For centuries, this land has been characterized by being a blend of ethnicities, occupied by the Bedouin spirit with all its implications of clan and cohesion. This was true until it gained its Ibn Khaldunian name: Sudan (Land of the Blacks), in contrast to Bilad al-Bidan (the Land of the Whites).

Its general features were infused with the spirit of Christian religiosity, but this gradually shifted in favour of another religion—Islam—which captivated people's souls and flowed into their broader public sphere.

In the visual public sphere for instance, Maydan al-Mawlid, public squares where the birth of the Prophet Muhammad is celebrated, serve as a defining feature of modern Sudanese cities, especially the larger of these spaces. These areas, proposed by the Sufis, are an essential component of Sudanese culture. To illustrate; It is impossible to read the corpus of Sudanese Arabic literature without encountering this tolerant, sacred, and festive space:

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“This day is the field of longing,
Where yearning delights the afflicted.
The people’s faces, like cheerful gardens,
Blessed by the holy rain of saints.”
(Abdullah Abdulrahman al-Dharir)

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To this day, the Mawlid Square, established through the vision of the Sufis, remains one of the most liberating and inclusive spaces in Sudanese culture. Architecturally, it is an open area adorned with various types of fabric tents erected as throughout.

By the late 13th and early 14th centuries, Islam entered Sudan, and the Kingdom of Maqarra abandoned Christianity, transforming into smaller Arab-influenced emirates. By the early 16th century, the Christian Kingdom of Alawa had also ceased to be Christian, and the southernmost boundaries of Islam settled along the 13th parallel north of the equator.

Over the next three centuries, Islam solidified its influence. During this period, prominent religious families established themselves, spreading the traits of the new faith into the country’s public sphere. Sufi lodges became the nuclei of a distinct Islamic civilization, as noted by British missionary Spencer Trimingham in his significant work, A History of Islam in Sudan. What has consistently distinguished Sudanese religiosity is its Sufi character which is predominantly characterized, more precisely, by its Hijazi and Maghrebi essence.

Over time, the principles of a "Sufi universality" took root in the collective consciousness. Making Baghdad the center of the Sufi community with the Hijaz viewed as the axis of existence. This new foundation tamed earlier tribalism with the Sufi order becoming a unifying social contract.

Anyone tracing the map of Sufism in Sudan will find that the Qadiriyya order entered Sudan through Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Bahari, who visited the Sultanate of Sennar in 1577. As for Sheikh Ahmad al-Bashir al-Tayyib (d. 1823), he introduced the Sammaniyya order, which became established alongside the Qadiriyya and Shadhiliyya orders.

The Samaniyya Order spread widely during the late Turko-Egyptian period, becoming a mass movement that eventually gave rise to the Mahdist revolution. At the same time, Sayyid Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani al-Kabir arrived in Sudan in 1818, sent by his teacher Ahmad ibn Idris. He founded the Khatmiyya Order which became a major order with a centralized system of organisation. The order gained a significant following especially in the northern, eastern, and Kordofan regions of Sudan. It also extended deeply into Eritrea, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula.

The Tijaniyya order, which emerged from the Shadhiliyya and Khalwatiyya orders, was introduced to Sudan by Sheikh Muhammad al-Shanqeeti in 1847. Its first prominent center was at the khalwas of Al-Ghubush, west of the city of Berber in the Nile River State. It became the principal Sufi order in the Fur Sultanate. The Khatmiyya order gave rise to the Isma’iliyya order, founded by Sheikh Isma’il al-Wali (d. 1863), while the Shadhiliyya order produced the Majdhubiyya order. Additionally, the Burhaniyya order gained fame in Khartoum, Egypt, Germany, and among Muslims in Europe.

These Sufi orders, which span nearly all parts of Sudan, historically integrated with tribal structures as their adherents demonstrated spiritual loyalty to the descendants of the Prophet’s family (Ahl al-Bayt). Gradually, distinctions became blurred making it difficult to differentiate between tribal and spiritual affiliations.

Initially, Sufism in Sudan was spontaneous, functioning as a shared social contract between the state and society. For instance, during the long reign of the Sennar Sultanate (1504–1821), Sufism was widespread and unstructured. Sheikh Muhammad Wad Daifallah documented this era in his famous book Tabaqat Wad Daifallah. Despite the generally serene disposition of Sudanese Sufis, Imam Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi managed to revolutionize Sufism, transforming it into a governing system that lasted 13 years (1885–1898).

Returning to the public sphere north of the 13th parallel, people gather at the Mawlid grounds annually for 12 days of celebration, marked by drumming, chants, and vibrant, colourful attire. The Mawlid grounds become a space that tests and celebrates diversity in every aspect: people, colours, sounds, lights, opinions, and ideas. It is a space where everyone’s presence is legitimized, and everyone participates in shaping it, as it reflects the meaning of their lives in that moment.

In his book Al-Maseed, Al-Tayeb Muhammad al-Tayeb highlights another public space next to the Mawlid grounds: the Maseed. This place is described as an institution with “a remarkable ability to dissolve racial, tribal, and regional barriers,” playing a similarly integrative role in society.

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Cover Picture © Sari Omer Omdurman, Celebrations of Sufis for the Moulid (Prophet’s birthday) in the Khalifa Mosque “Maidan” Omdurman.