Minneapolis Institute of Art

Prestige blade

Mahdist

Date

late 19th century

Medium

Metal, leather

Department

Arts of Global Africa

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

These prestige blades belonged to soldiers of the 19th-century Sudanese Mahdist army, at a time when Sudan was under Turkish-Egyptian colonial rule. In 1881, Muhammad Ahmad (1844-1885), a Sudanese religious leader, was heralded as Mahdi (lit. “Guided One” in Arabic) or messianic redeemer of the Islamic faith. He and his successor led successful military campaigns against Ottoman Turkish occupying forces. Members of the Mahdi military carried forked and branched blades inspired by the shape of Central African throwing knives. Unlike their Central African counterparts, these blades were not meant as weapons but as emblems of rank. Most of the engravings on these blades are not in Arabic and are illegible to humans. They may, like the wavy inscriptions on the tunic nearby, be addressing the supernatural jinn, or spirits, imploring them for assistance in the anticolonial battle. The shorter blade has Arabic calligraphy etched within medallions. One of these contains a verse from chapter 61 of the Qur’an, called Ranks or al-Safs: “Victory from God and an imminent conquest, ” an exhortation to the fighter.

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