Rabih az-Zubayr ibn Fadl Allah or Rabih Fadlallah, usually known as Rabah in French, was a Sudanese warlord and slave trader who established a powerful empire east of Lake Chad, in today's Chad.
Rabih az-Zubayr
One of Rabih's cannons captured by the French
Rabih's head, a battlefield trophy after the fighting on 22 April 1900
Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Fahal was a Sudanese religious and political leader. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi, and led a war against Ottoman-Egyptian rule in Sudan which culminated in a remarkable victory over the British in the Siege of Khartoum, while also slowing and defeating the British during their unsuccessful Nile Expedition to resupply the Khartoum Garrison. He created a vast Islamic state extending from the Red Sea to Central Africa, and founded a movement that remained influential in Sudan a century later.
Artistic representation of Muhammad Ahmad
A depiction of the British square at the Battle of Abu Klea, during the Mahdist War, 1885
The rebuilt tomb of Muhammad Ahmad in Omdurman