Islamization of the Sudan region facts for kids

The geographic division between the majority religions of Islam and Christianity in Africa today

The western Sahel kingdoms in the 17th century

The central and eastern Sahel kingdoms in the 18th century

The Islamization of the Sudan region (also known as the Sahel) describes a long period when the religion of Islam spread across this part of Africa. This happened through wars and trade, mainly from the 8th to the 16th centuries.

After Arab Muslims took over Egypt in the 7th century and North Africa in the 8th century, they started trading trips into Sub-Saharan Africa. They first went to Nubia, and then across the Sahara Desert into West Africa. A big reason for this contact was the trans-Saharan trade, especially the trade in enslaved people.

The spread of Islam was a slow process. The Christian kingdoms of Nubia were the first to meet Arab groups in the 7th century. These kingdoms lasted through the Middle Ages until the Kingdom of Makuria and Old Dongola fell in the early 14th century. Sufi orders (groups of Muslim mystics) helped spread Islam from the 9th to 14th centuries. They traveled along trade routes between North Africa and the Mali Empire. They also set up religious centers called zawiyas along the River Niger.

The Mali Empire saw many people convert to Islam after its ruler, Musa I of Mali, made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. After this, Timbuktu became a very important Islamic cultural center in the Sahara. Alodia, the last Christian kingdom in Nubia, was destroyed by the Funj Sultanate in 1504. In the 19th century, the Sanusi order worked hard to spread Islam and reading skills as far south as Lake Chad.

Today, much of the Sudan region is Muslim. This includes the Republic of Sudan (after South Sudan became a separate country), northern parts of Chad and Niger, and most of Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal. Sadly, the issue of slavery is still a problem in some of these countries. There are often big differences between Arabized people in the north and dark-skinned Africans in the south. This has led to conflicts, like the War in Darfur and the Northern Mali conflict.

The Arabs and Nubia

Contacts between Nubians and Arabs happened long before Islam arrived. But the spread of Arab culture in the Nile Valley took almost a thousand years. Arab nomads often moved into the region looking for new places for their animals to graze. Arab sailors and merchants traded at Red Sea ports for spices and enslaved people. Marriages between groups and people adopting each other's ways also helped spread Arab culture.

After early attempts at military conquest failed, the Arab commander in Egypt, Abd Allah ibn Saad, made a series of treaties with the Nubians. These treaties, known as the Baqt, guided relations between the two peoples for over 600 years. Relations were mostly peaceful when Egypt was under Arab rule. Tensions grew when the Mamluks ruled Egypt.

The Arabs saw the benefits of peaceful trade with Nubia. The Baqt treaty helped ensure that travel and trade could happen freely across the border. The Baqt also included security agreements. Both sides agreed not to help each other if a third group attacked them. The treaty also required both sides to exchange gifts each year as a sign of goodwill. The Nubians sent enslaved people, and the Arabs sent grain. This was just a small part of the large trade that grew between them. They traded enslaved people, grain, horses, and manufactured goods from the Arabs. The Nubians sent ivory, gold, gems, gum arabic, and cattle back to Egypt or Arabia.

Accepting the Baqt did not mean Nubia was giving up its independence to the Arabs. However, the treaty did create conditions that allowed Arabs to gain a special position in Nubia. Arab merchants set up markets in Nubian towns to make it easier to trade grain and enslaved people. Arab engineers oversaw mines east of the Nile, where they used slave labor to get gold and emeralds. Muslim pilgrims traveling to Mecca crossed the Red Sea from ports like Aydhab and Suakin. These ports also received goods from India that were going to Egypt.

Family histories often trace the mixed population of the Nile Valley to Arab tribes who moved into the region during this time. Even groups who do not speak Arabic claim to be descended from Arab ancestors. The two most important Arabic-speaking groups in Nubia were the Ja'alin and the Juhaynah. The Ja'alin claimed to be from the Quraysh, the Prophet Muhammad's tribe. Historically, the Ja'alin were involved in the slave trade. The nomadic Juhayna were a family of tribes, including the Kababish, Baqqara, and Shukriya. They came from Arabs who moved after the 13th century into an area stretching from the savanna west of the Nile to the foothills east of the Blue Nile. Both groups formed tribal chiefdoms that replaced the Christian Nubian kingdoms. They often fought with each other and with non-Arab neighbors. In some cases, like with the Beja, the local people absorbed Arab migrants who settled among them. Beja ruling families later claimed Arab ancestry to show their right to rule.

