The Sufi Brotherhoods in the Sudan by Ali Salih Karrar

The Sufi Brotherhoods in the Sudan presents a detailed account of the development of the mystical and religious Sufi orders in the Sudan from 1600 to 1900. It provides a thorough consideration of the impact of the brotherhoods on Sudanese history, and sheds new light on the understanding of Islam in Africa generally. Karrar takes issue with the interpretation of the standard text on the subject (Trimingham's Islam in the Sudan), and offers a new typology that divides that history of the Sufi orders into two rather than three stages: decentralised ("unaffiliated") and centralised ("affiliated"). The book also examines the shift from a "Sudanic belt" pattern of Islam dominated by individual holy men to a Middle Eastern pattern with organised Sufi brotherhoods, and analyses this transformation within its political and socio-economic context. Karrar's work focuses on the Khatmiyya brotherhood in the Shayqiyya region. He bases his analysis on writings and personal materials from family arch