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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Preparing the Free Human Being:
A letter to Dr. Torrez Bodet, UNESCO General Director

Ustadh Mahmoud Mohamed Taha


This letter is published in The Voice of Sudan Newspaper, 1953, in Khartoum and is translated into English by Dr. Mustafa Eljaili

An intellectual revolution


Scientific and industrial advancement in our contemporary age has caused a revolution in the social and political ways of thinking. It has doubted the validity and soundness of beliefs and questioned the wisdom of inherited traditions towards building a radical and scientific social reform. This revolution is still rising, interacting vigorously in the hearts and minds of people. Therefore, I think, leading in the end to the inevitable result that the nations of this small globe should revolve around one axis similar to what planets do in the solar system, where our planet is merely one of its moons.

This is the scientific theory for all scattered bodies throughout the endlessly expanded universe. The theory for all living creatures at whatever degree of livelihood is that life strives towards a single unified goal and in accordance with one law.

Geographical unity


The small world in which humanity lives is a single geographical entity. Fast modern transportation and communication media have connected its distant parts in such a way that time and space have shrunk. Now people all over the globe in a matter of few hours can practically respond to simple events taking place at any of its parts. Moreover, this small globe is inhabited by human beings of the same origin and nature, though the obtained shares of civilization and cultures vary. Thus, establishing one government is needed, and is in fact an urgent necessity. There, international relationships are maintained according to law, the same as the national relationships operated in any of the individual states according to law. Such pattern of global order is possible and desirable and as a matter of fact inevitable for tomorrow’s humanity. Whoever traces the evolution of life will clearly see that the global unity is the final destiny when its time comes; it is just a matter of time. The League of Nations, following World War II was a practical step in that direction. The United Nations is as such another step. Still, however, between us and the global unity are a number of many stretched steps. Yet, if enlightened scholars like you can merge these steps into a single courageous one; we could hope for humanity to evade the prevalence of wars and win the profits of peace without loosing much time and spending high prices.