The Face of Truth: Islamists’ Coups and Their Opponents’ Civility..!
Ibrahim Shaglawy
From time to time, waves of rumors about alleged coup attempts rise in the public sphere. These often coincide with periods of political and security tension the country is experiencing. Such attempts are usually attributed to individuals affiliated with the Islamic movement or to former military leaders.
The latest of these claims came last week following a wave of military dismissals affecting some generals. News quickly spread across social media platforms about a new coup attempt that was thwarted before it could materialize. Notably, the names mentioned in these reports had previously been accused of similar attempts, and some had even stood before military courts.
In reality, however, rational thinking raises a legitimate question: What would be the point of attempting a military coup in a country that has been engulfed in a brutal war for the third consecutive year? A country where half the population is either displaced or refugees, its cities are exhausted, and its public service and education institutions have been paralyzed for over two years. In such a context, is it conceivable that rational officers would embark on such a risky endeavor? Or is what’s happening simply part of a propaganda machine aiming to demonize a political rival, rather than reflecting any real military threat?
The era when military coups were seen as a legitimate means of changing power is long gone. Sudan, whose political history has recorded more than twenty coups—successful and failed—can no longer tolerate bypassing the natural political process. The Sudanese people, across all spectrums, have become more aware and more conscious of the dangers of returning to square one. No one is convinced anymore that the tank is the path to the presidential palace. Rather, enduring the bitterness of political contention is now viewed as wiser than repeatedly failing through coups.
The current accusations leveled against Islamists of plotting coups are nothing more than an extension of a zero-sum conflict, where no party acknowledges the legitimacy of the other. Unfortunately, what some of the Islamic movement’s opponents refer to as “civility” is nothing more than a mask hiding an exclusionary tendency that does not hesitate to use any means to eliminate its opponents politically, including demonizing them and falsely linking them to coup attempts.
Yet, the Islamic movement—despite the siege, defamation, and the arrests that have affected thousands of its members since 2019—has not retreated into secret activities, nor has it declared a break from open political engagement. On the contrary, it has clearly announced its intention to contest the upcoming elections as part of a broad national Islamic coalition, presenting itself as a movement with an intellectual and moral project rooted in Islamic principles.
It seems that the opponents of this movement—failing to present a convincing national project—have nothing left but to fabricate excuses and inflate accusations. The recent arrest campaign targeting Major General Abdel Baqi Bakrawi and a number of officers affiliated with the opposition camp to the Rapid Support Forces is perhaps one manifestation of this approach. Even though some of these officers had previously been accused of coup attempts, they had participated on the ground in the fight alongside the army against the RSF militia, raising legitimate questions about the plausibility of their return to coup logic—especially at such a critical time.
On another front, the Islamic movement does not deny that the political conflict in Sudan has moved beyond party lines and taken on an identity-based character. There are clear attempts to impose secular and neoliberal visions on the country during the transitional phase, without any popular mandate. The Islamic movement rejects this as an encroachment on the Sudanese people’s right to choose the model of their state through the ballot box—not through top-down arrangements managed from foreign capitals.
As the Islamists have declared, they do not seek an imposed share in power, nor do they await anyone’s permission to enter the political arena. They present themselves as an integral force that has historically contributed to state-building and accepts the judgment of the people, not the gun. They are confident that the era of exclusion has ended, just as the era of coups has become a thing of the past. Therefore, attempts to falsely associate them with every security disturbance only serve to entrench chaos, deepen national division, and prolong the crisis.
According to #The_Face_of_Truth, Sudan today stands at a crossroads: either submit to the dynamics of zero-sum conflict and mutual demonization, or reach a minimum consensus around a unifying national vision that transcends the past and lays the foundation for a shared future. In this critical moment, time must not be wasted chasing the ghosts of alleged coups. Instead, efforts should be devoted to ending the war, rebuilding the state, and restoring trust among national components. The homeland cannot bear further fragmentation and division.
Wishing you well and good health.
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Shglawi55@gmail.com
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