Abdallahi ibn Muhammad
Muhammed Ahmad died a few months later. His successor, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, maintained the independence of the Mahdist state until 1898, when an Anglo-Egyptian force regained control. The Mahdi's eldest surviving son, Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi, was the religious and political leader of the Ansar throughout most of the colonial era of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1898–1955) and for a few years after the Sudan gained independence in January 1956. His descendants have led the movement since then.