Ismail Al-Azhari - Political Formation

Political Formation

In 1943 al-Azhari and his supporters from the congress formed the Ashiqqa (Brothers') party, the first true political party in the Sudan. His main support came from the Khatmiyya brotherhood, one of the two main Muslim groups in the country. When the more moderate nationalists formed the Umma Party in 1945, its principal support came from the chief rival of the Khatmiyya, the anti-Egyptian Mahdist sect.

Between 1944 and 1953 al-Azhari, as the leading advocate for uniting the Sudan with Egypt, fought tenaciously against any act which appeared to weaken the "unity of the Nile Valley". Thus, in 1948 he boycotted the elections to establish a legislative assembly in the Sudan, and his propaganda and demonstrations led to his arrest and imprisonment for subversion in 1948-1949.

The Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which ended the regime of King Farouk I, dramatically changed the situation in the Sudan. Farouk's government had exerted all its influence to unite Egypt and the Sudan and block Sudanese independence. Egypt's new leaders, Muhammad Naguib, who was half-Sudanese, and later Gamal Abdel Nasser, were more willing to permit the Sudan to achieve independence.

In February 1953 an agreement was reached between Egypt, the Sudanese, and their British rulers for a transition from co-dominium rule to self-government within three years, followed by an election to determine the future relationship between Egypt and the Sudan. Although his imprisonment and the quarrels within his own party had for a time undermined al-Azhari's power and prestige, he was able to reunite his followers under the banner of the National Unionist Party (NUP) in time to campaign vigorously for the combined parliament and constitutional assembly which was to rule the Sudan for the next 2 years. Throughout the campaign al-Azhari emphasized his hostility to the British and his support for Egypt so that when the NUP won a victory in the elections of 1953, it was widely regarded as a victory for al-Azhari's efforts to link the Sudan to Egypt.