Islamization and Arabization of Africans as a Means to Political Power in the Sudan: Contradictions of Discrimination based on the Blackness of Skin and Stigma of Slavery and their Contribution to the Civil Wars *

M. JALĀL HĀSHIM

Khartoum, Sudan

Background

Indtroduction

The name “Sudan” has more or less been the same all through history. Aside from the toponyms relating to the south (such as Hent-Hen-Nefer and Wawat), it has been associated with the colour of blackness (such as Ta-Nehesu, Kush, Kerma, Æthiopia, Nubia, al-Salṭana al-Zarqā’ and lastly al-Sūdān) [Sagheiroun, 1999], which was- and is still- the colour of its people, since the early times of the ancient civilizations of the Nile valley up to the present. The same name seems to have evolved by translation from language to another in the course of time. This, regarding belonging and identity, puts Sudan in the heart of Africa, which is rightly called the Black Continent. What seem to be differences of colour among the Sudanese are nothing more than the shades of blackness.

The significance of the name “Sūdān” is important, because it bears very strong identity implication. The Arabized people of middle Sudan, generally speaking, tend not to recognize themselves as black Africans. As the State for the last five centuries has belonged ideologically to this group, Sudan has ended up identifying itself more with the Arabs than with black Africa. This issue is central to the contemporary problem of the reality of the Sudan and national integration...CLICK Hashim%2527s%20paper%20for%20Southern%20Africa%20.doc FOR MORE

Special thanks to Bankie F. Bankie for sourcing this document. 

Hashim%27s paper for Southern Africa .doc