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Sudan's legendary Islamist takes a moderate view
Hassan al-Turabi invited Osama bin Laden to stay in Sudan in the 1990s. Now he pushes for reform.
from the June 13, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 4
"In Islam, the government is based on consultation and consent," he says. "We don't have a church. We don't have angels who come down to govern. When we imposed Islamic law [in 1991], we wanted to introduce religion so that it could supplement law, to mobilize religion in every citizen, because God is close to you and can guide your actions. To uproot corruption, people want to be democratic, they want to be equal under the law."
It's an argument that Turabi now uses against the military rule of Mr. Bashir – a regime he once backed – one that he argues has betrayed that vision of Islamic government. "It is just a dictatorship. The Darfur conflict is just a fight against a state that denied justice. That is all there is to it."
From hard-liner to reformer
The journey of an Islamist hard-liner – a man whom the 9/11 Commission Report says orchestrated a truce between Al Qaeda and the Shiite Islamic regime in Iran to "fight against a common enemy," Israel and the US – into a democratic reformer is one of the most dramatic in Sudanese history.
Some Sudanese question whether Turabi is merely a populist with a Karl Rove-like eye on the public mood, able to change his views in whatever way keeps him politically relevant.
Others see his recent statements as an attempt to overthrow the government of Bashir, a one-time ally who later jailed Turabi for his meetings with Southern Sudanese rebels and opposition leaders in Darfur.
Turabi himself argues that his mixture of orthodox and modern beliefs hasn't changed at all. He recalls arguments with Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s over the role of women in an Islamic society. In his eyes, Sudanese society is simply changing with the times, and moving in his direction.
A changing society
At night, like modern Middle Eastern cities such as Dubai, Cairo, and Beirut, Khartoum comes alive when the sun goes down and the searing heat of the day loses strength. The tree-lined promenade along the banks of the White Nile River, and the restaurant-lined sidewalks of Afriqiya Street – where older men suck on bubble pipes and unmarried young women and men file past one another and flirt – show a vibrant nightlife that was absent five years ago, when police would beat citizens thought to be behaving in an un-Islamic way.
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