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Fawziyyah Hasan al-Yamani (Kordofaniyyah)
Fawziyyah Hasan al-Yamani (Kordofaniyyah)
Fawziyyah Hasan al-Yamani Uthman Arabi, was the daughter ofAl-Shaykh Hasan al-Yamani who progressed through the judiciary until his appointment Chief Justice of the Sudan in the period post-independence. She was born in Al-Obeid city in April 1934 and died on 15 April 2005 in Khartoum after a life dedicated to hard work and contribution. Fawziyyah was married to DrAl-Tahir Abd-al-Basit and has three sons and a daughter. She received her primary and intermediate education in Al-Obeid and her secondary education at Omdurman Secondary School. Later she joined the Technical College, now Sudan University, where she graduated with a diploma in fine arts in 1956. In 1963Fawziyyah received a scholarship to go to the United States where she completed her BA at California State University, Fresno, in 1964. In 1959, Fawziyyahbegan working for the Ministry of Education as a secondary school arts teacher.She also worked at a number of educational institutions; The Women’s TeacherTraining College in Omdurman, Madani Girls’ Secondary School, the TechnicalSchool in Omdurman, Al-Taqadum Girls’ schools. She also worked as deputy head of the Omdurman Girls’ Secondary School and head of the Bahri Old School for Girls until she was removed as a result of al-salih al-am (political decree) in 1989. Undoubtedly, Fawzaiyyah Yamani was one of the few lucky girls in Sudan to receive a good-quality education which even so, did not isolate them from the concerns of those around them, but rather added to their sense of responsibility.
The British authorities allowed Sayyid Babikir Badri to open the first girls’ school in 1907 and because the government authorities were not entirely well intentioned in this regard, the educational progress was extremely slow. This becomes clear when considering the huge leap in levels of education only fine years into the Sawdanah, post-independence. Initially, the British had tried to organise women’s economic activities, especially inOmdurman market. At the time, women were producing garments made of cotton,silk and wool in Al-Jazira, Kodofan and northern Sudan and then political awareness grew represented by Al-Azza, the wife of the freedom fighter AliAbd-al-Latif and Hajja Nafisa Saror, who sewed the flag of the White FlagLeague on her machine. Later the Sudanese Women’s Union appeared headed byKhaldah Zahir in 1946, Al-Mahdi’s Women’s Association in 1947 and the union of male and female nurses in 1948 (a female nurse became a member in 1955), the Union of Women Teachers in 1949, The Charitable Association in Al-Obeid in 1951headed by Nafisa Kamil up until the Women’s union in 1952 which struggled with the obstacles it had to face during dictatorships and whose activities were often suspended or curtailed. Fawziyyah Yamani was an active member of this union.
During the last few years of British rule in Sudan, and the emergence of the Graduates’ Conference, women had achieved limited voting rights in the elections of 1953 when the Indian head of the international committee tasked with observing the elections, Sukumar Sen, responded to the complaints by some educated women and allowed them to take part in the vote to choose members representing the Graduate Constituencies. With the popular October revolution in 1964, the 1965 law governing elections to parliament granted Sudanese women the right to vote in all constituencies and the right to stand for election in Graduate Constituencies. In a historic event, Fatma Ahmad Ibrahim joined parliament as the first Sudanese woman and superseded many of her contemporaries around the world. Next, Sudanese women won universal suffrage; to stand for election and vote in all constituencies. The Women’sUnion achieved equal pay for work in 1968 and negotiated women’s pension age. Sudan was one of the countries that ratified the World Labour Organisation agreement on 22 January 1970.
The Sudanese Women’s Union began publishing the magazine Sawtal-Mara in 1955. Fawziyyah Yamani was, as Fatma Babikir said, “the magazine’s pioneer cartoonist and produced sarcastic cartoons during military rule which attracted a number of readers to the magazine and which prompted the regime to threaten to suspend the magazine or to actually stop its publication”. The question that needs researching is whether there were anyother cartoonists in Sudan before Fawziyyah Yamani? I have personally looked for references and could not find the answer. I also asked some of those in this field and they told me that this type of art is associated with the lateIz-al-Din Uthman but when I asked his brother, Ustaz Hashim, when Iz-al-Din had started work as a cartoonist, he said it was at Al-Akhbar newspaper at the end of the 1950s and that he was not sure of the exact date. In any case, it is certain that through her cartoon art, Fawziyyah was the first Sudanese woman to address issues relating to her country and to women and to provide an understanding of the cultural and social environment in which the dreams of Fawziyyah, and many other young Sudanese women, were taking shape at the time.
This text is an excerpt and an introduction to a longer analytical study of The Life and Worlds of the Artist Fawziyyah Yamaniby the writer on issues relating to women and children, Dr Nahid Muhammadal-Hasan, consultant psychiatrist at Al-Amal Hospital, UAE.
Readers can find the full study by the same name in the second edition of the book ‘Hikayatuhun Hikayati’ by Dr Nahid Muhammadal-Hasan, published in 2017 by Rafiqi Publishing Ltd.
