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ABSTRACT
Drawing upon interviews and a variety of newspapers and other media associated with the Sudanese Islamic Movement, this article analyses historic developments in its strategy for the Islamization of the now independent region of southern Sudan with particular reference to the experience of members of the movement from that region. It identifies significant parallels between the colonial and Islamist designs for “civilizing” southern Sudanese, arguing that like its colonial predecessor the “Civilizational Project” of Hasan al-Turabi’s “Salvation Regime” alternated between assimilating and excluding them. The post-1989 Islamist regime’s treatment of Islamist southerners before and after the secession of the south in 2011 highlighted the division between these assimilationist and exclusionary trends. Although the movement was largely unsuccessful in recruiting southern members, those who did join were not simply Islamist satellites – like Islamists from the other marginalized regions, they sought to use the Movement to traverse the social divide between center and periphery, sometimes in a manner that challenged the riverain elites that dominated it. In thus deconstructing the notion that Islamic movements are ideologically and socially homogenous, the article contributes a fresh perspective on the debate about Arabization and Islamization in Sudan as well as center–periphery relations in post-colonial contexts.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Mohamed Bakhit, Justin Willis, Ali Abdel Latif and Cherry Leonardi for their thoughtful comments on various versions of this paper, and Kamal Ahmed Yousif for his help finding me materials for this project.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 IOL, “Sudanese opposition names candidate for polls”, 4 January 2010. https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/sudanese-opposition-names-candidate-for-polls-469337
2 Kindersley, The Fifth Column? 122–5
3 Idris, Conflict and Politics of Identity, 54–5.
4 el-Affendi, “‘Discovering the South’,” 383.
5 Quoted in Sharkey, “Arab Identity,” 35.
6 Sharkey, “Arab Identity,” 36.
7 Sharkey, Living with Colonialism, 48–50. Cooper and Stoler, Tensions of Empire, 7.
8 Gallab, First Islamist Republic, 155–6.
9 Idris, Conflict and Politics of Identity, 35–40; Mamdani, Saviors and Survivors, 145–70.
10 Ibids.
11 Berridge, Hasan al-Turabi, 287.
12 Idris, Conflict and the Politics of Identity, 44.
13 Bhabha, The Location of Culture, 113.
14 For this articulation of Bhabha’s understanding of colonial fetishization of difference, see Moore-Gilbert, Post-Colonial Theory, 120. For various similar applications of Bhabha’s concept of ambivalence in colonial and Islamist contexts, Berridge “Ambivalent Ideologies”, Berridge “Colonial Education”, Berridge, “In the Shadow of the Regime”.
15 For a good discussion of such rhetoric and the associated problems, see Kindersley, The Fifth Column? 204–5.
16 Cooper, Africa Since 1940, 4.
17 Here I am drawing on Bhabha, Location of Culture, 88. For similar applications of Bhabha and Cooper to a Sudanese colonial context, see Berridge, “In The Shadow of The Regime,” 15.
18 See copy available as appendix to El-Tom, Darfur, JEM and the Khalil Ibrahim Story. The elements of Turabist Islamism are more visible in the Arabic version, which is available via the movement’s website http://www.sudanjem.com/sudan-alt/arabic/books/black_book/black_book_first/kitab.htm.
19 See, eg., Johnson, Root Causes, 1–2.
20 El-Affendi, “Sudanese Dilemmas,” 373.
21 ‘Abdel Rahim, Imperialism and Nationalism – Appendix VI ‘Civil Secretary’s Memorandum on Southern Policy’, 244–7
22 Ibid.
23 Vezzadini, “Setting the Scene of the Crime,” 81–2.
24 Vezzadini, “Spies, Secrets,” 78–80. Sharkey, Living with Colonialism, 125–33.
25 Sharkey, Living with Colonialism, 129.
26 Berridge, “Colonial Education”; Sharkey, Living with Colonialism, 132.
27 Ali al-Haj, Interview with the Author, Khartoum, September 2018.
28 Berridge, Hasan al-Turabi, 270–1.
29 Alawiyya Abd al-Faraj, Interview with Ray al-Sha’ab, 22 May 2006.
30 Abu Shouk and Abd al-Salam, al-Intikhabat al-Barlamaniyya, 311.
31 Ali al-Haj, Interview with the Author, September 2018.
32 Flint and de Waal, Darfur, 19–20.
33 Ali al-Haj, Interview with the Author, Khartoum, September 2018.
34 NIF Sudan Charter in index to Gallab, First Islamist Republic
35 See, for instance, Sayyid Qutb’s views cited in Voller, “The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood,” 673.
