Chapter Six. Growing up in a Qadi’s home: Hasan Al-Turabi and his theology of modernity

Abstract

In discussing the Manichaean set-up in colonial education in Sudan, the author stated that ʿAbdalla al-Turabi, Hasan's father and a qadi with the Judiciary, was the first exception to the British rule not to appoint graduates of al- Mahad al-ʿImi to government service. This chapter discusses al-Turabi's theology as it bears on tradition and modernity, based on his numerous pamphlets and books written mostly in Arabic. As he reserves his most intimate insights on this theology for his interviews, the author also rely on interviews, including my 1996 session with him, to bring out the politics of this theology. Unlike his critics, who picture him sitting 'astride modernity and tradition'? The chapter that al-Turabi is at home in both 'tradition' and 'modernity' as he understands the terms. Al-Turabi's theology of modernity is not a mere synthesis of tradition and innovation as suggested by el-Affendi.Keywords: ʿAbdalla al-Turabi; Hasan Al-Turabi; modernity; Sudan