M. Jalal Hashim
1. The Name of the Sect: The Dasūqiyya, Shādhaliyya
Burhāniyya Tarīqa, the Sons of Mawlāna Muhammad ‛Uthmān ‛Abdu
al-Burhāni. Al-Dasūqi and al-Shādhali are great Sufi shaykhs who died centuries
ago; by referring the Tarīqa (sect) to them, the Sufi schooling and
orientation is determined in a way that distinguishes it from other Sufi sects
which also have similar scholastic affiliations.
2. The Founder of the Tarīqa: Muhammad ‛Uthmān ‛Abdu Bilāl is a Nubian
from Halfa, from the Majarāb clan which claims to be descendants of the Hungarian
soldiers who came to Nubia
as part of the army of Sultan Selim the Second who invaded Nubia in the
mid 16th century. His family also claims to be descendants of
Prophet Muhammad of Islam. He died in 1982 in his house in Khartoum, Sudan.
He was over 80 years old.
3. The Origin of the Tarīqa: In the beginning, Shaykh Muhammad ‛Uthmān
‛Abdu was a follower of the Burhāmiyya Tarīqa led by the Nubian family
(from Halfa and the same clan also) of Bitēk. Due to his loyal and excellence
service of that Tarīqa, he was promoted to the status of a ‘shaykh’
which meant that he could also build up a group of his own followers on behalf
of the paramount Shaykh and under the banner of the same tarīqa, a promotional
privilege usually in practice among Sufi sects. When great Shaykh Bitēk died
some time around the mid 20th century, it turned out that the
majority of the followers were not well-prepared to have his son who was
supposed to take over from him as their new religious leader. He was seen as not
well-trained or well-qualified to run and manage the Tarīqa, a matter
also occasionally happens among Sufi sects. In such cases the followers are usually
tempted to change allegiance to the most charismatic one among the promoted
shaykhs who are mostly from outside the family of the paramount Shaykh of the
Tarīqa. In this case it was Muhammad ‛Uthmaan ‛Abdu who stepped forward to
assume the leadership of the Tarīqa. A bitter split followed as a result
of which Muhammad ‛Uthmān ‛Abdu al-Burhāni emerged with his own tarīqa
which he called the “Burhāniyya”, the word ‘burhān’ in Arabic means
‘evidence’. The Burhāmiyya tarīqa has continued to exist up to the
present but greatly eclipsed by the Burhāniyya.
4. The Emergence of the Burhāniyya: Muhammad ‛Uthmān ‛Abdu al-Burhāni began
gaining ground from Port Sudan,
where he used to be in charge of the bakery business of the Bitēk family, and
from Halfa, his home town. In very short time he succeeded in gaining the allegiance
of the local Nubians in Sudan and across the Egyptian borders by what they
believe to be ‘cleverness’ and ‘patience’, a matter that merited him the
nickname of “aadin duwwi”, i.e. the old hyena in Nubian language.
Lacking physical strength, fangs and claws, the aging hyena can only rely on
cleverness and ingenious tactics in hunting.
5. The National, Regional and International
Spread of the Tarīqa: Muhammad ‛Uthmān ‛Abdu al-Burhāni adopted a very tolerant way in
preaching his Islamic Sufi teachings which was very attractive. By his death his
followers did not only cover Sudan
and cut across many regional nationalities such as Egypt,
Syria and the Gulf, but also
drew followers from European countries such as France,
Italy and especially Germany. When
he died in 1982, his elder son Ibrāhīm took over. A similar split of leadership
like that lead by his father took also place, but Shaykh Ibrāhīm had survived
it. He succeeded in internationally expanding the Tarīqa with centres
almost all over the Arab world, Europe and America. In a personal
communication he claimed that his followers in Egypt alone mounted to about 10
millions with leading political figures among them. In Mid November 2003 he
died in his early sixties to be succeeded by his elder son who is in his mid thirties
and who had been living in Germany
as head of the Tarīqa branch there right to the moment of his father’s death.
