He sent for Abu Saud, the great Mohammedan theologian, and showed him the message.
“What thinkest thou?” asked Rauf Pasha.
“The prophet foretold the coming of the Mahdi.”
“But would he not come from Mecca?”
“Allah il Allah! His ways are not our ways,” answered Abu Saud.
“Go thou to Bakara as my special commissioner, and find out whether this is indeed the Mahdi.”
No sooner had the theologian started out on his mission than Rauf Pasha said to himself:
“Abu Saud will represent the prophet, but my soldiers shall go and bring this so-called Mahdi to Khartoum, and I will make him obey me.”
Abu Saud held many theological discussions with Mohammed Ahmed, and embarked on the state steamer fully convinced that the Mahdi had indeed come.
No sooner had Abu Saud started on his homeward journey than a company of soldiers arrived and demanded that the Mahdi should go with them to Khartoum.