Sufi ritual being performed in Sudan. Listing of Muslims by country Important note Population counts by religious affiliation like most demographic characteristics of a Population The precise number of Muslims in Africa is unknown as statistics regarding religious demography in Africa are incomplete Islam, the religion of almost all of the Algerian people pervades most aspects of life Islam in Angola is a minority religion with 80000-90000 adherents composed largely of migrants from West Africa and families of Lebanese origin According to the 2002 census 271 percent of the population of Benin is Roman Catholic, 24 Islam in Botswana comprises only 2-3 percent of the population Islam in Burkina Faso ( Upper Volta) has a long and varied history Muslims in Burundi are officially around 1% of the total population though Muslim Burundians estimate the figure to be closer to 8-10% Muslims comprise roughly 22 percent of Cameroon 's 18 million inhabitants According to the US State Department International Religious Freedom Report 2006 there is a small Muslim community in Cape Verde Islam accounts for approximately 22% of the population of the Central African Republic, making it the second most followed organized religion in the country The earliest Islamic presence in Chad can be traced back to the legendary Uqba ibn Nafi, whose descendants can be found settled in the Lake Chad region to this day According to the 2006 estimate by the US Department of State, roughly 98% of the population in the Comoros are Muslim. Islam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not a recent phenomenon as it has been present within the area since the 18th century when Arab traders from Islam spread to the Republic of the Congo from North Africa in the mid-19th century According to the CIA factbook, Muslims make up about 35-40% of the population of Côte d'Ivoire. Islam in Djibouti has a long history first appearing in East Africa during the lifetime of Muhammad. The republic of Egypt has recognized Islam as the State religion since 1980 According to the US State Department International Religious Freedom Report 2006 practicioners of Islam comprised less than 1 percent of the population of Equatorial Although reliable statistics are not available it is estimated that 50 percent of the population of Eritrea is Sunni Muslim and 49 percent is Christian. According to the latest 1994 national census Islam is the second most widely practiced religion in Ethiopia after Christianity, with approximately one third (32 Approximately 12% of the population of Gabon practice Islam (of which 80 to 90 percent are foreigners Islam is the majority religion of The Gambia, with around 90% of the population being Muslims The spread of Islam into West Africa, beginning with ancient Ghana in the ninth century was mainly the result of the commercial activities of North African 2005 official statistics for Islam in Guinea estimate that 85% of Guinea 's 7 Islam is the predominate religion of Guinea-Bissau, numbering an estimated 38-45% of the roughly 1 Islam is the religion of approximately 10% of the Kenyan population or approximately 3 According to Adherents the Muslim population of Lesotho in 2000 was 1000 or 0 Islam in Liberia is practiced by 10% of the population The vast majority of Liberian Muslims are Sunni, with only a few Shi'ites, mostly of Lebanese origin Most Libyans adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam, which provides both a spiritual guide for individuals and a keystone for government policy Islam has been well-established in what is now known as Madagascar for centuries and today Muslims represent 7% of the population or approximately 1 Islam is the second largest religion in Malawi after Christianity; nearly all of Malawi's Muslims adhere to Sunni Islam. Muslims currently make up approximately 90 percent of the population of Mali, the largest country in West Africa. Virtually all Mauritanians are Sunni Muslims. They adhere to the Maliki Madhab, one of the four Sunni schools of law The 1968 constitution of Mauritius recognized four religious categories Hindus, Muslims Sino-Mauritians and the general population Islam is the largest religion in Morocco, with roughly 987% of the population adhering to it Islam in Mozambique is the religion of approximately four million Mozambicans or about 17 Islam is the third largest religion in Namibia after Christianity and indigenous beliefs 90% of the Nigerien population—approximately 113 million people—are followers of Islam', with a majority of those being linked to the Tijaniya Fifty percent of the population of Nigeria adheres to Islam. Islam came to Northern Nigeria as early as the ninth century and was Islam was first introduced into Rwanda by Muslim traders from the East Coast of Africa in the 18th century São Tomé and Príncipe, with a total population of about 181000 has about 5500 Muslim inhabitants about 3 percent of the population Islam is the predominant religion in Senegal. Ninety-four percent of the country's population is estimated to be Muslim Islam in the Indian Ocean was established by Muslim Sea Merchants well before the European discovery of Seychelles. Statistics for Islam in Sierra Leone estimate a Muslim population of 3610585 representing around 60 percent of the country's total population Nearly all Somalis are Sunni Muslims Practicing Islam reinforces distinctions that further set Somalis apart from their immediate African neighbors many of whom are either Christians Islam in South Africa predates the colonial period and consisted of isolated contact with Arab and East African traders The population of Swaziland is approximately 35 percent Protestant, 30 percent African