The morning breeze was cool but misleading. It promises a spring day, but as you cross the heart of the Sudanese capital Khartoum and reach the end of a long street your dreams dash with the bright sunlight, hot shade, watery eyes. The sings of false modernism/consumerism are everywhere from travel agencies to restaurants, money changers, providers of cheap calls on the Internet, mobile phone card centres, the commonest thing here everybody here is talking, talking, talking,

The street of memories

You try to ponder on the features of Al-Gomhuriya Street. Through this street, Gamal Abdul Nasser passed, (A park there still commemorates the memory of this leader, though its space has been reduced following the diminishing of the historical place of Nasser himself). Though this street, King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz also passed, so did Queen Elizabeth of Britain. The Sudanese talk about these events as if they had recently occurred: President so and so stayed here, the leader so and so walked here . This is strange in view of the fact that the Sudanese people's sense of history is the one thing that arouses their feelings and evokes their mood.

If you want to identify some of the features of the architectural style of this new city, Farouk Mosque will help you with its highly ornate and elaborate decorations and oriel windows, as well as its dome sand minarets. Built in the 13th century A.D., this mosque was rebuilt by King Farouk, the last king of Egypt in a style which combines Mameluke architecture in Cairo, and Islamic architecture in Africa. Though the Awqaf Authority restored its old name Devout Believers , the mosque is still popularly known as Farouk Mosque. The message is clear here. The authorities give names, and the people choose what they like. The same is true in other instances, when the government changed the time system. When you ask the time , people will ask you: old or new? The same thing applies to the new currency The Dinar . It exists only on paper. The currency is circulated as the Pound , which is equivalent to one tenth of the Dinar. There are always two types of discourse: the government's and the people's. About this difference a girl from the South told me how the Dinka (a tribe from the South) youth defeated the official discourse when a European delegation asked questions and the government s supporters gave rehearsed answers, but the Dinka people composed and played a song on the spot, its translation made the delegation understand their true political intentions.

Architecture in Khartoum is already facing an alienation dilemma. True, some new houses still retain a mix of the old Sudanese house with its courtyard and fence and the Nubian house along with the African house, but the glass fronts which don t suit Khartoum s environment at all, and tall concrete structures rise high towards the sky which was not covered even once with clouds during our visit, but was frequently covered with dust.

Sings of modernization are too many everywhere: banks, travel agencies (must be booming these days), and a European-style market. The Gordon studio was the first place where modern photography began four centuries ago. Al-Gomhuriya Street to the capital residents represents the good old days, the memory of sweet Rosana pies and sweets, the tailors of miniskirt (which the Sudanese nickname Jiksa in line 6 , in reference to the sixties and early seventies footballer Nasruddin Othman as he enters the short 6-yard area of the goal), creative writers' and artists' café's with distinctive cosmopolitan names like Lord Byron, Saint James, Shish Kebab, Cairo Galabiya, Cuba Cabana, Falafel, Rawdat-al-Medina, Athene and European shops as Conte Mokhlis, Mirza, Gimbert, Bon Marche', Alfred Debussy (and many others as reported by writer Muhammad-al-Asbat). But today s names refer you to different symbols such as Al-Sahhaf Grocery, Bin Laden Internet, Al Zawahri Communications, Sandy Juice, Sandra supermarket, Princess Coiffeur, etc., in addition to the words Islamic and international as adjectives describing everything and every shop. Miniskirts and Khartoum by night dresses have disappeared.

You all but doubt that Al-Gomhuriya Street and other old/new streets represent the rebirth of the capital. That may be the case over the gates of digital consumption. You need only to count the number of international communications and Internet navigation shops which are only challenged by the number of mobiles (and even overt decoder advertisements), restaurants serving meals whith an Arab (even in name only) flavour, pavement café's, dumped Chinese plastic goods which have made their presence strongly felt even in Omdurman s popular market in which the trade in ivory and stuffed animals is still legal, but societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals will some day lobby to ban that trade. Will other societies do the same concurrently or earlier?

