THE HISTORY OF THE ISMA11LIYYA TARIQA IN THE SUDAN: 1792-1914 by Mahmoud Abdalla Ibrahim Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, Department of History. March 1980 ProQuest Number: 10731667 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731667 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 m ' * 1 ABSTRACT This study hopes to shed some light on the history of a holy family and a Sufi tarzqa which developed in Kordofan. It traces the origin of the family of Sh, Isma’il al-Wall, follows its progress through the Tufco- Egyptian, the Mahdia and the Condominium periods, and sees its impact on the society of Kordofan in particular, and on Sudanese society in general. The progress of the tarZqa and its structure show that, although it ■borrowed from the Khatmiyya and the Qadiriyya, it developed into a distinct order. The main emphasis here is on the historical and structural development of the order. The sources may be divided into two main categories: oral and written. Although a number of people have been interviewed, we have depended primarily on the written sources. Most of these are manuscripts in the Sudan Government Archives, Khartoum. In addition to these we have made use of other archival materials dealing with other tarTqas and other relevant topics in the Sudan Government Archives, Khartoum and in the Sudan Archives of the University of Durham Library. The work has been divided into five chapters. The first deals with the environment in which Sh. Isma’il, his family and his tavi-qa grew, and explains their geographical, historical and religious background. The second chapter deals with the founder of the family and the tartqa, Sh. Isma'Il, his genealogy, his educational background, his ideas and his writings. The third chapter follows the progress of the Isma’Iliyya during the Mahdia, and deals with their relationship with that movement. It traces some elements of schism which led to the emergence of a branch of the family under the new name of al-Azhari. The fourth chapter deals with the Isma’iliyya after the establishment of the Condominium rule. During this period the Isma’iliyya, both tavtqa and family, were exposed to new political and economic changes and were brought in touch with new social forces and experiences. The chapter deals with the impact of these new conditions on the Isma’iliyya. The fifth chapter is devoted mainly to the distinctive organization and rituals of the tartqa* £ TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ABBREVIATIONS AND SHORT REFERENCES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER I : KORDOFAN IN THE TIME OF SHAIKH ISMA'IL AL-WALl 6 The Geographical Factor IT The Historical Factor 2U The Religious Factor 31 CHAPTER II : THE FOUNDER OF THE TABIQA SHAIKH ISMA'IL AL-WALl 39 CHAPTER III : THE ISMA'ILIIIA AND THE MAHDIA 69 The Nature of the Mahdia 71 The Tribal Attachment 75 Spiritual Attachments and Loyalties 81 The Attitude of Some Important Individuals 85 CHAPTER IV : THE ISMA'ILIIYA AFTER THE RECONQUEST 100 The Government, Islam and the Isma'iliyya 10 6 The Government, Western Sudan and the Isma'iliyya 113 Social and Political Changes and the Isma'iliyya 120 CHAPTER V : ORGANIZATION AND PRACTICE OF THE ISMA'ILIIIA 13k The Developmental Phases 13^ The Structure of the Taviqa 1^7 Practices and Rituals 152 GLOSSARY OF ARABIC AND COLLOQUIAL SUDANESE TERMS 165 APPENDIX A 173 APPENDIX B 175 APPENDIX C 176 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 180 ABBREVIATIONS AND SHORT REFERENCES Adab The Journal of the Faculty of Arts, University of Khartoum AnuAntho American Anthropologist BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies BBS Bulletin of Sudanese Studies El Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1st and 2nd editions G°G. Reports Reports on the Finance, Administration and Conditions of the Sudan GMS Gibbs Memorial Series IRE Intelligence Reports, Egypt MEA Middle Eastern Affairs MW Muslim World NMC Numismatic Chronicle Sud° Govt °Arch° (Khart „) Sudan Government Archives, Khartoum Sud° Govt. Arch. (Durham) Sudan Archives, Oriental Section, University of Durham Library SUDINT Sudan Intelligence Files SIR Sudan Intelligence Reports SNR Sudan Notes and Records Tabaqat Muhammad al-Nur d. Dayf Allah, Kitab al-Tabaqat o fi Kusus al'-awliydt w a rl salihin wafl ulamd’ wa ShuTaraT, ed. Y.F. Hasan, Khartoum, 1971° W.G. Browne^Travels Travels -in Egypt, Syria and Africa, London, 