The Death of a Historian, the Endurance of a Legacy: Professor Ezz El-Din Omar Musa (1936–2026)

Professor Ahmed Ibrahim Abu Shouk

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When Professor Ezz El-Din Omar Musa left Sudan three months after the outbreak of the war on 15 April 2023, his departure was far more than a journey for medical treatment or a forced relocation into exile. It was a painful farewell to a homeland he deeply loved and to which he had devoted his life in the service of its history, its people and its students.

From New York, he wrote a moving letter filled with longing and sorrow, addressing all the people of Sudan:

“I remained among you during the first three months of the war, steadfast as you were. But my body grew weak, my bones became frail, my flesh diminished, and as I approached my ninetieth year, life hastened towards its end. Old illnesses resurfaced, and new ones emerged, leaving me gravely afflicted. I was carried, almost as an inert body, to New York on a difficult journey that only compounded my suffering.”

Later in the same letter, he revealed the deepest wish in his heart:

“Praise be to God, and thanks to His grace and your prayers, my health has improved considerably… I wished to remain among you, to die in your midst, for life and death are in God’s hands, and to be buried in our pure and blessed homeland.”

These were the words of a man worn down by age and saddened by the plight of his country, yet whose heart remained attached to Sudan until his final moments, hoping that his life’s journey would end among his people and upon its soil.

But the will of God prevailed over human wishes. Life spans belong to Him alone, and no soul knows in which land it will die.

At dawn on Sunday, 21 June 2026, I received the sorrowful message from my dear colleague, Dr Siddiq Omar Al-Siddiq, carrying news that shook me profoundly:

“Late last night in the United States, the distinguished scholar Professor Ezz El-Din Omar Musa passed away. May Allah shower him with His infinite mercy, grant him the highest ranks of Paradise alongside the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. To Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return. May Allah grant patience to all historians in this great loss.”

With the passing of Professor Ezz El-Din Omar Musa, Sudan has lost not merely a historian but one of its foremost intellectual and academic figures—a representative of a generation that carried the burden of knowledge and dedicated its life to research, teaching and the advancement of Islamic and African history.

Though his body departed far from the homeland he cherished, his rich scholarly legacy and enduring intellectual contributions will continue to bear witness to a lifetime of dedication. His memory will remain alive in the hearts of his students and admirers, in the pages of history that he devoted his life to studying and writing, and through the Al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam Centre for Arab, Islamic and African Studies, which he founded in 2005.

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Who Was Ezz El-Din Omar Musa?

Ezz El-Din Omar Musa was born on Tuti Island in 1936 into a family renowned for its scholarship and piety.

After completing his secondary education in Sudan, he moved to Lebanon, where he enrolled at the American University of Beirut. There, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Islamic History and a Diploma in Education in 1962, followed by a Master’s degree in Islamic History, specialising in the history of the Islamic Maghreb, in 1969. He later obtained his PhD in Islamic History in 1975.

His doctoral dissertation, “Economic Activity in the Islamic Maghreb during the Sixth Hijri Century,” would later become one of his most significant scholarly contributions.

After completing his undergraduate studies, he taught history in Sudanese intermediate and secondary schools between 1958 and 1966 while continuing his academic pursuits.

Following the completion of his doctorate, he served as a teaching assistant at the American University of Beirut before joining Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, where he worked from 1972 to 1983 and advanced through the academic ranks, attaining full professorship in African History in 1983.

In 1984, he joined the Department of History at King Saud University in Riyadh as Professor of Islamic History, spending twenty-five productive years engaged in teaching, research and academic supervision.

He concluded his academic career in Saudi Arabia by serving as Dean of the College of Strategic Studies at Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, before returning to Sudan at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century to continue his scholarly and intellectual contributions in service of his country and society.

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Selected Publications

Wafayat al-A’yan by Ibn Khallikan, Volume 8: General Indexes, co-authored with Widad Al-Qadi, Beirut: Dar Al-Thaqafa, 1972.

The Maghreb: The Almohad State and the Successor States from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century, co-authored with Osman Sayed Ahmed Ismail, in The Historical Atlas of Africa, edited by Crowder and J. F. Ajayi, London: Longman, 1981.

Studies in the History of the Islamic Maghreb, Dar Al-Shorouk, Cairo, 1983.

Economic Activity in the Islamic Maghreb during the Sixth Hijri Century, Dar Al-Shorouk, Cairo, 1983.

Ibn Sa’d and His Tabaqat, Dar Al-Gharb Al-Islami, Beirut, 1987.

The Almohads in the Islamic Maghreb: Their Organisation and Institutions, Dar Al-Gharb Al-Islami, Beirut, 1991.

Islamic Studies on West Africa, Historical Research Series, Saudi Historical Society, Riyadh, 1999.

West African Islamic Studies, Dar Al-Gharb Al-Islami, Beirut, 1999.

Arab Cultural Discourse between the Past and the Future, Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation, Amman, 2001.

Methodological Reflections on Concepts, Perspectives and Approaches, Dar Al-Gharb Al-Islami, Beirut, 2003.

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The Al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam Centre: A Lasting Legacy

Professor Ezz El-Din Omar Musa was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in 2003 for his book Economic Activity in the Islamic Maghreb during the Sixth Hijri Century, a scholarly work distinguished by its methodological rigour and objective analysis, making it an indispensable reference for researchers studying the economic life of the Islamic Maghreb.

The award also recognised his decades of distinguished contributions to authorship, teaching, academic supervision and active participation in scholarly conferences and forums.

Rather than limiting the prize to a personal honour, Professor Ezz El-Din chose to invest its proceeds in the service of knowledge and learning. In 2005, he established the Al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam Centre for Arab, Islamic and African Studies in Shambat, Khartoum North.

Since its founding, the Centre has become one of the leading intellectual institutions dedicated to Arab, Islamic and African studies, serving as a platform for scholarly dialogue and the discussion of Sudanese issues, while also recognising distinguished scholars in these fields.

Among those honoured by the Centre was Professor Yusuf Hassan Fadl, recipient of the Al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam Award for Science, Culture and Humanitarian Service in 2014.

May Allah have mercy upon Professor Ezz El-Din Omar Musa in proportion to the knowledge and service he bestowed upon his country and his nation. May He reward him abundantly for the enduring scholarly legacy and intellectual institutions he leaves behind, and grant him the highest place in Paradise among the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. What excellent companions they are.

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