Manichaean Delirium: Decolonizing the Judiciary and Islamic Renewal in the Sudan, 1898-1985 »

Abdullahi Ali Ibrahim, Ph.D. (1987) in folklore and anthropology, Indiana University, is an Associate Professor of African History and Islam at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has published extensively, in both Arabic and English, on the culture history of Sudan including The Mahdi-Ulema Conflict (1968); Assaulting with Words: Popular Discourse and the Bridle of Shari’ah (1994); Culture and Democracy in Sudan (1994). He contributes a daily column to a-Sahafa, a leading paper in Sudan.

The book uses the concept of the “Manichaean” geography of the colony, popularized by Fanon, to account for the virulent Islamic renewal in Sudan. In focusing on the Sudan judiciary, characterized by an unrelenting rift between its civil and Sharia divisions, the book examines the various forces that sought to profit from these Manichaean resources.

Orthography

Glossary

Introduction Decolonization: Toward a Musical Approach to Religion 1

Ch. 1 In the Shoes of the Colonized 59

Ch. 2 A Tale of Two Courts: The Sharia of Allah and the Custom of the Patriarch 115

Ch. 3 President Ismail al-Azhari, 1965-1969: The Politics of Moral Injury 165

Ch. 4 Nimerie's Instant Justice: Tongue of God and the Rogue 221

Ch. 5 The Qadis and Mahmoud M. Taha: Toward an Economy of Vendetta and Martyrdom 273

Ch. 6 Growing Up in a Qadi's Home: Hasan al-Turabi and his Theology of Modernity 323

Conclusion: The Difficult Birth of the Unified Judiciary 367

Bibliography 395

Index 411