It is a very individualist religion. The government is just using Islam as a political slogan to influence the masses. But the masses are not enthused. After the attacks of January 12, there was a lukewarm response to the government's jihad theatre, where imams in camouflage uniforms with AK- 47s and webbing exhorted the masses to rise against Jews, foreigners and infidels. All the big sheikhs are keeping silent.
Silence has great power.
The escalation in fighting has brought renewed hope that the deadlock might be broken. If victorious, Mahdi would grant southern Sudan the right to choose independence. Khartoum, in separate talks with a breakaway group of rebels, has also accepted the right of the south to hold a plebiscite to determine whether it would like to be independent. If two people are married, it is up to them to stay or to separate. But the war is far from over.