In between sat Zanüba, who would testify against these pillars of the Egyptian community. Zanüba and the question of her guardianship served as a metaphor for the Sudan question of the time. Each side fought over these tired women in ragged clothing with the same ideologies and slogans with which they fought over the Sudan itself. All participants in the trial, from the British officials to the reporters and editors of the nationalist press, seemed aware that only the proper custodian of these women could fly his flag over the reconquered Sudan.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 693