The land of transformations

It seemed to me the country is moving to be a cultural mix being engulfed-like many countries with a similar economic standing-by the trends of globalized consumerion. I also imagined that digital plenty is nothing but an imaginary cover of a real crisis-economic and social. But I reconsidered my position when I started visiting new real estate investments, towers on the River Nile, five-star hotels to be shortly completed, international agencies of all famous brands in the world of fashion, sport, furniture, decoration, advertising and marketing. Sudan, in brief, has the two faces of everything: rickshaws and four-wheel drives together. Rickshaws were introduced during the economic crisis of 1993 as a form of cheap popular transportation, but luxury cars run in the streets with tomorrow's promising prosperity. During my stay in Sudan, I asked new questions seeking convincing answers in the light of what is on the surface, where a lot of money is wasted on the Internet and telecommunications. My main concern was looking for the new Sudan through those whom I meet and what I see. I already knew that the new country was in need of prominent figures in art, science and industries planning and building tomorrow s Sudan. It needs individual and national projects together working for the future of an Arab/African country. At Omdurman University I meet Professor Awn AL-Sharif Qassim, the author of A Dictionary of Colloquialism in Sudan and the encyclopedia Tribes and Genealogy in Sudan . He believes that the Sudanese dialects reflect the big human mix which earned the country its unity despite all such distinction. As the Arabs mixed with the original inhabitants, and so did their blood, their language mixed with other elements of these inhabitants as clearly seen in vocabulary, structures and pronunciation. In the dictionary we found many colloquial words borrowed or derived from a variety of dialects: European and Turkish, Syriac and Syrian, Begawi and Dongola, Classical and Colloquial, Arabic and Persian, Egyptian and Moroccan and hybrid. These dialects are mixed together as do the ingredients of the traditional Sudanese foul (fava been) dash. As Professor Qassim said, the 40 year civil war (2 stages) during the second half of the last century was the main reason for Sudan s current position. He hopes the peace treaty will chart a new road for a new Sudan, the Sudan of Arabic African culture. We know that wherever Arabic culture goes, it respects rather than obliterates local traditions and assimilates and coexists with them showing great tolerance. In this way, it stands in stark contrast to Western culture. We know that the originality of Arabic culture appears in the fact that it is represented in Sudan among a non-Arab atmosphere. I consider Sudan the starting point for the Arab nation in Africa despite others' attempts to thwart our efforts as representatives of Arabic and Islamic culture. Africa is the continent of Arabs and Islam, with three quarters of the Arabs living there. Sudan s exclusivity is manifest in the fact that it is a mixture of both cultures. It is the secret of its wealth and unity at the same time. he said

Cultural dreams

This cultural diversity made its presence in Khartoum s celebrations of its being the 2005 capital of Arabic culture. On my way to the office of Dr. Othman Gamaulddin, secretary-general of Khartoum s celebrations of its being the capital of Arabic and African culture (as appears on many posters). I contemplated the logo designed by artist Ahmed Abdul Al, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, who explained the logo: The white ox with its sharp horn represents two things: power and livestock as well as the African element, the pigeon is the symbol of peace (the peace of the mighty as the welcoming posters in Khartoum call); the above frame represents the Begrawiyah pyramids, the cradle of this southern civilization whose twin existed in other parts on the Nile, the three colours of water, meadows and desert, the letter (و ), is an Arabic semeiotic reference to Imam Tifashi s speech following Imam Mahdi s revolt. We are going to visit the Mahdi s Museum, which was his residence and office, and formidable fortresses. We are also going to see the colours of the real logo, through visiting the Begrawiyah pyramids and hear southern stories in which oxen play a key role, meet many people who are satisfied at the return of peace.

Cultural diversity, which revives the Arab African spirit, features prominently in the celebration programme, Arab cultural weeks parallel to Sudanese and African events, activities from Egypt, Kuwait, Syria and other Arab countries, shows from Djibouti, Ethiopia, etc., (we couldn t follow because of constant changes of schedules). With Muhammad Jabbarah, our companion from the Foreign Media Office of the Sudanese Ministry of Information we saw such cultural diversity at Omdurman market, in goods and people alike as well as at official level. This cultural diversity is a Sudanese coin with two sides-Arab and African. This is officially recognized in the celebrations: a firm belief in a unified Arab Sudan, with a cultural production reflecting this, which was impossible before peace reigned.

This cultural (folkloric) diversity is not alone in drawing the picture of future Sudan. The homecoming Sudanese dream of playing a more important cultural role; following stability and peace. In a three-storey house having a gallery and an open studio we stayed for some time with artist Rashid Diab who returned from Spain after 20 years practicing and teaching art in Madrid. Asked why he came back he said Sudan is witnessing a historic turning point and only its expatriate creative artists, writers and scientists are able to build the new Sudan. Brain drain leads to further deterioration and suffering. I came back as others did, to where the soul is. However long the body may live abroad, it must look for its real roots. I have previously called for a cultural revolution, and my call was not taken seriously, but today I am proud that my occupation is labelled artist . In this way art has been rehabilitated and so has a country that practiced art for five decades, highlighting the image of true-art not folkloric Sudan". Diab welcomed an art female student who started working on a new painting, perhaps marking the beginning of a biography of an artist we may meet in a forthcoming Exploration.

