ABSTRACT
For the outlying parts of Dār Fūr such as the western frontier the Mahdiyya did not really begin until 1883 when the anṣār conquered El Obeid and won the battle of Shaykān. Only then did the Mahdi put a cousin of his, Muḥammad Khālid Zuqal, in charge of Dār Fūr. The Commander-General arrived in al-Fāshir in January 1884, replacing the Turco-Egyptian governor of Dār Fūr, Rudolph von Slatin, who had surrendered to the Mahdi in December 1883. In the period following the conquest of El Obeid and the occupation of al-Fāshir representatives of many of the ethnic groups of Dār Fūr came to El Obeid to swear allegiance to the Mahdi.
