Unsurprisingly, the cataclysm of the Mahdist revolution (1882-85) and its consequences unleashed a literary outburst; scholarly treatises and proclamations in denunciations of Muḥammad Aḥmad’s claims, scholarly rebuttals, but above all an outpouring of popular poetry in which the genius and forms of the madāʾiḥ hitherto sung in praise of the Prophet, his family and companions were now additionally written for the Mahdi and his companions. Most of the poets are listed in Chapter Four, but some are included here.

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