Not only did Diab talk to us but he also invited us to a oasis he is setting up at the outskirts of Khartoum to be a paradise for artists from all over the world. We toured the area with him explaining what we saw and what we didn t saying: Artists will sit here in a café surrounded by African flowers. There will be workshops for sculptors and graphic printing here. A college of fine arts will be established here along with five villas for the accommodation of artists from around the world. Diab s dreams grew around the place as did violet flowers in the flower-bed of the future. The place will be an international centre for art matching Sudan s standing , he said, putting a mosaic piece on the future portrait. The place has started to receive guests, artists and poets making the place at night a charming site.

Huge oak trees grow from small seeds. There are many national art projects like the Two Nile Biennial , the first of its kind in Sudan. As its general coordinator Abdul Wahhab Al-Dardeeri said: Launched for the first time next October, the biennial will crown a long-awaited Nilotic dream and mark the opening of the biggest gallery in Sudan and will house the works of the fifty plus participating countries. Its activities will include awards, honours, workshops, etc.

Al-Dardeeri is optimistic about the current situation and future of art in Sudan. Preparing for his next exhibition about peace, he answered my question about the shortage of exhibitions quoting an official statement: Every wall in Sudan is an open gallery . This proved to be true as we visited an exhibition of a young female artist in the German Cultural Centre in Khartoum, and a repeat exhibition of a late artist in the French Cultural Centre. This is also true as a swimming pool displayed children s paintings, one of which shows the South shaking hands with the North in peace (Othman Ali Ahmad and John Garang), while two pigeons flying two olive branches, indicting that peace brings about prosperity and smiles.

Al-Dardeeri s interest in fulfilling his dream in art and his national dream to sponsor the biennial is combined with sponsoring a band of young men reflecting the image of tomorrow s Sudan. In line with his belief that art has its roots in daily life, along with Sudanese tribal life, the band Balambou Stars represents all Sudan s regions-again a reflection of cultural diversity and a true art representative of the Sudan abroad. The band gives a special performance for Al-Arabi , where tunes from the South reach the mountains of Nubia, which Zannoubah, the heroine of an Arabic song belongs to, and African rhythms mix with Sudanese tunes, all indicating Sudan s rich cultural diversity.

In a dialogue with the Minister of State in the Sudanese Ministry of Culture, Siddiq Al-Mujtabi, we talked about the challenges and mechanisms of cultural development and intellectuals dreams. He has an ambitious plan to put a cultural strategy into practice, mainly the cultural cities project, to turn cities in all provinces into special cultural centers with internal exchange in support of peace, to promote Sudanese culture abroad. He also has plans for everything: cultural industries and creative writers and artists sponsorship, infrastructure, including cinemas, theatres, galleries, libraries, etc., thus making cultural diversity an element of unity rather than fragmentation.

Touring different regions of Sudan, distressing scenes of daily life shook the ideal image the Minister talked about. I didn t understand the reason for such a poor standard of living in the area surrounding the Begrawiyah pyramid region, e.g., though it can be an international cultural centre. The only hope in my view is to turn daily life practices into cultural production. If this begins today and continues diligently, it will bear fruit in ten year's time. In this way the ideas of cultural cities and centres, development and intellectual property are not mere talk in a book of a utopian and impossible city.

On my way to the pyramids I was most moved by the spirit of rescue and help shown by humble residents in many situations. It seems our driver wanted to be included in the Guinness Book of Records in the number of times the car was stuck in the sand during a very short time. That happened more than ten times in not more than a 100-metre distance. Children and young men used to hurry to clear the wheels of the sand. That happened only once on our way back when we were rescued by a huge truck in a big road digging project operated by Chinese workers many of whom are involved in projects in Sudan.

