Chapter XXXVIII: Appendix: U a

(ENCLOSURE IN U.)

Letter from Mohammed Sheikh Mohammed Kerkasâwi to Achmet, son of Suleiman.

In the name of God the Merciful and Compassionate. Praise be to God the Supreme Ruler, and blessing and peace upon our lord Mahomed and his successors with salutation.

From the Fakir of God, the humble and lowly, Mahomed Sheikh Mahomed Kerkasâwi to our brother and beloved in God, to

Achmed, son of Suleiman, Receiver General of the Treasury of the Moslems. May God preserve him. Amen!

After praying for the peace of God and His blessing and mercy upon you; if you inquire after me (I can say that) I am by God’s help in possession of all the conditions of good health.

As to the information which we have to give you (it) is that on the arrival of the Emir Karm Illah Sheikh Mohammed in the parts of Bahr Gazelle and the neighbourhood of Sirkua, your servant had been appointed to the office of gathering in the crops; and we had not received news of his arrival, excepting from the letter which reached us from the Emir Abdullah,[346] surnamed Bilbitn, in which he asked my presence at the seat of the Mudiriyeh. On my arrival at the seat afore-named, I got to know positively about that, and after that I tried, with the Emir Abdullah, to obtain the consent and surrender (of the people there) without delay.

In the interval there came two dervishes from the Emir Karm Illah; in their hands were several letters to us and to some of the brethren, and to the Emir Abdullah.

After these letters had been carefully read by us, the Emir Abdullah stopped the (carrying out of the) surrender to the Emir (Karm Illah), because no letter had been sent to him to his (own) address by his Highness.

So we and all the brethren used our utmost efforts with him, (urging) the desirableness of (his) sending a letter from him to the Emir Karm Illah, requesting him (the latter) to send (on) the letter of his Highness that it might be considered, and as to settling the mode of surrender. And this was done. When the letter was written, I received it, and went with it in company of the two dervishes above-named, and with us went the Sheikh Wakîa’ Allah Edrisi and Mahomed Sālim esh Shareef; and Haj Omar, all of them of the inhabitants of this seat (of the Mudiriyeh), they being appointed with me by order of the Emir Abdullah for bringing quickly the Proclamation written by H. E. the Mahdi.

On our arrival at (the place of) Karm Illah, and on his reading the letter of the said Emir (Abdullah), he ordered copy to be made of the Proclamation and gave it to me. Those appointed with me of the inhabitants of the seat (of the Mudiriyeh) also wrote a message as they remained with the Emir Karm Illah. On receiving the letter from the afore-named, I came back with it to the Emir Abdullah, who on reading it with intelligence, in the presence of the brethren, all of them became delighted and filled with happiness and joy which could not be exceeded.

Especially the Emir Abdullah obeyed and accepted (the terms of) the proclamation of his Highness; and so everything was settled with the help of God, the Lord to whom worship (is due).

All the brethren are longing to see his Highness, and so the letters were written from the Emir Abdullah and the brethren in the form of a deed (compact) of submission by them, and of obedience to the Emir Karm Illah, appointed by his Highness the Mahdi, which I took, and went to the town of Yānikah, the place where the afore-named Emir was encamped; and I delivered it to him, and on his reading and understanding it, his countenance expressed joy thereat. And he wrote a letter to the Emir Abdullah, informing him of his being about to leave the town of Yānikah, and to come to the seat of the Mudiriyeh on Tuesday, the 25th of Jamād el Akhar, 1301, and he gave the safe conduct for all—for themselves, their families, and their property. And, praise be to God Most High, on the day named we and the Emir Karm Illah, and the troops with him, arrived at an hour’s distance from the seat (of the Mudiriyeh). And the Emir Abdullah and all the notables and the brethren came to meet us outside of the wooden stockade surrounding the seat (of the Mudiriyeh). The meeting was like the meeting of dear friends with each other, and it was a memorable day for all that was accomplished therein, and for the filling up of (our) joy.

On our entering the Mahhkameh (Court of Justice) of the Mudiriyeh, and on the friends and the Emirs being seated, the Emir Abdullah rose, and, standing upright, uttered the two declarations of testimony, saying, “I testify that there is no God but God; and I testify that our Lord Mohammed is the prophet of God, blessing be upon him, and that the (Seyyed[347]) Lord Mohammed, son of the Lord Abdullah, he (is) the Mahdi and Khalif of God and His prophet.” Likewise (after this) the two Copts Gabriel B’abal and Sālehh Shanooda, became Moslems, and uttered the two testimonies before the Emir Karm Illah (who received their profession of faith).

After which all (the property) which was in the stores of the Mudiriyeh, situated in the seat (thereof) and elsewhere, became the property of the Treasury of Islām, as stated in the letters of the Emir Karm Illah sent to his Highness.

And we pray God Most High, to whom be praise, that He may soon grant us the favour of a journey (Hejira) to the honoured place, that we may be blessed with sight of his Excellency the Mahdi, and that we may be included in the number of the warriors on the way (for the truth) of God.

I send from me to their Excellencies (the Hanifs) the nobles, and Emirs, and friends, and acquaintances who fight for God, thousands of salaams of God so long as I live.

(Signed) MOHAMMED SHAIKH MOHAMMED.

Written 17 Ramadan, 1301.
July 11, 1884.