amin
E
j
Muhammad
Eli-Haj
El-Hindi
I
I
Muhammad
Hamudi
AhAed
Saleh
1
lil
Ahmed
El-Sheikh
El- Imam
I
l
Muhmed
mad
AhLed ElHadi !Hmdi
t1
Ossman
Beshir
El-SJHaj
tAbdel
Moneim
Bilul
Ali
El-Haj
El-halifa
El-Faklh
EGayli
Muhammad
Iia
I
|dI
ElJFakih
Fardoz
Mulharif
El-Hadi
|
I
Sadq
-Haj
El-Haj
'Abdel Daiem Dafallah
Abd
Abdel Rahman
( ..1.t
Mishtrif
Abdel
Rahman
Gadill Welli
]
~Beshir
' '
El-AAin
Muhamed ElMisherif
El-AAin
Misherif
El-Sheikh
El Melik
El-Sheikh
Muhammad
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
258
Figure X
of the
eCealo,gy
Sa'adalab
'Aqim C
'adallalin
Suleiman
CAbdullah
tAbdel
Khaliq
'Ali
Masa
Abi Asha
'Ei'sa
Sadiq
Nuhanmmad
Muhammad
Is
Eisa
Abdel
Rahman
*Al
Manufli
ue
in
(See Figure
Shakartab)
XI,
Idris
Bilal
I
Suleiman
I
Wada'a
Shakartulla
Bilal
El-aj
aktulla
Shakartulla
lada
Rahyma
Al Tom
Batron
Abd
Abdel
El!Haj
'li
El
Saa
a
afad
Khjali
Muhaammad
Bilal
Haad
Nur
ckih El-Sayed
Rashma
45These data are from MuhammadMisherif
Amin Arbab Amin of Bashagra,
of Tuti Island,
'wj
(See Figure
X-A)
of Shambat, Muhammad 'Osman Agabash
and Abu Zed Musa of Burri al-Mahas.
and
46The data for Figure X are from Sayed Wad Shaheen, 'Omer Yousif Al-Tayib,
of Khartoum North.
and Qadi MuhammadMisherif
'Abdel Rahman Gibreel all of Tuti Island,
and from
'Osman of Hillet
el-Fakih
Khojali,
47These data are from 'Abdullahi
Sayed Wad Shaheen, and MuhammadMisherif.
THE MAHAS OF THE "THREE TOWNS,"
Figure
259
SUDAN
X-A
Genealogy of the Sa'adalab
(continued)
E1-Haj MuhammadNurO
I
Eamad
E
Sadiq
Othman Babiker
Tuaemnad
El-Abed,
.Abdel
Rahman,
Suleiman
MuhammadNur
t .
I
Dar ElJalal
El-Sayed
|
Babiker..
Babiker,
Jaafar,
Sirr el
M atim,
Sadiq
COthman,
Tijani,
'Abdullah,
'Abdel
Majid,
.---
Othman
E-
El-Daleel
(
Rasuul
Figure
XI
Genealogy of the Shakartab
(See Figure X for links between
Shakartu and 'Aj im)
tAbdelI
Rahman
Suleiman
I
n
Yabin
Idris
Shkartu
Ahmed Darawish
h
Ia
ali
Meemiaa d
Mwed
EAwadt
KDj8ali
'q
|d
Yi
l- Shmha
Muha
|
Mubarak
Abdel Suleiman
MEajid
|
Muhammad.
bdes
Rahman,c
hAbdel diyAbdele
QEl-Mahdiya
ShaAeen
Barklat
El-Be
El-Bedri
XI-mad
Muhamad
'Ali
(see Figure
XI-A)
r
Mustafa
Abdl
Qadr
ammad
Ya^si~n
Mhanad
Mueammad Ya'sin Muhed
Omn
Ahmed
|
(
Ahmed
uhaad
El-Amin,
El-Bedawi
Omer
r
Jamilallah
AbeRaman
(See Figure
Shaheen
Ahmed
Shaheen Abdel JaAal
Rahman el-Din
Muhammad,
Muhammad
El-Hassan
E1L
Tahir
260
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
Figure XI-A
Genealogy of the Shakartab
(See Figure XI for links to
other members of the Shakartab)
Shakartuntl
Idris
I
Barakat
Haj Ahmed
Mustafa
'Abd1e
Qadir
El Faki Idris
Beshir
Qasm E1Sid, FadlHassan,
Mahgoub,
Osman,
' Ali
..'Ali
'Ali
Showish
Sadiq
El-Amin,
Hassan,
Hussein,
'Ali,
Barakat
4
Figure
Beshir
Haj
Muhammad
Babiker 'Abdel
Ahmed,
Raouf
Mohi El,
Din, Abdel
Rhman,
Barakat
ra
Muhammad
{
El-Fakib
Idris,
Babiker,
Nur elJalill w?
Yasin
XI-B
Genealogy of the Shakartab
(See Figure XI for links to
other members of the Shakartab)
Shakartubn
Idris
Abdel
Rahman
Ibrahim
Muhammad El3Fakih
Ahmed
El-Amin
/
/
E1-Foki h~
Hamida,
mer
Omer,
Muhammad,
Medani,
Modawi,
Sadiq
-
THE MAHASOF THE "THREE TOWNS," SUDAN
XII
Figure
Some Elements4%f the Fariiq
Sheikh Idris
of
I &e
Misherif
Fellah
Qandal p
I
'Ali
El-Artab
El-Fakih
Hamad
Najmi
Barakat
Nodawi
Muhammad
El-Sheikh
Kham
I
Modawi
Idril!l
'Abdel Qadir
El-Fakih
Barakat
El-Fakih
Muhammad
I
Ahmed
El-Khalifa
'Ali
El-Khalifa
Ahmed
4The data for Figure
XII are mainly
from Amin Arbab Amin and Mustafa
Araki.
261
RICHARD A. LOBBAN, JR.
262
Figure XIII
Descendants
Some
of Sheikh Khojali
Sheikh
wasa
P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yhojali
.Wanasuna
IC3~~~~~~~~ctjaLi
r
bj T
I
Zeinmab
El-Geili
El-Haj
)
&
0
4
I
9
(
El-F
0- E s
5^ H-:'"
El-Amin
Il
Mohi Ed Muhammad thoja i
El-Amin
Din
B,
Taha
l-a
Mina
Muhammad
Al Ajib
okih
a
1in4t Al-
Faid-nauhaad
Hassan Mirghani
Ahmed Mirghani
Fhalifa
Ahmed
Mubammad
(Osman
Mirghani
Muhammadl sman
Mirghani
Sayed Ali
Mirghani
? c
Note:
Arabs,
For the ancestors
49The data for Figure
II, 83.
R)
of Sheikh Thojali
XIII are from Khalifa
ua^
Sayed Ahmed
Mirghani
&
see Figure
lMuhaAmad
'Osman
lirghani
V.
Ahmed and MacMichael,
History
of the