Where did Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi spend his early years?

Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi was born in the Dongola District of Nubia. Shortly after his birth, his family relocated south to Karari, a river village situated near Khartoum.1

As a youth, he remained in the Sudan to pursue religious studies, focusing on a mystical interpretation of Islam within the Sufi tradition rather than seeking an orthodox education abroad. He eventually joined the Sammāniyyah order and, in 1870, moved to a hermitage on Abā Island in the White Nile, located 175 miles south of Khartoum, where he practiced religious asceticism.12