The Battle Of Shaykan Poem by Dr. Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek Mohammed

The Epic of Shaykan
The Battle of Shaykan. The people of the Soudan had won their freedom by their valour and by the skill and courage of their saintly leader.... But, whatever is set to the Mahdi's account, it should not be forgotten that he put life and soul into the hearts of his countrymen, and freed his native land of foreigners. The poor miserable natives, eating only a handful of grain, toiling half-naked and without hope, found a new, if terrible magnificence added to life. Within their humble breasts the spirit of the Mahdi roused the fires of patriotism and religion
Source: Winston Churchill: (River War, file: /Users/Home/Desktop/)

نوفمبر شهر الثورات حيث انتصر الإمام المهدي على قوي الطغيان الأجنبي في شيكان في ٥ نوفمبر ١٨٨٣ في معركة يقال انها اقصر معركة في تاريخ البشرية حبث آباد السودانيون جيشا كاملا عدة وعتادا ورجالا في زمن وجيز. ونحن في نوفمبر ٢٠٢١ عزلا الا من سلاح الإيمان نواجه الطغاة من بني جلدتنا وقد سامونا العذاب... لكن سننتصر. التحية للشرفاء في كل مكان والويل للبغاة الطغاة..
The Epic of Shaykan
Pome by:
Dr. Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek
I
In the fifth of November
Eighteen eighty-three,
In the last century,
We had the greatest war
In human History,
When our country, was set free,
By Al-Emam Al-Mahadi
II
Under the Baobab tree,
The Mahadi set his tent
And thousands of tribal men, did attend
Came from all over the country
To pay allegiance to their legendary
III
Under the tree,
Sat the Mahadi with staff of war
On his right, Abu Garga,
On his left, Hammdan Abu A'anga,
Who deprived the enemy to sleep
All the way from Duwiem to Shyakn
And made them weep

There was also Ya'agoub,
With his flag. It was BLUE
Wad Anogomi with the RED one,
He was there, too
Sawarr Adahab and Basheer A'agab Aldour,
And Elyas Um Berrair,
All were there in the war
And in the middle Musa Wad Hillo
With the GREEN flag with other men,
They all saluted their Leader,
Then marched with their men,
Into the enemy's den
Like African lions
IV
The Imam surrounded by cavalry
Some hundred men armed with sticks,
Some swords and spears
With only sticks, swords and spears
They fought and defeated
The greatest Empire
In the shortest battle,
In the human history
Where (Hicks) and his men
Were buried near the tree
In the sand dunes of Kordofan in Shaykan
V
Under the tree stood the Mahadi,
As strong as the tree
Stood the Mahadi with some
Thousand men in lion skins
they were one man's heart
Fearless, waiting for the war to start
VI
Then the great Imam shouted:
Allah Akbar,
Allah Akbar,
Allah Akbar,
And led his disciples
In a long war prayer
Then he said Amen,
And ameeen, said all his men
Then the word, was heard
That the Imam had declared,
The war,
With a thundering roar
VII
So, the Imam declared the war
And warned his men:
'If you are only late to fix your shoe'
'You will miss the greatest show'
'That will we spare no foe'
'No one we will be spared for you'
VIII
Then in fifteen minutes,
The show was all done **
On the sand dunes of Kordofan in Shaykan
Against the Egyptian troops,
Led by an Englishman
And some European groups
In the sand valleys of Kordofan in Shaykan
The enemy had faced their fate
Drowned in the sand dunes of Shakan
In the sands of Kordofan
IX
Several thousand men
From all the tribes of Sudan
Came to Shaykan
They came from the west
They came from the south
They came from the north
They came from the east
They came to Kordofan
To the Mahadi in Shaykan
X
The Imam was under the tree
With Chief of Staff
And waves of brave men
Went into the enemy's den
XI
And Allah Akbar was sent free
All over the country
It went over mountains
And crossed the seas
From Shaykan to London,
From Cairo to Aswan
That some hundred men
Charged as one man
With mere sticks, swords and spears
They defeated the greatest Empire
And broke the British Square
XII
With only swords and spears
With no fears
They charged,
Eyes full with tears
Tears of joy
To destroy
Their peers
With only swords and spears
They broke the British SQUARE
And defeated the British Empire
In the sand dunes of Kordofan
In Sudan
XIII
They hit the enemy from right and left
And gushed up like ghosts from ground
With no sound
And came down from trees as tropical rain
And destroyed (Hicks) and his men
In fifteen minutes' time, they were all drained
XIV
As all the books told the story,
In fifteen minutes,
Ten thousand men had vanished
In the shortest battle in the human history
Ten thousand men of infantry
With heavy guns and artillery
Had all gone
In the sand dunes of Kordofan
Within an eye blink,
In a wink
From ash they went to ash
Into the history trash
In the sand dunes of
Shaykan in Kordofan
XV
The enemy was made up
of eight thousand regular Egyptians,
And one thousand bashi-bazouk cavalries,
With ammunition
And one hundred tribal irregulars,
From different nations
And two thousand camp followers,
With fifty days food
And an immense baggage
And a train of five thousand camels
With luggage
The army also carried
Some ten-mountain guns,
Four Krupp field guns,
And six Nordenfeldt machine guns.
But in fifteen minutes.
They all had gone
By some brave men, it was done
In the sand dunes of Shaykan in Kordofan
XVI
Our fighters had done,
The greatest business
That our enemy himself,
Was an eyewitness
That our brave men round the Mahdi
Sent into history dustbin,
Hicks Pasha and his men
And buried them all in Shaykan
In the sand dunes of Kordofan
XVII
Hicks, although, you were brave
And well trained
With experiences
You had already gained
In Abyssinia and India
You were famed
But here in Sudan
Your fame was tamed

