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Placing a heavy wooden collar on his neck, clad in sackcloth and sprinkled with ashes, he again returned to his spiritual leader, and in this penitential guise implored pardon. He was ignominiously ejected. Nor did he venture to revisit the unforgiving Sheikh. But it happened that in a few weeks Sherif had occasion to journey to the island of Abba.
The Norman arch at the west end of this aisle has a modern painted inscription, believed to be an exact copy of the original: Hos tres Abbates, Quibus est Prior Abba Johannes Alter Martinus, Andreas Ultimus, unus Hic claudit Tumulus; pro Clausis ergo rogemus. Near this is a tablet to Roger Pemberton, 1695, with a line from Homer in Greek, "The race of men is as the race of leaves."
In May 1881, while living near the island of Abba in the Nile, he put forward his claim to be the Messiah or Prophet, foretold by the founder of that creed. Retiring with some disciples to that island, he gained fame by his fervour and asceticism.
The news spread like wild-fire through the country: the Mahdi had arisen, the Egyptians were destroyed. But it was clear to the little band of enthusiasts at Abba Island that their position on the river was no longer tenable. The Mahdi, deciding upon a second Hegira, retreated south-westward, into the depths of Kordofan. The retreat was a triumphal progress. The country, groaning under
'Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. 'The Spirit itself, by this means of our cry, Abba, Father, 'beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. The substance, then, of the conviction which is lodged in the human spirit by the testimony of the Spirit of God is not primarily directed to our relation or feelings to God, but to a far grander thing than that to God's feelings and relation to us.
In Gal. iv. 6 we read, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” Here the Holy Spirit is represented as crying out in the heart of the individual believer.
It is considered to be true again, as far as the new birth relates to the creature born and to the name which it may bear, from these different expressions: "Of whom I travail in birth again, till Christ be formed in you." "Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." "But ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father."
He requested and obtained the permission of the Sheikh Koreishi to return to Abba, where he was well known, and with which island village his name was connected, and so came back in triumph to the scene of his disgrace. Thither many pilgrims began to resort. He received valuable presents, which he distributed to the poor, who acclaimed him as 'Zahed' a renouncer of earthly pleasures.
The Medinans in their dress resemble more the Turkish than their southern neighbours: very few of them wear the beden, or the national Arab cloak without sleeves; but even the poorer people dress in long gowns, with a cloth djobbe, or upper cloak, or, instead of it, an abba, of the same brown and white stripe as is common in Syria and all over the Desert. Red Tunis bonnets and Turkish shoes are
The ascetic of Abba island did not join in these seemingly innocent dissipations. With the recklessness of the reformer he protested against the demoralisation of the age, and loudly affirmed the doctrine that God alone could forgive sins.
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