بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The People
Before I talk about what's happening in Sudan, I want to talk about who's there.
Sudanese people are some of the warmest, most generous people you'll ever meet. Hospitality isn't just a courtesy there, it's a way of life. A stranger at your door gets fed before they're even asked why they came. Tea is always brewing. Conversations are long and unhurried. Community isn't something you opt into. It's just how things work.
Sudan has produced poets, doctors, engineers, scholars, and activists whose contributions span the globe. The music, the food, the art, the deep roots of faith. Sudanese culture is rich in ways that don't get nearly enough appreciation. These are people with immense dignity, creativity, and strength.
That's who's caught in the middle of this.
What's Happening
In April 2023, war broke out between two armed groups: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the country's military, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a genocidal paramilitary group given legitimacy under the country's former dictator. Both are fighting for control, leaving no country behind in the process.
Foreign powers have also turned Sudan into a proxy war, advancing their own interests over natural resources, regional influence, and forcing a geopolitical realignment. The wellbeing of the Sudanese people is nowhere in that equation.
More than 150,000 people have been killed. Over 12 million displaced. 25 million in need of humanitarian assistance. Around 70% of hospitals in conflict areas are no longer functioning. Famine has been confirmed across multiple regions, with 4 million children acutely malnourished. The infrastructure of everyday life, gone.
Darfur and Blue Nile State are among the hardest hit. Communities there are being deliberately targeted. ⚠️ trigger warning. In January 2025, the United States officially determined that what the RSF is carrying out constitutes genocide.
It's Personal
I have family in Sudan. Friends. A community I grew up connected to. When I talk to relatives who've made it out, the stories are heavy. Homes they built over lifetimes, gone. Neighborhoods that were once full of life, unrecognizable. Electricity, clean water, a trip to the pharmacy. Things that used to be ordinary now feel like distant memories.
But even through all of that, what comes through in those conversations is resilience. Not the motivational-poster kind. The real kind, from generations of people who have always found a way through by doing what they do best: leaning on each other.
99 & Sudan
This is why I'm building 99 & Sudan, a project that brings together spiritual practice and direct support for the Sudanese people.
Handcrafted sibhas (prayer beads) and shawls that, with every purchase, fund humanitarian aid on the ground in Sudan. Something you hold in your hands every day during dhikr (remembrance). A physical connection between your faith and a cause that matters.
When you support this project, you're doing two things at once. You're providing real financial assistance that goes directly to relief efforts, and in Sudan, that money stretches far. The cost of feeding a family, supplying medicine, or providing clean water is a fraction of what it costs elsewhere. Your contribution has an outsized impact.
And then there's the du'a. Every time you pick up those beads, you're making du'a for our brothers and sisters in Sudan. With Allah, anything is possible. Combining that spiritual support with practical help is exactly what this project is about.
The project is coming together now. If you want to be part of it from the beginning, visit 99andsudan.com.
How You Can Help
You don't need to do everything. But you can do something.
Share the story. Talk about Sudan with the people around you. Every conversation helps.
📎 Links to articles, reports, and videos coming soon.
Give what you can. Organizations on the ground are doing critical work, and in Sudan, even small amounts go a remarkably long way.
📎 Links to causes and organizations coming soon.
Make du'a. Never underestimate the power of sincere prayer. The Sudanese people carry their faith through everything. Standing with them in that faith is standing with them in the truest sense.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, "Whoever witnesses something evil, let him change it with his hand, and if he is unable then with his tongue, and if he is unable then with his heart, but that is the weakest form of faith." — Ṣaḥīh Muslim: no. 49
— Neez