Zionist, 25 percent Catholic, and 1 percent Muslim. Islam is as of 2007 the largest religion (or may be the second after Christianity) in Tanzania with 35% of the population of the mainland ( Tanganyika) Muslims in Togo represent between 137 and 55% of the national population Islam is the official state religion in Tunisia Approximately 98 percent of the population of Tunisia is nominally Muslim. According to the National Census 2002 Islam is practiced by 12 According to the CIA World Factbook, Muslims make up nearly 100% of the population of the Western Sahara. The arrival of Islam in Zambia dates to the fourth Hijri century when Muslims established emirates on the coast of East Africa. Estimates on the number Muslims in Zimbabwe vary from as low as 120000 to as many as 1 Islam began in Asia in the 7th century during the life of Muhammad. Approximately 99 percent of Afghans are Muslims and out of them eighty percent are Sunni of the Hanafi School the rest are Shi'a, the majority of Islam in Armenia has generally been avoided throughout the centuries See also Religion in Azerbaijan Approximately 934 to 96 percent of the population of Azerbaijan is nominally Muslim. Islam is the state religion in Bahrain where the citizens are all Muslims with the majority of the population practicing Shia Islam. Islam is the largest religion of Bangladesh, the Muslim population is over 130 million (the fourth-largest muslim population in the world after According to adherentscom Muslims constitute over 5% of the population However the CIA factbook claims that Muslims are less than 1% in Bhutan Islam is Brunei 's official religion 64 percent of the population is Muslim, mostly Sunnis of Malay origin who follow the Shafi school Islam is a Minority religion in primarily Buddhist country of Burma, practiced by approximately 4% of the population Islam is the religion of a majority of the Cham (also called Khmer Islam) and Malay minorities in Cambodia. Islam in China has a rich heritage China has some of the oldest Muslim history dating back to as early as 650 when the uncle of Islam is practiced in Hong Kong by somewhere between 20000 and 100000 Muslims. Adherentscom states that the number of Muslims in Macau is 100 Islam in Cyprus was introduced when Uthman the 3rd Caliph conquered Cyprus in 649. Islam is a minority religion in East Timor. The US State Department and the CIA World Factbook estimate that Muslims make up 1% of the population although some organizations Islam in Georgia was introduced in 645 AD when an army sent by the Second Caliph of Islam Umar, conquered Eastern Georgia Islam in India is the second-most practiced religion after Hinduism. Islam is Indonesia's dominant Religion with approximately 88% over 200 million of its population identifying as Muslims, making it the most The Islamic conquest of Persia (637-651 led to the end of the Sassanid Empire and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia. The history of Islam in Iraq goes back several centuries to the lifetime of Muhammad (d Islam in Israel and Palestinian territories includes the Muslims of Israel, where they constitute 16% of the population those who comprise 75% of the population of The history of Islam in Japan is relatively brief in relation to the Religion 's longstanding presence in other countries around the world More than 90 percent of population in Jordan adhered to Sunni Islam in the late 1980s Islam is the largest religion practiced in Kazakhstan. Ethnic Kazakhs are historically Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. In South Korea, the Muslim population has been steadily increasing since the introduction of the Islamic faith shortly after the Korean War. In South Korea, the Muslim population has been steadily increasing since the introduction of the Islamic faith shortly after the Korean War. In South Korea, the Muslim population has been steadily increasing since the introduction of the Islamic faith shortly after the Korean War. Islam is the main religion of the citizens of Kuwait Sunni Islam is dominant in Kuwait with 60% of the total population The vast majority of today's Kyrgyz are Muslims of the Sunni branch which came into the region during the 8th century Muslims are a small minority in this Buddhist majority country Islam in Lebanon is divided between four Muslim sects Shiites Sunnis, Alawites and Ismailis including the Druze. Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, and the Government actively promotes the spread of Islam in the country and its friendship with other Muslim countries Islam is the state religion of Maldives, and adherence to it is legally required of citizens by a revision of the constitution in 2008 Article 9 Section D states that Islam in Mongolia is mainly practised by the Kazakhs of Bayan-Ölgii (88 Islam is a minority religion in NepalAccording to a 2006 Nepalese census 4 The majority of Omanis are Ibadhi Muslims, followers of Abd Allah ibn Ibad Islam is the official religion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This article is concerned with the religion of Islam in the Philippines Qatar is a Muslim-majority country with Islam as the state religion Islam is currently the second most widely professed religion in the Russian Federation The vast majority of Saudis are Sunni Muslims. Around 10% of citizens are Shia Muslims, most of whom live in the Eastern Province, with the largest concentrations Sunni Islam is the religion of about 15% of Singapore 's population mainly the sizeable Malay minority who constitute about 13 Islam in Sri Lanka is practised by a group of minorities who make up approximately 10% of the population Islam in Syria is composed of a Sunni majority