APPENDICES TO BOOK I.
[APPENDIX A.]
Letter to General Gordon from Abd el Kâder Ibrahim.
In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate, blessing be on our lord Mahomed, and peace.
From the servant of his Lord—the Fakeer (humble one) Abd el Kâder Ibrahim, Kâdi (Judge) of Kalâkla, to his Excellency Gordon Pasha, Governor General of the Soudan.
Now this is what we have to state to your Excellency: Your benevolence and compassion towards all are well known, and your special regard towards us is most particularly known to us, and confirmed by deeds since the beginning of your presence in the Soudan both the first and this second time.
That which you have declared in proclamation emanating from you on your arrival in the Soudan this time is known to us both publicly and privately.
But the first conviction in the true mission of this present Imâm, the Mahdi (the expected one, on whom be peace) from the very beginning (first day) of his appearance, forbids us to accept your letters or to reply to you. For we know about him what the Ulema (wise men), who have wandered from the right way, do not know. And as the mission of this Imâm, the Mahdi (the expected one, on whom be peace) is predicted (confirmed) for us and for you in the ancient books, we cannot incline to (receive) your many kindnesses and your regard to us (as shown) by your favours and your bounties, or forsake the command of the glorious and Most High God and of his prophet Mahomed, on whom be peace. We had previously to this frequently communicated with your Highness. And on each occasion we explained sufficiently for him who has a heart (to understand); and in all our communications we made clear unto you the way of peace and salvation. But you have not accepted it; nor have you given your mind to the important object of our call unto you—which is the means of your material and moral salvation from the dangers of this world and the next, (and that both) for yourself and for the people of the city—because many of them are our friends and our relations.
But you have rejected what we have demonstrated to you again and again. You have listened to the Ulema whom this world has deceived by its glittering mirage, making them forget both their own souls and the Moslems, for the sake of contemptible riches of this life.