Islam is the largest religion in Sudan, and Muslims have dominated national government institutions since independence in 1956. According to UNDP Sudan, the Muslim population is 97%, including numerous Arab and non-Arab groups. The remaining 3% ascribe to either Christianity or traditional animist religions. Muslims predominate in all but Nuba Mountains region. The vast majority of Muslims in Sudan adhere to Sunni Islam of Maliki school of jurisprudence, deeply influenced with Sufism. There are also some Shia communities in Khartoum, the capital. The most significant divisions occur along the lines of the Sufi brotherhoods. Two popular brotherhoods, the Ansar and the Khatmia, are associated with the opposition Umma and Democratic Unionist Parties respectively. Only the Darfur region is traditionally lacking the presence of Sufi brotherhoods found in the rest of the country.
The Shatt language is an Eastern Sudanic language of the Daju family spoken in the Shatt Hills southwest of Kaduqli in South Kurdufan province in southern Sudan. The designation "Shatt" is an Arabic word meaning "dispersed" and is applied to several distinct groups in the Nuba Mountains. "Caning" is their own name for themselves.
Dar Sila is the name of the wandering sultanate of the Dar Sila Daju, a multi-tribal ethnic group in Chad and Sudan. The number of the persons in this group exceeds 50,000. They speak the Sila language, a Nilo-Saharan language. Most members of this ethnic group are Muslims.
Ngulgule is an ethnic group of South Sudan living just north of the confluence of the Sopo and Boro rivers. They are one of seven distinct ethnicities comprising the Daju people. They speak Njalgulgule, a Nilo-Saharan language. Most of them are Muslims. The population of this group is 900.
Shatt is an ethnic group in Sudan located in the northern Shatt Hills southwest of Kadugli in South Kordofan State and in the Abu Hashim and Abu Sinam areas. They refer to themselves as the Caning people. They are one of seven distinct ethnicities comprising the Daju people. They speak Shatt, a Nilo-Saharan language. Most members of this ethnic group are Muslims. The population of the Shatt exceeds 15,000.
Sudan is a multilingual country dominated by Sudanese Arabic. In the 2005 constitution of the Republic of Sudan, the official languages of Sudan are Literary Arabic and English.
Beigo is an extinct East Sudanic language once spoken in Sudan by the Baygo people, numbering some 850 in the late twentieth century. Similar to Darfur Daju, it is classified as part of the Western Daju family of languages.
Nyala, also known as Dar Fur, Darfur Daju, Daju Darfur, Beke, Dagu, Daju Ferne and Fininga, is an Eastern Sudanic language of Darfur, Sudan, one of three closely related languages in the area called "Daju". It is spoken near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province by the Dar Fur Daju people. There are two divergent dialects: Nyala and Lagowa.
The Sila language, also known as Dar Sila, Dar Sila Daju, Bokor, Bokorike, Bokoruge, Dadjo, Dajou, Daju, and Sula, is an Eastern Sudanic language, one of three closely related languages in the area called "Daju". It is spoken in Chad near the Darfur border, with migration into Sudan. There are two dialects, Sila proper and Mongo, the latter not to be confused with Daju Mongo.
Daju Mongo, also Wadai Daju or Dar Daju Daju, is an Eastern Sudanic language, one of three closely related languages in the area called "Daju" (the other two being the Nyala language and the Sila language. It is spoken in Chad by the Dar Daju Daju people near the Darfur border. There are three dialects, Bardangal, Eref, and Gadjira.
Liguri, or Logorik, is an Eastern Sudanic language of the Daju family spoken by the Logorik people in the Liguri Hills of the Nuba Mountains, northeast of Kaduqli in South Kurdufan province in southern Sudan.
Nyolge or Nyagulgule (Njalgulgule) is an Eastern Sudanic language of the Daju family, spoken in a single village in South Sudan.
The Logorik are an ethnic group in the southern part of Sudan. They are one of seven distinct ethnicities comprising the Daju people. They speak the Logorik language, a Nilo-Saharan language. They live in the north, central Nuba Mountains in the Jebel Liguri hills area northeast of Kadugli. The population of this ethnic group likely exceeds 2,000.
Baygo is an ethnic group of Sudan. They are one of seven distinct ethnicities comprising the Daju people. Their original language, the Baygo language, is now extinct and the population now speaks Sudanese Arabic. The population of the group numbers 850. They live to the southeast of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state in the western part of the Sudan. They are mostly Muslim.
The Dar Daju Daju are an ethnic group numbering 34,000 people in the Guéra Region of southwestern Chad. They are one of seven distinct ethnicities comprising the Daju people. They speak the Daju Mongo language and are mostly Muslim.
The Dar Fur Daju are an ethnic group in the Sudan. They are one of seven distinct ethnicities comprising the Daju people. They speak the Nyala language. They live in Southern Darfur in the Sudan in the Daju Hills 40 km northeast of Nyala - although most of this population has fled to Chad as a result of the Darfur Conflict. There is also a small population of Dar Fur Daju near the city of Lagowa in the Nuba Hills. Their total population numbers 80,000 (1993). They are mostly Muslim.
The Nuba Mountains, located in the West Kordofan and South Kordofan states in the south of Sudan, are inhabited by a diverse set of populations speaking various languages not closely related to one another.
The Daju kingdom was a medieval monarchy that existed in Darfur (Sudan) from possibly the 12th–15th century. Its name stems from the Daju people, the ruling ethnic group. The Daju were eventually ousted from power by the Tunjur and the last Daju king subsequently fled to present-day Chad. The sources for the Daju kingdom are almost entirely local traditions collected in the 19th and 20th century and mentions by medieval Arab historians.