and four minority sects Twelver Shiites, and also Druze (which is not an Islamic sect Alawi Islam in Taiwan is a slowly growing religion (about 03% of the population it could be higher if included nominally Muslims from Indonesia with an estimated 100 converts annually Islam in Tajikistan. Demographics and early history Islam, the predominant religion of all of Central Asia, was brought Islam is most popular in southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia, where the vast majority of the country's Muslims predominantly Malay The region comprising modern Turkey has a long and rich Islamic tradition stretching back to the dawn of the Seljuk period and Ottoman Empire. Traditionally the Turkmen of Turkmenistan, like their kin in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, are Sunni Muslims. More than 80% of the population of the UAE are non-citizens Virtually all of the country's citizens are Muslims approximately 85% are Sunni and the remaining 15% are Islam is by far the dominant Religion in Uzbekistan. In the early 1990s many of the Russians remaining in the Republic (about 8% of the Islam in Vietnam is primarily the religion of the Cham people, a minority ethnic group related to Malays; however roughly one-third of the Muslims in Islam was introduced into the region by Ali ibn Abu Talib in about 630 when Prophet Muhammad was still alive This article deals with the history and the evolution of the Islamic religion in Europe. During the Ottoman occupation according to Ottoman data the majority of Albanians were of Muslim affiliation ( Sunni and Bektashi) According to the US Religious Freedom Report of 2006 there are about 2000 North Africans currently living in Andorra and they are the largest Muslim group in the country Islam in Armenia has generally been avoided throughout the centuries Islam is a Minority religion in Austria with 422 % of the population in the 2001 census See also Religion in Azerbaijan Approximately 934 to 96 percent of the population of Azerbaijan is nominally Muslim. Islam in Belarus was introduced by Lipka Tatars in the 14th -16th centuries and now also includes Muslim immigrants Islam in Belgium is relatively new and is mostly practised in the Belgian immigrant communities The modern Bosniaks, often referred to as Bosnian Muslims, descend from Slavic converts to Islam in the 15th and 16th centuries that lived in the medieval Bosnian Kingdom The Muslim population of Bulgaria, including Turks, Muslim Bulgarians, Pomaks, Roma, and Crimean Islam in Croatia was introduced by the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Islam in Cyprus was introduced when Uthman the 3rd Caliph conquered Cyprus in 649. Islam in the Czech Republic History First documented visit of a person with knowledge of Islam was made (964-965 by Íbrahím Population Approximately 2-3% of the population of Denmark are Muslims Islam is the largest minority religion in Denmark In the most recent Census, performed in the year 2000 the number of people who reported themselves to be Muslims was 1387 Islam was introduced to Finland by Baltic Tatars at the end of the 19th century Statistics Estimates of the number of Muslims in France vary widely Islam in Georgia was introduced in 645 AD when an army sent by the Second Caliph of Islam Umar, conquered Eastern Georgia Owing to work migration of the 1960s and several waves of political refugees since the 1970s Islam became a visible religion in Germany. Islam in Greece is represented by a number of autochthonous and immigrant communities Islam in Hungary has a long history that dates back to at least the twelfth century predating the Ottoman Empire. The Nordic country Iceland is estimated to have between 800 and 1000 members by the Association of Muslims in Iceland The documented history of Islam in Ireland dates to the 1950s The history of Islam in Italy dates back to the 7th and 8th centuries when some of the Lombards, a Germanic people that ruled parts of northern Italy converted from Islam is the largest religion practiced in Kazakhstan. Ethnic Kazakhs are historically Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. The presence of Muslims in Latvia was first recorded in the early 1800s According to the US Department of State, there are 1384 Muslims living in Liechtenstein, which is about 4% of the general population In Lithuania, unlike many other northern and western European countries Islam came long ago Muslims in Luxembourg are a minority together with Protestants, Orthodox Christians, and Jews. Muslims in the Republic of Macedonia form 33% of the Republic of Macedonia's total population With Roman Catholics estimated at 95-98% of the population the Maltese Muslim community is considered to be very small According to the US Department of State, there is a small community of Muslims in Moldova, numbering a few thousand Many wealthy Arab and Iranian Muslims reside in Monaco as non-citizens Islam in Montenegro is the largest minority religion Montenegro's 110000 Muslims make up 17 History Treaty with Morocco In the early 1600s a delegation from the Dutch Republic visited Morocco to discuss a common alliance against Spain Islam is the largest minority religion in Norway with over 2% of the population The first noticeable presence of Islam in Poland began in the 14th century According to the Instituto Nacional de Estatística (the National Statistical Institute of Portugal) there were according to the 1991 Census Islam in Romania is followed by only 03 percent of population but has 700 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part Islam is currently the second most widely professed religion in the Russian Federation Muslims in San Marino