"Introduction" Sudan is a bridge of Arabism and Islam, dear to me as a Muslim, due to its Arab-Islamic status and role at the heart of the African continent, and the role it plays in attempting to imbue its lands with Arab-Islamic life and its relations with neighboring African countries.

Sudan was close to me in my academic studies for my Master's and Doctoral degrees, as Sudan and its relations occupied an important part of these two theses. The existence of the material in the content of these two theses motivated me to undertake this study. However, the circumstances were not suitable to proceed with the details of an Islamic study on Islam, especially since there are many books and research on that subject, but each of them dealt with the subject from a specific angle.

I came across a book about Sudan written by a Sudanese brother, published in Khartoum in 1975, which states verbatim: "We must not forget that Arabism is incidental to Sudan, just as Arabs are an incidental people to these lands."

This was a motivation for me to present this study, through which I proved that Arabism is deeply rooted in Sudan, indeed as old as the Sudanese people themselves. This is because archaeological studies have proven that Arabism in Sudan dates back to the seventh century BC, and that Arabism and Islam increased their role with the advent of the light of Islam and the encompassing of Sudan by those Quranic lights. Had it not been for the attempts at colonial evangelization, Sudan would not have suffered from the problem of the South, which continues to be an obstacle to Sudan's progress and development.

Hence, this study was a glimpse into Islam and Arabism in those lands, which play a major role in spreading Arabism and Islam across the African continent. 9