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TheIslamization of theSudan region (Sahel)[1] encompasses a prolonged period of religious conversion, throughmilitary conquest andtrade relations, spanning the 8th to 16th centuries.
Following the 7th centuryMuslim conquest of Egypt and the 8th-centuryMuslim conquest of North Africa,Arab Muslims began leading trade expeditions intoSub-Saharan Africa, first towardsNubia, and later across theSahara intoWest Africa. Much of this contact was motivated by an interest intrans-Saharan trade, particularly the slave trade.
The proliferation of Islamic influence was largely a gradual process. The Christian kingdoms ofNubia were the first to experience Arab incursion starting in the 7th century. They held out through the Middle Ages until theKingdom of Makuria andOld Dongola both collapsed in the early 14th century.Sufi orders played a significant role in the spread of Islam from the 9th to 14th centuries, and they proselytized across trade routes betweenNorth Africa and thesub-Saharan kingdom ofMali. They were also responsible for setting upzawiyas on the shores of theRiver Niger.
TheMali Empire underwent a period of internally motivated conversion following the 1324pilgrimage ofMusa I of Mali. SubsequentlyTimbuktu became one of the most important Islamic cultural centers in the Sahara.Alodia, the last holdout of Christian Nubia, was destroyed by theFunj Sultanate in 1504. During the 19th century theSanusi order was highly involved inmissionary work with their missions focused on the spread of bothIslam and textual literacy as far south asLake Chad.[2][3]
Consequently, much of the contemporary Sudan region isMuslim. This includes theRepublic of Sudan (after the secession of Christian-majoritySouth Sudan), the northern parts ofChad andNiger, most ofMali,Mauritania andSenegal. The problem ofslavery in contemporary Africa remains especially pronounced in these countries, with severe divides between the Arabized population of the north anddark-skinned Africans in the south motivating much of the conflict, as these nations sustain the centuries-old pattern of hereditary servitude that arose following early Muslim conquests.[4] Ethnic strife between Arabized and non-Arab black populations has led to various internal conflicts in the Sudan region, most notably theWar in Darfur, theNorthern Mali conflict, and theIslamist insurgency in Northern Nigeria.
Contacts between Nubians and Arabs long predated the coming of Islam,[5] but the Arabization of the Nile Valley was a gradual process that occurred over a period of nearly one thousand years. Arabnomads continually wandered into the region in search of fresh pasturage, and Arab seafarers and merchants traded atRed Sea ports for spices and slaves. Intermarriage and assimilation also facilitated Arabization. After the initial attempts at military conquest failed, the Arab commander inEgypt,Abd Allah ibn Saad, concluded the first in a series of regularly renewed treaties with theNubians that governed relations between the two peoples for more than six hundred years with only brief interruptions.[6] This treaty was known as theBaqt. Relations between Egypt and Nubia were peaceful whilst Egypt was under Arabian control with tensions arising whilst theMamluks were in power in Egypt.
The Arabs realized the commercial advantages of peaceful relations with Nubia and used the Baqt to ensure that travel and trade proceeded unhindered across the frontier. The Baqt also contained security arrangements whereby both parties agreed that neither would come to the defense of the other in the event of an attack by a third party. The Baqt obliged both to exchange annual tribute as a goodwill symbol: the Nubians sent slaves and the Arabs sent grain. This formality was only a token of the trade that developed between the two. It was not only a trade in slaves and grain but also in horses and manufactured goods brought to Nubia by the Arabs, and in ivory, gold, gems,gum arabic, and cattle carried back by them to Egypt, or shipped to Arabia.
Acceptance of the Baqt did not indicate Nubian submission to the Arabs; however, the treaty did impose conditions for Arab friendship that eventually permitted Arabs to achieve a privileged position in Nubia. Arab merchants established markets in Nubian towns to facilitate the exchange of grain and slaves. Arab engineers supervised the operation of mines east of the Nile in which they usedslave labor to extract gold and emeralds. Muslim pilgrims en route toMecca traveled across the Red Sea on ferries fromAydhab andSuakin, ports that also received cargoes bound fromIndia to Egypt.
Traditional genealogies trace the ancestry of the Nile Valley's mixed population to Arab tribes that migrated into the region during this period. Even many non-Arabic-speaking groups claim descent from Arab forebears. The two most important Arabic-speaking groups to emerge in Nubia were theJa'alin and theJuhaynah. Both showed physical continuity with the indigenous pre-Islamic population. The former claimed descent from theQuraysh, the Prophet Muhammad's tribe. Historically, the Ja'ali have been involved in the slave trade, making up an important subsection of the nomadic, slave trading jallaba, along with other tribes such as theDanagla.[7] The nomadic Juhayna comprised a family of tribes that included theKababish,Baqqara, andShukriya. They were descended from Arabs who migrated after the 13th century into an area that extended from the savanna and semi-desert west of the Nile to the Abyssinian foothills east of theBlue Nile. Both groups formed a series of tribalshaykhdoms that succeeded the crumblingChristian Nubian kingdoms, and were in frequent conflict with one another and with neighboring non-Arabs. In some instances, such as with theBeja, theindigenous people absorbed Arab migrants who settled among them. Beja ruling families later derived their legitimacy from their claims of Arab ancestry.
