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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sudan
Index
The coming of Islam eventually changed the nature of Sudanese
society and facilitated the division of the country into north
and south. Islam also fostered political unity, economic growth,
and educational development among its adherents; however, these
benefits were restricted largely to urban and commercial centers.
The spread of Islam began shortly after the Prophet
Muhammad's death in 632. By that time, he and his followers had
converted most of Arabia's tribes and towns to Islam (literally,
submission), which Muslims maintained united the individual
believer, the state, and society under God's will. Islamic
rulers, therefore, exercised temporal and religious authority.
Islamic law
(
sharia--see Glossary),
which was derived primarily
from the Quran, encompassed all aspects of the lives of
believers, who were called Muslims ("those who submit" to God's
will).
Within a generation of Muhammad's death, Arab armies had
carried Islam north and east from Arabia into North Africa.
Muslims imposed political control over conquered territories in
the name of the caliph (the Prophet's successor as supreme
earthly leader of Islam). The Islamic armies won their first
North African victory in 643 in Tripoli (in modern Libya).
However, the Muslim subjugation of all of North Africa took about
seventy-five years. The Arabs invaded Nubia in 642 and again in
652, when they laid siege to the city of Dunqulah and destroyed
its cathedral. The Nubians put up a stout defense, however,
causing the Arabs to accept an armistice and withdraw their
forces.
Data as of June 1991
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