The book investigates the Islamic renewal in Sudan as symptomatic of a larger postcolonial predicament. It investigates the dual judiciary, dubbed "Manichaean" by Fanon, whose laws have been at the center of this renewal. This colonial organization of the institution was characterized by a conflict between its dominant Civil Division and the subordinated Sharia Division. The book analyzes the political forces that converged since the independence of the country (1956) to profit from the resources of this dual judiciary.