Thursday’s Reflections: The Literature of Resistance Among Islamists: Yesterday and Today
Ibrahim Shglawi
The colleague Abdul-Majid Abdul-Hamid, editor-in-chief of Masader newspaper, known for his affiliation with the Islamic movement, wrote after an Iftar gathering organized by the students and alumni of Omdurman Islamic University the day before yesterday. His words carry within them the features of an extended experience and a firm ideology. He commented on a song that was shared during that occasion, with the following lyrics:
“Arise, respond, O our youth, come to our martyr, the pure one, who sacrificed his blood,
Al-Mukhtar is our guide, with pure intentions, and the day of the neighborhood, his resolve is strong,
Sincere and truthful, their duties on him, with faith equal to secrecy.”
“Oh God… This poem feeds on the memory of those who crossed to immortality through the caravans of the truthful… the loyal ones… Fadl al-Murja, Abdul-Qader Ali, Ubaid Khatim, and Nizar Khujli… When these individuals crossed to the other side, many of those who sing this anthem today had not yet entered life. They were still in the womb of the unseen… And here they are today, chanting it with emotions and experiences they lived themselves in the battlefields and confrontations… Deep thanks to the students and alumni of Omdurman Islamic University who remained loyal to the caravans of the martyrs… This nation will not die.”
These words written by Abdul-Majid cannot be read apart from the historical and cultural context that gave rise to the phenomenon of “Literature of Resistance” among Islamists in Sudan. It opens for us a broad door to analyze the development of this literature, which has been a living reflection of the Islamic experience in its most challenging moments, and a tool for mobilizing energies and shaping collective sentiment during crises.
From the early days of Islamic activism in Sudan, it became evident that the Islamic movement’s activities were not limited to religious or political aspects. It also crafted its own unique cultural discourse, with the literature of resistance being one of its most prominent manifestations. This was notably evident during the Sudanese Civil War in the south in 1983, where students from Islamic-oriented universities took the lead in the fighting in 1993, responding to the national call against the rebellion of John Garang, who was then supported by various regional and international forces.
Songs such as “Land of Pursuit,” “When My People Were Called to Jihad,” “Star of the Dawn,” and “The Meaning of the Night’s Darkness” were not just hastily chanted anthems but were mobilizing texts with doctrinal themes, merging the values of sacrifice and defense of the land, while evoking religious symbolism of selflessness. Resistance poets such as Abdul-Salam Suleiman, Amin Hassan Omar, Abdul-Qader Ali, and Jaafar Mirghani excelled in defining the features of this literature, which formed the collective sentiment of an entire generation at the time.
Today, after decades have passed, the same spirit returns with renewed features in a different context, with the outbreak of war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces militia and its local and regional backers since April 15, 2023. This war, which quickly turned into an existential battle, reshuffled the priorities of national forces, with the youth of the Islamic movement at the forefront.
Once Lieutenant General Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, Chairman of the Transitional Sovereign Council and Commander of the Armed Forces, called on those able to carry arms to defend Sudan, the youth of the Islamists found themselves facing a scene similar to that which their fathers had faced ideologically and doctrinally. However, the remarkable aspect is that this response was not limited to Islamists alone; it saw widespread support from various segments of Sudanese youth, including those in the diaspora, proving that the old literature of resistance was able to renew itself and adapt to the demands of the present moment.
Amid national mobilization, the literature of Islamists, now mixed with military grandeur and national anthem flags, plays a central role in boosting morale and fueling the fires of battle. What distinguishes this literature today is its wider scope; it is no longer just an internal discourse for the Islamic movement but has become part of the broader national scene, framed by a collective sentiment that sees defending Sudan as a sacred duty, blending religious and national values under a unified banner.
Here, we may be witnessing a remarkable shift, as the Islamic literature of resistance moves from being “private anthems” to “unifying anthems,” thereby creating a new approach that uses literature as a strategic tool, going beyond slogans to re-engineer national consciousness in times of hardship and challenges.
In conclusion: It is a literature of resistance that transcends poetry to action, and transcends partisan affiliation to a national project. I hope we realize this, so that we can preserve this nation and work towards uniting it without exclusion or superiority, for the collective national project is the responsibility of this new generation, through which security will be achieved and peace will be restored for the Sudanese people.
Thursday, March 20, 2025
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