Sudanese Personalities in Brief
31 December, 2014Khartoum (Sudanow) Shakhsiat Sudanyah fi Sotour “Sudanese Personalities in Brief”, this 124 pages biographical work, was compiled in Arabic language by the Sudanese intellectual and writer Mohamed Bashir Forawi. It was published by Mohamed Omer Bashir Centre for Sudanese Studies, Omdurman Ahlia University, 2013.
Forawi presents in this biographical work the life history of a numerous Sudanese public figures who have left their marks in the country’s recent history. Three of these figures will be reviewed here on the occasion of the 59 anniversary of Sudan independence; Sayyed Ali al-Mirghani, Sayyed Abdurrahman al-Mahdi and Sayyed Ismail al-Azahari.
Sayyed Ali al-Mirghani:
One of the most famous religious and political leaders of Sudan pre and post - independence was Sayyed (an honorific title for religious leaders and respected dignitaries) Ali al-Mirghani.
This brief biography is derived from the book:
Sayyed Ali al-Mirghani was born in the Northern Province in 1880. He then moved with his father to Kasala (East Sudan) and then to the port city of Suakin (Red Sea). When his father moved to Egypt, he stayed with his uncle Mohamed Osman Taj Alsir. When his father died in Egypt, Mohammad Osman Taj Al-sir became the guardian of the kid.
The then young al-Mirghani went to school and learned the holy Quran by heart. He also studied the basics of Islamic religion. Afterwards he joined his uncle in Cairo where he became student in Al-Azahar Al-Sharief Religious Studies University (then called al-Jami al-Azahar). He obtained the al-Azahar Certificate. The holder of such a certificate was then an approved religious scholar.
In 1895, he returned to Sudan via Suakin. After a brief stay there he moved to Kasala and then to Hillat Hamad suburb in Khartoum North, 1900.
According to Forawi, Sayyed Ali al-Mirghani was a very intelligent person and that qualified him to become the head of the Khatmiyya Sufi sect which his forefathers had founded. Eventually, he attracted many followers who viewed him as a man of good descent and as a holy man. Many people who came in contact with him found him to be very learned, encyclopedic, in fact.
Forawi said that he met with Ahmad al-Sayyed al-Feel at the Graduates Club in Omdurman, who suggested to him to become the administrator of Sout al-Sudan newspaper, mouthpiece of the National Unionist Party, and the Khatmiyya sect. The paper’s Editor-in-Chief at that time was Ismail al-Attabani, who later on founded his own paper Arrai al-Aaam (public opinion). Forawi said this position had brought him in direct contact with al-Mirghani.
“Frankly speaking, al-Mirghani didn’t interfere in our policy regarding the work of the newspaper. He never opposed the cordial relations between the staff of our paper and that of the al-Neel newspaper of the Ansar Sect, notwithstanding the differences between the two religious and political groups” wrote Forawi.
He related that Al- Mirghani used to speak bitterly about the situation in the Sudan and how the Sudanese people were not given their full rights by the Anglo –Egyptian rule, still, he added, Ali al-Mirghani kept good relations with Egypt.
“I remember in 1945, Forawi said, when we were going to Cairo as a publicity delegation for the self- determination of the Sudan, al-Mirghani encouraged us saying: “Go Mohammad, and may Allah grant you success”.
Ali al-Mirghani died in Khartoum North in 1968. Millions attended his funeral.
Sayyed Abdurrahman al-Mahdi:
Often known as “the Father of Sudan‘s Independence”, Sayyed Abdurrahman al-Mahdi was a leader to be remembered at the august independence anniversary.
According to Forawi, Sayyed Abdurrahman al-Mahdi was born in Omdurman in 1885.
Forawi, wrote in his book “Sudanese personalities in Brief”, that al-Mahdi learned the Holly Quran by heart. After Karrari battle, that ended the Mahdiyya state in Sudan and ushered in the British-Egyptian condominium rule, he was confined with his family to al-Shokkaba and Jazirat al-Feel for nine years.
This made him the guardian of his family, though he was under 20 year of age.
He was then allowed to go to Omdurman, to attend the religious lessons of Sheikh Mohamed al-Badawi, where he bought a house near to the Sheikh’s and brought in his family.
