By Hatim Elmadani
The city of Omdurman, the consequential traditional capital just west of Khartoum, witnessed nights celebrating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad on its many squares, which as usual found a great turnout of citizens and visitors.
The Prophet’s birth in Sudan, which is considered the ‘land of Sufi orders’, has rare rituals and traditions that differ somewhat from other Arab and Islamic countries, although they are similar because it has a crucible of Sufi orders presented to it in different eras from all over the world from North Africa during the reign of the Fung Sultanate in the sixteenth century and before it from West Mesopotamia in periods of Islamic Khilafat’s and the other majority in the period of the Ottoman Empire and later Turkish-Egyptian rule.
The sheikhs of the Sufi arrived were presented with ranches in the cities and regions of the Blue Sultanate, where the example of its gates in the province of Berber received many of them and others moved to the ranches of grazing in it south through the central region and the capital of the Sultanate Sennar in the far south, where it attracted devotees and followers who joined it to ask for Islamic sciences provided by the sheikhs of those Sufi orders, where it contributed to the spread of Islam and the memorization of the Qur’an along with its unique teachings.
The occasion of the Prophet’s birthday is an annual meeting place for these many Sufi orders in these cities, where each of them eric’s tents distinguished by Islamic colors and decoration and large flags and banners associated with the method and often express the place of origin.
These methods in the square selected for celebration engage in similar rituals that include poems, religious praise circles of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), dancing to special rhythms of songs and music, and are fully related to the love of the devotees, or following the method of the Prophet, praising his message, and other poems praising and asking his blessing in the famous dervish’s moving dance rhythms for several nights.
Outside of these rituals there are the rituals of the city hosting them and the participation of all its inhabitants in the celebration, which usually begins with a march that tours the city on the first and last days of the occasion to the same rhythms of drums, and (Taar) and other musical instruments, where it is joined in each square by the followers of the Sufi orders in each area where this march ends in the square prepared in advance for celebration and in the same way it is announced at the end of the days of celebration.
The occasion of the Prophet’s birthday in Sudan, like many Arab and Islamic countries, is suitable for families and young children, where merchants and families even non-Islamic take part in preparing famous sweets associated with the occasion, which vary from country to country according to its local products, most which are sweets of all kinds and embroidered with color, from Sudan, for example, you find sweets made from sesame beans and peanuts, and from the Levant those that are made by adding chickpeas in sugar molds, while the most famous among children are the models of a bride of (The Moolid), which is made of sugar colored in light red, is an industry provided from Upper Egypt and Turkey, in contrast, there is a model of the camel and various models made in multiple sizes as well to reach all the visiting children to the place of celebration.
Extraneous and modern habits
In recent decades, with the spread of Sunni and Wahhabi Islam against the practices and rituals of the old Sufi orders in Sudan, the followers of these new arrival have joined in with their own tents for them to participate as well in the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday by inviting young people to study and recite the Qur’an in their tents, programs of competitions to memorize the Holy Quran and the fragrant biography of the Prophet, as well as a lecture on celebrating the birth of Al-Mustafa (peace be upon him) to attract visitors from the tents of traditional Sufi orders. Naturally, differences occur between them and clashes in what the followers of those organizations and groups consider being contrary Sufi practices. For the teachings of Islam and other reasons.
Sufi methods have also emerged that differ radically in the way of rituals and celebration of the Prophet’s birth including those who introduced singing, modern arts and the participation of women, and others that completely changed the traditions of Sufi clothing to the last of the rituals and new varieties that divided the parties to the celebration between fans of change from historical rituals and denouncers of it.
The elderly in my ancient city of Omdurman joke on social media today that the only thing that hasn’t completely changed is the sweet mould of the bride of the Moolid.
