His capabilities as a military leader were very clear to the British public, but he was covered by a cloud of suspicion as a result of slave raids and slave trading in the regions of the Sudan that he had controlled. His son's assassination by Gessi Pasha, one of the governors appointed by Gordon, was a sad act that made al- Zubayr's loyalties even harder to ascertain. Finally, in 1900, Lord Cromer allowed al-Zubayr Pasha to return to the Sudan.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 1141