The Sudan Handbook

92 the sudan handbook

the west of the country. The rival Khatmiyya movement found modern

political identity as the Democratic Unionist Party, its regional strong-

holds being rather in the central Nile Valley and eastern and south-eastern

adjacent areas. Despite major political shifts at the centre of government,

there is still broad support in northern Sudanese society for the old

sectarian movements.

Academic study of Islam in modern Sudan has typically emphasized its

local historical memory and manifestations, and often its accommodation

with pre-Islamic or alternative indigenous forms. A study of the Berti of

Darfur – an entirely Muslim, Arabic-speaking community – has shown

how, although their vernacular language had disappeared by the 1990s,

a variety of local rituals endured. These were particularly important in

women’s lives, as part of an integrated system of ‘practical religion’.

Berti did not see any contradiction between Islamic observances (mainly

the concern of men) and the various rites which constituted al-ada, or

‘custom’, an Arabic term adopted widely across the Sudan. The implica-

tion is that that these were considered ‘harmless customs’ rather than a

threat to the purity of faith.

At Jebel Miri, in the Nuba area of South Kordofan, at least until the

1970s, people still spoke their own language and practised local music,

dances and ritual when at home. However, they were comfortable

speaking Arabic, using Arabic names and following Islamic practices

and manners when they switched from the village to outside agricultural

employment or city life – as many young men did, on a seasonal basis.

Interestingly, young women at home were permitted to sing in Arabic

and play the popular daluka music they had heard in local market towns

or on the national radio; but as soon as they married and set up house in

Miri, they had to limit themselves to the local rituals, grindstone songs

and others drawn from the repertoire of the vernacular tradition.

Studies of modern Muslim communities in the central heartland of the

Nile valley have examined the complexity of people’s lives in relation to

the spiritual sphere. By focusing, in many cases, on the lives of women

and their struggle to cope with personal events and the ups and downs

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors of^ family^ fortunes,^ these^ studies^ reveal^ a^ layering^ of^ religious^ belief^ and^

(www.riftvalley.net).