36 NIF Sudan Charter.
37 See, eg., Porter, “Religion, Missionary Enthusiasm and Empire”.
38 Wani, Islam, 185.
39 Abdullah Deng Nhial interview with Walid al-Tayyib, al-Rakoba, 22 January 2011. Accessed June 13, 2018. https://www.alrakoba.net/news-action-show-id-13937.htm.
40 Chevrillon-Guibert, “Charity and Commercial Success”.
41 Wani, Islam, 172–5.
42 Interview with Munir Somet, al-Raya 5 October 1985.
43 Basir, Mubarak Qasmallah Zayid, 123.
44 Ibid.
45 Ibrahim al-Maz Deng Interview with Ray al-Sha’ab, 11 May 2006.
46 El-Affendi, “Sudanese Dilemmas,” 380.
47 Baron, The Orphan Scandal.
48 Uthman, Ru’a Islamiyya, 68.
49 Berridge, “Colonial education and the shaping of Islamism”.
50 Uthman, Ru’a Islamiyya, 73.
51 Ibid., 67.
52 Ibid., 68.
53 Elnur, Contested Sudan, 95.
54 Wani, Islam, 183.
55 De Waal and Abdel Salam, “Islamism, State Power and Jihad,” 90.
56 Wani, Islam, 191–2.
57 Elnur, Contested Sudan, 103.
58 Wani, Islam, 172.
59 Kindersley, A Fifth Column? 149.
60 El-Tom, “Darfur People”.
61 Uthman, Ru’a Islamiyya, 78.
62 Ibid.
63 Elnur, Contested Sudan, 103.
64 Ibid.
65 Uthman, Ru’a Islamiyya, 78.
66 See, eg., Lesch, The Sudan, 122–4.
67 Two southern Islamists who involved in the Islamic Movement at Omdurman Islamic University after migrating to the north were Ibrahim al-Maz Deng (Interview with Ray al-Sha’ab, 11 May 2006) and Achueil Nuqur Majok (Interview with Ray al-Sha’ab, 16 March 2006).
68 Gallab, First Islamist Republic, 87.
69 Alwan, “Abu Bakr Deng yatahaddath an nifsahu,” 16 December 1985.
70 Wani, Islam, 42-43.
71 Basir, Mubarak Qasmallah Zayid, 70.
72 Abdullah Deng Nhial interview with Salah Habib, al-Mihjar al-Siyasi 23 May 2015, reproduced via Sudaress https://www.sudaress.com/almeghar/27669 .
73 Berridge, al-Turabi, 287.
74 Alwan, “Abu Bakr Deng yatahaddath an nifsahu,” 16 December 1985.
75 Sanderson and Sanderson, Education, Religion and Politics, 398.
76 Al-Raya, 5 October 1985
77 Ranger, “Invention of Tradition”; Spear, “Neo-Tradition”.
78 Kindersley, Politics, Power and Chiefship, 16.
79 Al-Raya, 12 March 1986
80 Thomas, The Kafia Kingi Enclave, 120.
81 Musa al-Mak Kur Papiti, Interview with the Author, Khartoum, September 2018.
82 Matthew Obur Ayan, “An Open Letter to Upper Nile Governor,” New Horizon, March 6, 1994.
83 Abu Shouk and Abd al-Salam, al-Intikhabat al-Barlamaniyya, 347–8.
84 Johnson, Root Causes, 63–5.
85 Berridge, al-Turabi, 240–241.“Sudan Charter” in Gallab, First Islamist Republic, 171–2.
86 Al-Raya, 19 September 1988
87 As quoted in al-Raya, 18 September 1988.
88 See, eg., Marko, “Negotiations and Morality”.
89 Abu Bakr Deng, “al-Islam fi Janub al-Sudan”, originally published in al-Sudan al-Islami, 6 August 2007, https://www.sudaress.com/sudansite/649
90 See appendix to El-Tom, Darfur JEM and the Khalil Ibrahim Story, 304–7.
91 Abd Al-Raziq interview with the Author, Khartoum, September 2018. Musa al-Mak Kur Papiti, interview with the Author, Khartoum, September 2018.
92 Sudan Tribune, “Turabi’s party nominates Southerner for Sudan Presidential Elections’”, 3 January 2010, https://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article33662.
93 See appendix to El-Tom, Darfur JEM and the Khalil Ibrahim Story, 291.
94 Berridge, al-Turabi, 280.
95 Berridge, al-Turabi, 112; De Waal and Abdel Salaam, “Islamism, State Power and Jihad in Sudan,” 107. Abd al-Salam, al-Haraka al-Islamiyya, 425.
