Dear Friends,

  It was with deep sadness that I read, on the pages of al-Midan, the news about the death of Prof. Muhammad Said al-Qaddal, the historian of the Sudanese people.

  Ever since I began my research on the modern history of Sudan, Prof. al-Qaddal has been my “murshid” and my “ustadh”. When I visited Sudan for the first time in 1985, he was just beginning to publish a series of his remarkable works on Sudanese history such “ Imam al-Mahdi: A Portrait of a Sudanese Revolutionary” and “The Economic Policy of the Mahdist State”, and I shall never forget the strong impression these works made on me.

His narrative of the Sudanese history was always based on the careful examination of the socio-economic condition and class structure of Sudanese society. At the same time, his way of analysis was never mechanical, and he vividly demonstrated the dynamic process of interactions between different social forces and areas which constituted Sudan. He was also keen on the point that a historian should present a comprehensive picture, and this attitude later developed into his another important book, “The Modern History of the Sudan”, the first full-fledged history of modern Sudan written in Arabic by a Sudanese historian.

  It was Prof. al-Qaddal who suggested to me that I should publish a series of my articles on the 1924 Revolution in the form of a book. Without his guidance and encouragement, I would have been unable to continue my research on Sudanese history.

  Prof. al-Qaddal was a simple, modest, and warm-hearted person. Great scholar as he was, he was without any trace of self-conceit. He always sympathized with the weak and the oppressed, and was willing to help his friends.

  Please accept my condolences and heartfelt sympathies. I am sure his memories will long be cherished by all his friends and colleagues, and his works will remain indispensable sources for the students of Sudanese history.

Yoshiko KURITA

(Professor of the Sudanese History, Chiba University, JAPAN)

January, 2008