are a minority as over 95 percent of the population is Roman Catholic The arrival of Islam in Scotland is relatively recent The bulk of Muslims in Scotland come from families who immigrated during the late 20th century The Muslims in Serbia are mostly ethnic Bosniaks and Albanians, but also members of the smaller ethnic groups like Muslims by nationality, Ashkali The number of Muslims in Slovakia according to the 2001 census is negligible (according to ?? there are 5000 Muslims in Slovakia - less than 0 The Muslims in Slovenia are ethnically Bosnians and Albanians. Islam in Spain has had a fundamental presence in the culture and history of the nation Sweden has today almost exclusively due to Immigration, a significant Muslim population According to the Confederate Census of 2001 a total number of 310807 Muslims were living in Switzerland which made up 4 The region comprising modern Turkey has a long and rich Islamic tradition stretching back to the dawn of the Seljuk period and Ottoman Empire. The majority of Muslims in Ukraine are of Crimean Tatars in ethnicity and live in the Crimean Peninsula. Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom with a total of 1591000 (or 2 Islam in Argentina is represented by one of Latin America's largest Muslim minorities Statistics for Islam in Bolivia estimate a Muslim population of around a thousand representing 0 Islam in Brazil was first practiced by African slaves. The early Brazilian Muslims led the largest slave revolt in Brazil which then had the largest slave population The statistics for Islam in Chile estimate a total Muslim population of 3196 representing 0 The statistics for Islam in Colombia estimate a total Muslim population of 10000 representing 0 The statistics for Islam in Ecuador estimate a total Muslim population of 275 representing 0 About 7 percent of Guyana 's population is Muslim, representing 76528 individuals Islam in Panama has a long and unique history Official data estimates 0 The latest statistics for Islam in Paraguay estimate a total Muslim population of 507 representing 0 The statistics for Islam in Peru estimate a total Muslim population of 1000 representing 0 According to various sources the Muslim population of Suriname represents about 20 percent of the country's total and therefore the nation has the highest percentage of Muslims Muslims constitute 6 percent of the population on Trinidad and Tobago, representing 65318 individuals The statistics for Islam in Uruguay estimate a total Muslim population of 300 to 400 representing 0 There are approximately 100000 Muslims in Venezuela, 04 percent of the nation's population The statistics for Islam in Antigua and Barbuda estimate a total Muslim population of about 200 representing 0 Statistics for Islam in Barbados estimate a Muslim population of 500 representing 0 The statistics for Islam in Belize estimate a total Muslim population of 2794 representing 1 percent of the total population According to Canada's 2001 census, there were 579640 Muslims in Canada, just under 2% of the population The statistics for Islam in Costa Rica is 4000 There are a number of Islamic organizations in San José including the Centro Islámico (Masjid Omar de Costa The latest statistics for Islam in Cuba claim a population of under a thousand Muslims representing 0 Statistics for Islam in Dominica are not readily available According to the International Religious Freedom Report in 2005 followers of minority religions and denominations which range Statistics for Islam in the Dominican Republic estimate that 0 There is a small Islamic community in El Salvador,they are people mostly coming from the Arab World and Turkey. There are over 200 Muslims in Grenada. They make up 030% of the population The Muslim population of Guatemala is approximately 1200 Of this population 95% are Palestinian Arab immigrants The estimated population of Haitian Muslims is about 3250 representing approximately 0 The statistics for Islam in Honduras estimate a total Muslim population of 2790 representing 0 The statistics for Islam in Jamaica estimate a total Muslim population of 5000 representing 0 While some have claimed that official data estimates that there are 318608 Muslims in Mexico, representing 0 Statistics for Islam in Nicaragua are not readily available but according to Fahmi Hassan President of the Asociación Cultural Nicaragüense-Islámica the Muslim population Islam in Panama has a long and unique history Official data estimates 0 According to the United States Department of State, Islam is a minority religion in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with some Muslims living in the island nation Muslims constitute 6 percent of the population on Trinidad and Tobago, representing 65318 individuals The history of Islam in the United States starts in the early 16th century, with Estevánico of Azamor being the first Muslim to enter the historical record Islam in Oceania refers to Islam and Muslims in Oceania. Some countries in Oceania notably Australia have Islam as their third largest Religion For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Islam is the fourth largest religious grouping in Australia after Christianity, ' No Religion ' and Buddhism. The CIA World Factbook estimates that 7% of the population of Christmas Island is Muslim The CIA World Factbook estimates that roughtly 80 percent of the 629 inhabitants on the Cocos (Keeling Islands are Sunni Muslims. Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) means "islands of the black-skinned people" Islam is a minority religion in East Timor. The US State Department and the CIA World Factbook estimate that Muslims make up 1% of the population although some organizations The Muslims of Fiji comprise around 7% of the population (62 534 Islam in New Caledonia arrived more than a 100 years ago The first Muslims in New Caledonia were the Arabs who were brought there by the French Islam in Papua New Guinea is a minority religion the US department of state estimates that there are about 2000 muslims in the country The United States Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report states that according to the most recent reports there are approximately 350 Muslims in the Solomon Islam in Vanuatu is practised by about 200 members of the small island nation of Vanuatu in Oceania. Micronesia, from the Greek mikros (μικρός (meaning small) and nesos (νῆσος (meaning island) is a Subregion Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a Subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over Islam in New Zealand has grown with inward immigration to that country Islam in Tonga consists of about 100 people in a population of about 102000
Sudan is a religiously mixed country, although Muslims have dominated national government institutions since independence in 1956. Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Statistics indicate that the Muslim population is approximately 75%, including numerous Arab and non-Arab groups; Christians at approximately 10%; and traditionalists at 15%. Muslims predominate in the north, but there are sizable Christian communities in northern cities, principally in areas where there are large numbers of internally displaced persons. It is estimated that over the last forty years, more than 4 million southerners have fled to the north to escape the war. Most citizens in the south adhere to either Christianity or traditional indigenous religions (animists); however, there are some Muslim adherents as well, particularly along the historical dividing line between Arabs and Nilotic ethnic groups.
The Muslim population is almost entirely Sunni but is divided into many different groups. Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h (Arabic The most significant divisions occur along the lines of the Sufi brotherhoods. Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفیگری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف Two popular brotherhoods, the Ansar and the Khatmia, are associated with the opposition Umma and Democratic Unionist Parties respectively.
The country's religious divergence is aggravated by the perception among southerners and non-Arab Muslims that they are second-class citizens. Northern Arab Muslims have dominated political and economic structures since independence in 1956. Southerners began an armed struggle to protest religious, political, and economic discrimination even before independence. The southern ethnic groups fighting the civil war seek some form of regional self-determination; the south will vote on unity or independence in a referendum in 6 years after a comprehensive peace agreement is implemented, following a pre-transition period of six months.
Shari'a law and its application to non-Muslims in the capital was a contentious issue during the negotiations, but it and the other major issues underlying the north/south conflict have been largely resolved in the agreements. Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. Shari'a generally is to continue to be the basis of the national legal system as it applies in the north; national legislation applicable to the south is to be based on "popular consensus, the values, and the customs of the people. " In states or regions where a majority hold different religious or customary beliefs than those on which the legal system is based, the national laws may be amended to accord better with such beliefs. Throughout the country, the application of Shari'a to non-Muslims is to be limited, and courts may not exercise their discretion to impose the harsher physical forms of Shari'a penalties on non-Muslims.
Ethnicity of the Muslim population in Sudan
Arabs
In the early 1990s, the largest single category among the Muslim peoples of Sudan consisted of those speaking some form of Arabic. The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999 Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Excluded were a small number of Arabic speakers originating in Egypt and professing Coptic Christianity. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. History of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria Apostolic foundation Egypt is identified in the Bible as the place of refuge that the In 1983 the people identified as Arabs constituted nearly 40% of the total Sudanese population and nearly 55% of the population of the northern provinces. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) In some of these provinces (Al Khartum, Ash Shamali, Al Awsat), they were overwhelmingly dominant. Khartoum ( الخرطوم al-Kharṭūm) is the Capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State. In others (Kurdufan, Darfur), they were less so but made up a majority. Kurdufan (sometimes Kordofan) is a former province of central Sudan. Darfur (دار فور daar foor, lit "realm of the Fur " is a region in Sudan. By 1990 Ash Sharqi State was probably largely Arab. It should be emphasized, however, that the acquisition of Arabic as a second language did not necessarily lead to the assumption of Arab identity.
Despite common language, religion, and self-identification, Arabs did not constitute a cohesive group. They were highly differentiated in their modes of livelihood and ways of life. Besides the major distinction dividing Arabs into sedentary and nomadic, there was an old tradition that assigned them to tribes, each said to have a common ancestor.