Cause for money you fought,
You fought for money
While the Dervish - there -
Fought for their honey
XVIII
It was not your fault
Since you had not been told
About the brave lions
Of the Sudan in Kordofan
XIX
What were you doing in my country?
Had you been invited
To a wedding party?
In Shaykan in Kordofan
Or was it a dream of honeymoon
With your bride?

So, you came
With your Saxon prejudice and pride
With dreams,
Your dreams so big and wide
With royal aristocracy
That you couldn't hide

Why did you come to Kordofan?
Because of some thousand pounds,
You had as a bribe! !
But you had the lesson from the tribes,
Of the Dervish of Sudan in Shaykan
XX
What a bragging General you had been! !
What did you use to tell your men?
'That you would hold the heaven'
'if it falls down with your guns'
'And that the earth would be trodden'
'With your military boots, if it moves or runs'
But in fifteen minutes all had gone
In fifteen minutes, all was done
By the brave men in Shaykan in Kordofan
XXI
We admit you were brave
You were very brave
And highly trained
But our men were brave, too
And equipped with (Eiman)
So, they won the war
Cause of their Islam and their Quran
XXII
Oh, Hicks you fought
For glory,
For fame and ambition
We, for emancipation
For the sake of the nation
And buried the enemy of the Sudan
In the sand dunes of Kordofan
XXIII
All the Egyptian Army
Was shaken in Shaykan
On the sand dunes of Kordofan
By the Mahadi, PEACE BE UPON HIM
And PEACE be upon his brave men as well
In the fifth of November
Eighteen-eighty-three
Our country was set free,
By the Mahdi,
Sudan was free
We broke the notorious British Square
And defeated the Great British Empire,

* The battle took place in November 5,1883, in Shaykan near Obied, about 600 KM from Khartoum in the West of Sudan: between the Egyptian Army led by the British General Hicks Pasha and some European Generals and the Sudanese Dervish led by Imam Mohammed Ahmed Al-Mahdi.
** The battle was said to have lasted about an hour from the beginning to the end, but the actual fighting took only fifteen minutes as some history books told the story. It was the shortest battle in the human history.man history.