اخبار السودان – وطن نيوز
اخر اخبار السودان اليوم – اخبار السودان العاجلة
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D. Al-Rashid Khalifa: The entry of Christianity into Sudan did not come on the back of a miracle, but rather on the shoulders of politics, turbulent borders, and endless trade. The first seeds of Christianity began to appear in Nubia in the fourth century AD, and then the major transformations took hold in the middle of the sixth century AD, when the three Nubian kingdoms, Nobatia, Makuria, and Alodia, became Christian kingdoms by the late sixth century, with the peak of prosperity around the ninth to eleventh centuries. The First Beginning In the fourth century AD, Emperor Constantine I ended the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire with the Edict of Milan in 313 AD. In the year 330 AD, he moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium, a strategically brilliant decision, shifting the Roman center of gravity towards the east. Despite the sanctity of Rome, it was not easy to defend against barbarian attacks coming from the north. It was also far from the vital eastern border with the Persians. As for the new capital in Constantinople (Constantople), on the Bosphorus Strait, between the Bosphorus Sea and the Sea of Marmara, it is a natural fortress that is easy to defend and an ideal center for trade between East and West. Thus, the center of gravity moved from pagan Rome to Christian Constantinople. Constantine was not baptized as a Christian until a few days before his death, despite his support for Christianity politically since he issued the aforementioned Edict of Milan, seven years after the beginning of his reign. At that time, this was the procedure followed by kings and nobles to avoid sins after official baptism within the church (1). Two centuries after the death of Constantine I, Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora took power in Constantinople. Both of them sought to spread their doctrine in the Nubian Kingdom of Nubia, so Justinian sent a mission headed by Julian in 542-543 AD to spread the Melkani doctrine (Calcedonian). As for Theodora, she sent a mission to spread her Jacobite doctrine (Miaphysite), and she was able to disrupt her husband’s mission in Egypt and thus succeeded in having Silko, the king of Nubia, convert to her Jacobite doctrine, which is also the doctrine of the Coptic Church in Alexandria (2). Direct control of Egypt’s southern borders and the map of influence in Nubia changed. Historical sources mention that the spread of Christianity in the region took place through church missions coming from Egypt, especially from Alexandria, and that this penetration began early, but it did not transform into complete religious sovereignty until later (3). As for the imperial era in which this transformation took place, the sources link it to the late Roman era, then to the time of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I in the sixth century, a century that witnessed broader missionary and political activity in Nubia, especially with the sending of the priest Longinus. (Longinus) to establish Christianization in some Nubian kingdoms. In short: The Romans entered the scene, then withdrew from it, so the Egyptian and Byzantine churches picked up the thread, and Nubia began to rearrange its religion and interests on the same carpet. How did the spread of Christianity not happen all at once, but rather through three intertwined channels: church missions, commercial connections, and local political transformations. In Noubatia, the narratives mention that King Silko, the king of Noubatia, defeated the Blemmyes, who were a Bejawi/Arab kingdom, and his kingdom was strengthened. Around the year 500 AD, the kingdom became associated early with Christianity, while it entered the seat of Christianity around the middle of the sixth century, and the rise of Christianity entered around the year 580 AD, becoming the last of the three kingdoms to embrace it (3). What is noteworthy is that Christianization was not just a change in daily prayer, but rather it was a state project. Kings and nobles adopted Christianity, and then the bishop, the ritual, and the church language became part of the ruling apparatus, not just spiritual decorations on the sidelines of the palace. Thus, Christianity in Nubia became a political and cultural institution, more than just a doctrine recited by the crowds in the morning and then forgotten at the first harvest season (2). The Orthodox Church in Sudan was affiliated with the Orthodox Patriarchate in Alexandria, so churches were built in place of pagan structures and monasteries were built for monks, and they used the Coptic and Greek languages in addition to the Meroitic language. The Three Kingdoms The Kingdom of Noubatia was established as the first Christian state in the far north of ancient Sudan and Upper Egypt, that is, in The land of Lower Nubia, between the Second Cataract and the First Cataract near Aswan. Its capital was Pachoras or Faras, currently submerged in the waters of Lake Nasser. Nobatia’s fate was to unite with the Kingdom of Makuria in the seventh (or eighth) century AD to form a strong, unified Nubian state. Then the Kingdom of Makuria extended from the Third Cataract to the Fifth Cataract, and it was said that the Sixth, and its capital was Old Dongola. It is now located as an archaeological