The two largest of the supratribal categories in the early 1990s were the Juhayna and the Jaali (or Jaalayin). The Juhayna category consisted of tribes considered nomadic, although many had become fully settled. The Jaali encompassed the riverine, sedentary peoples from Dunqulah to just north of Khartoum and members of this group who had moved elsewhere. Some of its groups had become sedentary only in the twentieth century. Sudanese saw the Jaali as primarily indigenous peoples who were gradually arabized. Sudanese thought the Juhayna were less mixed, although some Juhayna groups had become more diverse by absorbing indigenous peoples. The Baqqara, for example, who moved south and west and encountered the Negroid peoples of those areas were scarcely to be distinguished from them.
A third supratribal division of some importance was the Kawahla, consisting of thirteen tribes of varying size. Of these, eight tribes and segments of the other five were found north and west of Khartoum. There people were more heavily dependent on pastoralism than were the segments of the other five tribes, who lived on either side of the White Nile from south of Khartoum to north of Kosti. This cluster of five groups (for practical purposes independent tribes) exhibited a considerable degree of self-awareness and cohesion in some circumstances, although that had not precluded intertribal competition for local power and status.
Tomb of al-Mahdi in Omdurman, Sudan
The ashraf, who claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad, were found in small groups (lineages) scattered among other Arabs. IMPORTANT PLEASE READ ##### For all questions relating to the addition of (pbuh peace be upon him or other honorifics Most of these lineages had been founded by religious teachers or their descendants. A very small group of descendants of the Funj Dynasty also claimed descent from the Umayyads, an early dynasty of caliphs based in present-day Syria. That claim had little foundation, but it served to separate from other Arabs a small group living on or between the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The term ashraf was also applied in Sudan to the family of Muhammad Ahmad ibn as Sayyid Abd Allah, known as the Mahdi (1848–85).
The division into Jaali and Juhayna did not appear to have significant effect on the ways in which individuals and groups regarded each other. Conflicts between tribes generally arose from competition for good grazing land, or from the competing demands of nomadic and sedentary tribes on the environment. Among nomadic and recently sedentary Arabs, tribes and subtribes competed for local power.
Membership in tribal and subtribal units is generally by birth, but individuals and groups may also join these units by adoption, clientship, or a decision to live and behave in a certain way. For example, when a sedentary Fur becomes a cattle nomad, he is perceived as a Baqqara. Eventually the descendants of such newcomers are regarded as belonging to the group by birth.
Tribal and subtribal units divide the Arab ethnic category vertically, but other distinctions cut across Arab society and its tribal and subtribal components horizontally by differences of social status and power. Still another division is that of religious associations.
Nubians
In the early 1990s, the Nubians were the second most significant Muslim group in Sudan, their homeland being the Nile River valley in far northern Sudan and southern Egypt. The Nubians (Arabic نوبي Nuubi are an ethnic group originally from northern Sudan, now inhabiting East Africa and some parts of Northeast Africa in southern Egypt The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River Other, much smaller groups speaking a related language and claiming a link with the Nile Nubians have been given local names, such as the Birqid and the Meidab in Darfur State. Almost all Nile Nubians speak Arabic as a second language; some near Dunqulah have been largely arabized and are referred to as Dunqulah.
In the mid-1960s, in anticipation of the flooding of their lands after the construction of the Aswan High Dam, 35,000 to 50,000 Nile Nubians resettled at Khashm al Qirbah on the Atbarah River in what was then Kassala Province. It is not clear how many Nubians remained in the Nile Valley. Even before the resettlement, many had left the valley for varying lengths of time to work in the towns, although most sought to maintain a link with their traditional homeland. In the 1955-56 census, more Nile Nubians were counted in Al Khartum Province than in the Nubian country to the north. A similar pattern of work in the towns was apparently followed by those resettled at Khashm al Qirbah. Many Nubians there retained their tenancies, having kin oversee the land and hiring non-Nubians to work it. The Nubians, often with their families, worked in Khartoum, the town of Kassala, and Port Sudan in jobs ranging from domestic service and semi-skilled labor to teaching and civil service, which required literacy. Despite their knowledge of Arabic and their devotion to Islam, Nubians retained a considerable self-consciousness and tended to maintain tightly knit communities of their own in the towns.
Beja
The Beja have lived in the Red Sea Hills since ancient times. The Beja (البيجا are an ethnic group dwelling in parts of North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Arab influence was not significant until a millennium or so ago, but it has since led the Beja to adopt Islam and genealogies that link them to Arab ancestors, to arabize their names, and to include many Arabic terms in their language. Although some Arabs figure in the ancestry of the Beja, the group is mostly descended from an indigenous population, and they have not become generally arabized. Their language (Bedawiye) links them to Cushitic-speaking peoples farther south.
