{"id":47841,"date":"2025-05-06T01:50:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T22:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=47841"},"modified":"2025-05-06T01:50:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T22:50:46","slug":"are-these-men-islamists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/06\/are-these-men-islamists\/","title":{"rendered":"Are These Men Islamists?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Abdel Latif Al-Bouni<\/strong><\/p>\n

I entered university with my brother (now Mr.) Dafallah Haj Ali on the same day. He graduated in 1978 with a general Bachelor\u2019s degree (four years), while I graduated in 1979 with an Honours Bachelor\u2019s degree (five years). As for Mr. Omar Mohamed Ahmed Siddiq, known as Omar Siddiq, he joined university a year after us and graduated in 1979 with a general Bachelor’s degree, i.e., four years. So, if Dafallah was my proper classmate, Omar was my graduation mate. I met Omar later during the master\u2019s program, and we lived in the same room.<\/p>\n

So, these two gentlemen were as familiar to me as my own hunger. Neither was politically active, nor known to have any particular political affiliation. Dafallah and his group were modern in style \u2014 city boys in terms of dress and appearance \u2014 and far removed from the Islamic movement, specifically. Omar, on the other hand, was known as a “study freak,” spending most of his time in the library, and was nicknamed Omar “The Great.” To this day, his university peers would only recognize him if you said “Omar the Great.” His slender build is thanks to diabetes, perhaps a blessing in disguise.<\/p>\n

Both Dafallah and Omar joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the regular route \u2014 no nepotism or backdoor dealings. Back then, the civil service was in full health, where entry, promotion, and retirement were all based on objective standards: academic qualifications, entrance exams, and interviews with clear criteria. When the Ingaz (Salvation) regime came in 1989, it found both men in their professional prime \u2014 young, qualified diplomats ready to take the reins of foreign service. They had no flaws or failings and continued to serve under Ingaz just as they had under Nimeiri, Swareddah\/Al-Jazouli Dafallah, Sadiq Al-Mahdi, and later under Burhan\/Hamdok.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t met Mr. Dafallah since graduation \u2014 over forty years \u2014 but I follow his news through media, and, masha\u2019Allah, he hasn\u2019t changed a bit. If not for the grey hair, you\u2019d think he was still Dafallah from 1974. As for Mr. Omar, we\u2019ve met occasionally, most memorably on Roosevelt Island in New York when he was First Secretary at Sudan\u2019s UN mission. I spent several days with him and his hospitable family. Later, when I became Dean of the Faculty of International Relations and Diplomatic Studies at the National University, I invited him to teach some diplomatic courses during his times at ministry headquarters in Khartoum. He graciously accepted and imparted immense knowledge. He was beloved by all his students.<\/p>\n

By the way, another of our classmates is the current minister Dr. Jibril Ibrahim. At university, he was an active Islamic figure, but open-minded. I used to meet him alongside Mohamed Al-Tayeb Jiddo (now a professor of economics) and Mohamed Al-Tayeb Mahmoud (a professor of public administration). Both were roommates of my dear friend and townsman Sadiq Mudawi (Rahats), may Allah have mercy on him.<\/p>\n

I once wrote a column in \u201cHatib Layl\u201d at the peak of the conflict between the Justice and Equality Movement and the Ingaz regime, praising Jibril\u2019s respectful demeanor and exemplary conduct during our university days. This was after he succeeded his younger brother Khalil as head of the movement. Later, I met Ahmed Hussein in Doha \u2014 then the JEM spokesman \u2014 and he told me that the article had a positive impact on them. A friend once asked me if I\u2019d met Jibril after he became a minister. I said, \u201cNo, and I won\u2019t.\u201d The man has probably forgotten us by now, and besides, we hold onto our grandfather Sheikh Farah Wad Taktouk\u2019s wisdom: \u201cO you who linger at the gates of rulers, spare yourself the burden of worry and sorrow.\u201d
\nIf, God willing, he becomes a “former minister,” I\u2019ll seek him out \u2014 if he\u2019s still in the country. Of course, some people, once they become big shots, just vanish \u2014 airport arrivals, then darkness. But I believe Jibril and our other classmates-turned-ministers are not rulers, just regular, respectable, maybe even lovely people. Still, the green pen of power keeps them busy, leaving no time for old friendships.<\/p>\n

It is said that President Nimeiri, may he rest in peace, would sometimes appoint someone as minister without consultation \u2014 just to punish them.<\/p>\n

Now, dear reader, if you’ve been patient enough to read this long article and forgotten the title, you might ask: \u201cSo what\u2019s your point?\u201d
\nI\u2019d tell you: I have no point beyond what I\u2019ve said. These are just reflections on the trending topics filling up our timelines. And reflections, once started, tend to lead to more. Isn’t Facebook meant for venting anyway? It’s all out of hand, so let\u2019s give it a good lash \u2014 and you too, come on, lash along with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Abdel Latif Al-Bouni I entered university with my brother (now Mr.) Dafallah Haj Ali on the same day. He graduated in 1978 with a general Bachelor\u2019s degree (four years), while I graduated in 1979 with an Honours Bachelor\u2019s degree (five years). As for Mr. Omar Mohamed Ahmed Siddiq, known as Omar Siddiq, he …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47842,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47841\/revisions\/47842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}