Even though not all Muslims in the region spoke Arabic, accepting Islam helped the Arabization process. There was no official policy to force people to convert. Islam spread slowly over a long time through marriages and contact with Arab merchants and settlers.

The Funj Sultanate

At the same time that the Ottoman Empire gained control of northern Nubia, a new power called the Funj rose in southern Nubia. They replaced the last parts of the old Christian Kingdom of Alodia. In 1504, a Funj leader named Amara Dunqas founded the Kingdom of Sennar. This Sultanate became the main power of the Funj Empire. By the mid-16th century, Sennar controlled a large area and had the loyalty of smaller states and tribal regions. These areas stretched as far north as the third cataract of the Nile and as far south as the rainforests.

The Funj state was a loose group of sultanates and tribal chiefs. They were all under the rule of Sennar's mek (sultan). As the main ruler, the mek received tribute, collected taxes, and asked his vassals to provide soldiers during wars. In return, the smaller states relied on the mek to solve local problems and disputes. The Funj brought stability to the region. They created a military barrier between the Arabs in the north, the Abyssinians in the east, and the non-Muslim black people in the south.

A simple village mosque in Upper Nubia, mid-19th century

The sultanate's economy relied on the Funj's role in the slave trade. Farming and herding also did well in Al Jazirah and the southern rainforests. Sennar divided tributary areas into tribal homelands, each called a dar. The mek gave the local people the right to use the farmland. The different groups living in each dar eventually saw themselves as parts of tribes. Moving from one dar to another meant changing tribal identity. (Tribal differences in modern Sudan can be traced back to this time.) The mek appointed a chief (nazir) to govern each dar. Nawazir managed their durs according to local laws, paid tribute to the mek, and collected taxes. The mek also earned money from special lands set aside for his use in each dar.

At its strongest in the mid-17th century, Sennar pushed back the Nilotic Shilluk people who were moving north along the White Nile. Sennar forced many of them to accept Funj rule. After this victory, the mek Badi II Abu Duqn (1642–81) tried to make the Funj government more centralized. To do this, Badi created a standing army of enslaved soldiers. This army would free Sennar from relying on other sultans for military help. It would also give the mek the power to enforce his decisions. This move angered the Funj warrior nobles, who removed the ruling mek and put one of their own on the throne of Sennar in 1718.

The mid-18th century saw another short period of expansion. The Funj stopped an Abyssinian invasion, defeated the Fur, and took control of much of Kurdufan. But the civil war and the need to defend the sultanate had stretched the warrior society's resources too thin and weakened its power.

Another reason for Sennar's decline might have been the growing influence of its hereditary viziers (chancellors). These were chiefs from a non-Funj tribe who managed court affairs. In 1761, the vizier Muhammad Abu al Kaylak, who had led the Funj army in wars, carried out a coup (a sudden takeover of power). He made the sultan a mere figurehead. Sennar's control over its smaller states weakened. By the early 19th century, more distant areas no longer recognized the mek's authority.

The Fur Sultanate

Darfur was the homeland of the Fur people. Known as skilled horsemen, Fur clans often allied with or fought against their relatives, the Kanuri of Borno (in modern Nigeria). After a period of disorder in the 16th century, during which the region was briefly under the Bornu Empire, the leader of the Keira clan, Sulayman Solong (1596–1637), became Darfur's first sultan. Sulayman Solong declared Islam to be the sultanate's official religion. However, large numbers of people did not convert until the rule of Ahmad Bakr (1682–1722). He brought in teachers, built mosques, and encouraged his people to become Muslims. In the 18th century, several sultans strengthened the dynasty's control over Darfur. They established a capital at Al-Fashir and fought the Funj for control of Kurdufan.

The sultans controlled the slave trade as a monopoly. They collected taxes from traders and export duties on enslaved people sent to Egypt. They also took a share of the enslaved people brought into Darfur. Some enslaved people in households rose to important positions in the sultans' courts. The power these enslaved people gained caused a strong reaction among the traditional Fur officials in the late 18th century. This rivalry between the enslaved and traditional elites led to ongoing unrest throughout the next century.

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