The First Jihad: The Battle for Khartoum and the Dawn of Militant Islam

Before there was Osama bin Laden, Abu al—Zarqawi or Ayatollah Khomeini, there was the Mahdi—the “Expected One”—who raised the Arabs in pan—tribal revolt against infidels and apostates in the late 19th—century Sudan.

Born on the Nile in 1844, Muhammed Ahmed grew into a devout, charismatic young man, whose visage was said to have always featured the placid hint of a smile. He developed a ferocious resentment, however, against the corrupt Ottoman Turks, their Egyptian lackeys, and finally the E...