Al-Khatmiyah: Sufi method controlling Sudan
Tuesday 16/April/2019 - 02:14 PM
Doaa Imam
With the first hours of the emergence of the name of Abdelfattah Burhan; as
the leader of the Sudanese transitional period, which followed the end of the
rule of former President Omar al-Bashir, some circulated the biography of
Burhan, asserting that he does not belong to a certain political trend, but he
belongs to a religious family, that follows el-Khatmiyah, one of the most
prominent Sufi methods in Sudan.
Former Sudanese President al-Bashir has maintained strong ties with Sufism. In
more than one occasion, he has pointed out that his mother is a Sufi, a
follower of the Fatimid method.
Perhaps the disclosure of the relationship of the mother of Bashir to Sufism,
and his praise for the roles of el-Khatmiyah and its mentor Mohammed Osman
al-Mirghani, who is the assistant to the President, was a reason that the
leaders of the Sufi method announced their support to al-Bashir in December
2018.
The former president said during his meeting with them that el-Khatmiya method
is supporting the homeland not the government, and stressed that despite the
difficulties, the price and the scarcity of some goods, it is humiliating in
exchange for the security and stability of the country.
Mahjoub Abdul Qadir, the representative of the successors of the Al-Khatami method,
announced the support of Al-Bashir for achieving security and stability in the
country.
The Central Secretariat of the Al-Khatimiya Youth Organization immediately
dismissed the statements in support of Bashir. They confirmed their support for
the peaceful protests against the regime. They expressed outrage at this step,
considering that those who met the president represent themselves and can not
speak in the name of the method.
Al-Hassan al-Mirghani met with the president as part of his job. He is the
first assistant to the president: "Therefore, the central body stands with
the peaceful demonstrations guaranteed by the constitution, and condemns the
killing of innocents and dealing with the masses with violence. We stand in a
single trench with the people and their demands through peaceful means.”
In an attempt to justify the leader's support for al-Bashir, the movement's
youth said: "We confirm that Maulana was never supportive of any party
that does not respect the sanctity of the homeland and the citizen."
How did the Sufi method start?
The Fatimid sect of Khatmiyya dates back to Muhammad Othman al-Mirghani, a
descendant of a family of supervisors who is said to have emigrated from Hejaz
in earlier times to Turkestan and then to India and finally returned to the
country where he settled in Hijaz. He was born in Makkah in 1793. He studied at
the hands of a number of Mecca scholars, including his uncle Muhammad Yassin,
and obtained early a degree in Arabic and Islamic jurisprudence. He studied jurisprudence,
Hadith, interpretation, language, and thousand of books in the arts.
He was sent to Sudan to preach about Islam. He sailed from Mecca to Suakin in
Sudan, but he found the way to the inside through the mountains very tough and
not secured. He then rode the Red Sea to the Egyptian coastal town of Qusayr.
He entered Aswan calling for the Sufi method, but his preaching was not
accepted.
He encountered great success in the country of Nubia in the south, and then he
walked to the Sudanese regions, and found people who accept his preaching.
