To whom does Sultan Ali Dinar speak?

A very important event held in Istanbul in recent days seems like the most meaningful and apt answer to many of the debates we are living through once again these days. The commemoration held in Istanbul on the 106th anniversary of the martyrdom of Ali Dinar, Sultan of Darfur, was a first in this respect.

When Türkiye and Sudan are mentioned together, speaking of deep brotherhood and affection is almost routine, but to understand what deeply rooted and entirely genuine reasons lie behind this routine, one must know and understand Sultan Ali Dinar. A commemoration is being held for the first time for Sultan Ali Dinar, who fell as a martyr 106 years ago while fighting on the side of the Ottomans against the British; yet from the standpoint of our real historical and geographical depth and our identity, this must be counted an unforgivable neglect. Still, better late than never.

It is an unforgivable neglect both because it makes us forget the depth and authenticity of the relations between Türkiye and Sudan, and because it is one of the best among many examples that can show the sophistry of the ignorant and hate-filled saying, "The Arabs stabbed us in the back, they betrayed us."

If the thousands of Arabs, Indians, Kurds and Albanians who lie together with their Turkish brothers at Çanakkale, at Sarıkamış and in many other cemeteries of the fallen do not constitute a sufficient answer, then Ali Dinar, like Sheikh Ahmed al-Senussi, is a perfect example to open blind eyes. But of course we are speaking of an answer to a sophistry. One must ask whether a sophistry can have an answer at all. Those who prefer to believe that sophistry, out of spite and hatred, deserve a different kind of answer.

When Ali Dinar came to the Sultanate of Darfur in the last years of the 19th century, the imperialist, occupying activities of the British and the French had spread across Africa in such a way as to leave not a single independent power. Ali Dinar was a sultan who tried to protect Darfur from this imperialist occupation as an Islamic homeland attached to the Ottomans, and who tried to make the Ottoman flag fly over these lands. To that end, through skilled political maneuvers against the British in particular, who surrounded him on every side, he rejected many British demands in the territory he governed and waged a genuine struggle for independence against them.

The French and British campaign of encirclement against the Ottomans had in fact begun long before the First World War, through Africa, Yemen and the Hejaz. In their activities in Africa, they found very serious and solid allies within an outlook centered on Ottoman Islamic unity and the Caliphate. Among these, the Senussi movement in Libya and the sultanate in Darfur under Ali Dinar, despite their disputes with each other, both remained loyal to the Ottomans until the last moment, and perhaps this loyalty was even the reason for their wars and defeats against the British; yet they never so much as complained about it, and took on even their defeats and martyrdom as a great mark of honor.

Otherwise, in truth, none of them had any reason to oppose the British other than loyalty to the Ottomans. As a rising power, the British were promising them rule, but they did not hold back from fighting the British in order to protect a Muslim land against the occupiers and in the name of loyalty to the Ottomans, to whom they felt heartfelt attachment.

When the letter containing the fatwa of jihad against the British declared by the Ottoman Caliph reached him, Sultan Ali Dinar, without a moment's hesitation, declared his independence by issuing a proclamation on 22 April 1915, cut off the tax he had been sending to the British until then, and formally declared jihad against Britain and its allies. In his letter in reply to Enver Pasha he would write: "I wanted to inform His Holiness the Caliph that, as soon as this war began between His Holiness the Sultan of Islam and the infidel and heretical British and French and their allies, for the sake of God and Islam I severed my relations with the unbelievers, regarded them as enemies and declared war."

This open stance of Ali Dinar, who until then had somehow gotten along with the British, though without fully submitting to their expansionist policies, was a decision that could, at first, change the balance of the war. Ali Dinar did not possess a power that could be ignored. Moreover, his choice to stand with the Ottomans with such words and such vehemence could set an example for other nations. For that reason, although the British had letters written to the ulama in an attempt to win them over and make Ali Dinar change his mind, the sultan did not change his opinion, and with all his means he fought, despite great hardship, on the side of the Ottomans against the British who fell upon him with their most modern weapons and armies. Until he was martyred on 6 November 1916 by a bullet that struck him.

His stance, his struggle and his martyrdom are witness to whose blood, and which feelings and thoughts, gave life to Türkiye's existence today.

To draw the attention of new generations to this martyrdom and to keep faith with Ali Dinar's witness, the Sultan Ali Dinar Museum House, restored by the TİKA Presidency, was handed over in July 2021 to the Sudanese General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums.

But before explaining Ali Dinar to the Sudanese, one must explain him to the people of Türkiye. For as far as I can see, our Sudanese and Arab brothers have not forgotten their ties with the Turks, but someone has taken great pains to make the Turks forget their presence, ties and heritage across this immensely wide geography of the heart.

And is there not at the same time a discourse of history and identity of ours that draws a measure of pride and boasting out of this very heedlessness toward that heritage? Should we not grieve over that too?