The age-old dream of the human caravan is not to send astronauts in their orbit in outer space.. it is to send its individuals - every single individual in his orbit of self-realization. It is high time that this dream be thus reinterpreted. It is also the sacred duty of every man and woman to help intelligently reorientate human endeavour towards the culmination of this pilgrimage.

Mahmoud Muhammad Taha - Answers to the questions of Mr. John Voll - 17.7.1963

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Ustazh Mahmoud's statement before the court of Mahallawy in January 7th, 1985

Alfikra.org


The recorded words of Ustazh Mahmoud before the court that ended up sending him to the gallows for voicing his opposition to the so-called Islamic laws which were enacted by the government of Sudan in 1983-85




I have repeatedly declared my view that the September 1983 laws violate Islamic Sharia’a and Islam itself. Moreover, these laws have distorted Islamic Sharia’a Law and Islam and made them repugnant. Furthermore, these laws were enacted and utilized to terrorize the people and humiliate them into submission. These laws also jeopardized the national unity of country.
These are my objections from the theoretical point of view. At the practical level, the judges enforcing these laws lack the necessary technical qualifications. They have also morally failed to resist placing themselves under the control of the executive authorities which exploited them in violating the rights of citizens, humiliating the people, distorting Islam, insulting intellect and intellectuals, and humiliating political opponents. For all these reasons, I am not willing to cooperate with any court that has betrayed the independence of the judiciary and allowed itself to be used as a tool for humiliating the people, insulting free thought, and persecuting political opponents.