Fawziyyah Hasan al-Yamani Uthman Arabi, was the daughter ofAl-Shaykh Hasan al-Yamani who progressed through the judiciary until his appointment Chief Justice of the Sudan in the period post-independence. She was born in Al-Obeid city in April 1934 and died on 15 April 2005 in Khartoum after a life dedicated to hard work and contribution. Fawziyyah was married to DrAl-Tahir Abd-al-Basit and has three sons and a daughter. She received her primary and intermediate education in Al-Obeid and her secondary education at Omdurman Secondary School. Later she joined the Technical College, now Sudan University, where she graduated with a diploma in fine arts in 1956. In 1963Fawziyyah received a scholarship to go to the United States where she completed her BA at California State University, Fresno, in 1964. In 1959, Fawziyyahbegan working for the Ministry of Education as a secondary school arts teacher.She also worked at a number of educational institutions; The Women’s TeacherTraining College in Omdurman, Madani Girls’ Secondary School, the TechnicalSchool in Omdurman, Al-Taqadum Girls’ schools. She also worked as deputy head of the Omdurman Girls’ Secondary School and head of the Bahri Old School for Girls until she was removed as a result of al-salih al-am (political decree) in 1989. Undoubtedly, Fawzaiyyah Yamani was one of the few lucky girls in Sudan to receive a good-quality education which even so, did not isolate them from the concerns of those around them, but rather added to their sense of responsibility.
The British authorities allowed Sayyid Babikir Badri to open the first girls’ school in 1907 and because the government authorities were not entirely well intentioned in this regard, the educational progress was extremely slow. This becomes clear when considering the huge leap in levels of education only fine years into the Sawdanah, post-independence. Initially, the British had tried to organise women’s economic activities, especially inOmdurman market. At the time, women were producing garments made of cotton,silk and wool in Al-Jazira, Kodofan and northern Sudan and then political awareness grew represented by Al-Azza, the wife of the freedom fighter AliAbd-al-Latif and Hajja Nafisa Saror, who sewed the flag of the White FlagLeague on her machine. Later the Sudanese Women’s Union appeared headed byKhaldah Zahir in 1946, Al-Mahdi’s Women’s Association in 1947 and the union of male and female nurses in 1948 (a female nurse became a member in 1955), the Union of Women Teachers in 1949, The Charitable Association in Al-Obeid in 1951headed by Nafisa Kamil up until the Women’s union in 1952 which struggled with the obstacles it had to face during dictatorships and whose activities were often suspended or curtailed. Fawziyyah Yamani was an active member of this union.
During the last few years of British rule in Sudan, and the emergence of the Graduates’ Conference, women had achieved limited voting rights in the elections of 1953 when the Indian head of the international committee tasked with observing the elections, Sukumar Sen, responded to the complaints by some educated women and allowed them to take part in the vote to choose members representing the Graduate Constituencies. With the popular October revolution in 1964, the 1965 law governing elections to parliament granted Sudanese women the right to vote in all constituencies and the right to stand for election in Graduate Constituencies. In a historic event, Fatma Ahmad Ibrahim joined parliament as the first Sudanese woman and superseded many of her contemporaries around the world. Next, Sudanese women won universal suffrage; to stand for election and vote in all constituencies. The Women’sUnion achieved equal pay for work in 1968 and negotiated women’s pension age. Sudan was one of the countries that ratified the World Labour Organisation agreement on 22 January 1970.
The Sudanese Women’s Union began publishing the magazine Sawtal-Mara in 1955. Fawziyyah Yamani was, as Fatma Babikir said, “the magazine’s pioneer cartoonist and produced sarcastic cartoons during military rule which attracted a number of readers to the magazine and which prompted the regime to threaten to suspend the magazine or to actually stop its publication”. The question that needs researching is whether there were anyother cartoonists in Sudan before Fawziyyah Yamani? I have personally looked for references and could not find the answer. I also asked some of those in this field and they told me that this type of art is associated with the lateIz-al-Din Uthman but when I asked his brother, Ustaz Hashim, when Iz-al-Din had started work as a cartoonist, he said it was at Al-Akhbar newspaper at the end of the 1950s and that he was not sure of the exact date. In any case, it is certain that through her cartoon art, Fawziyyah was the first Sudanese woman to address issues relating to her country and to women and to provide an understanding of the cultural and social environment in which the dreams of Fawziyyah, and many other young Sudanese women, were taking shape at the time.
This text is an excerpt and an introduction to a longer analytical study of The Life and Worlds of the Artist Fawziyyah Yamaniby the writer on issues relating to women and children, Dr Nahid Muhammadal-Hasan, consultant psychiatrist at Al-Amal Hospital, UAE.
Readers can find the full study by the same name in the second edition of the book ‘Hikayatuhun Hikayati’ by Dr Nahid Muhammadal-Hasan, published in 2017 by Rafiqi Publishing Ltd.
Fawziyyah Hasan al-Yamani Uthman Arabi, was the daughter ofAl-Shaykh Hasan al-Yamani who progressed through the judiciary until his appointment Chief Justice of the Sudan in the period post-independence. She was born in Al-Obeid city in April 1934 and died on 15 April 2005 in Khartoum after a life dedicated to hard work and contribution. Fawziyyah was married to DrAl-Tahir Abd-al-Basit and has three sons and a daughter. She received her primary and intermediate education in Al-Obeid and her secondary education at Omdurman Secondary School. Later she joined the Technical College, now Sudan University, where she graduated with a diploma in fine arts in 1956. In 1963Fawziyyah received a scholarship to go to the United States where she completed her BA at California State University, Fresno, in 1964. In 1959, Fawziyyahbegan working for the Ministry of Education as a secondary school arts teacher.She also worked at a number of educational institutions; The Women’s TeacherTraining College in Omdurman, Madani Girls’ Secondary School, the TechnicalSchool in Omdurman, Al-Taqadum Girls’ schools. She also worked as deputy head of the Omdurman Girls’ Secondary School and head of the Bahri Old School for Girls until she was removed as a result of al-salih al-am (political decree) in 1989. Undoubtedly, Fawzaiyyah Yamani was one of the few lucky girls in Sudan to receive a good-quality education which even so, did not isolate them from the concerns of those around them, but rather added to their sense of responsibility.
