Few studies exist which deal with Islamic law in practice, and this is among the first such studies in the English language for Islamic Africa. It is significant that the present study was completed just prior to the extension of Islamic law as the sole governing law in the Sudan in 1983, for it captures many essentials of the Shari’a as it has been applied for decades prior to this important change. Numerous movements for reform and change are discussed in the book, which reflect the contemporary debate in the Sudan over the position of Shari’a in society.
Anthropology of Law in Muslim Sudan analyses the hybridity of law systems and the plurality of legal practices in rural and urban contexts of contemporary Sudan, shedding light on the complex relation between Islam and society. It is the outcome of the international research program ANDROMAQUE (Anthropologie du Droit dans les Mondes Musulmans Africains et Asiatiques), funded by the French ANR (Agence National de la Recherche) between 2011 and 2014. Crossing two disciplinary perspectives, anthropology and law, the present volume contains original fieldwork data on contemporary urban and rural Sudan. Focusing on two major domains, land property and courts, several case studies demonstrate the relevance of an approach based on “legal practices” to underline, first, the plurality and hybridity of law systems and the relative role of the Islamic reference in Sudanese society, and, secondly, the reshaping of legal behaviors and norms after the breaking point of South Sudan's independence in 2011. Contributors are: Zahir M. Abdal-Kareem; Azza A. Abdel Aziz; Musa A. Abdul-Jalil; Munzoul M.A. Assal; Mohamed A. Babiker; Yazid Ben Hounet; Barbara Casciarri; Baudoin Dupret; Philippe Gout; Enrico Ille.
In The Codification of Islamic Criminal Law in the Sudan, Olaf Köndgen offers an in-depth analysis of the Sudan’s Islamized penal codes of 1983 and 1991, their historical, political, and juridical context, their interpretation in the case law of the Supreme Court, and their practical application. He examines issues that arise in sharīʿa criminal law, including homicide, bodily harm, unlawful sexual intercourse (zinā, liwāṭ), rape, unfounded accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse (qadhf), highway robbery (ḥirāba), apostasy (ridda), and alcohol consumption. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, a large number of previously untapped Supreme Court cases, and interviews with judges and politicians, Köndgen convincingly explains the multiple contradictions and often surprising aspects of one of the Arab world’s longest lasting applications of codified sharīʿa criminal law. Olaf Köndgen won the DAVO Dissertation Prize 2014 for his Ph.D. thesis. "This extremely well-documented study represents a milestone for the discussion of Islamic criminal law in the Muslim world as a whole and in the Sudan especially. Olaf Köndgen fills an academic void; his work deserves the greatest recognition, for its extraordinary quality, its thoroughness and systematic approach." Prof. Günter Meyer, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Richard A. Debs analyzes the classical Islamic law of property based on the Shari'ah, traces its historic development in Egypt, and describes its integration as a source of law within the modern format of a civil code. He focuses specifically on Egypt, a country in the Islamic world that drew upon its society's own vigorous legal system as it formed its modern laws. He also touches on issues that are common to all such societies that have adopted, either by choice or by necessity, Western legal systems. Egypt's unique synthesis of Western and traditional elements is the outcome of an effort to respond to national goals and requirements. Its traditional law, the Shari'ah, is the fundamental law of all Islamic societies, and Debs's analysis of Egypt's experience demonstrates how Islamic jurisprudence can be sophisticated, coherent, rational, and effective, developed over centuries to serve the needs of societies that flourished under the rule of law.
After the 1989 Islamist coup in Sudan, the National Islamic Front under General Omar al-Bashir and Dr. Hasan Turabi attempted to institutionalise, codify and implement Shari'a law throughout the country. However, by 2005, with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement ending 22 years of civil war, the government agreed to halt its policy of Islamisation in the South. Shari'a and Islamism in Sudan explores how Sudanese society has been transformed by this period of implementation of Islamic Law, and furthermore asks, what are the continuing effects of this policy? And what are the implications of the Peace Agreement for the future of Islamist politics in Sudan and of the country? With data drawn from Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban's most recent research in the region, this book is a vital and unique examination of the nature of the Sudanese state and society, offering invaluable insight for all those interested in the politics, society, and the future of Sudan and the nature of political Islam.
The Sudanese Mahdī headed a millenarian, revivalist, reformist movement in Islam, strongly inspired by Salafī and Ṣūfī ideas, in late 19th century in an attempt to restore the Caliphate of the Prophet and “Righteous Caliphs” in Medina. As the “Successor of the Prophet”, the Mahdī was conceived of as the political head of the Islamic state and its supreme religious authority. On the basis of his legal opinions, decisions, proclamations and “traditions” attributed to him, an attempt is made to reconstruct his legal methodology consisting of the Qurʾān, sunna, and inspiration (ilhām) derived from the Prophet and God, its origins, and its impact on Islamic legal doctrine, and to assess his “legislation” as an instrument to promote his political, social and moralistic agenda.
Gabriel Warburg contends that efforts in Sudan to enforce an Islamic state and an Islamic constitution on a multi-religious and multi-ethnic society have led to prolonged civil war, endless military coups, and political, social, and economic bankruptcy. He analyzes the history of Sudan's Islamic politics to illuminate current conflicts in the region. The revolt in 1881 was led by a Mahdi who came to renew and purify Islam. It was in effect an uprising against a corrupt Islamic regime, the largely alien Turco-Egyptian ruling elite. The Mahdiyya was therefore an anti-colonial movement, seeking to liberate Sudan from alien rule and to unify the Muslim Umma, and it later evolved into the first expression of Sudanese nationalism and statehood. Post-independence Islamic radicalism, in turn, can be viewed against the background of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (1899-1956). It also thrived as a result of the resurgence of Islam since the mid-1960s, when Nasserism and other popular ideologies were swept aside. Finally, Sudan has emerged as the center of militancy in Sunni Islam since June 1989, when a group of radical Islamic officers, under the guidance of Dr. Hassan al-Turabi and the NIF, assumed power.
For some, the idea of an Islamic state serves to fulfill aspirations for cultural sovereignty and new forms of ethical political practice. For others, it violates the proper domains of both religion and politics. Yet, while there has been much discussion of the idea and ideals of the Islamic state, its possibilities and impossibilities, surprisingly little has been written about how this political formation is lived. For Love of the Prophet looks at the Republic of Sudan's twenty-five-year experiment with Islamic statehood. Focusing not on state institutions, but rather on the daily life that goes on in their shadows, Noah Salomon’s careful ethnography examines the lasting effects of state Islamization on Sudanese society through a study of the individuals and organizations working in its midst. Salomon investigates Sudan at a crucial moment in its history—balanced between unity and partition, secular and religious politics, peace and war—when those who desired an Islamic state were rethinking the political form under which they had lived for nearly a generation. Countering the dominant discourse, Salomon depicts contemporary Islamic politics not as a response to secularism and Westernization but as a node in a much longer conversation within Islamic thought, augmented and reappropriated as state projects of Islamic reform became objects of debate and controversy. Among the first books to delve into the making of the modern Islamic state, For Love of the Prophet reveals both novel political ideals and new articulations of Islam as it is rethought through the lens of the nation.
This book uncovers how colonial administrators, postcolonial governments and international aid agencies have promoted stability and their own visions of the rule of law in Sudan.
