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Most have been Muslim since the 13th
- Some of the Beja speak a Cushitic language they call To Bedawi, and some speak Tigre; many also speak Arabic. Many converted to Christianity in the 6th century, but most have been Muslim since the 13th.
www.britannica.com/topic/Beja-people
The Beja have partially mixed with Arabs through intermarriages over the centuries, [8] and by the 15th century, the Beja were Islamized. [8] The Balaw of the southern Red Sea coast may have come from the mixing of people from the Arab Peninsula and Beja people, but there has been significant historical dispute on this matter. [13]
Some of the Beja speak a Cushitic language they call To Bedawi, and some speak Tigre; many also speak Arabic. Many converted to Christianity in the 6th century, but most have been Muslim since the 13th.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nov 8, 2023 · The Beja people are a distinct social and cultural ethnic group in Sudan and Egypt that have suffered from neglect and marginalisation. They constitute the most extensive non-Arab ethnic group from the Red Sea to the Nile.
The Beja people are nomads who have occupied their homelands across the Sudan, Eritrea and Egypt for more than 4,000 years. Some scholars believe they are related to the ancient Egyptians. In the course of their history, they accepted Islam and are 99 per cent Muslim.
Dec 20, 2017 · The Islamic Beja took part in the significant Muslim outreach to Sudan, expanding southward. Beja men and their camels, Author: Nikswieweg CC BY-SA 3.0. By the 18th century, Hadendoa Beja dominated much of eastern Sudan. During the British colonial war known as the Mahdist War (the 1880s to 1890s), the Beja consequently fought on both sides.
In the late 1990s, the Sudanese army attacked Beja mosques and schools in a bid to displace Sufi Islam with Khartoum’s interpretation of Sunni Islam. Although the Beja joined the NDA’s eastern front in the rebellion against Khartoum, the Sudanese military was able to contain it.
It was a time when the Beja people felt neglected - and like many other communities in the country - squashed by the Islamist government.