Women's voices

Dialogue with Amal Abbas, chair of the editorial board of a multimedia group, was important because through it I was able to identify women s role in tomorrow s Sudan and a brief historical background, as she is a prominent figure in Sudan s women s movement: Sudanese women have their own issues which do not clash with public issues but are used as a forum for expressing national aspirations. Women s education lagged a whole century behind men s education; however, women, fully aware of social causes, soon absorbed political issues and looked forward to the future. There were women prisoners in political struggle. It is true that there is something similar to a regression in women s movement, but not all gains can be lost. Sudanese women have been enjoying full political rights since 1969. They have the right to vote and stand for election. There are women ministers, ambassadors, MPs and key members of the civil society. Even after 1985, women didn t lose their rights under the rule of political parties. Although the women s movement has had some support since 1985, they didn t lose their rights, thanks to the irresistible movement in spite of the fact that some areas, such as the judiciary and banking, are closed to them, which represents covert discrimination. There is only one woman cabinet minister-of social affairs , she said.

Amal went on explaining how the Governor of Khartoum issued a decree banning women from working in certain fields. That triggered the state-run Women s Union to file a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court, which was about to rule abrogating the decree, but the matter was shelved. The Governor was transferred to another position, which means that the argument over women s rights is still going on, in spite of the news blackout.

Women remain the voices expressing their country s problems over the years. The young female writer, Hadia Hasaballah, lecturer at Oprphans College and the first woman president of a cultural society in Sudan, cites a popular ritual still practised in the countryside as an example of the low status of women in Sudan: a male afterbirth is buried beside a waterwheel, where a man is attached to his land, whereas a female afterbirth is buried in a kitchen-a symbol of attachment to home and service.

Hadia and her husband received us in their home in a Khartoum suburb. She remembered how her father accustomed her to buying 'Al-Arabi'. She recalled blatant discrimination between boys and girls during her early school years. In the first story entitled Amal and Badr she read: Amal lost the pen and burst to tears; Badr found the pen and was happy . That was negative education, always laying the blame at women s doors. Though discrimination receded a little, its legacy is still heavy and it restricts women's writings in Sudan and makes them subordinate to men s writings.

Hadia looked at the picture from within; poet and media magnate Rawda Al Hajj from without. At the cultural events she shared in with other Arab poets in various capitals she discovered how the currents of modernism affected Arabic poetry abroad more rapidly than locally, perhaps because the season of migration to Sudan has just begun. Her poetry is influenced by and is subordinate to the masculine image, as reflected in the eponymous poem in her anthology "The Heart Confesses on the Shore".

Female southerners in the North

The controversial presence of Sudanese women is felt not only in the social and cultural street, but also in the educational institutions. We see women everyone-in Girls' University of the Orphans in all Sudanese cities, labs, libraries, entertainment corners, where female students are not different from their Arab counterparts, except for the resources. The university is a vivid example of North-South communication where dialects and vocabulary mix in a melting pot to chart a promising future.

We were planning a trip to the South, but the South itself came to us, not only in the southern children s exhibition and music band, but also the southern women who came-housewives, students, labourers. The southern girl Seela (from Juba), who studies family health at the Orphans University, is a versatile person. She represented her country as a basketball player in Lebanon. She is also multi-ethnic: her mother was Ugandan, her father Sudanese and they met in Cairo where they lived until the father died and the daughter moved to the North to complete her studies. She talks a lot about art and sings, and she has her own views in politics. As to lifestyle she says: We should not succumb to the idea of polygamy which the former generations had accepted .

Mary and Rebecca participated in an exhibition of southern Sudanese arts staged in the presidential place. Talking about the rituals of engagement and marriage Mary said: young girls sit with young men for acquaintance sake which is deemed a proposal of marriage in a friendly atmosphere. If the girl accepts the proposal, she is given a cow! Mary explained: Dowry in the North takes the form of piastres (cash); cows in the South. Once the young men and women agree, men come and sit together-the girl s father and his brothers, and the young man s father and his brothers-to agree the number of cows to be given as dowry to the girl. The number of cows could perhaps be fifty to be distributed to the girl s family, brothers and paternal male cousins and others. Then it is the turn of mothers: both mothers and their friends and relatives come for agreement and blessing. Girls are considered a wealth and their marriage brings blessings for all. Presents to the bride also include cows, but, in contrast to the North, she is not given any clothes or trousseau .

