Sheikh Al-Amin Omar Al-Amin (media)

Sheikh Al-Amin, that Sudanese Sufi whom people did not agree on describing. Is he a man whom God subjected to serving his people at a time when everything was so great, or an intelligence agent who hides himself in the garb of a dervish, even if he appears to have the features of people of good fortune?

Al Jazeera Net sought to uncover this controversial character through this story...

Features of Masid Sheikh Al-Amin

Years ago, I went with a number of friends to visit Sheikh Al-Amin Omar Al-Amin in his mosque in Omdurman, which is called “Al-Masid” like other Sufi facilities in Sudan. Sheikh Al-Amin would receive his guests in a spacious and elegant salon, in full attire, preceded by a wide smile and wearing a white robe. It is devoid of trimmings, with a dark-colored abaya and a turban of various colors to match the man’s complete attire.

Sheikh Al-Amin Omar Al-Amin, one of the sheikhs of the Sufi orders in Sudan (Sudanese Press)

The Masid is full of the same diversity of dress, as young men of both sexes move around the place full of activity, the sounds of drums ringing, and young men of both sexes who combine comfortable living and splendid appearance, stand to serve the guests, and some of them immerse themselves in dhikr and Sufi hymns.

The scene seemed consistent with the mental image painted by the media of this controversial Sufi man.

Unlike the custom of Sufi sheikhs, Sheikh Al-Amin does not appear austere, but rather lets God’s blessings speak.

Luxury cars are at his service, with luxury evident in every movement of the man.

Going beyond the ordinary by distinguishing between men and women in the arena of Sufi singing.

Here, researcher Muhammad Jalal Hashim describes the man in controversy as a modernist sheikh who added renewal to the Sufi movement. However, others see otherwise and consider all of these additions merely heresies that harm the established Sufi institutions in Sudan.

Where did Sheikh Al-Amin come from?

On the journey of searching for Sheikh Al-Amin, we stop with Dr. Abdullah Othman, professor of Islamic culture at the University of Khartoum. He is Sheikh Al-Amin’s study companion in the initial stage and his neighbor in residence in Omdurman. He spoke to Al Jazeera Net, saying that Sheikh Al-Amin was born in 1966 and was the eldest son of Omar Al-Amin, who is known for his interests. Al-Riyadh, who supports an average family, is no different in simplicity from other residents of the popular Wad Al-Banna neighborhood.

According to a childhood and boyhood friend, Al-Amin was an ordinary young man, like many of his peers, with no political interests or religiosity that distinguished him from others, until he traveled to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to study at university through facilities provided by the Vice President of the Sovereignty Council at the time and the neighborhood’s son, Idris Al-Banna, to a number of young men.

Childhood friend Abdullah is not sure whether his son completed university studies, but Khaled Al-Azraq, who resides in New York and is a spokesman for Al-Masid, confirms that Sheikh Al-Amin completed his studies at a Saudi university without specifying her by name.

In the early 1990s, Al-Amin returned to the same popular neighborhood where the family resided to establish his Sufi organization after the sheikh of the Qadiriyya Al-Mukashfiyya order granted him permission.

Money is flowing

Sheikh Al-Amin began to expand his presence in the popular neighborhood. He started from his family’s home, then bought the neighbors’ houses, demolished the old houses, and then built them in a new style. However, this did not pass without the anger of some of the neighbors who rejected the presence of Al-Masid in their quiet suburb, a dispute that reached the corridors. Courts.

According to what Dr. Abdullah Othman said, the financial wealth of Sheikh Al-Amin coincided with his appointment as a sheikh in the Sufi order, but the spokesman for Al-Masid Khaled Azraq says that his sheikh sought in the markets to accumulate financial wealth to spend in doing good deeds. He started with an import and export office in Khartoum and then a real estate development company in Dubai with an Emirati investor and another from Lebanon.

Sheikh Al-Amin’s activity extended outside Sudan, where he established Sufi corners with his followers in Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, the United States, and Egypt, and many non-Muslims in those distant regions converted to Islam at his hands.

In the presidential house

During our visit, Sheikh Al-Amin narrates that he entered the presidential guest house, where the deposed President Omar Al-Bashir, who was known for his interest in Sufi sheikhs and their abilities, was staying, with the aim of treating a sick woman with Sharia ruqyah, but he did not leave through the same door. His ties with the resident of that palace quickly strengthened and the relationship turned into a friendship in which Exchanging gifts between the two men.

Sheikh Al-Amin Omar Al-Amin, during a meeting with deposed Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir (Sudanese press)

Then the relationship extended to men around Al-Bashir, but a senior official in the intelligence service who requested to withhold his identity said that the director of the president’s office, Lieutenant General Taha Othman, was the one who introduced Sheikh Al-Amin to the head of state at the time.

