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Who succeeded Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi as leader of the Mahdist state?
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Following the death of Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi on June 22, 1885, he was succeeded as the leader of the Mahdist state by the Khalifah Abd Allah ibn Muhammad.123
Abd Allah, who had been the Mahdi's most trusted counselor and chief of staff, assumed these temporal functions at the Mahdi's wish. His leadership involved securing his position against competing factions and attempting to carry out the Mahdi's vision of a universal jihad to reform Islam.423