Saidullah was a Pashtun

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 fakir

Fakir

The fakir or faqir ; ) Derived from faqr is a Muslim Sufi ascetic in Middle East and South Asia. The Faqirs were wandering Dervishes teaching Islam and living on alms....

 and religious mendicant

Mendicant

The term mendicant refers to begging or relying on charitable donations, and is most widely used for religious followers or ascetics who rely exclusively on charity to survive....

 whose Pashto name translated to "God-intoxicated" as a reference to his religious convictions and his belief that he was capable of miraculous powers. In response to the British occupation of the North West Frontier Province of modern day Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, and the division of Pashtun lands by the 1,519 mile long Durand Line

Durand Line

The Durand Line refers to the porous international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which has divided the ethnic Pashtuns . This poorly marked line is approximately long...

, Saidullah declared a jihad

Jihad

Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

 against the occupying British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

 and led from 10,000 to 100,000 Pashtun tribesmen in an uprising which began with the siege of Malakand

Siege of Malakand

The Siege of Malakand was the 26 July – 2 August 1897 siege of the British garrison in the Malakand region of colonial British India's North West Frontier Province...

 from July 26 to August 2, 1897 against British forces under Brigadier-General William Hope Meiklejohn

William Hope Meiklejohn

Brigadier-General William Hope Meiklejohn CB CMG was a British military commander who, as a colonel, was in charge of the British garrison during the siege of Malakand in northern Pakistan from 26 July to 2 August 1897 and who later led a relief force to the besieged fort of Chakdara along with Sir...

, and Major-General Sir Bindon Blood

Bindon Blood

General Sir Bindon Blood GCB was a British military commander who served in Egypt, Afghanistan, India and Africa.-Military career:...

.