He adds that Sheikh Al-Amin accompanied the director of Al-Bashir’s office on a visit to the United Arab Emirates to open closed doors for him regarding Taha Othman’s connections there.

End of honeymoon

But later, the relationship between Sheikh Al-Amin and the director of Al-Bashir’s office and his secret keeper, Taha Othman, became tense. Sheikh Al-Amin says that he paid the price for this with a slander that made him a prisoner in one of the Gulf capitals on charges including financing terrorism, practicing quackery and sorcery, and communicating with hostile intelligence services.

Regarding these accusations, Sheikh Al-Amin says that he is as innocent of them as the wolf is of the blood of Ibn Yaqoub.

Sheikh Al-Amin's relationship with the Salvation Government ended with his imprisonment for several days in January 2016. His mosque was also closed and he was not able to return to Sudan and open his mosque until after the outbreak of the popular revolution in Sudan in 2019, which overthrew Al-Bashir's government.

A supporter of the weak in times of adversity

Sheikh Al-Amin returned to the limelight after the outbreak of war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April 2023. Sheikh Al-Amin did not leave Masida or his home, like other residents of the area, which had become a fierce battlefield between the two sides. He also did not stop his activity despite the bullets falling in the area, and remained Masidah was opened and became a safe haven for those affected by the war, providing food, medicine and shelter. Many followers and devotees helped him with this.

Betrayal

Sheikh Al-Amin was subjected to a barrage of criticism after a delegation from the Rapid Support Forces visited him, carrying with it some relief materials.

Not only did Sheikh Al-Amin honor his guests, but he broadcast a statement bearing a position of neutrality in the ongoing war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, in which he seemed to understand the de facto authority through the Rapid Support Forces’ control of the central Omdurman region at that time.

Al-Ghali Shaqifat, the former editor-in-chief of Al-Sayha newspaper, which is close to the Rapid Support Forces, tells Al-Jazeera Net that Sheikh Al-Amin provided many charitable works, including food, medicine, and shelter at a critical time, and took a position of neutrality in the conflict, which necessitates praise for this responsible position instead of treason, but on the other hand There are those who were angry at the Sheikh’s position and considered him to be identified with the Rapid Support Forces. There are even those who demanded the bombing of Al-Masid after it became a nest for the Rapid Support Forces, according to their assessment.

Blood on the green carpet

Masid Sheikh Al-Amin was bombed during the battles, but the most prominent incident occurred after the army imposed its control over the area, as stated by the sheikh himself, when one of his companions was killed. The place was also exposed to heavy fire after the dawn prayer on February 29 of last year.

The Commander of the Army Forces apologized for the incident that led to the injury of two people at the scene, according to the statements of Sheikh Al-Amin, who was evacuated and some of his family members from the inflamed site. Sheikh Al-Amin himself indicated in video statements that his evacuation was carried out with high professionalism by the army.

In the clothes of intelligence men

Sheikh Al-Amin returned to his hobby of stirring controversy after he became in the hands of the army, as he said in statements broadcast by the official Sudan TV that he stands with the Sudanese army in this war, and that all his activities were under the supervision of the Sudanese army leadership and intelligence, and that he allowed intelligence agents to wear Sufi costumes so that they could monitor Details in the area under the control of Rapid Support.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, a senior security official described Sheikh Al-Amin as seeking to serve himself through what he called “the Fahlawa,” while a senior Sudanese army official, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, expressed his surprise at the focus on the man, saying that he does not deserve all this attention.

Good news however

Sources close to Sheikh Al-Amin expected that he would be released or be able to return to his master at any time, in response to the request of the Sheikh himself, who wants to spend the month of Ramadan among his disciples, and also to block the way for the issue to be exploited and turned into an issue of public opinion, especially since his detention was based on security estimates. It takes into account the security and safety of the sheikh, according to Al-Masid’s spokesman, Khaled Azraq.

The spokesman for the Civil Forces Coordination (Taqaddum), Osama Saeed, expressed his concern, describing Sheikh Al-Amin as one of the great humanitarians who provided humanitarian work during the ongoing war in Sudan, regardless of threats of liquidation by what he called Islamist militias.

But other sources believe that there is an exaggeration of the matter, as Sheikh Al-Amin resides in a safe place and was able to visit Msida yesterday, Wednesday, and that he will return to it as soon as possible after securing the place and ensuring his personal safety.

Before long or short, the controversial man will return to the place where he grew up and then chose it as the headquarters of his Sufi order, but it is not expected that he will be content with watching the bustling scene of life in Sudan.

The man will find an angle that will raise more controversy, not caring about the accusation that he is playing in the intelligence den and mixing politics and religion. Rather, the Sheikh documents some of these positions with his tongue, providing his opponents with more live ammunition to attack him.

Source: Al Jazeera