Although not all Muslims in the region were Arabic-speaking, acceptance of Islam facilitated the Arabization process. There was no policy ofproselytism, however. Islam penetrated the area over a long period of time through intermarriage and contacts with Arab merchants and settlers.[8]
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At the same time that the Ottomans brought northern Nubia into their orbit, a new power, theFunj, had risen in southern Nubia and had supplanted the remnants of the old Christian Kingdom of Alodia. In 1504 a Funj leader,Amara Dunqas, founded theKingdom of Sennar. ThisSultanate eventually became the keystone of the Funj Empire. By the mid-sixteenth century, Sennar controlled Al Jazirah and commanded the allegiance ofvassal states and tribal districts as far north as thethird cataract of the nile and as far south as therainforests.
The Funj state included a loose confederation of sultanates and dependent tribal chieftains drawn together under thesuzerainty of Sennar'smek (sultan). As overlord, themek received tribute, levied taxes, and called on his vassals to supply troops in times of war. Vassal states in turn relied on themek to settle local disorders and to resolve internal disputes. The Funj stabilized the region and interposed a military bloc between the Arabs in the north, the Abyssinians in the east, and the non-Muslim blacks in the south.
The sultanate's economy depended on the role played by the Funj in the slave trade. Farming and herding also thrived in Al Jazirah and in the southern rainforests. Sennar apportioned tributary areas into tribal homelands each one termed adar (pl.,dur), where themek granted the local population the right to use arable land. The diverse groups that inhabited each dar eventually regarded themselves as units of tribes. Movement from one dar to another entailed a change in tribal identification. (Tribal distinctions in these areas in modern Sudan can be traced to this period.) Themek appointed a chieftain (nazir; pl.,nawazir) to govern each dar. Nawazir administered dur according to customary law, paid tribute to themek, and collected taxes. Themek also derived income from crown lands set aside for his use in each dar.
At the peak of its power in the mid-17th century,Sennar repulsed the northward advance of theNiloticShilluk people up theWhite Nile and compelled many of them to submit to Funj authority. After this victory, themekBadi II Abu Duqn (1642–81) sought to centralize the government of the confederacy of Sennar. To implement this policy, Badi introduced a standing army of slave soldiers that would free Sennar from dependence on vassal sultans for military assistance, and would provide themek with the means to enforce his will. The move alienated the dynasty from the Funj warrior aristocracy which deposed the reigningmek, and placed one of their own ranks on the throne of Sennar in 1718. The mid-18th century witnessed another brief period of expansion when the Funj turned back an Abyssinian invasion, defeated theFur, and took control of much ofKurdufan. But thecivil war, and the demands of defending the sultanate, had overextended the warrior society's resources and sapped its strength.
Another reason for Sennar's decline may have been the growing influence of its hereditaryviziers (chancellors), chiefs of a non-Funj tributary tribe who managed court affairs. In 1761, the vizier Muhammad Abu al Kaylak, who had led the Funj army in wars, carried out a palacecoup, relegating the sultan to a figurehead role. Sennar's hold over its vassals diminished, and by the early 19th century, more remote areas ceased to recognize even the nominal authority of themek.
Darfur was theFur homeland. Renowned as cavalrymen,[9] Fur clans frequently allied with, or opposed their kin, theKanuri ofBorno, in modernNigeria. After a period of disorder in the sixteenth century, during which the region was briefly subject to theBornu Empire, the leader of theKeira clan,Sulayman Solong (1596–1637), supplanted a rival clan and became Darfur's first sultan. Sulayman Solong decreed Islam to be the sultanate's official religion. However, large-scale religious conversions did not occur until the reign of Ahmad Bakr (1682–1722), who imported teachers, builtmosques, and compelled his subjects to become Muslims. In the eighteenth century, several sultans consolidated the dynasty's hold on Darfur, established a capital atAl-Fashir, and contested theFunj for control ofKurdufan.
The sultans operated the slave trade as a monopoly. They levied taxes on traders, and export duties on slaves sent to Egypt, and took a share of the slaves brought into Darfur. Some household slaves advanced to prominent positions in the courts of sultans, and the power exercised by these slaves provoked a violent reaction among the traditional class of Fur officeholders in the late eighteenth century. The rivalry between the slave and traditional elites caused recurrent unrest throughout the next century.
Islam has been introduced in Sudan by several religious orders, each with their own interpretations and dogmas, being able to talk about different sects (tariqa), the Muslim Brotherhood corresponding the schools of Muslim thinking. Each Muslim cult has its own structure, leader, space and after independence from Anglo-Egyptian condominium it has its own political party. The multitude of sects and the differences between them do not permit to speak of a Muslim community; over time, the differences between these sects have generated conflicts, fighting against each other allowing the British and Egyptians to successfully apply the adage 'divide at impera.'
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Country Studies.Federal Research Division. –Sudan