Editing Funj Sultanate (section)

===Religion===
====Islam====

[[File:Mosque of Sennar (Prudhoe).jpg|thumb|The mosque of Sennar in 1829]]

[[File:Sudanese mosque, mid-19th century.jpg|thumb|Simple village mosque in Upper Nubia, mid-19th century]]

By the time of the visit by David Reubeni in 1523, the Funj, originally Pagans or syncretic Christians, had converted to Islam. They probably converted to ease their rule over their Muslim subjects and to facilitate trade with neighbouring countries like Egypt.{{sfn|O'Fahey|Spaulding|1974|pp=31–33}} Their embracement of Islam was only nominal and, in fact, the Funj effectively even delayed the Islamization of Nubia, as they temporarily strengthened African sacral traditions instead.{{sfn|Loimeier|2013|p=141}} The monarchy they established was [[Divine kingship|divine]], similar to that of many other African states:{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=124}} The Funj Sultan had hundreds of wives{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=29}} and spent most of his reign within the palace, secluded from his subjects{{sfn|O'Fahey|Spaulding|1974|p=41}} and maintaining contact only with a handful of officials.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=130}} He was not allowed to be seen eating. On the rare occasion he appeared in public he did so only with a veil and accompanied by much pomp.{{sfn|O'Fahey|Spaulding|1974|pp=41–42}} The Sultan was judged regularly and, if found wanting, could be executed.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=129}} All Funj, but especially the Sultan, were believed to be able to detect sorcery. Islamic talismans written in Sennar were believed to have special powers due to the proximity to the Sultan.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|pp=128–129}} Among the populace even the basics of Islamic faith were not widely known.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=125}} Pork and beer were consumed as staple food throughout much of the kingdom,{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=124}} the death of an important individual would be mourned by "communal dancing, self-mutilation and rolling in the ashes of the feast-fire".{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=189}} At least in some regions, elderly, crippled and others who believed to be a burden for their relatives and friends were expected to request to be buried alive or otherwise disposed.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|p=129}} As late as the late 17th century the Funj Sultanate was still recorded to not follow the "laws of the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]]”, i. e. Islam.{{sfn|Spaulding|1985|loc=xvii}} Thus, until the 18th century Islam was not much more than a facade.{{sfn|Loimeier|2013|p=141}}

Despite this, the Funj acted as sponsors of Islam from the very beginning, encouraging the settlement of Muslim holy men in their domain. In the later period civil wars forced the peasants to look to the holy men for protection; the sultans lost the peasant population to the [[Ulama]].{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}<!--Peacoc 2012 From the seventeenth century onwards, Islam in the eastern Bil ā d al-S ū d ā n was transformed from being the preserve of the ruling elite to the faith of the masses p. 108-->

====Christianity====
[[File:Banganarti church, Sudan (cropped).jpg|thumb|The 11th century church of [[Banganarti]], formerly one of Christian Nubia's most important pilgrimage centres, remained a place of worship and habitation until the late 16th century.{{sfn|Zurawski|2012|p=24}}]]
The collapse of the Christian Nubian states went hand in hand with the collapse of the Christian institutions.{{sfn|Werner|2013|p=156}} The Christian faith, however, would continue to exist, although gradually declining.{{efn|name=fn1|"It is astounding how long the Christian faith managed to maintain itself beyond the collapse of the Christian realms, even though gradually weakened and drained."{{sfn|Werner|2013|p=174}} Already in 1500 a traveller who visited Nubia stated that the Nubians regarded themselves as Christians, but were so lacking in Christian instruction they had no knowledge of the faith.{{sfn|Hasan|1967||pp=131–132}} In 1520 Nubian ambassadors reached Ethiopia and petitioned the emperor for priests. They claimed that no more priests could reach Nubia because of the wars between Muslims, leading to a decline of Christianity in their land.{{sfn|Werner|2013|p=150}}}} By the sixteenth century large portions of Nubia's population would still have been Christian. Dongola, the former capital and Christian center of the Makurian kingdom,{{sfn|Zurawski|2014|pp=83–85}} was recorded to have been largely Islamized by the turn of the 16th century,{{efn|name=fn2|"The story of the Ethiopian monk Takla Alfa, who died in Dongola in 1596 (...) clearly shows that there were virtually no Christians left in Dongola."{{sfn|Zurawski|2014|p=84}} Theodor Krump claims that the people of Dongola, where he was detained in February 1701, told him that just 100 years ago their ancestors were still Christians.{{sfn|Werner|2013|p=154}}}} although a Franciscan letter confirms the existence of a community immediately south of Dongola practicing a "debased Christianity" as late as 1742.{{sfn|Zurawski|2012|pp=68–69}} According to the 1699 account of Poncet, Muslims reacted to meeting Christians in the streets of Sennar by reciting the [[Shahada]].{{sfn|Natsoulas|2003|p=78}} The Fazughli region seems to have been Christian at least for one generation after its conquest in 1685; a Christian principality was mentioned in the region as late as 1773.{{sfn|Spaulding|1974|pp=21–22}} The [[Tigre people|Tigre]] in north-western Eritrea, who were part of the Beni Amer confederation,{{sfn|Connel|Killion|2011|pp=121–122}} remained Christians until the 19th century.{{sfn|Connel|Killion|2011|p=507}}
Rituals stemming from Christian traditions outlived the conversion to Islam{{sfn|Werner|2013|p=177}} and were still practiced as late as the 20th century.{{efn|name=fn3|In 1918 it has been recorded that several practices clearly of Christian origin were "common, though of course not universal, in Omdurman, the Gezira and Kordofan". These practices involved the marking of crosses on foreheads of newborns or on stomachs of sick boys as well as putting straw crosses on bowls of milk.{{sfn|Crowfoot|1918|pp=55–56}} In 1927 it is written that along the White Nile, crosses were pointed on bowls filled with wheat.{{sfn|Werner|2013|pp=177–178}} In 1930 it was not only recorded that youths in the Gezira would be painted with crosses, but also that coins with crosses were worn in order to provide assistance against illnesses.{{sfn|Chataway|1930|p=256}} A very similar custom was known from Lower Nubia, where women wore such coins on special holidays. It seems likely that this was a living memory of the [[Jizya]] tax, which was enforced on Christians who refused to convert to Islam.{{sfn|Werner|2013|p=178}} Customs of Christian origin were also extensively practiced in the Dongola region as well as the Nuba mountains.{{sfn|Werner|2013|pp=177–184}}}}

From the 17th century foreign Christian groups, mostly merchants, were present in Sennar, including [[Copts]], [[People of Ethiopia|Ethiopians]], [[Greeks]], [[Armenians]] and [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]].{{sfn|O'Fahey|Spaulding|1974|p=68}} The sultanate also served as interstation for Ethiopian Christians travelling to Egypt and the [[Holy Land]] as well as European missionaries travelling to Ethiopia.{{sfn|Aregay|Selassie|1971|pp=68–70}}