city south of the current Dongola Al-Ardi, and Al-Ardi means the new city. This kingdom lasted until the fourteenth century before falling under the pressure of the Mamluks and Arab migrations. Then the Kingdom of Alwa in the center and south, extending to Sennar and the upper Blue Nile, with its capital at Soba, south of the confluence of the two Nile. By the sixth century AD, these kingdoms had been formed on the ruins of the post-Meroitic world, and they benefited from the political vacuum left by the collapse of ancient Kush (3). Makuria was the most powerful and famous, as it flourished especially from the middle of the eighth century to the middle of the eleventh century, which some studies describe as the “golden age.” As for Alwa, it was spacious in land and rich in resources, and its capital, Soba, is described as a city of churches, gardens, and commercial wealth. In the north, Nobatia maintained its position as a link between Egypt and Sudan, before it was later practically integrated into the influence of Makuria (2). Life of the Kingdoms Economically, these kingdoms were based on Nile agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing, and long-distance trade. Saqiya and Nile irrigation were important factors in increasing the cultivated area. These kingdoms also exported materials such as gold, ivory, leather, and grains, and received goods from Egypt, the Middle East, Arabia, and sometimes from India and China via the Red Sea networks. In the unofficial translation: These kingdoms did not live on the pond only, but they knew very well how to turn the Nile bank into an open bank (4). Urban and architectural, the kingdoms witnessed the construction of churches, castles, and walled cities, especially in Old Dongola, Faras, and Soba. Artistically, church murals, decorated pottery, and clay and stone architecture flourished, and important Christian pictorial monuments appeared in Old Dongola. Socially, society was hierarchical: a king, an elite, warriors, clergy, then farmers, merchants, and craftsmen, with a strong presence of the church in organizing public life (5). Religiously, the Nubian kingdoms adopted Christianity based on the Non-Chalcedonian doctrine, which is linked to the Egyptian Coptic Church. The liturgical language was mostly ancient Nubian alongside Greek, then Arabic gradually appeared as the political situation changed in subsequent centuries. This means that Nubia had a local Christianity with its own character, not an imported version as it was, but rather a Sudanese version par excellence, in which there was Nile, gold, churches, and the heat of the sun that could not be negotiated (4). Relations and communication Relations between the Nubian kingdoms were not always calm, but they were not estranged either. Alliances, mergers, and family and political interactions took place, especially between Makuria and Alwa, and the borders of trade and movement remained in place between the north and the south. Alwa was more open to the East, and its trade relations with the Arab countries and Islamic kingdoms in the Horn of Africa were stronger than Makuria (6). As for communication abroad, it was extensive: Egypt, the Red Sea, Arabia, parts of Abyssinia, and even broader networks in the Indian Ocean through trade chains. With Egypt in particular, the relationship was dual: religious and commercial cooperation at times, and political quarrels at other times, which culminated in the Baqt Treaty in approximately 652 AD, which regulated Makuria’s relationship with Egyptian Muslims for centuries. In short: The Nubian kingdoms knew that geography does not ask for permission, but rather imposes neighborhood and then leaves you the task of coexisting with it (7). The longest and most controversial treaty in history: In the year 651 AD, after the Muslims conquered Egypt and looked south, Abdullah bin Abi al-Sarh led his army towards the Christian kingdoms of Nubia. The Nubians, whom Muslims called “the sharpshooters” for their amazing accuracy in shooting, had gouged out the eyes of one hundred and fifty Muslim soldiers at once, so Ibn Abi al-Sarh realized that there was logic stronger than the sword, so he concluded with the king of the Kingdom of Makur, “Calderat,” the Treaty of Baqt, which lasted for about six hundred full years and is considered one of the longest treaties in human history. As for its terms. The main ones include stopping the war between the two parties, freedom of passage for the people of both countries without residency, protection of each party for whoever lands on its land from the other party, returning slaves fleeing the land of Islam, and maintaining and caring for the mosque that the Muslims established in Dongola. The most famous, and most controversial, item is the Nuba commitment to hand over three hundred and sixty heads annually from their country’s average slaves, males and females, not among them an old man or a child who has not reached puberty, and they will be handed over to the governor of Aswan. In return, the Muslims committed to providing quantities of wheat and lentils, as it was stated by Al-Baladhuri in “Futuh al-Buldan” that the reconciliation was based “on the condition that we give them some wheat and lentils and they give us slaves.” As for the wine clause, it is the most surprising and least known: the Muslims committed, as Al-Maqrizi (8) mentioned in