Umm Dawah Ban - The

history of many Sudanese mosques preserves their peculiarity, and they follow the Prophet’s Mosque functionally.

Many mosques are famous for being the place of education, conflict resolution and the declaration of jihad.

Al Jazeera Net visited one of these mosques called "Umm Dawa Ban" and broke the fast there.

Construction and reconstruction

You will be unable to count if you go to count the Sudanese cities and villages whose names are associated with the names of sheikhs, mystics and men who were famous among the people for their righteousness (Damir Al-Majzoub, Wad Madani Al-Sunni, Wad Al-Abbas, Sheikh Al-Tayyib, Sheikh Al-Yaqout...), and the name of the sheikh may be associated with the region, so he is called Ragel (man) as such.

Because a number of these villages and cities were founded by sheikhs.

The village may have existed, but a sheikh's stay there makes it a destination for visitors.

Researcher Yahya Muhammad Ibrahim mentions in his book “The History of Religious Education in Sudan” that “when a scholar became famous in a village or city, people were students and common people who traveled to him, the students wanted direct knowledge, and the common people hoped for a blessing or a cure for a disease.”

And it is mentioned in another place, "Some jurists used to travel to cities of famous commercialism and settle there, and their news was spread, and people flocked to them, then those cities increased in wealth and movement."

It is connected to some traditions of advocacy and guidance.

In this regard, the researcher Sheikh Amer Sheikh Abu Qarun informs us by saying, “After the Sheikh feels that his student has attained a great deal of knowledge and has acquired good knowledge in managing students and in seclusion, with a measure of wisdom that grants him permission to become independent and establish his own seclusion, so the student, after his old age, searches for a place He builds his mosque.

Umm Daw Ban is one of these areas, which was founded by Sheikh Muhammad bin Badr, nicknamed “Al-Obaid” or “Al-Obaid” and “Daraya”, which is located 50 km southeast of Khartoum.

The Sheikh had taken a place called “Al-Nakhira” as his headquarters for teaching the Qur’an and spreading the da’wah, but he moved to Umm Duwa Ban when he reached the age of forty, and founded her mosque in the year 1848 AD.

In the Sudanese colloquial language, they say "Umm such-and-such", and they mean the same thing, including "Umm Dhawa Ban", whose name means "whose light is visible", and it is the new name for "Umm Dabban".

sword and tablet

Sheikh Al-Obaid Wad Badr, founder of Umm Dhawa, was known for his piety, piety, love of knowledge, eloquence, and wise words.

Seclusion in Sudan has another meaning that is added to the place of intimacy and worship, which is the residence of foreign students coming to learn the Qur’an, while the place of learning is called the Qur’anic, and there may be confusion between the terms, so the place of learning is called seclusion, and there is the master that Al-Mu’tasim Ahmed Al-Hajj knows in his book “Al-Khalawi in Sudan. .Organize them and draw them", in the building that houses the mosque, and the cells where foreign students are accommodated.

Students of knowledge began to flock to the master of Sheikh Al-Obaid, who began to bring scholars to teach with him from a delegation, and on the lights of the Qur’an, the students started stepping on their wooden boards, learning to read and write and memorize the Qur’an.

After the emergence of the Mahdist revolution, al-Masid turned into a center for the call to fight the colonizer and support Imam Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi, so Sheikh al-Ubaid sent his son to pledge allegiance to the Mahdi, and began to form his army, which had the highest glory in the conquest of Khartoum. Sheikh al-Ubaid and his followers formed a strong front east of Khartoum.

He fought several battles with the English commander Gordon, the most important of which was the Battle of Halfaya (Northern Khartoum suburb) in March 1884, and then the Battle of Qasr Rasekh immediately afterwards. - In the first part of his book “Sudan is in the Hands of Gordon and Kitchener” - that a campaign led by Major General Muhammad Ali, numbering 10,000 fighters, headed towards the village of Sheikh al-Ubaid and Wad Badr. Just a soldier."

Then the forces of Sheikh Al-Ubaid besieged Khartoum, and the Mahdi forces had not started the siege until then, and although the death of Sheikh Al-Ubaid preceded the conquest of Khartoum, his son Ahmed was one of the reasons for the conquest, after he succeeded his father in the master and the army.