In 1908 the Government allowed him to start a farm in al-Jazira Aba. This was the first step of his economic and agricultural enterprises that flourished during the First World War, 1914-1918.
Al-Mahdi was a strong character and a brave man. He didn’t loose a single moment in pursuit of his ambitions for his beloved country, the Sudan.
My first contact with him, Forawi wrote, was in 1924 when he supported the call for Sudan’s independence. He always believed in consultations and dialogue. This was why many of the country’s graduates sided with him.
Al-Mahdi participated in establishing Hadarat al-Sudan newspaper in 1919 and al-Neel newspaper in 1935. In 1945 he established the Umma (nation) party. Also he established al-Mahdi economical foundation in Gamhoria Street, central Khartoum. He dedicated himself to the defense of the independence movements till Sudan gained its independence 1956.
Al-Mahdi was a member of the Sudanese delegation to London to meet Mr. Anthony Eden, the then British Foreign Minister. At that time the Anglo- Egyptian Agreement was abolished and al-Mahdi thought that this move could affect Sudan’s right to self-determination. Also he met Egyptian leaders Mohamed Nageeb and Gamal Abdulnasir in Cairo. He was able to convince the other Sudanese parties to support the document for self-rule of the Sudan. This was in keeping with his famous slogan: “Sudan belongs for the Sudanese people”.
Al-Mahdi died in 1959 and was buried in the Mahdi tomb, alongside his father Mohammad Ahmad al-Mahdi, who liberated Sudan from the Turko-Egyptian rule in 1885.
In conclusion one could say that al-Mahdi was worthy of his title: “the Father of Independence”.
Sayyed Ismail al-Azahari:
“A single man personifying a whole nation”
Ismail al-Azahari was born in Omdurman 1901. He studied in al-Sheikh al-Tahir al-Shibli Elementary School, Omdurman Intermediate School and Gordon Memorial College, 1923 where he graduated as mathematics teachers. He was then sent to the American University in Beirut. He worked in Atbara and Wadi Sayidna Secondary Schools.
In 1945 he resigned as he refused a transfer order to Hantoob Secondary School in the central region. He then devoted himself to the political activity and struggle against colonial rule. He became active in the Graduates Congress in Omdurman and soon became its secretary and chairman from 1944 to 1952.
In 1943 he participated in writing the landmark memorandum that called for self-determination for the Sudan.
During his term as the Graduates Congress chairman, the Congress boycotted and resisted the Consultative Council for Northern Sudan which was created by the then colonial administration. Later on he was elected the head of al- Ashigga (Brothers) Party, one of several parties that called for unity with Egypt, away from Britain.
In 1946 he was the head of the delegation of the Sudanese parties that traveled to Egypt to present Sudan’s political points of view about the future of the country. The Sidgi –Befen talks about Sudan were being held there between Britain and Egypt at that time.
In 1948 he opposed and fought the Legislative Assembly, which was supposed to write a constitution for Sudan. He said the constitution should not be written under colonial rule. He led a big demonstration and was arrested and put behind bars for three months.
In 1952 after the unification of the unionist parties, he was elected the head of the National Unionist Party.
In 1953 his party overran the elections and al-Azahari became the Prime Minister of the first National Government in 1954.
On 19th of Dec. 1955 al-Azahari declared, in a historical session of the parliament, the Sudan unilateral decision claiming independence.
On the First of January 1956 al-Azahari and opposition leader Mohammad Ahmad al-Mahjoub hoisted the independence flag, officially announcing Sudan a sovereign state, a turning point in the country’s history.
In 1958 Al-Azahari was arrested with other leaders of the political parties and sent to Nagshot in South Sudan for their opposition to the military rule of President Ibrahim Abboud. In 1961 they were set free after entering into a hunger strike.
In 1964, following the October Revolution, al-Azahari became the head of the Supreme Council, the State Council. In 1967 he strongly participated in the successful Khartoum Arab Summit under the motto:
“No Peace, No Negotiations and No Surrender to Israel”.
He continued in that post up to May 1969 when the late Jaafar Nimeri took power in a military coup d’etat. He was then arrested and put in Kober Prison. Soon he died there.
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SMJ/ MO
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