Muhammad Ahmad, the son of a boat builder, showed an interest towards religious studies, unlike his siblings. Taught by some of the finest spiritual teachers in Sudan, his love for Islam, particularly 'Samaniyya Sufism’, grew. To feed this passion for religion, he asked Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Nur al-Dai'm to be his teacher. After learning about Islam, the young boy began his life as a religious teacher himself. People in Aba Island, where he taught the 'Quran', became fond of him. This caused dissension between his followers and the disciples of Sheikh Sharif. When both spiritual leaders had a fall-out owing to their differences, Ahmad approached another leader, Sheikh al-Qurashi. With al-Qurashi's death, the young leader grew even more powerful, and declared himself the 'Mahdi', or the redeemer of Islam. While some believed him and hailed him as the "Successor of the Messenger of God", most conservative practitioners of Islam snubbed him, and instigated Egyptian authorities to take him into custody. By that time, however, he had created a huge army of followers, known as ‘Ansar’, and after battling for years, they emerged victorious, ultimately controlling the whole of Sudan. After his death, the movement was carried on by his disciple Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, who came to be known as ‘Khalifa’
