ABSTRACT
The mosque represents one of the most important Islamic institutions in rural areas of the Sudan; not only as a centre for Islamic ritual life but also as the focal point at which religious knowledge is disseminated and reproduced. Yet it is a latecomer to Zaghawa life, dating back only to the 1960s despite the fact that the Zaghawa, in general, are reported by Arab geographers of the eighth century to be a Muslim people. On the other hand, other revered objects such as sacred mountains (ha manda), sacred rocks (gorbu manda) and sacred trees, towards which ritual sacrifice is directed, have existed in the Zaghawa territory since time immemorial. Even today, after persisting for about twelve centuries within Islam and the introduction of Islamic institutions such as mosques, khalwas and formal education, these extra-Islamic sacred objects continue to command some of the religious and ritual loyalties of the Zaghawa, albeit with a perceptibly declining efficacy. This situation leads some of the Zaghawa to combine two apparently contradictory sets of ritual life and belief systems: one characteristically Islamic, where the prescriptions of the creed are upheld; and the other extra-Islamic, where behaviour that is characterized as non-Islamic or even pagan persists.
