Facsimile · p. 298
The scholars of studies had their importance in spreading religious studies, as Egypt, the Hijaz, and the Maghreb were rich with these Arabic linguistic studies in Sudan since the era of the Funj Sultanate, the Futur Sultanate, the Telli Sultanate, and before them the Kenz Sultanate. The sultans of those emirates and sultanates had good relations with scholars and others in the Arab countries. In addition to these good relations established by the Sennar court with scholars in Egypt and other Islamic countries, we find a group of scholars who came from various Arab regions teaching the sciences of the Arabic language, such as grammar, morphology, rhetoric, prosody, rhetoric, and logic. We find that the majority of scholars who taught these linguistic subjects had come from Egypt, such as Sheikh Muhammad Al-Masri and Sheikh Muhammad Al-Qanawi, who taught, alongside Islamic sciences, linguistic sciences such as grammar, morphology, prosody, rhetoric, and other sciences closely related to the Arabic language. We also find some students who studied in Egypt and learned there, such as Sheikh Ammar bin Abd Al-Hafeez, who studied and learned at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and taught the sciences of grammar and everything related to the sciences of the Arabic language and logic. A large group of Sudanese students took from Sheikh Ammar, who had importance in spreading the sciences of the Arabic language, such as Sheikh Abdullah bin Saboun, who excelled in the sciences of grammar, morphology, language, meanings, rhetoric, prosody, and others. He was also a brilliant and skilled poet. Also, the son of Shafi'i, who was also a skilled poet, studied under Sheikh Ammar bin Abd Al-Hafeez. A group of Sudanese sons also went to the Hijaz to perform the Hajj pilgrimage and to seek knowledge from the scholars of those lands in Mecca Al-Mukarramah and Medina Al-Munawwarah, and they took the sciences of the Arabic language from the sheikhs of these two cities, such as Sheikh Muhammad bin Adlan Al-Shafi'i, who studied Arabic science.