The British authorities allowed Sayyid Babikir Badri to open the first girls’ school in 1907 and because the government authorities were not entirely well intentioned in this regard, the educational progress was extremely slow. This becomes clear when considering the huge leap in levels of education only fine years into the Sawdanah, post-independence. Initially, the British had tried to organise women’s economic activities, especially inOmdurman market. At the time, women were producing garments made of cotton,silk and wool in Al-Jazira, Kodofan and northern Sudan and then political awareness grew represented by Al-Azza, the wife of the freedom fighter AliAbd-al-Latif and Hajja Nafisa Saror, who sewed the flag of the White FlagLeague on her machine. Later the Sudanese Women’s Union appeared headed byKhaldah Zahir in 1946, Al-Mahdi’s Women’s Association in 1947 and the union of male and female nurses in 1948 (a female nurse became a member in 1955), the Union of Women Teachers in 1949, The Charitable Association in Al-Obeid in 1951headed by Nafisa Kamil up until the Women’s union in 1952 which struggled with the obstacles it had to face during dictatorships and whose activities were often suspended or curtailed. Fawziyyah Yamani was an active member of this union.
During the last few years of British rule in Sudan, and the emergence of the Graduates’ Conference, women had achieved limited voting rights in the elections of 1953 when the Indian head of the international committee tasked with observing the elections, Sukumar Sen, responded to the complaints by some educated women and allowed them to take part in the vote to choose members representing the Graduate Constituencies. With the popular October revolution in 1964, the 1965 law governing elections to parliament granted Sudanese women the right to vote in all constituencies and the right to stand for election in Graduate Constituencies. In a historic event, Fatma Ahmad Ibrahim joined parliament as the first Sudanese woman and superseded many of her contemporaries around the world. Next, Sudanese women won universal suffrage; to stand for election and vote in all constituencies. The Women’sUnion achieved equal pay for work in 1968 and negotiated women’s pension age. Sudan was one of the countries that ratified the World Labour Organisation agreement on 22 January 1970.
The Sudanese Women’s Union began publishing the magazine Sawtal-Mara in 1955. Fawziyyah Yamani was, as Fatma Babikir said, “the magazine’s pioneer cartoonist and produced sarcastic cartoons during military rule which attracted a number of readers to the magazine and which prompted the regime to threaten to suspend the magazine or to actually stop its publication”. The question that needs researching is whether there were anyother cartoonists in Sudan before Fawziyyah Yamani? I have personally looked for references and could not find the answer. I also asked some of those in this field and they told me that this type of art is associated with the lateIz-al-Din Uthman but when I asked his brother, Ustaz Hashim, when Iz-al-Din had started work as a cartoonist, he said it was at Al-Akhbar newspaper at the end of the 1950s and that he was not sure of the exact date. In any case, it is certain that through her cartoon art, Fawziyyah was the first Sudanese woman to address issues relating to her country and to women and to provide an understanding of the cultural and social environment in which the dreams of Fawziyyah, and many other young Sudanese women, were taking shape at the time.
This text is an excerpt and an introduction to a longer analytical study of The Life and Worlds of the Artist Fawziyyah Yamaniby the writer on issues relating to women and children, Dr Nahid Muhammadal-Hasan, consultant psychiatrist at Al-Amal Hospital, UAE.
Readers can find the full study by the same name in the second edition of the book ‘Hikayatuhun Hikayati’ by Dr Nahid Muhammadal-Hasan, published in 2017 by Rafiqi Publishing Ltd.
Reflecting on the social impact of Hakamat
Reflecting on the social impact of Hakamat
The hakamat (pl.) are women poetesses and singers who hail from specific groups classified as nomadic/pastoralist “Arab” groups within Darfur and Kordofan. The role can be inherited, can be based on talent or having charisma, and being respected within their communities. The title of hakama is officially bestowed during a festive ceremony. The articulations and performances of hakamat seek to comment on societal events, taking place in real time, to resolve them.
Through powerful performances hakamat, wield significant social influence since they sustain and fortify cultural values based on gendered understandings of honour and shame within specific contexts. They manifest the capacity to use song and poetry to invite men to engage in war by praising the virtues of aggressive and unrelenting warrior behaviour, based on reified cultural norms, that encourage men and young boys to remain brave and unflinching in the face of death in order to accrue power and wealth. The hakamat equally mediate inter-communal peace and suggest viable marriage alliances considered beneficial to diverse clans within the “Arab” structures of both Darfur and Kordofan where they are present as social actors.
The lyrics pronounced by hakamat guide men and women in enacting social norms and roles which are deemed as enhancing collective lives. However, the impactful socially grounded influence of hakamats’ performances remained invisible to many Sudanese who are unacquainted with the cultural heritage of locations within Western Sudan from whence they originally hail. The dominance of Nile valley culture and the centering of political power within the capital city Khartoum have contributed to this situation.
The Darfur conflict of 2003 has highlighted the role of these women as powerful social actors. They had been widely perceived by riverine culture and the international peace building community to be troublemakers who encouraged conflict. The relevance of the hakamat for bolstering national harmony became more salient after 2004. In Khartoum they were enjoined by international organisations (approved by the Sudanese state) to use their access to their local male dominated worlds and to reverse their messages transforming them into ones advocating for peace.
This activist role targeting robust nation building was poorly publicized. While the hakamat have become more well known within the capital city more recently, this visibility was facilitated by social media platforms through a depoliticized folkloric lens. This does little to reflect that the words of the hakama are wedded to lived cultural realities and seek to influence social orders.
