Equatoria and Bahr el Ghazal. On this basis, Sudan had barely become acquainted with Arab Islamic culture when preachers arrived on a wide scale to spread the principles of the Islamic call extensively, according to the doctrines of the Jama'a and the Sunnah. The Hanafi school of thought spread widely, as did the Shafi'i school, although the Maliki school had preceded both in spreading throughout Sudan, where it held sway among the Sudanese people. If there was an intersection between Islamic traditions and local traditions, its effects were evident in some aspects of social life, in some systems of governance, or in inherited customs and traditions. However, all these manifestations had no discernible clarity in the field of Arab Islamic culture, as the culture that Sudan witnessed was purely Arab Islamic in its essence and appearance, with no Sudanese influences whatsoever. It was an Arab culture that differed little in all its aspects from the Arab culture brought from the Arabian Peninsula before its arrival in Egypt and the lands neighboring Sudan. This is because the land of Sudan did not witness ancient culture and civilization except rarely, unlike the Arab civilizations witnessed by the lands of Egypt and the Levant. Thus, if Mamluk culture had deep civilizational roots, it would undoubtedly influence the dominant Arab culture, resulting in the creation of a new civilizational pattern in Arab culture, with its tools of expression and inherited cultures, and its tools of thought. Hence, the incoming Arab culture to Sudan did not find an ancient culture of the type we referred to, and therefore was not influenced by any local traditions; rather, it appeared purely Arab. Hence, there is no trace of Sudanese or African depth in Arab Islamic culture in Sudan, although some opinions mention that the Arabic language has entered it and been influenced by some local languages such as Nubian, Beja, Nilotic, Negro, Kordofanian, and Fur. They cite the depth of African influence in the Sudanese dialect, which has become distinctive from other Arabic dialects. Indeed, there are many scattered words in the Arabic language in Sudan (the Sudanese dialect) that confirm the dominance of culture.