I agree with Ed, the style of dress is atypical of Mahdist period, and seems a privately construed matter using other influenced features or components used to mount an apparently heirloom blade. While the Mahdist period was of course concluded in degree at the end of the campaigns, the ideology and reverence to the Mahdi continued well through the 20th c.
It would seem quite likely that local figures of standing would keep that in mind and wish to have a sword in that light.
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