At present, diverse Hakamat stand at the cusp of the undesired cultural and political strife now so obvious between Riverine Sudan and Darfur in Western Sudan. The war, which started in April 2023, has exacerbated preexisting grievances between the central state and its peripheries. The leadership of the Rapid Support Forces warring with the Sudanese armed Forces originates from the Maaliya (subgroup of the Rizigait) one of the Darfuri groups where Hakamat speak up. In this instance of active warfare, the image of the hakama has once again become negative since it has been widely propagated that they encourage their fighters and men to come back from the capital city bearing loot as a marker of sought after and highly valorised masculine honour and victory.
The narrative of the “hakama” (sing.) is neither good nor evil it is scripted according to the tale Sudan recounts. The words of the “hakama” reflect the travails of a nation at war with itself.
The hakamat (pl.) are women poetesses and singers who hail from specific groups classified as nomadic/pastoralist “Arab” groups within Darfur and Kordofan. The role can be inherited, can be based on talent or having charisma, and being respected within their communities. The title of hakama is officially bestowed during a festive ceremony. The articulations and performances of hakamat seek to comment on societal events, taking place in real time, to resolve them.
Through powerful performances hakamat, wield significant social influence since they sustain and fortify cultural values based on gendered understandings of honour and shame within specific contexts. They manifest the capacity to use song and poetry to invite men to engage in war by praising the virtues of aggressive and unrelenting warrior behaviour, based on reified cultural norms, that encourage men and young boys to remain brave and unflinching in the face of death in order to accrue power and wealth. The hakamat equally mediate inter-communal peace and suggest viable marriage alliances considered beneficial to diverse clans within the “Arab” structures of both Darfur and Kordofan where they are present as social actors.
The lyrics pronounced by hakamat guide men and women in enacting social norms and roles which are deemed as enhancing collective lives. However, the impactful socially grounded influence of hakamats’ performances remained invisible to many Sudanese who are unacquainted with the cultural heritage of locations within Western Sudan from whence they originally hail. The dominance of Nile valley culture and the centering of political power within the capital city Khartoum have contributed to this situation.
The Darfur conflict of 2003 has highlighted the role of these women as powerful social actors. They had been widely perceived by riverine culture and the international peace building community to be troublemakers who encouraged conflict. The relevance of the hakamat for bolstering national harmony became more salient after 2004. In Khartoum they were enjoined by international organisations (approved by the Sudanese state) to use their access to their local male dominated worlds and to reverse their messages transforming them into ones advocating for peace.
This activist role targeting robust nation building was poorly publicized. While the hakamat have become more well known within the capital city more recently, this visibility was facilitated by social media platforms through a depoliticized folkloric lens. This does little to reflect that the words of the hakama are wedded to lived cultural realities and seek to influence social orders.
At present, diverse Hakamat stand at the cusp of the undesired cultural and political strife now so obvious between Riverine Sudan and Darfur in Western Sudan. The war, which started in April 2023, has exacerbated preexisting grievances between the central state and its peripheries. The leadership of the Rapid Support Forces warring with the Sudanese armed Forces originates from the Maaliya (subgroup of the Rizigait) one of the Darfuri groups where Hakamat speak up. In this instance of active warfare, the image of the hakama has once again become negative since it has been widely propagated that they encourage their fighters and men to come back from the capital city bearing loot as a marker of sought after and highly valorised masculine honour and victory.
The narrative of the “hakama” (sing.) is neither good nor evil it is scripted according to the tale Sudan recounts. The words of the “hakama” reflect the travails of a nation at war with itself.
The hakamat (pl.) are women poetesses and singers who hail from specific groups classified as nomadic/pastoralist “Arab” groups within Darfur and Kordofan. The role can be inherited, can be based on talent or having charisma, and being respected within their communities. The title of hakama is officially bestowed during a festive ceremony. The articulations and performances of hakamat seek to comment on societal events, taking place in real time, to resolve them.
Through powerful performances hakamat, wield significant social influence since they sustain and fortify cultural values based on gendered understandings of honour and shame within specific contexts. They manifest the capacity to use song and poetry to invite men to engage in war by praising the virtues of aggressive and unrelenting warrior behaviour, based on reified cultural norms, that encourage men and young boys to remain brave and unflinching in the face of death in order to accrue power and wealth. The hakamat equally mediate inter-communal peace and suggest viable marriage alliances considered beneficial to diverse clans within the “Arab” structures of both Darfur and Kordofan where they are present as social actors.
The lyrics pronounced by hakamat guide men and women in enacting social norms and roles which are deemed as enhancing collective lives. However, the impactful socially grounded influence of hakamats’ performances remained invisible to many Sudanese who are unacquainted with the cultural heritage of locations within Western Sudan from whence they originally hail. The dominance of Nile valley culture and the centering of political power within the capital city Khartoum have contributed to this situation.
The Darfur conflict of 2003 has highlighted the role of these women as powerful social actors. They had been widely perceived by riverine culture and the international peace building community to be troublemakers who encouraged conflict. The relevance of the hakamat for bolstering national harmony became more salient after 2004. In Khartoum they were enjoined by international organisations (approved by the Sudanese state) to use their access to their local male dominated worlds and to reverse their messages transforming them into ones advocating for peace.
This activist role targeting robust nation building was poorly publicized. While the hakamat have become more well known within the capital city more recently, this visibility was facilitated by social media platforms through a depoliticized folkloric lens. This does little to reflect that the words of the hakama are wedded to lived cultural realities and seek to influence social orders.
