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Women and education
The following texts on women during the Mahdiya period in Sudan were prepared as part of the women’s exhibition at the Khalifa House museum in Omdurman that was reopened after extensive renovation in 2023, two months before the current war broke out.
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The role of women in education was well-known before the Mahdist Revolution. Quranic schools, called khalawi, were spread throughout most of the country and women from the families of Islamic scholars or Sheikhs, educated in the Qur’an, were often allowed to teach there. One such woman was Fatima bint Jaber from Kutranj near Karima in northern Sudan who was renowned for teaching the Quran with her brothers. In some areas, like the Beja region in Eastern Sudan, the khalawi system became dependent on women teachers. Some women became prominent Sheikhas in their own right and were well versed in Islam, so much so, they were able to establish their own khalwa, just like the khalwas in the Fur, Bargo and Masalit tribe areas. A good example is that of the famous Sheikha Aisha bint Al-Qadal who taught students in her khalwa in Jabal Awlia, on the southern outskirts of Khartoum.
This tradition continued during the Mahdist period and women continued to learn and teach the Quran and Quranic studies at the Khalifa’s Mosque in Omdurman and at women’s khalawi, like the Sheikha Khadijah Bint Al-Fakki Ali khalwa and the Sheikha Fatima Umm al-Nasr Bint Abu Rahala khalwa. Lessons would be held in the mornings and evenings and melodious chanting was used as a tool to aid students to memorise verses. Upon completing the lessons, the student was awarded a certificate called Al Sharaafah (the honour). During the celebration, the other students would brush a hand over the honoured student’s head after a meal of mulaah rob, a staple Sudanese dish made of cooked yoghurt.
Some of the sheikhas used to go around visiting homes in person to educate girls and women, the most famous of whom are Khadijah bint al-Sheikh wad Abu Safiyyah, who mentored the first female Education Inspector in Sudan, and the first Sudanese woman to establish a night school for women in Omdurman and the esteemed teacher Madinah Abdullah Abd al-Qadir.
Al-Sharifa Maryam al-Marghaniyah, who showed a lot of interest in women’s education, establishing mosques and khalawi (with sections designated for women’s education) in Haya, Sinkat, and Jabayt in eastern Sudan, is a more recent example of women in education. Until her death in 1952, Al-Marghaniyah contributed to supporting and supervising schools, paying salaries of some of the employees, and generally encouraging girls’ education.
The role of women in education was well-known before the Mahdist Revolution. Quranic schools, called khalawi, were spread throughout most of the country and women from the families of Islamic scholars or Sheikhs, educated in the Qur’an, were often allowed to teach there. One such woman was Fatima bint Jaber from Kutranj near Karima in northern Sudan who was renowned for teaching the Quran with her brothers. In some areas, like the Beja region in Eastern Sudan, the khalawi system became dependent on women teachers. Some women became prominent Sheikhas in their own right and were well versed in Islam, so much so, they were able to establish their own khalwa, just like the khalwas in the Fur, Bargo and Masalit tribe areas. A good example is that of the famous Sheikha Aisha bint Al-Qadal who taught students in her khalwa in Jabal Awlia, on the southern outskirts of Khartoum.
This tradition continued during the Mahdist period and women continued to learn and teach the Quran and Quranic studies at the Khalifa’s Mosque in Omdurman and at women’s khalawi, like the Sheikha Khadijah Bint Al-Fakki Ali khalwa and the Sheikha Fatima Umm al-Nasr Bint Abu Rahala khalwa. Lessons would be held in the mornings and evenings and melodious chanting was used as a tool to aid students to memorise verses. Upon completing the lessons, the student was awarded a certificate called Al Sharaafah (the honour). During the celebration, the other students would brush a hand over the honoured student’s head after a meal of mulaah rob, a staple Sudanese dish made of cooked yoghurt.
Some of the sheikhas used to go around visiting homes in person to educate girls and women, the most famous of whom are Khadijah bint al-Sheikh wad Abu Safiyyah, who mentored the first female Education Inspector in Sudan, and the first Sudanese woman to establish a night school for women in Omdurman and the esteemed teacher Madinah Abdullah Abd al-Qadir.
Al-Sharifa Maryam al-Marghaniyah, who showed a lot of interest in women’s education, establishing mosques and khalawi (with sections designated for women’s education) in Haya, Sinkat, and Jabayt in eastern Sudan, is a more recent example of women in education. Until her death in 1952, Al-Marghaniyah contributed to supporting and supervising schools, paying salaries of some of the employees, and generally encouraging girls’ education.
