Sudan Today: Barbarism, Belligerence & Bloodshed

What exactly is going on in Sudan? That's a question I found myself asking when a friend of mine enlightened me to the current conflict/crisis/civil war that Sudan has been subject to for two years now. Two years! I must say openly and honestly that I felt masses of guilt upon the realisation of the devastation to the Sudanese plight, and while our focus and attention has lingered on a Palestine devoid of peace and rest, through the noise of war and terror, I certainly was left unable to hear our Sudanese brothers and sisters crying out for help.

Sudan has been at war — civil war — between the national army and a violent and protestful militia, causing nothing short of barbarism, belligerence, and bloodshed to advance their own agenda, rooted in what is not Islam, but economic and political desire — frankly, a worldly desire. And they are, you probably are wondering…

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is a paramilitary group in Sudan, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemedti), whose main goal is to become the dominant military force in Sudan and overthrow the current military: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). They are simply put a militia, an unofficial armed group pretending to fight for democracy and civilian rule, when, in fact, they are killing the very same civilians they are preaching and pandering to. Their “pro-democracy” stance is a lie in order to get foreign backing and secure future leadership cementing themselves as the one and only force on Sudanese soil.

Nevertheless, the catalyst to the current conflict were negotiations between the SAF and the RSF, where General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (the leader of the SAF) believed the two forces must be folded into one in the next 12 months, weakening the RSF and leaving them with with little to no saying power. Hemedti hated this and wanted the integration to take as long as possible (10 years plus) to preserve the RSF's autonomy and military prowess. Couple this with the fact that Hemediti was already distancing himself from Burham due to a not-so-popular military coup in late 2021. This is where he started to present himself as this defender of democracy and embodiment of civilian rule. Not long after the dispute on the integration of the RSF into the national army (i.e. the SAF), fighting erupted after days of tension and mutual accusations. The reality, though, is that the RSF started the current conflict by attacking key military sites in Khartoum, the capital. Shortly after, the SAF struck back — and from then, April 2023, till now, ~150,000+ have lost their lives as a direct result of the war, and an additional half a million too due to malnutrition. With millions now displaced and an ongoing power struggle, where do we go from here?

With unfortunately no end in sight, it can become difficult to know where to sit on this issue. Firstly, as Muslims, or anyone for that matter, the killing of innocence must first and foremost be categorically condemned and aggressively reprimanded. 150,000 innocence now dead as a result of a selfish power struggle where military dominance seems to matter more than life. Sad.

Nevertheless, both parties in this conflict are responsible for a disgustingly high death toll, however, the difference is that while the SAF acts as a traditional military — which they are, of course — the RSF are publicly known to target non-combatants in both horrific and barbaric ways, and therefore it is ubiquitously known that the RSF have contributed much greater to the civilian death toll, while the SAF tend to carry out military operations and contribute through collateral damage and such.

Even so, mathematical games and political points are not to be made, the fact of the matter is that lives are being lost, hospitals are being bombed, and bloodshed is becoming far too apparent. Whether in Sudan, or anywhere for that matter, death has become a prerequisite to war more so now than I ever remember it. The Prophet saw gave us strict rules for whenever we engage in war, yet never we follow them. We have become a shell of our former selves, distant from the Sahaba and the Salaf, and all too similar to the kufar…

The Prophet saw taught that it is a must that we are not to kill non-combatants, whether man, woman, child, monk, etc. Non-combatants must not be harmed. We were also taught not to destroy livestock or resources in order for them to last for those who depend on them. Torture was strictly prohibited, humane conditions are a must, as is keeping your word and not violating treaties and agreements. Lastly, and most importantly: intent. The niyyah must not be for political advancements, greed, and human desire, but for self-defence, justness, and the repelling of aggression.

Not even one of these is currently being used in Sudan, in fact, very few countries at war today seem to be ethically fighting. It's one thing fighting for an unjust cause like overthrowing a theocratic governance, it's a whole other thing doing that and using methods of war that are anything but Islamic. It's in times like these that I sit and wonder: Are we any better? All of these trials and tests where we do our own thing, and are we any better? The 150,000 in Sudan certainly aren't, how about the 70,000 in Palestine? Are they? We have become a shell of our former selves, our glory days, our golden age, all for what? For worldly desire, and not for the sake of Allah swt.

May Allah swt bring peace to Sudan. May Allah bring the Shariah to Sudan. Ameen.

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Jazak Allah khair for your time and attention throughout!

Faithfully, STN.