At present, diverse Hakamat stand at the cusp of the undesired cultural and political strife now so obvious between Riverine Sudan and Darfur in Western Sudan. The war, which started in April 2023, has exacerbated preexisting grievances between the central state and its peripheries. The leadership of the Rapid Support Forces warring with the Sudanese armed Forces originates from the Maaliya (subgroup of the Rizigait) one of the Darfuri groups where Hakamat speak up. In this instance of active warfare, the image of the hakama has once again become negative since it has been widely propagated that they encourage their fighters and men to come back from the capital city bearing loot as a marker of sought after and highly valorised masculine honour and victory.
The narrative of the “hakama” (sing.) is neither good nor evil it is scripted according to the tale Sudan recounts. The words of the “hakama” reflect the travails of a nation at war with itself.
Women in Mahdya
Women in Mahdya
The following texts on women during the Mahdiya period in Sudan were prepared as part of the women’s exhibition at the Khalifa House museum in Omdurman that was reopened after extensive renovation in 2023, two months before the current war broke out.
The existing Khalifa House museum was converted into a community museum, which meant that it was necessary to cater for the local community and their interests. Thus a contemporary viewpoint of history of the Mahdiya meant the inclusion of sections on the city, markets, economy and events as a way to create a snapshot of life during that time. The exhibitions also followed the original purpose of the rooms of the house which was the Khalifa’s residence and administration building. The women’s section of the house therefore became the women’s exhibition to showcase women’s objects and their stories from the era.
This proved quite a challenge and many questions needed to be answered; from what is a women’s object to how could this be distinguished from everyday household items? Another difficulty was trying to uncover stories on prominent women at the time. Many records from the Mahdiya did not include women’s names, merely referred to them as the daughter of such-and-such or that person’s sister.
That is why we were determined to create a parallel exhibition for women, one followed a similar pattern to in the other rooms of the museum thus creating sections for women and economy, how they used the city, their role in politics and fashion. The exhibition attempted to contextualise household items as part of an economic system.
One way to fill in the gap of information is to try and imagine how life was for women during the Mahdiya based on the scarce facts available. Sudanese author Leila Aboulela has done this in her recently published book, River Spirit, which tells a fictional story set during the Mahdiya based on some known historical figures. The book manages to paint a very plausible world in which women are seen as characters in their own right and whose influence on men and on events is detailed and powerful.
Women in the revolution
Women’s participation in the Mahdist revolution (1888 – 1899) took various forms. They donned the patchwork Jibba worn by the men and fought side-by-side with them in battle and also followed the main armies with provisions. Women provided water to the thirsty, tended to the wounded soldiers, and even helped dispose of wounded enemy soldiers. Some well-known figures include Sitt al-Banaat Umm Saif, Khadijah Bit-Surkatty, and Fatima Bint Umm al-Hassan.
On his migration to Qadir, the march from Obeid to Khartoum, there was a significant female constituent among the Imam Mohammed Ahmed al-Mahdi’s followers. Women also played a strategic role in The Mahdi’s victories, mainly through intelligence operations. They would discreetly gather information on the enemy and their defences, women like Rabiha al-Kinania who ran from Mount Fungor to Mount Qadir (15km more than a marathon, as the crow flies) to warn The Mahdi of Rashid Bey Ayman’s ambush.
During the liberation of Khartoum in 1885, it was the women who disclosed plans of Gordon’s defences around Khartoum to The Mahdi’s forces and aided in its siege and eventual liberation.
Women’s market
Commercial activity was considered to be one the main features of Mahdist society in Omdurman. The country was constantly in a state of war and all the men were away for war or trade. The city of Omdurman became a women’s city and the deteriorating situation forced women to work in the market.
The State allowed women to work if their husbands were at war and they needed to make a living. Older women, who could work in the market place, had a designated space where they sold commodities like oil, animal fat, fruit, spices, medicines, sorghum, dates, yeast, water and slaves. Darfuri women were especially skilled in making mats with glass beads woven into their folds, giving them a distinct lustre, and women from Al-Gezira, Barbar and Dongola specialised in producing fabrics, mats and pottery.
The following texts on women during the Mahdiya period in Sudan were prepared as part of the women’s exhibition at the Khalifa House museum in Omdurman that was reopened after extensive renovation in 2023, two months before the current war broke out.
The existing Khalifa House museum was converted into a community museum, which meant that it was necessary to cater for the local community and their interests. Thus a contemporary viewpoint of history of the Mahdiya meant the inclusion of sections on the city, markets, economy and events as a way to create a snapshot of life during that time. The exhibitions also followed the original purpose of the rooms of the house which was the Khalifa’s residence and administration building. The women’s section of the house therefore became the women’s exhibition to showcase women’s objects and their stories from the era.
This proved quite a challenge and many questions needed to be answered; from what is a women’s object to how could this be distinguished from everyday household items? Another difficulty was trying to uncover stories on prominent women at the time. Many records from the Mahdiya did not include women’s names, merely referred to them as the daughter of such-and-such or that person’s sister.
That is why we were determined to create a parallel exhibition for women, one followed a similar pattern to in the other rooms of the museum thus creating sections for women and economy, how they used the city, their role in politics and fashion. The exhibition attempted to contextualise household items as part of an economic system.
One way to fill in the gap of information is to try and imagine how life was for women during the Mahdiya based on the scarce facts available. Sudanese author Leila Aboulela has done this in her recently published book, River Spirit, which tells a fictional story set during the Mahdiya based on some known historical figures. The book manages to paint a very plausible world in which women are seen as characters in their own right and whose influence on men and on events is detailed and powerful.