his narration of the text of the treaty, to hand over to the Nubia vessels of wine annually, which are huge pottery jars. Christian Nubia used it in their religious rituals. The treaty has witnessed amendments over time. When the king of Nubia asked the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi (158-169 AH) to reduce the amount of cats, the Mahdi instead added a clause for sending rare animals, and one of the kings of Nubia actually sent a “weaver monkey,” which makes one wonder if diplomacy had invented humor before it established peace. Among the most prominent historians who reported on the treaty was Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 311 AH (9), which narrated that the peace treaty was made based on “a gift of a number of heads that they give to the Muslims every year,” and that this peace deal was concluded by Uthman and then approved by Omar bin Abdul Aziz. It was also mentioned by Al-Baladhuri (10) in “Futuh Al-Buldan”, Al-Maqrizi, who quoted its entire text after its modifications, and Al-Masoudi (11), who described the nature of the Muslim slave. As for the orientalists, Martin Hintz and William McGinn de Slane (the translator of Al-Maqrizi), as well as the British researcher Butti, were interested in it in his study of Islamic-Nubian relations. At the level of Islamic jurisprudence, scholars were divided over the slave clause: some of them considered it a “truce” without a contract of obligation or tribute, which is what the jurist Yazid bin Abi Habib held when he said explicitly: “There is no covenant or covenant between us and the lions, but rather a truce,” while the jurist Al-Layth bin Saad allowed the purchase of Nuba slaves absolutely. As for the clause on alcohol, it sparked severe jurisprudential embarrassment, as those who permitted it argued that the Muslim does not consume it, but rather hands it over to the people of the dhimma for their own drinking. This is a precise distinction that some scholars considered acceptable and was rejected by others outright, on the pretext that handing over the forbidden item is a help for it (12,13). Reasons for the decline and finally the fall. The weakness began to appear since the twelfth century, then it increased in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, due to the decline of trade routes and military pressures. Drought, population change, Arab migrations, and growing Islamic influence. In the north, the interference of the Mamluks in Nubian affairs contributed to the exhaustion of Maqra, until it began to pay tribute, and then its authority declined more and more. As for Alwa, it faced pressure from the south and east, in addition to environmental and commercial transformations, leading to the fall of Soba around the year 1500 AD (14). Who caused the fall? The answer is not one person, but a series of parties: the Mamluks in the north, the Arab-Sudanese alliances in the center and south, and then the Funj and Abdallab in the final scene of the fall of Alwa. With this fall, people did not suddenly disappear, but rather identity, language, and religion changed, and society gradually transformed into a more Arabized and Islamized society, especially with the establishment of the Sennar Sultanate (Funj Sultanate / Sennar Sultanate) after approximately 1504-1505 AD (15). In the north, the influence of Arab groups and Arabized Nubians increased, and society witnessed widespread mixing between local residents and expatriates, with pockets of the Nubian population continuing in the various regions. Thus the Christian state ended, but the people themselves did not disappear; Just change their language, names, and positions, as people do when politics forces them to wear a new dress over their old body (16). References Did Constantine the Great actually embrace the Christian religion… arabic post.net, 05/05/2022 A glimpse at the Christian spiritual tide in Nubia, Hisham Satti Quraishi, Sudan Magazine 02, 25, 2021 sudanjournal.com 0 3. The Kingdom of Alwa.[aawsat]The entry of Christianity into Sudan, Talal Yassin May 22, 2010 danagla.ahlamontada.com Middle East, Nubian-Christian archaeological discovery in northern Sudan.[wikipedia]Sudan Journal, SUDAN JOURNAL, Nubia in the Middle Ages (Kingdom of Alwa).[kingdomofkush.wordpressمملكة علوة، المعرفة marefa.orgالمقريزيّ، تقيّ الدّين أحمد (ت ٨٤٥هـ). الخطط المقريزيّة (المواعظ والاعتبار بذكر الخطط والآثار). أورد نصّ معاهدة البقط كاملا بعد تعديلاتها مع بند الخمرابن جرير الطّبريّ (ت ٣١١هـ). تاريخ الطّبريّ: تاريخ الرّسل والملوك. ذكر فيه صلح ابن أبي السّرح مع النّوبة وأقرّه عثمان ثمّ عمر بن عبد العزيز.البلاذريّ، أحمد بن يحيى (ت ٢٧٩هـ). فتوح البلدان، ص ٢٣٨-٢٣٩. أورد روايتين: عن اللّيث بن سعد وعن يزيد بن أبي حبيب في طبيعة الصّلح وعدد الرّقيق. 11. المسعوديّ، عليّ بن الحسين (ت ٣٤٦هـ). مروج الذّهب ومعادن الجوهر. وصف ملك مملكة مريس والرّقيق الّذي يسلّمه12.ابن عبد الحكم، عبد الرّحمن بن عبد الله (ت ٢٥٧هـ). فتوح مصر وأخبارها. من أقدم المصادر الّتي روت تفاصيل حملة ابن أبي السّرح. .13قصّة الإسلام. “فتح النّوبة ومعاهدة البقط.” islamstory.com. نصّ المعاهدة كاملا مع تعليقات فقهيّة. (٢٠٢١). مجلة السودان، SUDAN JOURNAL, بلاد النوبة في العصور الوسطى (مملكة علوة ج ٢15 .حملة لإنقاذ ماتبقي من آثار عاصمة مملكة علوة المسيحية.[hindawi]16. The country of Sudan, from the history of sub-Saharan Africa.. The Kingdom of Maqra, construction and establishment, cte.univ.setif2.dz, Rosaelyoussefrkhalifa747@gmail.com The writer