In the 1990s, most Beja belonged to one of four groups — the Bisharin, the Amarar, the Hadendowa, and the Bani Amir. The largest group was the Hadendowa, but the Bisharin had the most territory, with settled tribes living on the Atbarah River in the far south of the Beja range and nomads living in the north. A good number of the Hadendowa were also settled and engaged in agriculture, particularly in the coastal region near Tawkar, but many remained nomads. The Amarar, living in the central part of the Beja range, seemed to be largely nomads, as were the second largest group, the Bani Amir, who lived along the border with northern Ethiopia. The precise proportion of nomads in the Beja population in the early 1990s was not known, but it was far greater relatively than the nomadic component of the Arab population. The Beja were characterized as conservative, proud, and aloof even toward other Beja and very reticent in relations with strangers. They were long reluctant to accept the authority of central governments.
Fur
The Fur, ruled until 1916 by an independent sultanate (Darfur) and oriented politically and culturally to peoples in Chad, were a sedentary, cultivating group long settled on and around the Jabal Marrah. The Fur ( fòòrà in Fur, فور in Arabic) are a people of the western Sudan, principally inhabiting the region of Darfur Sultan (سلطان is an Islamic title with several historical meanings Although the ruling dynasty and the peoples of the area had long been Muslims, they have not been arabized. Livestock has played a small part in the subsistence of most Fur. Those who acquired a substantial herd of cattle could maintain it only by living like the neighboring Baqqara Arabs, and those who persisted in this pattern eventually came to be thought of as Baqqara.
Living on the plateau north of the Fur were the seminomadic people calling themselves Beri and known to the Arabs as Zaghawa. The Zaghawa (also spelled Zakhawa) are an African ethnic group or tribe mainly living in eastern Chad and western Sudan, including Large numbers of the group lived in Chad. Chad (Tchad تشاد Tshād) officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a Landlocked country in Central Africa. Herders of cattle, camels, sheep, and goats, the Zaghawa also gained a substantial part of their livelihood by gathering wild grains and other products. Cultivation had become increasingly important but remained risky, and the people reverted to gathering in times of drought. Converted to Islam, the Zaghawa nevertheless retain much of their traditional religious orientation. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation.
Of other peoples living in Darfur in the 1990s who spoke Nilo-Saharan languages and were at least nominally Muslim, the most important were the Masalit, Daju, and Berti. The Masalit ( masara in Masalit; Arabic: ماساليت are a people of Darfur in western Sudan and Wadai in eastern This page is about Daju culture also see Daju (disambiguation. Berti is an Extinct language formerly found in northern Sudan, specifically in the Tagabo Hills, Darfur, and Kurdufan. The Nilo-Saharan languages are a hypothetical group of African languages spoken mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers (hence the term The Masalit ( masara in Masalit; Arabic: ماساليت are a people of Darfur in western Sudan and Wadai in eastern This page is about Daju culture also see Daju (disambiguation. Berti is an Extinct language formerly found in northern Sudan, specifically in the Tagabo Hills, Darfur, and Kurdufan. All were primarily cultivators living in permanent villages, but they practiced animal husbandry in varying degrees. The Masalit, living on the Sudan-Chad border, were the largest group. Historically under a minor sultanate, they were positioned between the two dominant sultanates of the area, Darfur and Wadai (in Chad). Sultan (سلطان is an Islamic title with several historical meanings Darfur (دار فور daar foor, lit "realm of the Fur " is a region in Sudan. The Ouaddai Empire (1635-1912 (Also Wadai Empire) was originally a non- Muslim kingdom located to the east of Lake Chad in present-day Chad. A part of the territory they occupied had been formerly controlled by the Fur, but the Masalit gradually encroached on it in the first half of the twentieth century in a series of local skirmishes carried out by villages on both sides, rather than the sultanates. Fur is a body hair of any non-human Mammal, also known as the Pelage. In 1990-91 much of Darfur was in a state of anarchy, with many villages being attacked. There were many instances in which Masalit militias attacked Fur and other villages.
The Berti consisted of two groups. One lived northeast of Al Fashir; the other had migrated to East Darfur and West Kurdufan provinces in the nineteenth century. Al Fashir or Al-Fashir (الفاشر is the capital city of North Darfur, Sudan. West Kurdufan (غرب كردفان transliterated: Gharb Kurdufan was formerly one of the 26 wilayat or states of Sudan. The two Berti groups did not seem to share a sense of common identity and interest. Members of the western group, in addition to cultivating subsistence crops and practicing animal husbandry, gathered gum arabic for sale in local markets. Gum arabic, a Natural gum also called gum acacia, and chaar gund or char goond (in India is the hardened Sap taken from two species The Berti language had largely given way to Arabic as a home language.