Women in the revolution
Women’s participation in the Mahdist revolution (1888 – 1899) took various forms. They donned the patchwork Jibba worn by the men and fought side-by-side with them in battle and also followed the main armies with provisions. Women provided water to the thirsty, tended to the wounded soldiers, and even helped dispose of wounded enemy soldiers. Some well-known figures include Sitt al-Banaat Umm Saif, Khadijah Bit-Surkatty, and Fatima Bint Umm al-Hassan.
On his migration to Qadir, the march from Obeid to Khartoum, there was a significant female constituent among the Imam Mohammed Ahmed al-Mahdi’s followers. Women also played a strategic role in The Mahdi’s victories, mainly through intelligence operations. They would discreetly gather information on the enemy and their defences, women like Rabiha al-Kinania who ran from Mount Fungor to Mount Qadir (15km more than a marathon, as the crow flies) to warn The Mahdi of Rashid Bey Ayman’s ambush.
During the liberation of Khartoum in 1885, it was the women who disclosed plans of Gordon’s defences around Khartoum to The Mahdi’s forces and aided in its siege and eventual liberation.
Women’s market
Commercial activity was considered to be one the main features of Mahdist society in Omdurman. The country was constantly in a state of war and all the men were away for war or trade. The city of Omdurman became a women’s city and the deteriorating situation forced women to work in the market.
The State allowed women to work if their husbands were at war and they needed to make a living. Older women, who could work in the market place, had a designated space where they sold commodities like oil, animal fat, fruit, spices, medicines, sorghum, dates, yeast, water and slaves. Darfuri women were especially skilled in making mats with glass beads woven into their folds, giving them a distinct lustre, and women from Al-Gezira, Barbar and Dongola specialised in producing fabrics, mats and pottery.
The following texts on women during the Mahdiya period in Sudan were prepared as part of the women’s exhibition at the Khalifa House museum in Omdurman that was reopened after extensive renovation in 2023, two months before the current war broke out.
The existing Khalifa House museum was converted into a community museum, which meant that it was necessary to cater for the local community and their interests. Thus a contemporary viewpoint of history of the Mahdiya meant the inclusion of sections on the city, markets, economy and events as a way to create a snapshot of life during that time. The exhibitions also followed the original purpose of the rooms of the house which was the Khalifa’s residence and administration building. The women’s section of the house therefore became the women’s exhibition to showcase women’s objects and their stories from the era.
This proved quite a challenge and many questions needed to be answered; from what is a women’s object to how could this be distinguished from everyday household items? Another difficulty was trying to uncover stories on prominent women at the time. Many records from the Mahdiya did not include women’s names, merely referred to them as the daughter of such-and-such or that person’s sister.
That is why we were determined to create a parallel exhibition for women, one followed a similar pattern to in the other rooms of the museum thus creating sections for women and economy, how they used the city, their role in politics and fashion. The exhibition attempted to contextualise household items as part of an economic system.
One way to fill in the gap of information is to try and imagine how life was for women during the Mahdiya based on the scarce facts available. Sudanese author Leila Aboulela has done this in her recently published book, River Spirit, which tells a fictional story set during the Mahdiya based on some known historical figures. The book manages to paint a very plausible world in which women are seen as characters in their own right and whose influence on men and on events is detailed and powerful.
Women in the revolution
Women’s participation in the Mahdist revolution (1888 – 1899) took various forms. They donned the patchwork Jibba worn by the men and fought side-by-side with them in battle and also followed the main armies with provisions. Women provided water to the thirsty, tended to the wounded soldiers, and even helped dispose of wounded enemy soldiers. Some well-known figures include Sitt al-Banaat Umm Saif, Khadijah Bit-Surkatty, and Fatima Bint Umm al-Hassan.
On his migration to Qadir, the march from Obeid to Khartoum, there was a significant female constituent among the Imam Mohammed Ahmed al-Mahdi’s followers. Women also played a strategic role in The Mahdi’s victories, mainly through intelligence operations. They would discreetly gather information on the enemy and their defences, women like Rabiha al-Kinania who ran from Mount Fungor to Mount Qadir (15km more than a marathon, as the crow flies) to warn The Mahdi of Rashid Bey Ayman’s ambush.
During the liberation of Khartoum in 1885, it was the women who disclosed plans of Gordon’s defences around Khartoum to The Mahdi’s forces and aided in its siege and eventual liberation.
Women’s market
Commercial activity was considered to be one the main features of Mahdist society in Omdurman. The country was constantly in a state of war and all the men were away for war or trade. The city of Omdurman became a women’s city and the deteriorating situation forced women to work in the market.
The State allowed women to work if their husbands were at war and they needed to make a living. Older women, who could work in the market place, had a designated space where they sold commodities like oil, animal fat, fruit, spices, medicines, sorghum, dates, yeast, water and slaves. Darfuri women were especially skilled in making mats with glass beads woven into their folds, giving them a distinct lustre, and women from Al-Gezira, Barbar and Dongola specialised in producing fabrics, mats and pottery.
Women and education
Women and education
The role of women in education was well-known before the Mahdist Revolution. Quranic schools, called khalawi, were spread throughout most of the country and women from the families of Islamic scholars or Sheikhs, educated in the Qur’an, were often allowed to teach there. One such woman was Fatima bint Jaber from Kutranj near Karima in northern Sudan who was renowned for teaching the Quran with her brothers. In some areas, like the Beja region in Eastern Sudan, the khalawi system became dependent on women teachers. Some women became prominent Sheikhas in their own right and were well versed in Islam, so much so, they were able to establish their own khalwa, just like the khalwas in the Fur, Bargo and Masalit tribe areas. A good example is that of the famous Sheikha Aisha bint Al-Qadal who taught students in her khalwa in Jabal Awlia, on the southern outskirts of Khartoum.
