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The history of the Jews in Sudan goes back to a small but vibrant community of Jews who lived there from about 1885 to around 1970. Most of the community left for Israel or Europe after anti-Semitic attacks began to spread against both the Jews in Israel and those still living in Sudan. [1] [2]
Due to other Jewish presence near Sudan, such as in Elephantine, Abyssinia, and Yemen, there is a possibility that there were Jews in the region earlier than the 15th century. However, David Reubini (1490 -1540), is thought to be the first Jewish traveler to the region. [1]
There was a small Jewish presence consisting of eight Sephardi Jewish families in 1885 living in Omdurman in Sudan, under Turkish and Egyptian rule. [3] The origins of these families and how they settled in Sudan is largely unknown. They were free to practice Judaism until the rebel leader Muhamed Ahmed Ibn Abdulla El-Mahdi seized control of Sudan from its Ottoman-Egyptian rulers in 1885 and established Mahdist Sudan. During Mahdist rule, the Jewish community was forcibly converted to Islam. [1] [4] In September 1898, General Kitchener and 20,000 Anglo-Egyptian troops including a young Winston Churchill entered Omdurman and regained control of the Sudan. [1] The country became an Anglo-Egyptian condominium and with this new political status it began to economically flourish. The railway line built by the British from Cairo to Khartoum (originally for the military campaign) became particularly important for opening up a previously long and difficult route for traders, including many Jews. [1]
When the British arrived in 1898, there were 36 people who declared themselves to be Jewish in Sudan. [5] After Anglo-Egyptian rule had been established, six of the formerly Jewish families who had been forcibly converted to Islam reverted to Judaism. They were quickly joined by many more Jewish families who saw the economic opportunities of the developing country. Beginning in approximately 1900, Jews from all over the Middle East and North Africa, in particular from Egypt, Iraq, and Syria, began to arrive in Sudan and settle along the Nile in the four towns of Khartoum, Khartoum North, Omdurman and Wad Madani. Predominantly small-time merchants of textiles, silks and gum, their businesses soon began to flourish. In 1905, Farag Shua, an Egyptian-Jewish merchant who had migrated to Sudan in 1900, established a makeshift synagogue in a small rented room and began teaching Jewish children Torah, Hebrew, and Jewish prayers. [6] Sudan did not have a rabbi until 1908, when Moroccan rabbi Suleiman Malka moved to Sudan with his family at the request of the Egyptian-Jewish religious authorities, who oversaw the affairs of the Sudanese Jews. [2] The Jewish community of Khartoum was first officially organized in 1918. [7] By 1926 the small synagogue they had quickly erected had been replaced by a brand new, self-funded building and several of its members owned large, successful businesses. [8] In the 1930s, a few Jews escaping persecution in Europe settled in Sudan. [5]
Despite the fact that the Jewish community as a whole was split between Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman, it was incredibly tight-knit. There was only one synagogue in Sudan and two mikvehs, one in the synagogue and the other in the rabbi's house. A single mohel and shochet served the entire community and at the centre of the social scene was the bustling Jewish Social Club (sometimes referred to as the Jewish Recreational Club). There were no Jewish schools; Jewish children primarily went to English or Catholic schools with some going to a local Sudanese school. [9] [5] Most Jewish boys went to the Comboni College, a private Catholic school run by Italian priests. [2]
At its peak, between 1930 and 1950 the Jewish community in Sudan numbered between 800 and 1,000 people, with about 250 Jewish families. [1] [5]
After Israeli independence in 1948, a small number of Sudanese Jews immigrated to Israel between 1948 and 1950. Most of them were among the poorer members of the Jewish community and migrated for economic reasons. The community banded together to purchase tickets to Israel for its poorest members so they could start a new life there. [2] Rabbi Suleiman Malka died in 1949 and the community was left without a rabbi. In 1956, Sudan gained independence and hostility towards the Jewish community began to grow as the Pan-Arab ideology of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, with the anti-Israel rhetoric it entailed, gained popularity. Antisemitic attacks appeared in the press and Jews were accused of being fifth columnists. [1] [2] A Jewish woman won the Miss Khartoum beauty contest that year but was stripped of the title after it was discovered that she was Jewish. That same year, the community was bolstered when some Egyptian Jews moved to Sudan after the Suez Crisis. The community also gained a rabbi after seven years without one when Egyptian-Jewish rabbi Massoud Elbaz arrived in Sudan. However, as antisemitism intensified, many members of the community began to leave Sudan for Israel (via Greece), the United States, and European countries - mostly to the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Israel and Switzerland were the primary destinations of emigrating Sudanese Jews. [5] Much of the community had left by 1960. In 1967, following the Six-Day War, there was a mass arrest of Jewish men and antisemitic attacks appeared in Sudanese newspapers advocating the torture and murder of prominent Jewish community leaders. [1] [10] Jewish emigration subsequently intensified, with the vast majority of Jews still in the country soon leaving. The last remaining Jews in Sudan left the country in the early 1970s. [5] Overall, about 500 Sudanese Jews immigrated to Israel while the rest went to other countries. [6]
