Islamism in Sudan

The Islamist movement in Sudan started in universities and high schools as early as the 1940s under the influence of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.^[1] The Islamic Liberation Movement, a precursor of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood, began in 1949.^[1] Hassan Al-Turabi then took control of it under the name of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood.^[1] In 1964, he became secretary-general of the Islamic Charter Front (ICF), an activist movement that served as the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.^[1]  Other Islamist groups in Sudan included the Front of the Islamic Pact and the Party of the Islamic Bloc.^[1][2]

As of 2011, Al-Turabi, who created the Islamist Popular Congress Party, had been the leader of Islamists in Sudan for the last half century.^[1] Al-Turabi's philosophy drew selectively from Sudanese, Islamic, and Western political thought to fashion an ideology for the pursuit of power.^[1] Al-Turabi supported sharia and the concept of an Islamic state, but his vision was not Wahhabi or Salafi.^[1] He appreciated that the majority of Sudanese followed Sufi Islam, which he set out to change with new ideas.^[1] He did not extend legitimacy to Sufis, Mahdists, and clerics, whom he saw as incapable of addressing the challenges of modern life.^[1] One of the strengths of his vision was to consider different trends in Islam.^[1] Although the political base for his ideas was probably relatively small, he had an important influence on Sudanese politics and religion.^[1]

Following the 2018–2019 Sudanese Revolution and 2019 coup, the future of Islamism in Sudan was in question.^[3][4]