This tradition continued during the Mahdist period and women continued to learn and teach the Quran and Quranic studies at the Khalifa’s Mosque in Omdurman and at women’s khalawi, like the Sheikha Khadijah Bint Al-Fakki Ali khalwa and the Sheikha Fatima Umm al-Nasr Bint Abu Rahala khalwa. Lessons would be held in the mornings and evenings and melodious chanting was used as a tool to aid students to memorise verses. Upon completing the lessons, the student was awarded a certificate called Al Sharaafah (the honour). During the celebration, the other students would brush a hand over the honoured student’s head after a meal of mulaah rob, a staple Sudanese dish made of cooked yoghurt.
Some of the sheikhas used to go around visiting homes in person to educate girls and women, the most famous of whom are Khadijah bint al-Sheikh wad Abu Safiyyah, who mentored the first female Education Inspector in Sudan, and the first Sudanese woman to establish a night school for women in Omdurman and the esteemed teacher Madinah Abdullah Abd al-Qadir.
Al-Sharifa Maryam al-Marghaniyah, who showed a lot of interest in women’s education, establishing mosques and khalawi (with sections designated for women’s education) in Haya, Sinkat, and Jabayt in eastern Sudan, is a more recent example of women in education. Until her death in 1952, Al-Marghaniyah contributed to supporting and supervising schools, paying salaries of some of the employees, and generally encouraging girls’ education.
The role of women in education was well-known before the Mahdist Revolution. Quranic schools, called khalawi, were spread throughout most of the country and women from the families of Islamic scholars or Sheikhs, educated in the Qur’an, were often allowed to teach there. One such woman was Fatima bint Jaber from Kutranj near Karima in northern Sudan who was renowned for teaching the Quran with her brothers. In some areas, like the Beja region in Eastern Sudan, the khalawi system became dependent on women teachers. Some women became prominent Sheikhas in their own right and were well versed in Islam, so much so, they were able to establish their own khalwa, just like the khalwas in the Fur, Bargo and Masalit tribe areas. A good example is that of the famous Sheikha Aisha bint Al-Qadal who taught students in her khalwa in Jabal Awlia, on the southern outskirts of Khartoum.
This tradition continued during the Mahdist period and women continued to learn and teach the Quran and Quranic studies at the Khalifa’s Mosque in Omdurman and at women’s khalawi, like the Sheikha Khadijah Bint Al-Fakki Ali khalwa and the Sheikha Fatima Umm al-Nasr Bint Abu Rahala khalwa. Lessons would be held in the mornings and evenings and melodious chanting was used as a tool to aid students to memorise verses. Upon completing the lessons, the student was awarded a certificate called Al Sharaafah (the honour). During the celebration, the other students would brush a hand over the honoured student’s head after a meal of mulaah rob, a staple Sudanese dish made of cooked yoghurt.
Some of the sheikhas used to go around visiting homes in person to educate girls and women, the most famous of whom are Khadijah bint al-Sheikh wad Abu Safiyyah, who mentored the first female Education Inspector in Sudan, and the first Sudanese woman to establish a night school for women in Omdurman and the esteemed teacher Madinah Abdullah Abd al-Qadir.
Al-Sharifa Maryam al-Marghaniyah, who showed a lot of interest in women’s education, establishing mosques and khalawi (with sections designated for women’s education) in Haya, Sinkat, and Jabayt in eastern Sudan, is a more recent example of women in education. Until her death in 1952, Al-Marghaniyah contributed to supporting and supervising schools, paying salaries of some of the employees, and generally encouraging girls’ education.
The role of women in education was well-known before the Mahdist Revolution. Quranic schools, called khalawi, were spread throughout most of the country and women from the families of Islamic scholars or Sheikhs, educated in the Qur’an, were often allowed to teach there. One such woman was Fatima bint Jaber from Kutranj near Karima in northern Sudan who was renowned for teaching the Quran with her brothers. In some areas, like the Beja region in Eastern Sudan, the khalawi system became dependent on women teachers. Some women became prominent Sheikhas in their own right and were well versed in Islam, so much so, they were able to establish their own khalwa, just like the khalwas in the Fur, Bargo and Masalit tribe areas. A good example is that of the famous Sheikha Aisha bint Al-Qadal who taught students in her khalwa in Jabal Awlia, on the southern outskirts of Khartoum.
This tradition continued during the Mahdist period and women continued to learn and teach the Quran and Quranic studies at the Khalifa’s Mosque in Omdurman and at women’s khalawi, like the Sheikha Khadijah Bint Al-Fakki Ali khalwa and the Sheikha Fatima Umm al-Nasr Bint Abu Rahala khalwa. Lessons would be held in the mornings and evenings and melodious chanting was used as a tool to aid students to memorise verses. Upon completing the lessons, the student was awarded a certificate called Al Sharaafah (the honour). During the celebration, the other students would brush a hand over the honoured student’s head after a meal of mulaah rob, a staple Sudanese dish made of cooked yoghurt.
Some of the sheikhas used to go around visiting homes in person to educate girls and women, the most famous of whom are Khadijah bint al-Sheikh wad Abu Safiyyah, who mentored the first female Education Inspector in Sudan, and the first Sudanese woman to establish a night school for women in Omdurman and the esteemed teacher Madinah Abdullah Abd al-Qadir.
