When Rabih left the army in 1860s, he became the principal lieutenant of the Sudanese slaveholder Sebehr Rahma.
16 Facts About Rabih az-Zubayr
2.
Rabih az-Zubayr, who was possibly a relative of al-Zubayr, was the chief lieutenant of the pasha.
3.
The Mahdi had sent as ambassadors Zin el-Abeddin and Jabar, and Rabih az-Zubayr followed them back to Darfur, proposing to meet the Mahdi at Omdurman; but when he learned of a plot to kill him, he changed his mind and returned to Chad.
4.
In 1887, Rabih az-Zubayr's forces invaded Darfur, recruited bazingirs, and settled down in Dar Kouti; however, his campaign against the aguid Salamat Cherif ed-Din, commander of the sultan of Ouaddai's troops, failed.
5.
Together Mohammed and Rabih az-Zubayr attacked Dar Runga, Kreich, Goula and then Banda Ngao.
6.
In 1893, Rabih az-Zubayr turned his attentions to the Borno Empire of Shehu Ashimi of Borno.
7.
Rabih az-Zubayr met Kyari at Gashegar, a two days' walk from Kukawa, the capital of Borno; Kiyari defeated Rabih az-Zubayr and captured his camp.
8.
Rabih az-Zubayr made Dikwa his capital, and there built a palace which was to win later the admiration of the French governor Emile Gentil.
9.
Rabih az-Zubayr started confronting the Company in 1896 and the following year even started marching on Kano, while his vassal Muhammad al-Senussi in Dar al Kuti founded a fortified capital, Ndele, between Bahr Aouk and the Ubangi River, which the Senussites held until 1911.
10.
For seven years Rabih az-Zubayr was shehu of the Borno Empire, and spent much effort to reinvigorate a decadent empire that had until then maintained the same feudal structures it had in the 16th century.
11.
Rabih az-Zubayr kept the vassal sultans in place, but subjected them to his lieutenants, who were mostly Arab Sudanese like he was.
12.
Rabih az-Zubayr promulgated a legal code based on sharia, rationalized taxation through the creation of a budget, imposed on Borno a military dictatorship, which aroused the attention of the colonial powers.
13.
In 1899, Rabih az-Zubayr received in Dekoa the French explorer Ferdinand de Behagle.
14.
Rabih az-Zubayr gained three cannons from this victory and ordered his son Fadlallah, whom he had left in Dikoa, to hang Behagle.
15.
Rabih az-Zubayr then authorised Gwarang and his allies, the French, to enter Borno to defeat Rabih.
16.
Rabih az-Zubayr rested there for a bit then he moved to Kilba.