Mary continued: Groups are invited to the wedding. They visit families, friends and neighbours. Girls enter homes and share in dancing. The wedding date is announced and the wedding night takes place in the bride s home, (then she moves to her husband s home), and the elders come with a cow, and water is sprinkled over the bride, and reading rituals are performed which culminate in prayer for good offspring. Girls in the South are betrothed in recognition of their family and its name. A girl who has brothers is preferable. The southern wife plays a key role in helping her husband, and if she doesn t give birth he divorces her or marries another wife . Praising the southern wife Mary continues: as soon as the southern husband enters his home, his wife hurries carrying a glass of water and enquires about his health and work . She laughs saying: In contrast to what happens in the North, when the husband asks his wife to get him a glass of water, she answers: in the fridge. "The southern woman has greater endurance. I ve trained as an administrative officer in local government. Marriage in the South is successful among the different tribes, especially the Nilotic ones, but the level of success of North-South marriages is still low .

Not far from wedding songs, we accept an invitation published on the front page of the Ra'y Al-Am daily on the occasion of its sixtieth anniversary to attend a so-called iffa (chastity) wedding party: a group wedding party organized by a leading bank in Khartoum. We went to the party to find many guests and only a few bridegrooms, who were warmly received and promised by the bank official more special presents than the latecomers. Recitals from the Holy Quran, ceremonial words, group evening prayer, band, songs and an evening ushering in a new era of non-conventional parties (or everything looks in Sudan). The most interesting thing I heard was a promise (as a threat) from the official that no employee may remain single any longer. Girls attending the party smile, perhaps waiting for future husbands among the banknotes! But stereotyped Sudenese wedding parties are still found in the Diplomats' Club where nearly a thousand well-wishers bless the wedding of a Gulf bridegroom coming to Sudan to get married during the season of migration to his country.

From Marwi to Kenana

The road to the Marwi Dam recalls a famous patriotic song: We said we would build the High Dam and we did . Paved and unpaved roads, with the sound of the four-wheel-drive mixing with the song Beautiful and Impossible sung by Muhammad Wardi, describing the project, and we witnessed turning it from impossible , to a reality.

Lay-bays on the road are nothing but brick shades. There were many checkpoints. The sun rose and soon became in the middle of the sky, and before setting we arrived at our destination. Another example of fruitful cooperation in development projects we saw after a special flight on board a small two-engine plane (the plane landed smoothly once through heavy clouds at Kenara and another time through dust at Khartoum a skilled pilot). During our visit to Kenara Sugar Co. we were received by Muawiya Badawi Muhammad Ali, General manager-administration and services. He told us the company celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, and it founded a new city almost from scratch. It provides all services and facilities for its 16,000 workers (half of whom scosonal): housing (2600 accommodation units fully supplied with all modern amenities) and education (33 primary and secondary schools and 26 kindergartens for 14,000 pupils, one of whom was the top secondary school leaver last year). The nearest school before the city was founded was 150km away! There is also a branch of Omdurman Islamic University (1600 students in seven colleges) as well as a sugar technology college. The Sudanese are so highly experienced in this industry that they started exporting their expertise abroad (in annual contracts, as in Nigeria a few days before we arrived in addition to training African students from Ethiopia, Kenya, etc.).

The Kuwaiti share is the biggest after that of the Sudanese government (66%). Saudi Arabia and other Sudanese and Gulf companies also shared in creating the Kenana utopia. The factory was designed to process 17,000 tons of sugar daily, and it produces 300,000 tons of sugar (four varieties) p.a., in addition to two varieties of molasses and other by-products such as animal feed and fuel. The project s water supply is provided by six irrigation stations through a main 37km canal and 340km ancillary canals-longer than the distance between Kenana and Khartoum.

Al-Arabi s tour included visiting agricultural and industrial workshops, the nursery and the family of our friend Abdulaziz, the media officer on site. We were greeted everywhere and were told that they kept copies of the magazine since its earliest days. In the hospital we saw other forms of Arab cooperation through the visits by Egyptian doctors to perform operations every few months. The hospital also has links with research centres in Africa and Europe (More than twenty PhDs and Master holders work in the research centre which has consultations with academic institutions in Sudan). In their book about Kenana, "The Kingdom of Green Gold", Othman Abdullah Al-Nadhir, the company s managing director, and Jovand Tatari Desai talked about this academic achievement in the heart of the Sudanese desert. I have read this book as translated by Dr Muhammad Nouri Al-Ameen and revised by the late scholar Dr Abdullah Al-Tayyib, President of the Academy of Arabic in Sudan. On the return journey we sang the song My lover in Kenana , one of the songs stemming from the city s new image, or as the writer says: your ways are as sweet as Kenena s sugar, and delicious as the Hall of Friendship . We have actually tasted the sugar amid the roll of the huge machines. As for the Hall it receives Khartoum s guests as a modern landmark of the city and is only popularly matched by a new Sudanese-Turkish joint venture shopping mall which is visited by many thousands who find it photographed on a modern post stamp in Khartoum.

