Ali Dinar

Ali Dinar
Ali Dinar after his death in battle in 1916
Sultan of Darfur
Reign	21 March 1899 – 6 November 1916
Predecessor	Position re-established
Successor	Position abolished
Born	1856
Died	6 November 1916(1916-11-06) (aged 59–60) Jebel Juba, Darfur
Dynasty	Keira dynasty
Father	Zakariyyā b. Muḥammad al-Faḍl

Ali Dinar (Arabic: علي دينار, romanized: ʿAlī Dīnār; c. 1865 – 6 November 1916) was the last sultan of Darfur and ruler from the Keira dynasty.

Ali Dinar ascended to the throne of Darfur in 1891, after his cousin, the 'shadow sultan' Abū l-Khayrāt, was killed by a band of rebellious slaves. The incident surrounding Abū l-Khayrāt's death is obscure, but some sources allege that Ali Dinar had incited his death; Ali Dinar himself denied the allegation. This period of Ali Dinar's reign was troublesome, with him ultimately being urged by his followers to enter negotiations with the Mahdists in al-Fāshir, an act which brought about raids upon him by the Masālīt and his being despoiled by Bakhīt Abū Risha of Dār Silā.

Ultimately, Ali Dinar surrendered in Mahdist-occupied al-Fāshir on October 13, 1891. Initially being favorably received, Ali Dinar was later imprisoned for drinking wine. Subsequently, he was sent to Omdurman, the Mahdist capital, where he met the Khalīfa ʿAbdallāhi. Returning to Darfur, Ali served the Mahdists by calling on notables of the region to submit to the cause. This period of service, however, was short-lived, as a rumor that Ali intended to rebel against the Mahdists caused him to be sent back to Omdurman. Ali Dinar's time in Omdurman is obscure, but it is alleged that he was made a mulāzim of the Khalīfa's son, ʿUthmān, and came to be an acquaintance of Rudolf Slatin. Later Ali Dinar entered the service of amīr Ibrāhīm al-Khalīl, Mahdist commander of jihādiyya, accompanying him in 1896 to fight in the Nuba Mountains.

As the Battle of Omdurman approached, Ali Dinar began planning his flight back to Darfur. Just before or during the battle, he put his plan into effect, bringing with him many notables of the old sultanate.

A sword owned by Ali Dinar, heir to the throne of the Sultanate of Darfur. He was killed in action during the Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition in 1916, with the sword being on display at the British Museum.

In 1915 Ali Dinar declared his support to the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, which led the British government to dispatch the invasion of Darfur, in which he was killed in action, after which his sultanate was incorporated into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

Further reading

• Lidwien Kapteijns, Mahdist Faith and Sudanic Tradition: A History of the Masālīt Sultanate, 1870-1930 (New York: Routledge, 2017 [originally published 1982]).
• Musa al-Mubarak Hasan, Tarikh Dar Fur al-siyasi, 1882-1898 ['A Political History of Darfur'] (Khartoum: Khartoum University Press, n.d. [1970]).

References

• A.B. Theobald, 'Alī Dīnār, Last Sultan of Darfur, 1898–1916 (London: Longmans, 1965).
• Entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica
• J.A. Gillan, "Darfur 1916" Sudan Notes and Records 22, no. 1 (1939), 1-25.
• Jay Spaulding and Lidwien Kapteijns, An Islamic alliance: ʻAlī Dīnār and the Sānūsiyya, 1906-1916 at Google Books
• Lidwien Kaptejins and Jay Spaulding, After the Millennium: Diplomatic Correspondence from Wadai and Dâr Fûr on the Eve of Colonial Conquest, 1885-1916 at Google Books
• Lidwien Kaptejins and Jay Spaulding, "Gifts Worthy of Kings: An Episode in Dar Fur - Taqali Relations" Sudanic Africa 1 (1990), 61-70.
• R.S. O'Fahey, The Darfur Sultanate: A History (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008).
• Richard Hill, Slatin Pasha (London: Oxford University Press, 1965).
• R. Salmon and D. Newbold, "The Story of Sheikh Abdullahi Ahmed Abu Gelaha, A Sudanese Vicar of Bray" Sudan Notes and Records 21 (1965), 79-103.