In 1975 an air-transfer of some of the human remains from the Jewish Cemetery in Khartoum was organized by several prominent members of the community and reburial was arranged in Jerusalem after reports of desecration and vandalism occurring there. [1] The bodies were moved and reburied at the Givat Shaul Cemetery in Jerusalem. [1] As of 2005 there were at least 15 Jewish graves left in the Jewish Cemetery at Khartoum. [11] However, in recent years even these have been desecrated and the site was used as a dumping ground for used car parts. In the last year efforts have been made to preserve and clean up the cemetery. [12] The Synagogue was sold and demolished in 1986 and a bank now occupies the site.
Omdurmán is a major city in Sudan. It is the second most populous city in the country, and thus also in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum. It is on the Nile river and acts as an important road hub, with the Nile boosting transportation even further.
The Battle of Omdurman was fought during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan between a British–Egyptian expeditionary force commanded by British Commander-in-Chief (sirdar) major general Horatio Herbert Kitchener and a Sudanese army of the Mahdist State, led by Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad. The battle took place on 2 September 1898, at Kerreri, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north of Omdurman.
Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Fahal was a Sudanese religious and political leader of Nubian descent. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi, and led a successful war against Egyptian rule in Sudan which culminated in a remarkable victory over them in the siege of Khartoum. He created a vast Islamic state extending from the Red Sea to Central Africa, and founded a movement that remained influential in Sudan a century later.
The Battle of Umm Diwaykarat on 25 November 1899 marked the final defeat of the Mahdist State in Sudan, when Anglo-Egyptian forces under the command of Lord Kitchener defeated what was left of the Mahdist armies under the command of the Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, known as the Khalifa, after the equally disastrous Battle of Omdurman a year earlier.
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day South Sudan and the Sudan. Legally, sovereignty and administration were shared between both Egypt and the United Kingdom, but in practice the structure of the condominium ensured effective British control over Sudan, with Egypt having limited, local power and influence. In the meantime, Egypt itself fell under increasing British influence. Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, Egypt pushed for an end to the condominium, and the independence of Sudan. By agreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom in 1953, Sudan was granted independence as the Republic of the Sudan on 1 January 1956. In 2011, the south of Sudan itself became independent as the Republic of South Sudan.
Abdullah Ibn-Mohammed Al-Khalifa or Abdullah al-Khalifa or Abdallahi al-Khalifa, also known as "The Khalifa" was a Sudanese Ansar ruler who was one of the principal followers of Muhammad Ahmad. Ahmad claimed to be the Mahdi, building up a large following. After Ahmad's death, Abdullah Ibn-Mohammed took over the movement, adopting the title of Khalifat al-Mahdi. He attempted to create a kingdom, which led to widespread discontent, and his eventual defeat and death at the hands of the British and Egyptians.
The Mahdist State, also known as Mahdist Sudan or the Sudanese Mahdiyya, was a state based on a religious and political movement launched in 1881 by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah against the Khedivate of Egypt, which had ruled the Sudan since 1821. After four years of struggle, the Mahdist rebels overthrew the Ottoman-Egyptian administration and established their own "Islamic and national" government with its capital in Omdurman. Thus, from 1885 the Mahdist government maintained sovereignty and control over the Sudanese territories until its existence was terminated by the Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1898.
The Siege of Khartoum took place from 13 March 1884 to 26 January 1885. Sudanese Mahdist forces captured the city of Khartoum from its Egyptian garrison, thereby gaining control over the whole of Sudan.