The term Daju was a linguistic designation that was applied to a number of groups scattered from western Kurdufan and southwestern Darfur states to eastern Chad. These groups called themselves by different names and exhibited no sense of common identity.
West Africans
Living in Sudan in 1990 were nearly a million people of West African origin. Together, West Africans who have become Sudanese nationals and resident nonnationals from West Africa made up 6. 5% of the Sudanese population. In the mid-1970s, West Africans had been estimated at more than 10% of the population of the northern provinces. Some were descendants of persons who had arrived five generations or more earlier; others were recent immigrants. Some had come in self-imposed exile, unable to accommodate to the colonial power in their homeland. Others had been pilgrims to Mecca, settling either en route or on their return. Many came over decades in the course of the great dispersion of the nomadic Fulani; others arrived, particularly after World War II, as rural and urban laborers or to take up land as peasant cultivators.
Nearly 60% of people included in the West African category were said to be of Nigerian origin (locally called Borno after the Nigerian emirate that was their homeland). Given Hausa dominance in northern Nigeria and the widespread use of their language there and elsewhere, some non-Hausa might also be called Hausa and describe themselves as such. But the Hausa themselves, particularly those long in Sudan, preferred to be called Takari. The Fulani, even more widely dispersed throughout West Africa, may have originated in states other than Nigeria. Typically, the term applied to the Fulani in Sudan was Fallata, but Sudanese also used that term for other West Africans.
The Fulani nomads were found in many parts of central Sudan from Darfur to the Blue Nile, and they occasionally competed with indigenous populations for pasturage. In Darfur groups of Fulani origin adapted in various ways to the presence of the Baqqara tribes. Some retained all aspects of their culture and language. A few had become much like Baqqara in language and in other respects, although they tended to retain their own breeds of cattle and ways of handling them. Some of the Fulani groups in the eastern states were sedentary, descendants of sedentary Fulani of the ruling group in northern Nigeria.
Religious freedom
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, in practice the Government continues to impose many restrictions on non-Muslims, and those from tribes and sects not affiliated with the ruling party, such as in Darfur and the Nuba Mountains. Although the Government has not interfered with actual worship and does not arrest or detain persons for practicing their religion per se, it treats its form of Islam as the state religion and has declared that Islam must inspire the country's laws, institutions, and policies. The Constitution provides that, "Shari'a and custom are the sources of legislation. "
Religious organizations and churches are subject to the same restrictions that are placed on nonreligious corporations. Religious groups, like all other organizations, are supposed to be registered to be recognized or to assemble legally. However, registration reportedly is no longer necessary; and the churches, including the Catholic Church, have declared they are not nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and declined to register. Registered religious groups are supposed to be exempt from most taxes, but the churches say they are still subject to taxes and import duties. Applications to build mosques generally are granted in practice; however, the process for applications to build churches is more difficult. The Guidance and Endowment Minister has denied building permits to most non-Muslim religious groups, alleging that local restrictions prohibit building places of worship in residential neighborhoods due to considerations of noise, numbers of worshippers, and other factors. The last permit was issued around 1975.
There have been improvements in relations among the various religious communities under the auspices of SIRC and the SCC, which represents 12 church denominations. The SCC acknowledges an increase in the amount of dialogue but does not believe there has been enough improvement in the nature of the dialogue to change religious relations. The SCC continues to express reservations about SIRC's power to create change. In Nairobi and Juba, southerners have created the New Council of Churches.
In December 2003, the Government invited Franklin Graham, an evangelical preacher, to visit the country. Graham received a warm welcome, and the state TV station covered his visit. Government officials have attended church services on Easter and Christmas to show solidarity and address the non-Muslims, but the Government will not allow Christians to enter mosques during Muslim festivals.
The Government, through the Guidance and Endowment Ministry, claims that it practices religious tolerance. However, non-Muslims, as well as those from tribes and sects not affiliated with the ruling party, such as in Darfur and the Nuba Mountains, continued to express concern that they are treated as second-class citizens and discriminated against not only in such religious matters as in the issuance of permits for the building of churches, but also with respect to jobs and other societal relations. They noted that a majority of Christians are from tribes in the south, not affiliated with the ruling party, which Christians claim puts them at a disadvantage. Non-Muslims and a large number of Muslims are outspoken about their unease with the general application of Shari'a law to their communities, especially but not limited to non-Muslims.
See also
References
- This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain. Listing of Muslims by country Important note Population counts by religious affiliation like most demographic characteristics of a Population The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress ( USA) freely available for use by researchers The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
External links
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