The major leader of the Sudan's Islamic fundamentalist movement, Hassan Abdullah al-Turabi (born 1932), served the Sudan in various capacities.

Born in 1932 in the town of Wad al-Turabi, Hassan al-Turabi led the Islamic fundamentalist movement, the National Islamic Front (NIF), which was influential in moving the Sudan toward being an Islamic state based on Islamic law. Turabi, the son of an Islamic legal judge, first attended the University of Khartoum, where he earned a law degree. Turabi elected to continue his studies in Europe. He first took a Master of Laws degree from the University of London, then a Doctorate in Laws from the prestigious University of Paris. With these solid academic credentials, Hassan al-Turabi returned to the Sudan, where he became known as one of his nation's leading experts on the Sharia, or Islamic law.

At the core of Turabi's thought was the belief that an Islamic state...