The Ja'alin, Ja'aliya, Ja'aliyin or Ja'al are a tribal confederation and an Arab or Arabised Nubian tribe in Sudan. The Ja'alin constitute a large portion of the Sudanese Arabs and are one of the three prominent Sudanese Arab tribes in northern Sudan - the others being the Shaigiya and Danagla. They trace their origin to Ibrahim Ja'al, an Abbasid noble, whose clan originally hailed from the Hejaz in the Arabian Peninsula and married into the local Nubian population. Ja'al was a descendant of al-Abbas, an uncle of Muhammad. The Ja'alin formerly occupied the country on both banks of the Nile from Khartoum to Abu Hamad. According to a source, the tribe allegedly once spoke a now extinct dialect of Nubian as late as the nineteenth century. Many Sudanese politicians have come from the Ja'alin tribal coalition.
The Mahdist War was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese, led by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam, and the forces of the Khedivate of Egypt, initially, and later the forces of Britain. Eighteen years of war resulted in the creation of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956), a de jure condominium of the British Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt in which Britain had de facto control over Sudan. The Sudanese launched several unsuccessful invasions of their neighbours, expanding the scale of the conflict to include not only Britain and Egypt but also the Italian Empire, the Congo Free State and the Ethiopian Empire.
The history of Jews in Thailand began in the 17th century with the arrival of Baghdadi Jewish families and Jewish peoples from Europe during Napoleonic era (1799-1815).
The Battle of Ginnis was a minor battle of the Mahdist War that was fought on December 30, 1885, between soldiers of the Anglo-Egyptian Army and warriors of the Mahdist State. The battle was caused by the Mahdist blockade of the Ginnis-Kosha Fort, which British commanders hoped to relieve.
Sir Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi, KBE was one of the leading religious and political figures during the colonial era in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1898–1955), and continued to exert great authority as leader of the Neo-Mahdists after Sudan became independent. The British tried to exploit his influence over the Sudanese people while at the same time profoundly distrusting his motives. Throughout most of the colonial era of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the British saw Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi as important as a moderate leader of the Mahdists.
The Khalifa House Museum is an ethnographic museum, located opposite the tomb of Muhammad Ahmad in the city of Omdurman in Sudan. Towards the end of the 19th century, it was the residence of the successor of the Mahdi, Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad and the headquarters of the administration of the Mahdi State. The House was converted into a museum in 1928 during the Anglo-Egyptian condominium.
The Battle of Abu Hamed occurred on 7 August 1897 between a flying column of Anglo-Egyptian soldiers under Major-General Sir Archibald Hunter and a garrison of Mahdist rebels led by Mohammed Zain. The battle was a victory for the Anglo-Egyptian forces, and secured for the British the strategically vital town of Abu Hamed, which was the terminus for trade and transportation across the Nubian Desert.
The Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan in 1896–1899 was a reconquest of territory lost by the Khedives of Egypt between 1884 and 1885 during the Mahdist War. The British had failed to organise an orderly withdrawal of Egyptian forces from Sudan, and the defeat at Khartoum left only Suakin and Equatoria under Egyptian control after 1885. The conquest of 1896–1899 defeated and destroyed the Mahdist State and re-established Anglo-Egyptian rule, which remained until Sudan became independent in 1956.
The Sudanese Greeks, or Greeks in Sudan, are ethnic Greeks from modern-day Sudan; they are small in number, but still a very prominent community in the country. Historically, this diverse group has played a significant role in the political, economic, cultural, and sporting life of Sudan, as they have been the only European immigrant community of considerable size and economic power.
The Mahdi's tomb or qubba is located in Omdurman, Sudan. It was the burial place of Muhammad Ahmad, the leader of an Islamic revolt against Turco-Egyptian Sudan in the late 19th century.
The jibba or jibbah, originally referring to an outer garment, cloak or coat,) is a long coat worn by Muslim men. During the Mahdist State in Sudan at the end of the 19th century, it was the garment worn by the followers of the Mahdī. Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself al-Mahdī al-Muntaẓar, successor of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, in 1881. He exhorted his followers to join a jihad against Turco-Egyptian Sudan.
Sanin Husain was a religious and military leader who served the Mahdist State. Even after the Mahdists had been completely defeated by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1899, Sanin refused to surrender and continued to maintain a Mahdist holdout at Kabkabiya in Darfur. From there, he resisted the reestablished Sultanate of Darfur, repeatedly defeating the armies of Sultan Ali Dinar. Sanin Husain was finally killed by Ali Dinar's forces in a siege of Kabkabiya lasting 17 to 18 months.
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