Al-Sharifa Maryam al-Marghaniyah, who showed a lot of interest in women’s education, establishing mosques and khalawi (with sections designated for women’s education) in Haya, Sinkat, and Jabayt in eastern Sudan, is a more recent example of women in education. Until her death in 1952, Al-Marghaniyah contributed to supporting and supervising schools, paying salaries of some of the employees, and generally encouraging girls’ education.
Reading list
Reading list
A Mouth Full of Salt by Reem Gaafar
(Saqi Books, 2024)
Thisnovel, set in the 1980s, tells the story of three women in Northern Sudan whose stories relate to a series of unfortunate events that mysteriously unfold starting with the drowning of a child. The story gives a glimpse to the lifestyle of villages along the banks of the Nile at the time, and how women navigate their social and cultural environment. The story also tackles issues of racism and gender roles.
Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhilo
(Make Me a World, 2021)
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In this free-verse novel, Elhilo explores notions of home and belonging through the lens of Nima, a fourteen-year-old girl of Sudanese origin living inAmerica. Intended for young adults, the book’s central question is whether we feel part of a place we have never lived in, a place we are connected to through only by our parents’ memories and a few items of memorabilia?
Nile Blues by Maha Ayoub
(Independent Publisher, 2012)
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This is the story of a group of Sudanese women, from very different socio-economic and religious backgrounds, navigating life at the time Sudan split into two countries. Ayoub’s excellent observation of small details in everyday Sudane selife and her ability to weave them into an engaging story plot, creates an exciting and often humorous narrative at a grave time of national reckoning.
Al-Tagiyyah: the art of needlework in Omdurman 1885-1940
by Bagia Badawi Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman
(Khartoum University Press, 2008)
This book is a study of needlework crafting in general, and of the tagiyyah (traditional Sudanese men’s skull cap) in particular. From the end of the 19,thto the middle of the 20th centuries, the women of Omdurman were known to excel at this activity. In the book, the author, herself a visual artist, considers the making of the tagiyyah from a variety of angles; historic, social, economic and aesthetic, relying on her lived experience aspart of Omdurman society at a time when needlework was still a common activity in Sudan.
A Mouth Full of Salt by Reem Gaafar
(Saqi Books, 2024)
Thisnovel, set in the 1980s, tells the story of three women in Northern Sudan whose stories relate to a series of unfortunate events that mysteriously unfold starting with the drowning of a child. The story gives a glimpse to the lifestyle of villages along the banks of the Nile at the time, and how women navigate their social and cultural environment. The story also tackles issues of racism and gender roles.
Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhilo
(Make Me a World, 2021)
In this free-verse novel, Elhilo explores notions of home and belonging through the lens of Nima, a fourteen-year-old girl of Sudanese origin living inAmerica. Intended for young adults, the book’s central question is whether we feel part of a place we have never lived in, a place we are connected to through only by our parents’ memories and a few items of memorabilia?
Nile Blues by Maha Ayoub
(Independent Publisher, 2012)
This is the story of a group of Sudanese women, from very different socio-economic and religious backgrounds, navigating life at the time Sudan split into two countries. Ayoub’s excellent observation of small details in everyday Sudane selife and her ability to weave them into an engaging story plot, creates an exciting and often humorous narrative at a grave time of national reckoning.
Al-Tagiyyah: the art of needlework in Omdurman 1885-1940
by Bagia Badawi Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman
(Khartoum University Press, 2008)
This book is a study of needlework crafting in general, and of the tagiyyah (traditional Sudanese men’s skull cap) in particular. From the end of the 19,thto the middle of the 20th centuries, the women of Omdurman were known to excel at this activity. In the book, the author, herself a visual artist, considers the making of the tagiyyah from a variety of angles; historic, social, economic and aesthetic, relying on her lived experience aspart of Omdurman society at a time when needlework was still a common activity in Sudan.
A Mouth Full of Salt by Reem Gaafar
(Saqi Books, 2024)
Thisnovel, set in the 1980s, tells the story of three women in Northern Sudan whose stories relate to a series of unfortunate events that mysteriously unfold starting with the drowning of a child. The story gives a glimpse to the lifestyle of villages along the banks of the Nile at the time, and how women navigate their social and cultural environment. The story also tackles issues of racism and gender roles.
Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhilo
(Make Me a World, 2021)
In this free-verse novel, Elhilo explores notions of home and belonging through the lens of Nima, a fourteen-year-old girl of Sudanese origin living inAmerica. Intended for young adults, the book’s central question is whether we feel part of a place we have never lived in, a place we are connected to through only by our parents’ memories and a few items of memorabilia?
Nile Blues by Maha Ayoub
(Independent Publisher, 2012)
This is the story of a group of Sudanese women, from very different socio-economic and religious backgrounds, navigating life at the time Sudan split into two countries. Ayoub’s excellent observation of small details in everyday Sudane selife and her ability to weave them into an engaging story plot, creates an exciting and often humorous narrative at a grave time of national reckoning.
Al-Tagiyyah: the art of needlework in Omdurman 1885-1940
by Bagia Badawi Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman
(Khartoum University Press, 2008)
This book is a study of needlework crafting in general, and of the tagiyyah (traditional Sudanese men’s skull cap) in particular. From the end of the 19,thto the middle of the 20th centuries, the women of Omdurman were known to excel at this activity. In the book, the author, herself a visual artist, considers the making of the tagiyyah from a variety of angles; historic, social, economic and aesthetic, relying on her lived experience aspart of Omdurman society at a time when needlework was still a common activity in Sudan.