Sudan National Anthem

نحن جند الله جند الوطن

Nahnu Jund Allah Jund al-Watan

We Are Soldiers of God, Soldiers of the Homeland

Written 1955

Adopted 1956

Lyrics Ahmed Muhammad Salih

Music Colonel Ahmed Morjan

✝ God / Faith ⚔ Battle / War 🚩 Flag 💪 Resilience | Fierce

Key Facts

1. The poem was first written for the Sudan Defence Force, the nucleus of the Sudanese army: it was chosen in 1955 from the entries to a public competition for poems praising the force, and at independence its opening lines became the national anthem.
2. Officially the anthem is called the Republican Salute, especially when it is played as instrumental music; it is also known as the Flag Anthem or the Flag Salute.
3. Sudan kept the anthem unchanged after South Sudan seceded in 2011, when the new state adopted its own song, 'South Sudan Oyee!'.
4. The opening line names the singer a soldier of God and a soldier of the homeland in the same breath, joining religious and civic duty.

Sudan National Anthem Lyrics

نحن جند الله جند الوطن إن دعا داعي الفداء لم نخن نتحدى الموت عند المحن نشتري المجد بأغلى ثمن هذه الأرض لنا فليعش سوداننا علماً بين الأمم يا بني السودان هذا رمزكم يحمل العبء ويحمي أرضكم

Translations are non-official and intended to convey meaning, not replace originals

Analysis

Editorial

Sudan adopted the anthem on independence day, 1 January 1956, as the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium dissolved. The poet Ahmed Muhammad Salih had written the words a year earlier, and Colonel Ahmed Morjan set them to music. The official text is a single eight-line stanza, the version published by the Sudanese embassy in Cairo and the consulate general in Jeddah. It is only the opening of Salih's poem: the remaining verses, beginning 'We are the lions of the jungle, the sons of wars', are not part of the official anthem. When South Sudan seceded in 2011, Khartoum kept the song unchanged.