SUDAN'S REPUBLICAN BROTHERS AND ISLAMIC REFORM

The Republican Brothers have alarmed religious conservatives in the Sudan over the past thirty years and their propagators and writings remain proscribed in most Arab states. Although denounced as heretics and nonMuslims by their opponents, the Republican Brothers, while maintaining an intense spiritual life of prayer and meditation, determinedly expound their position in an evolutionary legal and doctrinal context. In defiance of all traditional Islamic reform positions, they reject the Sharia, as commonly understood, as inconsistent with man's evolution to the present stage of human development and freedom. It is rejected not only because it discriminates against women and non-Muslims, but also because it allegedly contravenes contemporary principles and standards of human rights.
Basing their claims on the dictates of reason enlightened by faith, the Republican Brothers assert that it is possible, indeed essential, to derive from the fundamental ayat of the Koran, and from the personal example (suna) of the Prophet Mohammed, a new level of Sharia, a "Second Message of Islam", capable of meeting the needs of contemporary society. The Sharia, in this view, is seen as transitional, never intended to remain, in all its features and principles, in force forever. Although it had its justification in the socio-economic conditions of early Islamic societies, those conditions have passed. Consequently, if Islam has only the revival of Sharia to offer the modern world, then, in the Republican Brother view, Islam has nothing to offer. In place of traditional Sharia the Republican Brothers call for the recognition of the evolutionary principle which, they maintain, is wholly present within the Koran.
However bold their assertions, the Republican Brothers vigorously deny that their position is one of doctrinal innovation. On the contrary, as with most religious movements, they assert that ignorance of the real meaning of the Koran has led to a contradiction between Islamic faith and contemporary practice.
While not constituting a major force in contemporary Sudanese life their formal and practicing religious adherents numbering only in the hundreds the Republican Brothers nevertheless exercise a disproportionate influence on some issues and have the respect of the intellectual elite. Daily outdoor seminars on the campus of the University of Khartoum attract large numbers of students. In the market place, on street corners, whenever and wherever a convenient occasion for debate may arise, articulate members of the Brotherhood, especially females, set forth the movement's position. Female members, typically wearing a white tobe, and eschewing the traditional Sudanese female penchant for extravagant display of gold ornaments, sell literature and vigorously expound the Brotherhood's position.[1]
The founder and revered teacher ("Ustaz") of the Republican Brothers is Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, who resides in Omdurman. Born about 1911 near the village of Raffaa, Taha graduated in engineering from Gordon Memorial College in Khartoum. While working for the Condominium government Taha became an activist in the nationalist movement through the Graduates Congress. These activities led to his resignation from government service and he subsequently became a private contractor. In October 1945, Taha, together with a number of intellectuals, created the Republican Party. The "Republican" label was meant not only as a challenge to those Sudanese advocating unification with the Kingdom of Egypt but also as a rejection of a proposed Mahdist monarchy for Sudan.[2]
In the strict sense, however, the Republican Party was more a movement than a party since it had no official structure. While urging the creation of an independent republic with an Islamic orientation, the group's concept of Islam was vague and general. Passive protests were typical of the Party's approach, although it did not hesitate to confront the British authorities with its nationalistic manifestos. In early 1946 and again for a two year period 1946-1948, Taha was imprisoned for his political activities. In the latter instance, Taha was jailed for leading a revolt against the enforcement of a law penalizing the practice of female circumcision. Although admitting that the practice was both harmful and evil, Taha insisted that it could not be stopped by penal measures but rather through education and enlightenment of women. The issue was used to agitate against the British presence generally and to focus attention on the portrayal of Sudan as a backward, primitive country not ready for During his prolonged imprisonment Taha took up Sufi religious techniques and practices which he continues to the present. Although opposed to the Sufi sects, which he regards as outdated and defunct institutions, Taha asserts that however great individual Sufi leaders of the past may have been, their teachings represent, at best, only the individual attainments by those men of the example set by the Prophet.[4] In short. Mohammed was the first Sufi and the only one worthy of imitation and following today. Taha's disciples are encouraged to continue in the same Sufi tradition and to regard themselves as modern Sufis.
Neither before nor subsequent to Sudan's independence in 1956 have the Republicans contested any elections. Their position has been that it would be useless for them to be in any council or assembly so long as the general populace does not accept their views. If and when these views are accepted, it is asserted, then anyone could put them into practice through legislation. In 1965, when traditionalists and sectarian political parties were attempting to introduce an Islamic constitution, they were opposed by the Republicans who said that the proposed document was neither a constitution nor Islamic, because, for example, it discriminated against non-Muslims and women.
In 1968, as a result of Taha's outspoken opposition to the religious and political establishment, he was charged with "apostasy" before the High Sharia Court of Khartoum. Taha refused to appear before the court on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction and that there was no such charge as apostasy[*] under Sudanese law. The plaintiffs, however, requested that Taha be declared a non-Muslim, that his wife be divorced from him, that his activities be prohibited, and that his followers be dismissed from their jobs. After the court listened to witnesses, most of whom misquoted his writings and misrepresented his views, it declared Taha guilty of abandoning Islam. Nevertheless, it refused to rule on the remedies demanded by the applicants and nothing further resulted from the trial. The trial itself has been used extensively by the Republican Brothers to demonstrate the unsuitability of Sharia law and its alleged violation of human and fundamental constitutional rights.
In 1969, following the May Revolution led by Col. Jafaar Nemeiry, all political parties in Sudan were banned. The Republicans accordingly changed their name to Republican Brothers and continued to function, as in the past, as a movement advocating a new understanding of the Koran to bridge the growing chasm between Islam, in its contemporary expressions, and the rational-scientific demands of modern man.
At the heart of the Brotherhood's teaching is the assertion of a total compatibility between reason and faith. They argue that religion, like science, enables man to relate to the total universe, to Being in all its manifestations. If early man failed to recognize that phenomena could be understood in their immediate causes through reason, and therefore sought all explanations in the devine[5], modern man has gone to the opposite extreme and eliminated faith from its proper sphere in the false name of science. Despite such aberrations, say the Republicans, the fact remains that there is a legitimate role for both science and faith and both must be utilized for man to reach his destiny. Allah is to be known and reached through knowledge and faith, through intellect and will. Humanity possesses imperfectly what the Creator is: reason and will. This was the essential message of Mohammed when he held out a new vision of reality to the heathen of his day in Arabia.
As an embodiment, however imperfect, of the divine attributes, man of necessity has endeavored throughout the centuries to achieve the development of reason and will a divine mission expressed in "the will to be free".
Freedom, however, could not be reached by the individual acting independently of the will to freedom on the part of all. Thus, reason has dictated limitations upon freedom on the part of all, also upon freedom as a condition for any individual to enjoy its fruits. It was in this context of man's reasonable and progressive striving to be free free from all fears rooted in senseless or intelligent perceptions that Allah intervened in time through the prophets to enable man, through reason and faith, to reach his intermediate and final goals.
In short, a philosophical-theological framework was adopted by Mahmoud Mohamed Taha which was also consistent with the mainstream of western tradition.