96 Abd al-Salam, al-Harakah al-Islamiyya, 212, cited in Berridge, Hasan al-Turabi, 276.
97 Jok, Sudan, 139–48.
98 Al-Khartoum, 25 January 2000
99 Achueil Nuqur Majok, Interview with Ray al-Sha’ab, 16 March 2006.
100 Alawiyya Abd al-Faraj, Interview with Ray al-Sha’ab, 22 May 2006.
101 Ibrahim al-Maz Deng Interview with Ray al-Sha’ab, 11 May 2006.
102 Ibid.
103 Ray al-Sha’ab, 26 July 2006.
104 Ibid.
105 Berridge, al-Turabi, 112.
106 Sudan Tribune, “Darfur rebel group says Sudan torturing its captives,” 25 January 2011, https://www.sudantribune.com/Darfur-rebel-group-says-Sudan,37754.
107 Young, The Fate of Sudan, 190–3.
108 Sikainga, “Citizenship and Identity”.
109 See Cooper, Africa since 1940, 78–80.
110 Sikainga, “Citizenship and Identity”.
111 Yusuf Abd al-Mannan, “Lan Nansak,” al-Mijhar al-Siyasi, 31 August 2016, http://www.almeghar.com/archives/40734.
112 Interview with Abdullah Kual Kual Aiweil “al-Shimaliyyun bi’l-sha’abia hum al-haraka wa’l-janubiyyin bi’l-watani zayy Huqn al- malaria” (1–2), Ray al-Sha’ab, 10 February 2009.
113 Ibid.
114 Musa al-Mak Kur Papiti, Interview with the Author, September 2018.
115 Abdalla Deng Nhial, Interview with Ray al-Sha’ab, 24 February 2006.
116 Bakhit, “Citizenship Dilemma”. Sikainga, “Citizenship and Identity”.
117 Yusuf Abd al-Mannan, “Ayna Dhahabuu?,” al-Mijhar al-Siyasi, 8 August 2012, http://www.almeghar.com/archives/4360.
118 Yusuf Abd al-Mannan, “Lan Nansak,” al-Mijhar al-Siyasi, 31 August 2016, http://www.almeghar.com/archives/40734.
119 For a discussion of how southern Muslims as a whole were marginalized as a result of secession, see Salomon, For Love of the Prophet, 211–214.
120 Uthman al-Mirghani, “Ibrahim al-Maz,” alSudan al-Youm, 23 October 2017, https://tinyurl.com/y9wb2dfq (NB: I have used Tinyurls to ensure Arabic URLs are not lost through encoding/display issues).
121 Bakhit, “Citizenship Dilemma”.
122 Uthman al-Mirghani, “Ibrahim al-Maz,” alSudan al-Youm, 23 October 2017, https://tinyurl.com/y9wb2dfq.
123 Yasir Arman, “Ibrahim al-Maz … al-Hakimiyya li’l-Nil,” al-Tahrer, 19 October 2017, https://www.alttahrer.com/?p=9063.
124 Ibrahim al-Maz Deng, Interview with al-Intibaha, 19 November 2018, reproduced at https://www.sudanakhbar.com/392584.
125 “Iqba tahdiraat min al-majlis al-askari … anba’a ‘an ia’ataqal al-qiyaadi Ibrahim al-Maz,” al-Mashhad al-Sudani 5 May 2019, https://almashhadalsudani.com/sudan-news/sudan-now/6773/. A video of his speech is available at on Youtube at “Ibrahim al-Maz Deng Adu al-Maktab al-Qiyadi bi’l-Adl wa’lMusawa yukhaatib al-jamahir fi al-qiyada al-aama al-Sudan,” Youtube 21 April 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAvt0GtJi1Y.
126 Salomon, For Love of the Prophet, 210–1.
127 Ibid.
128 Abdullah Deng Nhial Ayom, Interview with the Author, August 2018. Abd al-Raziq Interview with the Author, Khartoum, September 2018.
129 Salomon, For Love of the Prophet, 211–2.
130 “Muslimu Janub al-Sudan: al-Ilmaniyya Jama’athum bi’l-Sha’abiyya!,” al-Rakoba, 2 December 2012, https://tinyurl.com/ykabsxzf.
131 Abdullah Deng Nhial interview with Walid al-Tayyib, al-Rakoba, 22 January 2011, https://www.alrakoba.net/news-action-show-id-13937.htm.
132 Abdalla Deng Nhial Ayom, Interview with the Author, August 2018.
133 El-Battahani, “Ideological Expansionist Movements,” 57.
134 For the same phrase and argument being used with reference to prison personnel and the colonial system, see Berridge, “Frailties,” 397.