On June 29, 1881, Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah declared that he was the Mahdi, a messianic figure aiming to expel the British and Ottoman Empires from the Sudan and create a theocratic Islamic state. Join us as we discuss the Mahdi's rise and revolt in this first part of our series on the Mahdist Revolution. 

Correction: The Funj Sultanate was founded in the early sixteenth century, not the nineteenth century as we accidentally say.

Mahdist Revolution, Part 1: A Mahdist Proposal

Welcome to Sects Ed, a podcast that carefully explores and shares the history of unorthodox faiths. Whether it be cults, heresies, or new religious movements, Sects Ed is dedicated to understanding the beliefs of peripheral faiths and teaching you both how the world viewed them and how they viewed themselves. Thank you for joining us as we analyze religious groups outside the mainstream whose histories are often overlooked. We post new episodes bi-weekly on Tuesdays.