With a little reflection and contemplation, as well as study, we can see that the Zionist interest in Sudan is not only driven by political and strategic motives aimed at fragmenting it and plunging it into conflicts, thereby entrenching division, backwardness, dependency, and poverty. This is something openly stated by Zionist leaders and thinkers, as a strong Sudan would pose an existential threat to the entity occupying Palestine. This entity cannot live in safety, stability, progress, or prosperity and would not even have a survival chance, except in a backward, conflicted, fragmented Arab and Islamic environment. In truth, there are other religious, Torah-based, and Jewish heritage motives behind the Zionist interest in Sudan, which we will attempt to discuss in this article.
Debate over the Birthplace of Prophet Moses (PBUH)
In 2017, former Sudanese Minister of Culture Ahmed Osman made statements saying, “The Pharaoh of Prophet Moses’s story was Sudanese.” These statements sparked a wide debate on social media, to the extent that the Egyptian government expressed its regret over the controversy caused by these statements.
Sudanese writer Nile Abdulqader Abu Qaroun mentioned that Prophet Moses and Pharaoh were Sudanese and that their famous story took place in an area in northern Sudan, or the land of Nubia. He noted that he based this analysis on Quranic ayahs and what he claimed were archaeological discoveries supporting his view.
This was detailed in Abu Qaroun's book titled “Moses, A Prophet from the Land of Sudan.”'
Supporting this view, the Book of Numbers, one of the Torah's books, mentions that Prophet Moses (1526–1406 BC) married a Cushite (Sudanese) woman, which caused his siblings Aaron and Miriam to complain (Numbers 12). This opinion finds some acceptance in certain cultural circles.
Even Al-Tabari’s tafsir describes Prophet Moses with Sudanese characteristics, saying, “Moses (PBUH) was a man of dark complexion, with a hooked nose, curly hair, and tall stature.” (The History of the Prophets and Kings, Dar Al-Fikr, p. 290)
Sudan in the Torah
Sudan has a notable presence in the Torah, being mentioned over 25 times. The original Hebrew and Aramaic texts use the word “Cush” to refer to the land of Sudan, but the Greek and Latin translations of these texts render Cush as Ethiopia, indicating present-day Sudan. The Greeks referred to the land of Cush as Ethiopia, a Greek term meaning the land of black or sunburned faces. In the Torah, Cush is the son of Ham, the son of Noah, and the land of Sudan in the Old Testament is named after him: “Therefore, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste from Migdol to Aswan, as far as the border of Cush.” (Ezekiel 29:10)
In this prophecy, God announces His intention to bring destruction and devastation to the land of Egypt, from the city of Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south, reaching the borders of Cush (Sudan).
It is observed from the text that the border of Egypt with Sudan was at Aswan, which is nearly identical to the current border.
It is written in “Isaiah 43:3”: “For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead,” and in “Amos 9:7”: “Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites?” declares the LORD. It is mentioned in “Nahum 3:9”: “Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength,” and in “Isaiah 18:1”: King Taharqa sailed after his father Piye to the Fertile Crescent to protect Jerusalem from the Assyrians. (Piye and Taharqa were Cushite Pharaohs who ruled the Nile Valley up to Palestine.)
Sudan and Solomon's Temple
Sudan holds special significance for certain Jewish religious groups that believe large parts of Sudan are where the Prophet Moses lived, where he was born, cast into the river, and rescued, as well as where he met the righteous man at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile.
There is a large rock marking the site of this meeting, which Jews visit annually. These groups are also interested in eastern Sudan, as they believe the Prophet Moses spoke to God on some of its mountains (noting that Jewish groups do not universally agree on this view, and most Muslims do not support it).
Reports have circulated about the cutting of a mountain in this region since the era of Gaafar Nimeiry, continuing into the early 2000s. Its stones were exported to a European country and used to prepare the components of the alternative Solomon's Temple, which the occupying state dreams of replacing the Al-Aqsa Mosque with. These stones were transported to occupied Palestine, as rabbinical rulings require the temple to be built from blessed stones according to Torah laws.
Zionist writings claim a historical Jewish presence in Sudan, exaggerating it based on religious interpretations of certain Torah texts. The Old Testament, Genesis 15:18, states: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.” The “river of Egypt” is interpreted as the Nile, thus including most of Sudan in the land between the Nile and the Euphrates, the alleged land of the children of Israel.
Thus, it can be inferred that the Zionist interest in Sudan goes beyond merely plunging Sudan into crises and conflicts to keep it weak, poor, and backward, despite its enormous potential and strategic location. The Zionist involvement in Sudanese affairs and conspiracies has deeper motives, including establishing a foothold in Sudan and controlling parts of it based on dubious historical and Torah interpretations.
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- Cairo Responds After Uproar Over “Sudanese Pharaoh of Moses.”
- “Sudan Through the Centuries” by Dr. Makki Shabeka.
- Sudan in Biblical Texts.
- “Moses, A Prophet from the Land of Sudan” by Nile Abdulqader Abu Qaroun.
Read the Article in Arabic