The fire of the villages and the light of the Qur’an

After the Maghrib prayer and after breakfast, we saw a student reading from his board by the light of the fire - despite the lighting that pervaded the place - as if he was seeking blessings, so we asked the sheikh supervising the students Yusuf Al-Jazuli about that, and he replied, “No night has passed since the year 1264 AH without this fire lighting the place Despite the absence of the importance of fire in lighting, its symbolism is still present.

Al-Jazeera Net asked Sheikh Al-Jazouli about the number of students and the parties to which they belong, and he replied that "the number decreases and increases with different times, and students are usually given leave in Ramadan to visit their families, so the number does not exceed 400 students." Al-Jizouli added that the number of students is 1,200 students in Sometimes, they belong to different regions of Sudan, with students from outside Sudan, most of whom are from Chad, followed by Nigeria in number, then Niger and Cameroon.

Sheikh Al-Jazouli mentioned that there is a student from Mauritania who memorizes more than one narration.

We asked Sheikh Saber Al-Obaid about how to feed this number, and he said: “Feeding is the reason for establishing the masters of Sheikh Al-Obaid and Dr. Badr. He decided that feeding is one of the greatest offerings and the best of what is offered, and that you find food in the masters of Sheikh Al-Ubaid at any time.”

Al-Masid includes a number of hospices, one of which is hosted by the visitors of Sheikh Al-Tayyib, the successor of his grandfather Al-Obaid, and another for the Sheikh’s sons. Testimony of the hospice supervisor.

Sheikh Al-Tayeb, the successor to his grandfather, Sheikh Al-Obaid and Dr. Badr (social networking sites)

Sheikh Saber told Al Jazeera Net that the fire of food never died down, even during the years of drought and famine that swept Sudan.

We asked the Sheikh from where he gets all these quantities, and he replied “from the cultivation of the Sheikh and his sons and some benefactors.”

Cultural radiation and spiritual shrine

Students from most parts of the country, some of whom were satisfied with forensic science, and some of them continued their educational career, occupying many jobs and great positions, but this is not the only effect of the master.

They built schools and health centers.

The interest in religious education did not stop at the traditional form only, but the Caliph Youssef Wad Badr Institute for the Holy Qur’an and its sciences was established, which is nourished by the memorizers of the masters and others to increase their knowledge.

The director of the institute, Sheikh Omar Ahmed Abdel Qader, enumerated for Al Jazeera Net what his institute offers, saying, "In addition to the sciences of the Arabic language and forensic sciences, we study mathematics, English and some human sciences." And those who succeeded him after him are keen to follow up on his conditions, maintain his buildings, and feed the students.”

The institute qualifies its students to obtain a religious certificate (eligibility certificate), which allows them to compete in some colleges.

In addition to the task of education in the village and the region as a whole, many of the rulings attributed to Sheikh Al-Ubaid are carried out on the tongues of the people of Sudan, and Al-Mased also presented a lot of books on forensic sciences, books of thought and mysticism, in addition to collections of poetry in praise of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace.

Sheikh Saber draws our attention to the acculturation taking place inside the massed due to the different environments and backgrounds of the students, noting that some of them settled in the village and became part of its social fabric.

All of this made Masid Sheikh Al-Ubaid a cultural center and a spiritual shrine visited by many.

Um Dhawa Mosque and Masid to host students of knowledge from various countries (communication sites)

Sheikh Saber Al-Obeid recalls the visit of the world champion Muhammad Ali Clay to Al-Masid in 1984 during his visit to Sudan.

And how the master and the village celebrated the guest who sat among the students, carrying a wave of one of them in happiness in this Qur’anic atmosphere that stirred his conscience and stirred a lot in him.

Among those who visited the master of Sheikh Al-Ubaid, the eminence of Imam Al-Fahham in 1970 after he assumed the sheikhdom of Al-Azhar, he was received with a great ovation commensurate with his knowledge and position, as the master visited the Lebanese leader Kamal Jumblatt in the year 1971.

Circles of learners and ranks of the needy

The most beautiful scene remains that circle of long diameter formed by hundreds of students as they read their boards, and they have a strange resounding of the Qur’an.

For more than 170 years, the mosque has been in the service of the Qur’an and the Arabic language.