- As  with    Boko    Haram   and Islamic State   today,  the Mahdi   army    of  the
1880s flew the black flag of jihad; those who helped the Mahdi were
known as the Ansar [Helpers], the same word used to describe those who
helped the founder of Islam when he became a thief, slave-taker and killer
on his move from Medina to Mecca. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_George_Gordon#Mahdist_uprising 
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