The ten faces of the Brotherhood in Sudan

Maher Faghali

The latest statement of the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, Awadallah Hassan Sayed Ahmed, shows the presence of rifts within the Islamist movement in this country. The statement, which was posted on Facebook, also shows that the Brotherhood’s ultimate goal is to reach power.

Indefinite nature of the group

The statement of the supreme guide raises questions on who wants the revolution to continue on the streets of Sudan. It also raises a question about the identity of the ousted Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The same statement raises questions on the differences between the General People’s Congress and the ruling National People’s Congress. Were not they about one and the same thing, namely about the Muslim Brotherhood?

The Muslim Brotherhood started gaining presence in Sudan in the 1940s as a direct result of the emergence of the Islamist movement in Egypt. It, however, started to show independence, having formulated its own theories and ideologies. This was particularly true after Egyptian revolutionary leader Gamal Abdel Nasser had eradicated the mother organization in Egypt in the 1950s.

In this period, different types of Muslim Brotherhood parties appeared in Sudan. They were not directly connected with the Brotherhood in Egypt. Nevertheless, the leaders of these parties were deeply influenced by the books written and the theories formulated by the Muslim Brotherhood leaders and theoreticians in Egypt.

In 1952, Brotherhood leaders in Sudan met a delegation of visiting Brotherhood members in Egypt. During the lengthy meeting, the Sudanese Brotherhood leaders suggested that their movement become a branch of the mother organization in Egypt. Nonetheless, the meeting came to an end without agreement in this regard.

Overlaps led to the resignation of the party leader in late 1952, and in August 1953, Babkir Karrar decided to return and organize a coup against the Brotherhood. He reaffirmed the name of the Socialist Liberation Party whose program was centered on Islamic socialism. An attempt was made to resolve these differences by holding another conference in August 1954. The conference was called “Feast Conference”. During the conference the party leaders decided to name the movement officially on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood and elected a new leadership. This leadership was led by a secretary-general, namely Mohammad Khair Abdel Qader. Further turmoil and schisms happened, leading Karrar’s group to announce its separation. The group called itself the Islamic Group.

Ali Talebullah’s group objected to the conference and its results. Talebullah, however, held onto his legitimacy. The differences were settled in part and a new leadership was elected from among the supporters of Talebullah.

Turabi and the Sudanization of the Brotherhood

During the 1950s and 1960s, several Brotherhood formations emerged until the Muslim Brotherhood officially appeared in Sudan in 1954. The group’s first supreme guide or observer was Muhammad al-Khair Abdul Qadir. In this period, Sudanese members joined the movement in Egypt. Most outstanding among these members was Gamal al-Sanhouri, who became the Africa official at the Office for Liaison with the Islamic World. Sadik Abdulla Abdul Majid was another outstanding figure.

Al-Turabi founded the Islamic Charter Front in 1964 as an Islamic alliance between the Muslim the Brotherhood, the Salafists and the Tujani-Sufi manner. The front was part of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Executive Office was led by the Minister of Animal Wealth, Muhammad Saleh Omar.

Al-Turabi was selected to be secretary-general, but was rejected by Muhammad Saleh Omar, Sheikh Muhammad Madani Sabal, Sheikh Jaafar al-Sheikh Idris and Sheikh Ali Jawish, who split and founded the Muslim Brotherhood, now headed by observer-general Awadallah Hassan Sayed Ahmed.

In his book “Lying Dawn”, Mansur Khalid documents the new face of the group, namely the business face. The group, he says, began its penetration in the periphery of the state by focusing on the economy and finance and the exploitation of influence and legislation to serve the interests of its gang.

Islamic banks were founded and placed outside the responsibilities of the Central Bank of Sudan under the pretext that that they ban usury. The group also started its rise to the highest levels of legislation and implementation.

When the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood emerged in the early 1970s, al-Turabi, who controlled the group in Sudan, did not want any connections with the mother movement in Egypt at the organizational, educational and intellectual levels. This made the international movement intimidate him, despite the connection of moral and material support.

In 1988, al-Turabi tried to establish a parallel organization of the international organization. The mother organization, however, described it as “the organization of the calamities”.

The Brotherhood succeeded in adhering to the instructions of the General Guidance Office and the Shura Council of Egypt, and so far it is a purely organizational wing characterized by organizational education at the expense of politics. It differed from the wing led by Hassan al-Turabi until his death and planned and succeeded in gaining access to the door of the economy and control of the centers of power and wealth, from 1986 to 1989.

Egyptianized Brotherhood branch

The ruling National Congress Party was founded in 1994, and after the disagreement between them, al-Turabi founded the Popular Congress Party in 1999 to become an opposition party. The relationship between the Brotherhood and the regime of president al-Bashir became more complementary than ever before. This will explain later the reception by Sudan fugitives from the Muslim Brotherhood after the arrival of Sisi to rule Egypt.

According to Moslem Mohamed Heneidi of the Arab Democratic Center, the group infiltrated Sudan’s economy, founded the Egyptian Islamic Company, Kenana, and the United Iron and Steel Company. It was behind the economic collapse in Sudan because it exchanged its funds with US dollars and then withdrew this money from local banks.

The group then pumped this money into quality operations. The economic activity of the Brotherhood in Sudan also expanded to the Sudanese states, especially the consumer goods and luxury goods sectors. Brotherhood members are now active in rural cities, following the decision to expel their economic activities from the capital.

Sudan formed a meeting point and an appropriate environment for Brotherhood fugitives, fleeing Egypt. Moslem says in his book that Bashir opened his country for Brotherhood members who wanted permanent residence after the International Organization of the Brotherhood directed its followers in Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and other regions to travel to Sudan to hide and stabilize or even work in it.

The Brotherhood’s relationship with Bashir was based on maneuvers by the Sudanese president to use the group to confront his opponents.