1799° R. Hill, Biog.Dict: Biographical Dictionary of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Oxford, 1951° P.M. Holt i) The Mahdist State = The Mahdist State in the Sudan, 1881-98, ffi&rd 1970° >r 2*szd ii) Modern History - A Modern History of the Sudan, 2nd ed., London, 1963° H 0 MacMichael i) Tribes = The Tribes of Northern and Central Kordofan, Cambridge, 1912. ii) Arabs = A History of the Arabs in the Sudan, 2 volSo, Cambridge, 1922° RoSo O'Fahey and Kingdoms - Kingdoms of the Sudan, Jo Spaulding London, 197^+° Pallme Travels ~ Travels in Kordofan, London, 18UU N . Shuqair Ta trikh - Tarikh al-Sudan al-qadvm wafl hadtth wa jugrafiyatuh, Cairo, 1903. 4 Y, MYkha'ril Memoirs = S.M. Nur, ,TA Critical Edition of the Memoirs of Yusuf Mikhail” 9 unpublished PhD thesis, London, 1963. YoF„ Hasan i) Muqaddima - Muqaddima ft ta rrtkh al-mamdlik al-Islamiyya ft al~Sudan at-Sharqt9 Khartoum, 1971. ii) Arabs - The Arabs and the Sudan, Khartoum, 1973o Syd* Sayyid3 eog0 Syd, al-Makki or Syd. Abu al-Fadl* 9 Sh, Shaykh, e0go Sho Isma'YIo 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly indebted to a number of people who have kindly helped me in preparing this work and presenting it in this form. My gratitude goes first to Professor P.M. Holt, who supervised this study and selflessly gave it much of his time and attention,. His advice and support during the dark moments when 1 struggled through confusion to develop a plan,, have been a great help and source of encouragement to persevere„ His valuable comments and criticism have enabled me to crystallize my ideas and expand on certain points, which would otherwise have remained vague and uncertain,, My thanks also go to the British Council and the University of Khartoum for their generous grants, which enabled me and my family to live comfortably during the three-and-a-half years while I was pursuing my studies o A number of people have supplied me with information and documents: of these, I am especially grateful to Dr. M.I, Abu SaliM, the Director of the Sudan Government Archives in Khartoum, who made it easy for/to have / access to all the manuscripts needed; Syd* TAbd al-Hafiz fAbdalla 4 • introduced me to many informants, including the present Khalifa of the IsmaTiliyya taic€qa\ Mrs. Asrna* Ibrahim, Deputy Librarian, University of Khartoum, and Miss JQ Forbes, Keeper of Oriental Books, University of Durham. I am also very grateful to Miss Janet Marks who typed this thesis, and helped in its final preparations before presenting it in this shape, and to Miss Elaine Holley, for her help with the map -and genealogical tables. Finally, although much of the credit for this work is shared with the- above, the blame for any errors or shortcomings which it may still contain, is mine alone* 6 CHAPTER I KORDOFAN IN THE TIME OF SHAYKH ISMA’IL AL-WALl In many of his -writings'Shu Isma’il emphasized his ties with Kordofan and stressed his deeply rooted cultural and social links with that part of the Nilotic Sudan. In his ai-Whud al-Wdfiya^' he "boastfully stated that he was born, grew up, was educated and initiated in the tariqa in El-Obeid, and did not have to travel away from it like others in search of a master to guide him; His Shaykh, Muhammad 'Uthman „ 2 al-Mirghani, met him in Kordofan. In fact, with the exception of two brief intervals - one shortly after the conquest of Kordofan by the Turco- Egyptian forces when he left El-Obeid for a self-imposed exile in the Nuba Mountains, and the other in 18^1 when he went on pilgrimage - Isma’il did not leave Kordofan at all. His life there spanned the decades immediately preceding the Turco-Egyptian conquest of the Sudan in 1821 and the larger part of the transformation of Kordofan into a province of the Egyptian Sudan. The Isma'iliya tartqa which he created at that time was thus closely linked with that region and strongly tied to it. Such were those links and ties that when Sayyid al-Makkl wanted to revive it after the end of the Mahdia, he had to take it back from Qmdurman to its home in El-Obeid, where it has remained highly localized and strong up to this day. A study of the town of El-Obeid and the land of Kordofan in the latter part of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries may thus help in drawing a picture of the home in which the Isma'iliya tartqa was nursed and the environment in which it grew and took shape. 1. Sh. Isma’il, al-rUhud al-Wafiya al-jaliyya, Ms.