The Quranic City

During my Sudanese trip I went on looking for the common thread that runs through all the scenes-people living in impoverished areas despite being near the rich Begrawiya antiquities, the simple and humble, those aspiring for affluence in future projects, the ambitious and greedy, and multi-culture singers. I was trying to identify the Sudanese personality traits holding the keys to future transformation, asceticism and tranquility on the one hand, and determination on the other. Our journey outside Khartoum to the town of Omdhuban may offer the answers. Not all those flocking to Sudan during the migration season are temporal-end seekers, thousands of them are spiritual-end seekers.

By the kind permission of our friend Shamsuddin, a resident of Omdhuban, I met the freedom-fighter Sheikh Al-Tayyib, the current sheik of Al-Qadria order, and the sixth great grandson of the founder of the Quaranic Khalwa (retreat): Sheikh Al-Ebaid Wid Badr. The Khalwa has been training its pupils for 162 years to learn the Holy Quran by heart and related studies. In the presence of the Sufi sheikh, and asked about the number of disciples, Shamsuddin said they were many and increasing. Although there is no contact between most Sufi orders in Sudan and aboard, support from Allah does not stop. We were most warmly welcomed. Many people came to see the sheik for advice on spiritual and temporal matters which is only interrupted for prayer. After the evening prayer we toured the place where food is cooked and there are classrooms with 500-1500 pupils not from Sudan alone (again the North meeting the South) but from other African countries. The pupils learn the Quran by heart and memorize it within three to five years free of charge. The Khalwa's sheikh bears all expenses in terms of accommodation, meals and clothing. Admission is open to pupils from the age of seven to seventy. The pupils go home for a few days during public holidays. The sheikh secures education from the Khalwa stage to university. The pupils study at an institute for six years, two of which for Quranic recitation (tajweed). Establishing a university for Quranic studies is planned.

The pupils get up three hours before the dawn prayer during which time they read the Quran and after the prayer they continue studying until breakfast. Then they go to bed until the noon prayer, following which they continue studying lessons which they are required to show that they know by heart before their sheikhs in the evening. When the muezzin calls to the evening prayer, everybody comes from everywhere in the green buildings for prayer in neat rows on the sand. As soon as the prayer ends, all pupils sit round the sheikh reciting in such a loud voice that is heard even by women from behind a wall and those taking shelter in Omdhuban. In the Islamic library, in which Sheikh Omar Al-Ebaid Salih Badr collected his cultural wealth, we saw earlier issues of the magazine. He remembered: Following my retirement as a teacher I decided to benefit the Khalwa s pupils from what I had benefited, so I established this library with reference works and periodicals as well as the historical maps which I drew explaining the struggle of sheikh Al-Ebaid Wid Badr who defeated the British in more than one battle to be used by the institute s and Khalwa s and the town s people. We collected these issues of the magazine through subscriptions during our school days, I remember that writer Al Tayyib Salih, who taught me at intermediate school, wrote this on the blackboard in the first period: How to become a writer , and advised us to read Al-Arabi and Al-Hilal Book. I wish I could complete the missing copies of Al-Arabi to provide Omdhuban s residents with what was available to us during our youth". As Al-Tayyib Salih s name was mentioned I told him he won the Arabic novel award a few weeks earlier and I would borrow the title of his novel The Season of Migration to the North for my next article, particularly in view of the fact that he himself would return to Sudan after about a 14-year absence.

I was asked to listen to one of the pupils in the Quranic City, so I called a boy, Muhammad, who recited some verses of the Holy Quran, pointing out a basic feature of Sudan: presenting Islamic culture in Africa in the past and future alike, the Khalwa s, exclusivity represents support for development, peace and tolerance, against ignorance, intolerance and poverty. As Sudan needs formal education, scientific conferences, large projects, individual cultural initiatives and national dreams, the Quranic City can support progress in underdeveloped outlying areas and mix cultural diversity with the essence of the Quran, which calls for equality and peace in Sudan, a country which, like the phoenix is trying to dust off ashes and reach its neighbous and peers with its wings, so that its Arab character may remain alive, like the fire which is never extinguished in Omdhuban!