by Steve Howard
taub-a-sudani Sudanese woman’s outer covering garment
tummy Gezira cracking clay
ulema traditionally minded religious scholars
ummah the Muslim community confronting the modern world
um rigayga okra stew
Ustadh teacher
wadu ablutions
wafd delegation
wali (pl. awlia) holy man (deceased)
warid divinely inspired insight
zahir revealed
zar a folk cult of charms and magic that had pre-Islamic origins
zei islami “Islamic dress”
zowiya place of Sufi lodging
For Further Reading
An-Na’im, Abdullahi Ahmed. Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and International Law. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1990.
Armstrong, Karen. Islam: A Short History. New York: Modern Library, 2000.
Chittick, William C. Sufism, A Short Introduction. Oxford: One World Publications, 2000.
Daly, M. W., ed. Al Majdhubiyya and Al Mikashifiyya: Two Sufi Tariqas in the Sudan. Khartoum: Graduate College Publications, University of Khartoum, 1985.
Howard, W. Stephen. “Mahmoud Mohamed Taha: A Remarkable Teacher in Sudan.” Northeast African Studies 10, no. 1 (1988): 83–93.
Karrar, Ali Salih. The Sufi Brotherhoods in the Sudan. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1992.
Mahmoud, Mohamed A. Quest for Divinity: A Critical Examination of the Thought of Mahmud Muhammad Taha. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2007.
Safi, Omar, ed. Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism. Oxford: One World Publications, 2003.
Taha, Mahmoud Mohamed. The Second Message of Islam. Translated by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1987.
Thomas, Edward. Islam’s Perfect Stranger: The Life of Mahmud Muhammad Taha, Muslim Reformer of Sudan. London: I. B. Tauris, 2010.
